JPV’s 37th Harvest Begins, and Ends, with Great Expectations

Jose Luis Vargas, on the tractor, has been with JPV since 1988.
He is a budding supervisor and foreman for the Yountville vineyard.

By Damian Parker, Director of Winemaking

The 2009 harvest started like each of the past 37 seasons at Joseph Phelps Vineyards: full of expectation! Over the years the vineyards have changed, processing equipment has been modernized, winemaking techniques improved, and the winemaking team has grown and evolved. You’d think such constant change might lead to confusion, but having been an employee at Joseph Phelps since 1981 I can tell you that that has not been the case. Quite the contrary: Change continues to bring renewed focus, fresh ideas and inspiring challenges. The excitement and adrenalin of a new vintage is what gets us up in the morning.

This year we continued our focus on vine balance throughout the growing season, from pruning techniques to watering strategies. Over the years we have learned that working in concert with Mother Nature is far better than trying to control her, and for the most part she was very good to us in 2009.

As noted by Philippe Pessereau on page 2, we are seeing great color, tannin and flavor development, and quality across the board has been exceptional. The Petit Verdot and Malbec lots appear to be some of the best we’ve ever produced.

Harvest was moving along nicely until October 13th, when a storm lasting over three days dropped 3.5 to 5 inches of rain in Napa Valley. This is a sufficiently rare occurrence that the last time it happened was in 1962.

This year it was mostly Cabernet Sauvignon that was affected, and fortunately, because of its thicker skin, the varietal can handle some rain. But how much is too much? The biggest concern after rain is mold growth. Ironically, when we were still making late harvest wines in the 80’s, we would pray for weather like this to get the botrytis cinerea mold growing in our Riesling vineyards. However, we definitely do NOT want it in our Cabernet.

On October 16th, after the vineyards had dried out, we pulled leaves to open up the canopy for better airflow and thinned any compromised clusters. We started picking again on Oct. 21st and finished harvest Oct. 29th. It’s too early to say how the post-rain lots will turn out, but from what we see in the fermentor (see Ashley’s comments below), they are looking good.

With a ten-week-long harvest, the excitement and adrenalin of 2009 has run its course. The production team of Philippe, German, Ashley, Sarah, David, Kelly and all the cellar and vineyard crew have once again done a superb job of ensuring that, despite all the changes and challenges from the weather, this was one of the smoothest harvests ever. Congratulations to everyone for a job well done! I’m already looking forward to next year . . .