The 2024 vintage.
One hundred and twenty nights.
Four full moons.
Maybe a thousand hours of dark skies punctuated by stars – they appear a bit brighter with the low humidity at altitude up on the ridge. Though often obscured by the fog from the Bay’s wetland less than a mile away.
The summer and early fall heat radiates from the ground soon after the sun heads over the ridge.
Fog of millions of suspended particles of water cooling everything in its path.
We so often think of warmth—the sun driving bud break, leaves forming and pushing, fruit setting, photosynthesis driving toward some ideal ripeness goal. But that is only half the story.
The other half is rest.
At night the vines and the fruit have a chance to pause. After the heat dissipates and the air cools to near 50 degrees, circulation slows, acid stops metabolizing. Freshness is preserved—the critical undergirding of all the great primary fruit character and sweetness that appeals to our senses; the lift, the finish that makes it all work.
And we need our rest too. Full days of thinking, working, planning. Evenings and winters of quiet and recovery gathering with family and friends – ideally with some good wine to share.
Any wine really, but we have a few suggestions…