“How did harvest go this year?”

At Pressley Vineyards, we get this question annually, this was our 7th harvest for Pressley Vineyards, we can hardly believe that we are already seven years into this passion project and the pride and satisfaction that comes with completing another season never gets old. However harvest this year definitely brought its challenges with the delay in picking due to the fruit not being ready and with the wacky weather we have were experiencing it was definitely one of our more stressful harvests.

The Timing

Harvest arrived much later this year, on average we were three weeks behind. We harvested our third vintage of Pressley sparkling on August 17th, our previous vintage came off in late July. Our third vintage of estate grown Albarino was harvested the last week of August, on Charlie’s birthday to be exact, last year we harvested our Albarino the second week of August.

One of our favorite things about each harvest is there are never two harvests that are the same. Each year brings something new for us to learn from with its own unique set of challenges. This year was no different and our biggest challenge this year was the delay in getting the fruit picked, we wrapped up in mid September making this a much later finish to harvest than we anticipated. The delay in harvest was mostly due to the wet winter and mild summer, however the fruit quality was exceptional and we can hardly wait to see the quality of wine these grapes produce.

What’s Next!

With the completion of harvest, we are now focusing on post-harvest management. This will include bringing the sheep back into the vineyard to clean up the vineyard floor in preparation for winter. We will also irrigate to refill the soil profile, we will apply fertilizer to the vines and plant our cover crop to set into motion a conducive growing environment for our 2023 crop! The vines will now prepare to go into dormancy until bud break beings in the spring! And we will be welcoming our third child in early Fall!

Have questions about Harvest 2023, feel free to ask any questions. We love hearing from you! You can email us directly here!

Cheers,

B&C