April 1 - Fruit Trees and Vineyard looking good...a new year begins...NUMBER 7 for Safari Creek!!!
2020 is a dryer year, about 1/3 of our normal rain. Also this is the year of the coronavirus pandemic. Will the demand for wine up or down? Will the lack of rain result in a lighter harvest, but superior quality? Will there be more grapes available to home winemakers or less? Only time will answer these questions and more...
May 21 - A month and a half after above images our chardonnay vineyard continues to develop nicely. The quality of the foilage is the best ever. Maybe because of the early warm weather or simple another year more mature. But there is a lot of growing season left so monitoring will continue!!!!
But it is very obvious a normal California summer is starting as the green carpet between the rows is all but gone.
By mid-August it is looking like a normal California summer. Notice that nice green carpet between the rows in the above April image? Well now it is totally gone. Nothing but bare dirt remains. This is normal for California but also normal is great fruit. Harvest day SOON.....actual August 15-16!!!!
The harvest was delayed somewhat the morning of August 16th because of a very unusally lighting, thunder, rain storm passing through.
The 2020 plan (and "Actuals" 2,538lbs) for Safari Creek will emphasize quality. Our 2020 details are:
- Chardonnay - (est. 600lbs) backyard harvest and make a still white wine with a hint of oak
- Actual> 458lbs, Brix:24.8, pH:3.5, TA:5.5, Aug 15th & 16th, Location: Walnut Creek, CA
- Pinot Gris - (400 lbs) make a still white wine and part will be used to make champagne
- Actual> 156lbs, Brix:25.0, pH:4.2, TA:4.2, Aug 15th, Location: Tracy, CA
- Malvasia - Have made this varietal since 2016. It makes a very nice still white wine so excited to try a 2nd vintage of this varietal
- Actual> 303lbs, Brix:26.3, pH:3.9, TA:4.1, Aug 15th, Location: Tracy, CA
- Albarino - (500 lbs) make a still white wine (some w/oak and some w/o) and part will be used to make champagne
- Actual> 472lbs, Brix:26.3, pH:3.9, TA:4.1, Sept. 7th, Location: Grass Valley, CA
- Champagne - make our 2nd vintage of champagne(6 cases/15 gallons)
- Actual> Three batches of 5 gallons(2 cases) each:
- Chardonnay, Brix:18.5, pH:3.37
- Pinot Gris, Brix:18.5, pH:3.18
- Malvasia, Brix:18.5, pH:3.27
- Cabernet Franc - (350 lbs) make a still red with oak; for barrel and bottling
- Actual> 351lbs, Brix:24.5, pH:3.9/Adj'ed=3.2, TA:2.9, Sept. 12th, Location: Bryan, CA
- Mourvedre - (350 lbs) if unable to locate Cabernet Franc <=NONE
- Barbera - (200 lbs) as an experiment if a source can be found <=NONE
- Zinfandel/Primitivo - (200 lbs) 2018 was good so get another vintage if a source can be found
- Actual> 265lbs, Brix:21.0, pH:3.3, Sept. 6th, Location: Plymouth, CA
- Pinotage - (300 lbs) make a still red with oak and some Rose
- Actual> 289lbs, Brix:23.2, pH:3.35, TA:6.6, Aug 23rd, Location: Placerville, CA *NO Rose*
The 2020 harvest ageing nicely in the Barrel Room as fall decends on the 2020 Vineyard. Now we wait and hope for a nice wet winter and an even better 2021...