The craziness of harvest is winding down as we finish processing our Pinot Noir. If you follow us on Facebook, you might have already seen that we brought in the last of our fruit earlier this month. Overall, 2014 was a remarkable year for EnRoute Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Not only was this our longest harvest ever – we anticipate finishing at eight weeks as opposed to our usual five – but we also brought in a little more fruit of both varietals than we typically do.

Pinot Noir clusters from Graton Vineyard, Russian River Valley

This year, our Graton Vineyard really started coming into full production volumes with its maturing vines. We’re excited to see what this will add to our Pinot Noir blend; this vineyard typically yields notes of dark red fruits, earthy mineral notes with lots of spice and gorgeous perfume. So far, the 2014 EnRoute Pinot Noir, "Les Pommiers," is exhibiting great color and tannins and dark plum, raspberry and pomegranate flavors are evident already.

Chardonnay from the recently acquired Weeks Vineyard, Russian River Valley

2014 was a particularly amazing year for our Chardonnay. We acquired three new Chardonnay vineyards, all in and around the Sebastopol hills. The 2014 EnRoute Chardonnay, "Brumaire," is showing very bright acidity and is coming together nicely with fantastic tropical fruit flavors and citrus notes. We definitely cannot wait to see how the 2014 vintage will evolve over the coming months.