{"id":476,"date":"2018-11-15T00:44:18","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T00:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/?p=476"},"modified":"2021-12-13T23:10:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T23:10:54","slug":"reflecting-on-2018-harvest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/reflecting-on-2018-harvest\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the 2018 Harvest"},"content":{"rendered":"

A week after the last grapes destined for Frank Family Vineyards arrived to the winery, Winemaker, Todd Graff is finally able to take a step back and reflect on his fifteenth harvest with us.<\/p>\n

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After a later start than previous years, we began harvesting in earnest in mid-September and did not take a break from the action until early November. Even the weeks leading up to harvest were action-packed as we awaited the arrival of fruit. We finished bottling our latest vintages and made tank space for the new grapes. Meanwhile the warm temperatures of late August helped our grapes transition from veraison to full ripeness.<\/p>\n

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Cooler temperatures in early September eased us into this year\u2019s harvest season. Foggy mornings and moderate afternoons ensured plenty of hang time, ideal for developing concentrated flavors and maintaining the grape\u2019s natural acidity. The cool weather continued into October where a welcomed but brief period of rain provided us with time to finish processing our Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and Merlot. Finally, in mid-October we picked our first lot of Winston Hill Cabernet Sauvignon. We brought the remaining fruit of 2018 to the crush pad the second week of November and our team exchanged a collective sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

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As the holiday season approaches and Thanksgiving draws near, we\u2019re feeling extra thankful for the gifts Mother Nature gave us this year. With the 2018 vintage now safely in our cellar, we think it\u2019s safe to say it will be exceptional. While we\u2019re happy to reflect on a year\u2019s work, we\u2019re certainly going to miss the daily bustle on the crush pad, all coming together with one goal in mind \u2013 to produce another vintage of the finest wine from our vineyard fruit possible.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe 2018 vintage is a \u2018goldilocks\u2019 vintage in every sense of the phrase. The excellent weather lasted from fruit set through harvest and allowed for maximum hanging time for the grapes. It was a bountiful harvest, so much so that we had to shoe horn all the grapes into the winery. But what is quantity without quality? Thankfully this vintage delivered in that department as well. The reds have terrific colors and the chards have beautiful acids. We\u2019re pleased, especially following the challenging 2017 vintage. I\u2019m happy to have a vintage like 2018 to commemorate my 15th<\/sup> harvest with Frank Family Vineyards.\u201d \u2013 Winemaker, Todd Graff<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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2018 Frank Family Harvest Timeline:<\/strong><\/p>\n

September 19<\/strong> \u2013 Harvest arrives with the first batches of Carneros Pinot Noir and Chardonnay fruit<\/p>\n

September 21<\/strong> \u2013 Merlot is harvested from Winston Hill<\/p>\n

September 26<\/strong> \u2013 Sangiovese is harvested from Winston Hill<\/p>\n

October 1<\/strong> \u2013 First lot of Cabernet is picked. Finished processing all the Pinot Noir, 50% complete with Chardonnay, and 30% complete with total harvest<\/p>\n

October 15<\/strong> \u2013 Started harvesting Winston Hill Cabernet<\/p>\n

November 5<\/strong> \u2013 Enter last week of harvest with fruit from Benjamin and S&J Vineyards<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week after the last grapes destined for Frank Family Vineyards arrived to the winery, Winemaker, Todd Graff is finally able to take a step back and reflect on his fifteenth harvest with us. After a later start than previous years, we began harvesting in earnest in mid-September and did not take a break from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[258],"tags":[7,125,16,124,18],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vineyards-winemaking","tag-featured","tag-grape-harvest","tag-harvest","tag-napa-harvest","tag-napa-valley"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/DX_2186.jpg?fit=5472%2C3648&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/parYsd-7G","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}