Sarah’s Vineyard Anticipates High Quality Vintage. First Pinot Noir of “Crush” Due Mid-September.
Gilroy, CA: Sarah’s Vineyard, one of the premier winegrowing estates in the Santa Clara Valley, is gearing up for a mid-September start to the grape harvest. Proprietor Tim Slater is excited to get going: “First up will be Pinot Noir, our flagship varietal. The weather has been cooperating and everything is lining up beautifully for us to be crushing grapes next month.”
Most of the region’s vineyards are located just a few miles south from tech giants Google, Apple, HP, and Intel. But before it became known as “Silicon Valley,” the Santa Clara Valley boasted a long, 175 year history of grape growing and wine production. Tim is one of the young, next generation winemakers working to carry on that legacy.
“Our location in the “Mt. Madonna Gap” gives us the perfect balance of warm sunny days and cooling winds and fog from the ocean,” explains Tim. “This year’s growing season has been an interesting one – the return of winter and spring rains after years of drought has given the vines a shot in the arm, vigor-wise. As soon as veraison was finishing up, we spent a lot of time hedging the vine rows, to open up the canopy and allow the fruit the air circulation and exposure necessary for final ripening.”
Mr. Slater continues that “some weather events back in May affected fruit set a bit. We’re seeing smaller than normal clusters on the various Pinot Noir clones. I believe quality will be very high – there just won’t be a whole lot of grapes this year.”
As to when Tim expects to start the Crush: “Chardonnay is beginning to show that golden color with honey highlights that signals harvest is near. We will probably start sampling grape sugars in a week. This month so far has been quite cool and very windy, with a brief two-day heat spell over the last weekend. We’re expecting a slightly later harvest than usual, probably beginning the middle of September with Pinot Noir and Viognier, followed a week later by Chardonnay.”
Tim’s full pre-harvest report can be found here.
The Sarah’s Vineyard estate and label is a labor of love for winegrower Tim Slater. The property occupies 28 acres in the cool climate “Mt. Madonna” district of the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. Tim in his former life has been a DJ, a musician, and a successful “micro-machining” engineer with many patents to his name. At S.V., he channels both his inner “mad scientist” and his artistic side to grow and produce world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Tim also cultivates his interest in the traditional Rhone varietals, with plantings of Grenache, Viognier, Mourvedre, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Piquepoul Blanc, Clairette Blanche, and Counoise. The popular Sarah’s Vineyard Tasting Room is open daily on Hecker Pass Road, outside of Gilroy. S.V.’s online home is SarahsVineyard.com
