We just completed an intense 8-day period in which we harvested all of the primitivo and barbera previously reserved for clients. This followed and partly overlapped with a run of blistering hot days with temperatures in the upper 90’s to mid-100’s. While hardly unseasonable, the intense heat following what was a fairly mild Foothills summer caught our vines a little off-guard and sent sugars a little north of where we’d like them. Nevertheless, we got the crop in in time, were within our 2-ton/acre target, and the quality appeared to be good.

We thank our clients for their interest and support and hope the grapes produce some flavorful wines for them. We were excited to receive a few samples of wines made from last year’s vintage at Shaker Ridge, as such simple pleasures are the real payoff for us.

Remaining in the field are small quantities of our first crop of port varietal grapes for our home winemaking, and about 0.75 tons of primitivo that is suitable for late harvest or port-style wine. Speaking of the latter, we are very pleased to announce that the first commercial wine ever made from our grapes will debut on October 27 & 28 at an Obscurity Cellars event held at Oakstone Winery in Fair Play, CA. Winemaker John Smith at Obscurity made a delightful single-varietal port-style wine from some late harvest primitivo grapes, and bottled this as a vineyard-designate wine in 375-mL bottles. At the request of Obscurity, the bottles feature our Shaker Ridge logo. As only 1 barrel was made, quantities are very limited.