In the Vines: A Diary from the 2024 Vintage

Dive into the personal journal of our vineyard management staff as they journey through the trials and victories that shaped our 2024 growing season.

By Mallory Wall

May, 2024

May 2nd, 2024: "Shoot thinning has begun, and next to pruning it is likely the most important task in the vineyard. We are physically removing crop load and vegetative growth to ensure we isolate energy within the vine to focus on developing mature fruit by the end of the season.

Shoot thinning is like a game of chess… you have to plan many moves ahead for the goal in mind. If you focus on a singular task, you fail to see the moves ahead that lead you to success. Growing a bottle of wine takes time, patience and focus. We will continue to shoot thin over the next 2 weeks to ensure a successful flower and ultimately, fruit set."

June, 2024

June 19th, 2024: "The canopy has been opened, the grape clusters have closed up and now we start analyzing each cluster to be either thinned or hang until harvest. We are looking for uniformity and balance. It's been incredibly dry, and the vines are responding nicely to the change. Skins will grow thicker and wines will have more concentration. Let's hope for more dry weather to make some dry wines!"

July, 2024

July 3rd, 2024: "Verasion has commenced! Grapes are shifting from berry growth to ripening. It’s truly a magical time in the vineyard to watch unfold. Red grapes are starting to change color and the pigments that make wine dark are starting to develop. This vintage has the potential to be one of the best yet!"

July 17th, 2024: "Verasion is underway, this term is used in the vineyard to signify the end of berry growth and the start of true ripening. Concentration of color and sugars are quickly developing while acid starts to fall. Quality seems ideal for both growers and makers. Smaller berries this season means wines with more depth and character are likely."

July 31st, 2024: "Color is taking on the red varieties and the green grapes are turning slightly golden. The abnormally warm and dry season has allowed our fruit to develop at a faster rate. This season, our team has adapted at every corner to make this fruit look top tier."

August, 2024

August 14th, 2024: "We survived the rain. Typically we would see splitting of berries in our thin skinned varieties, but this year we fared well. This is due to long periods of dry weather prior to heavy rain. For now we wait. Harvest is not quite here, but it is upon us!"

August 28th, 2024: "Our team has harvested most of the white grapes, including the remaining blocks of Chardonnay. Ideal chemistry aligned with the golden hued skins, roasted brown seeds with a balance of acid to round it all out. It's everything we would hope for. 

Field tests are completed daily, along with tasting fruit and juice. A combination of science, artistry, and relying on gut instincts to guide us when we pick. We can't wait to share these decisions with you in the future. 

We’ve been granted a nice dry spell recently. Overall, our vines are happy and fruit is exceptional in quality. Yesterday, we picked for appassimento (the process of drying fruit). This years Chardonnay is really special, and given its high quality and stellar fruit character, we’ve decided to dry a portion of it and combine with morning picked fresh fruit later this week.

We’ve never dried Chardonnay before, but we figured with this weeks heat wave, the obvious choice was giving it a moment to stand out. Our team has put everything they’ve got into this season. We can’t wait for you to taste our hard work for 2024!"

September, 2024

September 25th, 2024: "Rain, rain, go away! Our team has been working hard to harvest our late season reds. While water is necessary for our vineyard, it can be detrimental this late in the season. If you’ve grown tomatoes before, you know it’s best to pick before a massive amount of rain. If not, you can have splitting of the skins… same with grapes.

There’s a fine line before picking too early and picking for ideal flavor and chemistry. We were successful in pulling in most of our late season reds aside from Negroamaro (Nero) and Cabernet Sauvignon. The flavors are too green to justify picking now, so we wait out the rain and hope for the best in the weeks to come. Hoping for dry weather to finish our 2024."

October, 2024

October 10th, 2024: "Almost everything is in. Montepulciano is off the vine while we wait a little longer for Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen a little more. This season has been challenging at the finish line given the rain from Helene. We’re feeling very grateful to have been spared damage unlike our friends west of us. Count your blessings and hug your loved ones."

 Thanks to the great weather and our talented vineyard staff, our 2024 harvest season turned out to be our most fruitful yet! The PV team can't wait to introduce 2024's bold blends and prestine vintages in the coming years.

"Not quite ready to be wine, you’ll have to wait."- Eric Steinbicker