Harvest is Here, and Earlier than Ever!
Now that Beaverstock has come and gone, we can get back to what we do best, winemaking! Harvest here on the Central Coast is fully underway and Niels told me this is the “earliest harvest” he has ever seen. As you can probably guess, the primary contributor to this is the weather. In late June/early July we had an intense heat wave that lasted a couple weeks and really jump-started the ripening process. Since then the weather has been consistently warm and more recently quite hot, resulting in the earliest harvest we can remember. The forecast for the coming week is significantly cooler and this trend will hopefully slow things down a bit giving us a chance to keep up!
It’s important to note, however, this early harvest is not necessarily a bad thing. We are 2-3 weeks ahead of “normal” but the grapes that have come in have been very good and yields have been strong as well. This week will be a big week at the winery with multiple varietals coming in from various vineyards, but luckily our crew is as good as it gets and will welcome the challenge.
We are excited to introduce some brand new varietals to the Castoro line up this vintage and if all goes to plan we will be picking the first of our Estate Grown Grenache Blanc and Falanghina. You might be thinking to yourself “don’t these guys already have a varietal arsenal?” and the answer is yes we do, but Niels loves experimenting and seems to have a knack for these things! It’s a lot of fun for our wine making team as well, because it keeps things fresh, fun and gives them something new to share with our club members and supporters.
As harvest continues over the coming weeks make sure to stay tuned on the blog and social media for constant updates, photos and maybe even a video or two! Things are as exciting as ever at Castoro Cellars (even after 30 years) and we love sharing that experience with you.
Until Next Time,
Cheers,
Luke
