Tenth harvest at ‘new’ winery
St. Helena, Napa Valley, October 21, 2024 — Titus Vineyards crushed the first grapes of this harvest season on August 15th and brought in the last bins on October 15th. This was the tenth harvest in the winery’s “new” permanent home at the corner of Silverado Trail and Deer Park Road. “Overall, the growing season was excellent,” commented winemaker Stephen Cruzan. “The conditions were stress free and there was some good heat in the middle of the summer which helped the vines mature on a steady path, developing all the factors we wanted for a high quality harvest,” he added.
The winery primarily harvests at night. Owner and vineyard manager Eric Titus manages the picking crews, who start at 3:00 a.m. “We committed to night picking when we got an optical sorter,” he explains. “This approach is better for the fruit; it comes into the winery cooler and easier to manage,” he adds.
“We had a real rainy season at the beginning of the year, about 10% greater than the historical average,” Cruzan says. “We’re very happy with the quality, the wines so far are tasting really delicious. We’re getting the tannin and color profiles we wanted,” he continued. “Because we’re in St. Helena, in the warmer part of the Valley, harvest starts sooner than on the hillsides or the areas south of us,” he adds. “We’re also in the narrowest part of the Valley, so we get breezes blowing through which keep the afternoons from getting too hot. These are all factors in helping us keep the acidity fresh and the tannins not out of line,” he continued.
How do you determine ripeness? “We look at the whether the seeds are brown and also the phenolic signs of ripeness, such as if the skin is starting to soften and the anthocyanins and tannins are starting to be more extractable,” Titus explains.
The winery harvested Sauvignon Blanc from the middle of August until Labor Day weekend. Zinfandel was crushed during the second week of September; Cabernet Sauvignon from the 33-acre estate vineyard around the winery was crushed the week of September 16. Pinot Noir from the Russian River came to the crush pad the second week of September.
The last half of the month of September saw a steady flow of other Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.
The 2024 harvest yields were similar to 2023: just over 200 tons harvested.
Highlights of crush at Titus included starting the first load of grapes with a Champagne toast for the crew and a rare spotting of a kingfisher on the bank of the Napa River at the estate vineyard. New this year was bringing in the first harvest from a 3.5 acre block of Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate vineyard which was recently planted to Clone 412, a clone Titus hasn’t grown before. “This is a very exciting Bordeaux clone that wasn’t readily available in California when we did our last round of plantings in the late 90s and early 2000s,” said Eric Titus.
What’s it like to walk through the winery at this time of year? “The winery smells best when Sauvignon Blanc is fermenting,” comments Cruzan. “There’s magic in the tank room because the esters in the Sauvignon Blanc have such a great fragrance, it’s like a tropical fruit opening up right in front of you,” he adds.
During this time of year visitors to the winery can walk up to the vine rows which surround the outdoor patio and grab a grape or two to taste. They can choose among the five Bordeaux varietals, Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc or Petite Sirah. “We intentionally don’t harvest these vines which surround the patio,” explains Michael Desilets, DTC Operations Manager. “We’ve seen over the years how much fun our guests have in studying the grapes, the vines, choosing which one to pop in their mouth,” he adds.
Does the winery use dry ice during the crushing process? “We put dry ice in the tank when we start crushing into that tank,” explains Cruzan. “Juice tanks get a scoop of dry ice before we do pumpovers, to keep the cap from being exposed to oxygen. Once we inoculate the tank we stop using the dry ice,” he adds.
The first wine to be released from the 2024 vintage will be Sauvignon Blanc, in May of 2025.
Any new equipment or techniques? “We now are using a ‘pig launcher,’” answers Cruzan. It’s a sponge ball which goes into the must line and pushes the must out of the hose. It’s essentially a cleaning device for tubes, which along with compressed air keeps the must moving. Before the pig launcher we would have to use 80 to 100 gallons of water for every tank which now we don’t have to do. It’s a huge time saver as well as a way to conserve water,” Cruzan says.
As of this past spring, Titus Vineyards has been generating 95% of the winery’s energy needs from an array of 100 solar panels on the winery roof. The installation of the panels was very elaborate. Summit Technology Group installed ballasts that are attached to the roof and screwed in a system of rails to support the solar panels and then configured them to lie flat to have the ideal amount of sun absorption with the exception of above the tasting room, where they’re canted to be visible.
Titus Vineyards is a family owned 50-acre vineyard and winery located at the base of Howell Mountain along the Silverado Trail in the heart of the St. Helena AVA, Napa Valley. The history of the property extends back to 1841 and includes General Marino Vallejo, Dr. Edward Bale, Charles Krug, and Eli York. The land has been continuously farmed for over 150 years, with the Titus family’s first harvest in 1969. Dr. Lee Titus, a radiologist, practicing in Sonoma at the time, purchased the land in 1968 and soon after, took over farming the vineyard. Lee oversaw planting all five Bordeaux varietals as the old vineyards were being replanted.
Titus Vineyards’ tasting room offers a stunning view of the winery’s 50-acre vineyard estate, with its floor-to-ceiling glass and outdoor seating welcomes Valley views to the south, west and north of the property. Visitors are welcome seven days a week by appointment. More about the winery.
