Hardscrabble Journal

Crush Rush

Yesterday started dark, damp and gloomy which made picking arduous. By mid-morning the clouds parted and a cool, drying breeze lifted our spirits. The day’s harvest was all about rosé. We picked some partial blocks of Boisseau Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, then continued at Hardscrabble with a bit of Petit Verdot and finished with some young vine Cabernet Sauvignon.

The decisions to dedicate to rosé instead of red wine were based on three factors:

• Soil matters and the lower portions of Boisseau Cabernet Franc are on deep silt loam which in a wet year does not ripen evenly for good red wine.

• Overly stressed vines due to nutritional or virus problems. We have a few areas that were not ripening as well as healthier vines.

Berry integrity due to the weekend’s rain. In two blocks of young vine Cabernet Sauvignon the berries were starting to crack which leaves very little time to harvest before rot sets in.

So today we crush and press rosé, then continue picking for red wine here at Hardscrabble. The “crush rush” is in full gear as over the next two days we pick at all three vineyard sites trying to bring in as many grapes as possible before another rain predicted for Friday.

We will most probably continue through the weekend and into early next week. And then we are done.

• Subscribe to Linden Updates for the latest vineyard and cellar information.

Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: October 14, 2020