Winery Update, May 2021
Right now our winemaking department is finishing with the 2020 vintage wines. They taste every barrel in the cellar to determine the best way to put them together in a process known as blending. (None of our wines come from just one barrel, not even the single clone wines.)
In 2020 we had a smaller than usual harvest, which means that there are fewer barrels to blend from this year. The wines are fantastic but are slow to evolve in barrel, which makes these tastings a bit more challenging than in previous years. As of today, we are very close to finalizing all of our wines for the 2020 vintage!
Soon the housekeeping stage of the winemaking process will be upon us. First up is barrels: we’ll take the wine from barrels (racking) in preparation for bottling, then clean and steam them. Then we will receive and prep the brand new barrels coming in from France. After that comes bottling, during which the 2020 vintage will all be bottled and put into the cellar for a few years until they are ready to pour. After that the winery will get a deep clean, and harvest will be underway!
This year we have two harvest interns returning to the Emeritus team, Andrew and Tyler, and one new face, Matthew. After a strange 2020 we’re all for a bit of a more ‘normal’ harvest this year . . . whatever that means!
