2011 was, like the two previous harvests, late.
November 3rd. There are times when Mother Nature forces your hand and
this was one of them. Winter storms were in the way and even though we wanted
more sugar, it was going to be now or perhaps never. The worst-case
scenario would be to wait and have the fruit take on water from the rainstorm
and end up with lower sugars than we already had.
Winemakers like "hang time", the term
that they use for the period of flavor development that happens in a season
where the grapes develop enough sugar for harvesting but still need the benefit
of time on the vine. At this point the winemaker is looking for ripeness in the
seed tannins, the absence of "green" flavors and development of
flavor complexity. All these go above and beyond what can be measured by
Brix, the numerical value for level of sugar in the grape. After sugar
you need other indicators of ripeness that you can only find out by tasting the
grapes.
In a perfect year the winemaker gets to make
the call of the optimal time to harvest. Lately Mother Nature makes the call by
weather that delays ripeness and threatens to ruin the crop.
