A very late budburst coupled with an early to normal harvest time made for a compact, busy growing season in 2006.  With the harvest of 4 tons of barbera last weekend, Shaker Ridge completed its first year of commercial scale production.  We continue work on a retaining wall to level some ground and increase tractor safety, and are preparing to replant our cover crop between rows for weed and erosion control.

We thank all of our clients for their patronage this year and look forward to seeing and tasting the wines that result.

A steady diet of hot days and cool nights, punctuated by a welcome respite yesterday and today, have led to rapid ripening across the vineyard.  The primitivo was essentially all picked over the last 8 days, and the barbera—whose acids are usually a little more stubborn on the descent—are rapidly approaching ripeness.  Some barbera remains available for sale on a provisional wait-list basis, and the harvest would be expected between September 16 and September 23.

Temperatures  in the vineyard remain seasonable, hopefully favoring gradual ripening as we approach harvest.  Fruit-dropping has been completed in the barbera vineyard, and bird-control, while never 100% effective, seems to be adequate at this point.  The chemistry readings from the primitivo vineyard show the expected pattern in ripening grapes and suggest that optimal harvest time is rapidly approaching.  We expect the primitivo grapes to be ideal for dry wines during the first two weeks of September.  Harvest time for the barbera is farther out, although the exact timing is less certain due to the less predictable drop in total acid in that varietal.  However, we think this will be late September to early October.