Thought I would write a few notes about the season at Freedom Hill Vineyard, the website and maybe some random thoughts. I’m grateful to the efforts of Helen and McKenzie along with the professional guidance of Elizabeth Schrader Design in updating our website and creating a platform that is more current and interesting. From time to time I am liable to enter an update offering perspective from an old grape grower’s point of view.

The harvest of 2013 was unlike any I remember. It was a beautiful growing season and then the Valley received over 6” of rain during the last weekend of September with only a few tons in the fermenter. This event changed the intensity levels of the wine maybe producing wines similar to 1997, although I defer to our winemakers for future comparisons. We ended up harvesting 225 tons from 71 acres with the fruit being in sound condition.

The winter was marked by the famous “Polar Vortex” that brought two incidents of unusually low temperatures to the area. In both instances Helen and I had the good fortune to be on vacation leaving Dustin to cope with broken pipes and baby grape plants awaiting planting. He performed well and we were able to plant 6.25 acres of Pinot Noir this spring with plans in 2015 for 8 more acres divided between Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Bud break and bloom were early and it appears harvest should commence the third or fourth week in September. The crop is large and within two weeks we will have the data available, cluster counts and weights, to make informed decisions regarding how many clusters to remove to target the final crop load of the winemakers. Typically, we aim for a yield of approximately three tons per acre.

Hope you find our postings of interest and they help you connect with the remarkable wines produced by the talented winemakers we are honored to work with.