Between The Vines

It’s harvest time at Silverado Vineyards!

We’re in the midst of the busiest time of year at Silverado Vineyards as we harvest and crush our ripened grapes.  In spite of the hectic schedule, this is also the most exciting season for me and the winemaking staff as a year spent carefully tending our grapevines finally pays off.

Seven-day workweeks are typical for the harvest and cellar crew, including our assistant winemaker, Elena Franceschi, and our cellar master, Rick Thomas. We typically arrive at the winery around 6:30  a.m. to find a load of just-harvested grapes waiting for us on the crush pad. While Rick begins working with the grapes, Elena and I will visit our vineyards, checking on the status of other grapes and collecting cluster samples to test.  By noon we’ll reconvene with Rick, in the lab, to decide which blocks of grapes should be harvested the next day. Once that decision has been made, Elena and I will taste barrel lots and tank lots to assess the progress of the fermenting grape juice, discuss barrel choices and handle other crucial tasks.  The next day will be much the same, and this schedule will run from late August through the month of October, until all of our grapes are safely harvested and crushed.

Of course, given that grape growing is an agricultural enterprise, we are completely dependent upon the weather.  Warm weather may speed up the ripening of the grapes, meaning that we have to work twice as quickly. Similarly, unexpected rain forecasts may require us to scramble to get the grapes harvested before the moisture can damage them.

Though the 2007 harvest has just begun, I think it’s safe to say that it looks like a plentiful one. We didn’t have a lot of rainfall this year, which allowed us to have more control over the irrigation of the grapevines than Mother Nature did. Successfully growing grapes is all about control.

Like many grape growers here in Napa Valley, we practice sustainable farming, meaning that we do our best to nurture and protect the land that yields our precious grapes. We sow cover crops between the vines to control moisture and prevent erosion, and we use  hoeplows instead of herbicides to remove weeds from under the vines. We are also mindful of protecting the fish-friendliness of the Napa River that runs through our vineyards by reducing silt and run-off.

Pests in the vineyards are also dealt with in a responsible way. For instance, the reduced rainfall this year resulted in a marked increase in the amount of deer visiting our vineyards in search of food. While deer frolicking among the vines might sound like a charming picture, it’s certainly not the case when these hungry creatures are devouring the tender shoots that will yield our grapes! Therefore, we decided to spray our vines with a clay-based product that renders the shoots and leaves less appetizing. While it gave our grapevines a silvery coating all spring and summer, the spray worked well to deter the hungry deer (and it also enchanted many winery visitors who wondered aloud if we painted our vines silver so that we’d know they belonged to Silverado).

We invite you to come visit us during this harvest!  Please be mindful of trucks at all times of the day, along the winding driveway and approach to the crush area.  We value your safety.

Jon Emmerich
Winemaker
Silverado Vineyards