08/27/2026
Harvest #124 has begun, and it's moving fast. The valley smells like fermentation again. Fruit is arriving at w**eries across the region, and this year Ghost Block's harvest has come earlier than almost any we've seen.
An early spring heat wave pushed budbreak ahead of schedule. Then an unusually early bloom in April met rain and swinging temperatures, disrupting pollination in several blocks and leading to one of our lightest yields in years. The good news: drying winds followed close behind, keeping the fruit exceptionally clean, and we didn't lose a single day to frost all season.
What the vines lack in volume, they're making up for in character. Early berry chemistry is showing real concentration, with higher natural acidity that promises freshness in the finished w**es.
Harvest opened July 24th with fruit for sparkling w**e, followed by our first Sauvignon Blanc pick on August 6th. Most recently, August 20th, marks our third Sauvignon Blanc pick of the season at MorgaenLee Vineyard; this same fruit wasn't ready for picking until September 5th last year.
This fruit came from Block 7, a dry-farmed Sauvignon Blanc block planted in 1978. These vines have never known irrigation, relying on rainfall alone for nearly five decades. The same April rain that complicated bloom also replenished the soil, giving us the moisture to dry-farm our entire acreage this season.
We've also wrapped Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for Elizabeth Rose, with Cinsault, Grenache, and Syrah coming in this past weekend for the Rosé, plus Albariño for Oakville W**ery.
Every season, our team hand-tends more than 320,000 vines. This one has asked more of everyone, and we're deeply grateful to the teams at Yount Mill Vineyards and Napa W**e Company for their hard work through a compressed, demanding timeline.
An early, concentrated vintage is already taking shape. We can't wait to see it through to the glass.
**es
