Now that the last bins are stacked and the cellar’s quieted down with fermentations ticking along, it’s a good time to take a breath and look back on the 2025 harvest. Every year has its quirks, and this one asked us to trust the process more than most.
The Growing Season
If we had to sum up 2025 in a few words: long, slow, and constant. The vines took their time this year: no dramatic spikes, no major weather swings. It was one of those steady, even seasons where patience paid off.
The defining moment came late summer, when we made it through August and September without the kind of heatwave that can throw ripening out of balance. Once we got past that, we knew we had something special on our hands. The crop was lighter than average, which meant smaller berries and thicker skins—always a good sign for flavor and structure.
We did get a light rain in September, just enough to freshen things up but not enough to worry about. Everything was tracking late, and then—almost overnight—the Cabernet hit perfect ripeness. That sudden window of opportunity kept us on our toes, but it also gave us fruit with great natural acidity and phenolic balance.
Harvest
Harvest is one part science, one part instinct. For one of our key Cabernet blocks, the numbers and the taste lined up perfectly on Friday, October 10. By 1 a.m., crews were in the vineyard under lights, picking through the cool night air and wrapping by sunrise. Night picking keeps the fruit cold and intact, helping us capture those pure aromatics and preserve the acid backbone that defines a balanced wine.
People often imagine harvest as a well-oiled machine—but really, it’s organized chaos. There’s an incredible amount of coordination happening at once: fruit trucks arriving, tanks being prepped, press loads shifting hour by hour. You can plan all you want, but once you start picking, it’s about adapting in real time.
In the Cellar
The young wines in the cellar are already showing a lot of promise—bright, focused fruit with depth and fine-grained tannins. It’s a higher-acid year, which we love, because those are the vintages that hold up beautifully with age. The fermentations have been clean and cooperative, rolling right through primary and malolactic without a hitch.
This vintage feels like a return to balance: nothing overripe or heavy-handed. Each vineyard site is speaking clearly, especially in our Calistoga lots. 2025 will be a year that reminds us why we farm the way we do: steady, intentional, and always led by what the vineyard is telling us.
