“This is the earliest harvest I've ever experienced by far. We've been done for over a week now, almost halfway through October. Never been done before Halloween. We normally start Labor Day weekend. We started right after the 1st of August.”
sputnikintelligence.com
Asked when in the year you can get an honest read on a harvest, the Paso Robles winemaker, who has made wine there since 1973, describes how early the 2026 season ran.
…have to wait until the wines have been in the barrel and settled down a little bit, gone off the leaves. But I'm encouraged by the quality. I don't think it's going to be one of the most spectacular years like 97, 07, 23, but I think it's going to be a damn good vintage, probably a reserve year.
…of harvest of what people are seeing, or I mean, shoot, we started having conversations in March when it was so warm and later on with the shatter and the wind and there was so much going on. When do you feel in the year you can really get an honest take on what that harvest is going to give you?
Well, this year, I mean, it was so crazy. I've been here making wine, growing grapes since 73. And this is the earliest harvest I've ever experienced by far. And every time we've had, and normally we're still harvesting around Thanksgiving. We've been done for over a week now. I mean, we're done almost halfway through October. You know, never been done before Halloween. But the quality is looking pretty damn good. I mean, anytime that the year is unusual, it was really unusual, you almost always have an odd year. This year, the quality is good, but the whole crush was skewed early. I mean, we normally start Labor Day weekend. We started right after the 1st of August.
Wow. Is this something that you think you're going to start to see normally? Or do you think all of this is so cyclical, who knows what is to be expected later on?
Yeah, the one thing I've noticed since, like I said, since 73, is that in Paso, our highs are getting lower and our lows are getting higher. The weather in Paso over the last five decades has really been moderating. So I don't want to make any predictions. Last year, though, I mean, it was a normal…
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