I’m writing these notes at 35,000 feet, on my way home from New York. The harvest is done, the last of the wine has been racked to barrel, where it can simmer and slumber now as it sees fit, and it is time to celebrate that accomplishment with our friends and supporters back east. The annual sales pilgrimages are part of the post-harvest rhythm, and now that the grapes are picked and the wine is made, both for ourselves and for my consulting clients, this is the first chance I have all year to relax the eternal vigilance that the vineyards require and enjoy friends, food, and wine outside of Napa.
As part of my trip I spent a few days looking at vineyards on the North Fork of Long Island, helping friends with an upstart winery in Red Hook, Brooklyn, select fruit for their new project. Our year in Napa was characterized by the driest spring on record, 32 nights of frost, and hot winds at bloom. The crop statewide is probably down at least 30%. That has been a cakewalk compared to some have dealt with on Long Island. I saw vineyards that were absolutely devastated by the rains this summer. I’m not sure how I would react to having to walk away from an entire year’s work. They were philosophical about it.
This is a philosophical time of year. It is for everyone. The 60 days from Halloween through Thanksgiving to the Winter Solstice, Christmas, and Channukah are the time of rest and recovery for all of us, no matter how easy or challenging the year has been. In January the work will start again in earnest, and we will have chance to try again—the proverbial “New Year’s resolution.” Maybe it will be to plow the field earlier, maybe to see the kids more. But that time is still a little ways off, and for now it is time to rest and reflect, and of course enjoy some wine and good company. We aren’t an agricultural society anymore, but we are all still defined at some level by our agricultural roots and rhythms. This time of shorter days and inward thinking—inward to the family, and to one’s soul—is such an important part of our yearly trip around the sun.
The wild weather ride this year, which actually produced phenomenal quality despite the short crop, coincided with continued positive evolution at MATTHIASSON. We were finally able to obtain budwood of Refosco Dal Pedunculo Rosso, a red variety from Friuli, Italy, which will complement the Friulian variety Ribolla Gialla that is so important a component of our white wine. We grafted it into our home Merlot vineyard, and will be able to make a little wine from it next year. And we moved our winemaking production from the old tannery, where we have been in an ex-art studio that was formerly the tannery mechanic’s shop, to Silenus, which is a small but very modern facility near our home, and which caters to tiny obsessed artisans like ourselves. It was very difficult to find a clean and well-equipped facility that would allow me to do my own work with the wine.
In keeping with another annual cycle, we just bought our annual post-harvest “micro-flock” of sheep from Robert Sinskey Vineyards. They include sheep as part of their Biodynamic practice. I also believe that the animal influence is an important part of a healthy farm (we must remember that vineyards are farms). They will graze in the vineyard this winter, keeping the weeds down and contributing fertilizer, and fill our freezer next summer. If you are in Napa this winter, swing by and feed them, or next summer join us for a grilled chop in the backyard. We might put you to work, but the meal and the wine will be worth it. As always, we thank you for your support.