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Harvest 2020 | Week 5

September 26, 2020

This week’s update was written and prepared before the wildfires began on the morning of September 27. While this is an ongoing, rapidly changing event, B Cellars is currently not under threat from the fires.
Our thoughts and prayers are with our friends, loved ones, neighbors, and colleagues who have been affected. Our sincerest gratitude goes out to the first responders battling to save our communities.

When we added up all of the tons already picked, processed, and in the fermenters, we couldn’t believe it–we’re already halfway through the harvest! It’s been an easy pace, thus far, with the picks coming in well-spaced, several tons a day, with off-days every third or fourth day in between. That is not normal, but we’re not going to argue. The grapes have continued to look clean and beautiful, with tight clusters of small-to-medium sized berries and bright, delicious flavors, and the skins are full of luscious tannins and spice.

This week also brought in the first bins from our rows and blocks in several of Andy Beckstoffer’s Heritage vineyards, Missouri Hopper, To Kalon, Georges III, Dr. Crane, and Bourn. We get to work with fruit from some of the best sites in Napa, and every vintage, Andy’s fruit stands out and defends its claim to greatness, from the bin to the bottle.

There is a special energy during harvest, but this year it has been more poignant than usual. Two weeks ago, the weather was brutal, hot, windy, and dry. Yet the vines looked great afterward. Their deep roots feed healthy plants which can adapt and respond to so many varied circumstances. Throughout the challenges of our lives (and we all know this has been a challenging year) working with the vines and observing how they work in concert and in balance with their environment inspires a quiet courage.

Yeast

With half of our fruit already fermenting, the smell of yeast permeates the winery and the caves. Our output of thousands of bottles is the work of billions and billions of these little creatures. In fact, next to the grapes, yeast are the single most important ingredient to making wine. Yeast choices affect the flavor, aroma, texture, and body of the wine. During fermentations, we coddle them by cooling or warming tanks to match their preferred temperature, and winemakers constantly experiment with new and different strains while also relying heavily on their old favorites to get the job done.

Eventually, the success of a yeast colony becomes its own demise. Yeast are intolerant of high heat and elevated alcohol solutions, yet they produce both through their fermenting abilities. And, once the wine goes dry and there are no sugars left, the yeast lose their primary food source, causing them to die off, producing what we call the lees.