Final numbers - 16 tons of Pinot Noir from 11 acres or 1.45 tons per acre. That's a little less than we were expecting. We definitely had some dehydration in the vineyard - it looked a lot like 2003 and 2006 out there. Sugars were higher than normal, but we also saw that in '03 and '06. We deliberately maximized hang time even with the higher sugars to help develop the right flavors. We picked on Oct 6, Oct 9 and Oct 11. The fruit was extremely clean with no noticeable botrytis. The "farmer" part of me is always happy to get clean fruit into the winery quickly, but the "winery" side is always greedy and wants as much hang time as possible.
I think we're going to have very nice wines from this vintage. I attached some pictures from Oct 11. You can see Charlie, the Twelve mascot, patrolling the filled grape bins in one. Our picking crew was amazing - they pick extremely fast and clean, so that we can get the fruit to the winery before the day gets too warm.
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