July 17, 2008
2008 CROP IS SET – IT’S ONE HECK OF AN UNEVEN YEAR

A lotta cold, then some heat (over 100 degrees). A lotta wind, then dead calm. Different is the constant – except the lack of rain: haven’t had a drop since a tad in March: driest spring on record.

The fruit “set” (berries are pollinated and will become fruit) mid June. Some bunches are heavy, some are light (due to “shatter”: unpollinated berries fall off the stems). Some vines have many short shoots; some only long ones. Some shoots carry three bunches, some zero. Yet, strangely given the lack of moisture, the vines, both old and young, are mostly lush and growing vigorously. Maybe the predominantly cool weather preserved subsoil moisture.

When the fruit is set and the berries size, we hear the call of the harvest, and like squirrels, start to prepare for the pick and crush. On this ridge each year brings a new version of our temperate region rain forest climate. The vines are a year older and more adapted to the site (pinot noir is the most mutable of the major varieties). And even we, the tenders of the plants and land, have changed, if ever so little, in how we relate to the site through our presence and work. All of this suggests that the fruit and wines of ’08 will still be the color “Hirsch”, but of a different tone, shade, and hue. Stand by.

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYS (AND FRUIT)

Assuming you are of planet Earth, you are aware of the wild fires in No. Ca. set by lightning in mid June. At one time there were over 1,000 fires, some close by to the north in Mendocino County. For weeks, the north wind filled our place with smoke so thick visibility was limited and everyone suffered the effects with headaches, coughing, and general debility. Naturally, the heat ramped up to add to the hellish environment. When the breeze shifted onshore, it cleared the smoke and often sent in fog for needed relief, only to turn again and bring the smoke in yet again. One day we are in a smoke world with the highs above ninety; the next it’s in the fifties and we are in the fog. Welcome to Hirsch’s world: will there be a hint of smoke detectable in the wines of 2008?

GOOD NEWS! 2007 LOOKS LIKE A STUNNER

Mark Doherty, our winemaker, and I have finished the blending trials for the three 2007 pinots in anticipation of bottling the Bohan Dillon. Not to let the cat out of the bottle (Bobes, our ranch cat, lives on in a new label story), but this vintage may well be head of the class for this decade. The Bohan Dillon can be on your doorstep in September. You will be updated.