Night Harvest at Naggiar (Grass Valley/Nevada County): "season off to a late start"

Tony Tibshirani of Naggiar Vineyards in Nevada County, Sierra Foothills, sent these spectacular night harvest photos taken the week of September 25, and an update:

"This season is off to a late start for high elevation growers in Nevada County.  Naggiar's vineyards are at a 1200 ft elevation in the Sierra Foothills, between Grass Valley & Auburn.  

Our Rhone whites are showing exceptional quality.  We’ve harvested Viognier, Marsanne, & Rousanne.  We've seen very little raisining and the yields are somewhat lower than previous years due to the spring rains. We’ve been harvesting around 24 Brix and a pH of 3.5. 

We've also picked our Syrah and Sangiovese, but this next week,  we’ll be focusing on most of our reds."


About Naggiar Vineyards  (from their website)

"After searching for 3 years for a suitable vineyard site, we found a 160 acre site with ideal wine grape growing conditions in the Sierra Foothills between Auburn and Grass Valley. The 160 acre site sits on a large knoll with gentle hillside slopes providing good breezes and air circulation while at the same time reasonable hillside tractor access conditions.  We purchased the land in 1997.

The Nevada County Irrigation canal runs through the site providing an ample and dependable supply of clean water throughout the growing season.  We built a one acre surface area and 20 ft deep pond to ensure that an adequate reserve of water would be available at all times of the year.

The estate vineyards consist of 50 acres planted with 12 different varieties of grapes which provide the flexibility and choice of creating the best varietal wines or the best possible blends."

According to owner Mike Naggiar, the winery made 2600 cases 2010, and they plan to get to 5000 cases.  Their first vintage was 2003, with wines released in 2005.

Szabo Vineyards (Nevada City/Nevada County) - Good Sugar in Grape Harvest

Sandor (Alex) Szabo of Szabo Vineyards sends this brief Harvest Report:

We recently harvested our muscat blanc and orange ----yum-- talk about sugar!

On Tuesday September 25 we harvested the Primitivo and then the Syrah today (Wednesday the 26th September).

We'll be working from 5 am to 11 am if anybody wants to visit:  fresh juice to be served!

p.s.  From the time of picking to them getting crushed is no more than 25 minutes ....we like it fresh!


About Szabo Vineyards : (from their website http://www.szaborvineyards.com/)

Szabo Vineyards is a small, family-owned operation; the vineyards, 40-acres, are at 1900 feet and on south and west-facing hillsides off of Bitney Springs Road in Nevada City.   Sitting almost exactly halfway between Grass Valley and Nevada City, the views include the Pacific Coastal Range and the Sutter and Sierra Buttes.

We are proud of our new winery building, which was designed by architect David Wright of Grass Valley and completed in July 2009. This state-of-the-art, passive solar facility is built into the hillside and was engineered to keep the wines at a constant temperature year-round. We crushed our own grapes at the new winery for the first time in September 2009.

We pride ourselves on the hand-crafted quality of our wines, which are made exclusively from sustainably grown grapes from our mountainside estate. Our Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Syrah wines are intense and fruit-forward without being dominated by oak.

Pilot Peak (Penn Valley/Nevada County) - "Latest Harvest to Date"

Lynn Wilson, winemaker and one of the owners of Pilot Peak Vineyard & Winery (Penn Valley, Nevada County) sends us this note about the Sierra Foothills harvest experience there:

"Until yesterday (September 25), we didn’t have any news to get out – just harvested our first grapes off the estate grown Sauvignon block on the property. Got them off the vines about 10 minutes before the light rain started so we just barely cheated Mother Nature. The fruit was whole cluster pressed and is currently settling in the tall stainless steel tank. The juice will be inoculated tomorrow morning with the fermentation normally taking 10 to 14 days (fermented in the range of 65OF – 68OF). The fruit was harvested at 24 Brix with a pH of 3.3 – the acid/sugar balance developed very nicely in the cool summer we’ve just experienced.


This harvest has been our latest to date and it appears the majority of the fruit will be harvested in October.

Tempranillo or Syrah should be the next in line, but they are at least a week to 10 days off – all dependent on temperature. We’re all keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t get substantial early rain which would have a major impact on the crop yields which are already light this year. Given the cooler weather and longer growing season, the fruit sampled thus far is excellent and should make for a great vintage.


About Pilot Peak Vineyard & Winery (from their website)

"PILOT PEAK Winery is located in Northern California’s Sierra Foothills – An hour north of Sacramento – just a few miles outside Grass Valley and Nevada City in the town of Penn Valley.  We currently produce approx. 2500 cases, using our estate grown Sauvignon Blanc and Mourvédre and other grapes sourced within 20 miles of the winery.  We have worked with the following Sierra Foothill growers: Damiano Vineyards,  S&L Vineyards, Naggiar Vineyards, Leeham Vineyards & Dibble Vineyards. 
We established the winery in early 2004.  The metal shop building was converted from a construction shop to a winery starting on July 6, 2004 and completed on August 29, 2004.  8 short weeks!  --  Luckily -  just in time for the first grapes to arrive (one of the earliest harvests on record).  We made 600 cases of wine that first year - which later sold out in record time (Cabernet Franc sold out in 1 day!  The Viognier lasted about a week!). "

Montoliva (Chicago Park/Nevada County) - Harvest Report and commentary

Mark Henry, owner and winemaker at MontOliva Vineyard & Winery, located in the Chicago Park area of Nevada County,  sends along a very interesting report in Q&A format:

That  June rain that never seemed to end, how did it affect the growing season?

More than I originally thought it did. Although it was wet and cool, we did not get a late frost this year.  Although we got some snow in mid-May, the air temp never dropped below 34'F in my vineyard. Because I did not get the same frost burn in 2011 that we got in 2010 (frost event in late May), canopy development was pretty normal, and although things did progress slower, my thinking throughout the summer was that we are maybe a couple of weeks behind.

Last year I did sample testing on 20 September. So, I sample tested yesterday.  The numbers throughout the vineyard are most exactly what they were last year.  This is a little disheartening.  I had thought that with dodging the late frost this year, we would be at least a couple of weeks ahead of last year, the cold, wet Spring notwithstanding.

How does this year compare to a normal growing season?

Normal?  I planted my vineyard in 2000.  Except for maybe 2006 and 2007...maybe 2009, I don't think I've had a "normal" year yet.  This year is looking suspiciously like last year.  Maybe this is the "New, Improved" normal!

What does the '11 crop size look like?

This is the area where I am probably still trying to figure things out.  We didn't get a late frost this year, and lots of rain early, so the crop load was heavier than usual.  I almost always do some crop thinning, Sangiovese almost demands it, however, I think after the light crop load of last year (because of the frost), I got a little greedy this year.  Perhaps the fact that I  am almost exactly in the same place as last year, without a frost event, is because I left a bit more on the vine this year than I usually do. 

Did you have to do any crop thinning this year?

I probably haven't thinned enough.  I dropped fruit once in early summer, and again about two weeks ago.  I may go through the vineyard again later this week.  by the time I'm done, I may end of dropping about 50%.

This year seems to have progressed much like last year. Are you expecting similar results?

I actually think it may be something better...assuming the weather holds up.  The saving grace last year is that although we had a couple of rain events in early, then late October, it cleared up/warmed up immediately afterward, so no problem.  We harvested MV&W on October 31st last year.  The brix were at around 22, ripeness was pretty good, not great.  This year bloom and fruit set occurred earlier (because we didn't get the late frost), so assuming the weather holds up, we may harvest on Halloween again, the brix may be around 22 again, however, the physiological ripeness factors should be improved, meaning better colors, more flavor development.

When do you expect to harvest?

I probably need the weather to hold up until the last week of October.  It did it last year. Keeping my fingers crossed

What happens if it starts raining next week?

Well, rain isn't necessarily a bad thing.  It rains a fair amount during the growing season in both France and Italy (or at least it used to). Here in the north Sierra Foothills we don't have the same issues that Napa or Sonoma have.  There, it can rain, then stay cold and foggy for days. That inevitably means rot...especially with Chardonnay.  Here, it may rain for a day or two, but then it clears up, and warms back up.  This is what happened last year, so while Napa was scrambling to pick before too much rot set in, here in the north Sierra Foothills, we were able to sit tight for another couple of weeks.  Now, if it starts raining, and doesn't stop...that's a different matter altogether.  Or if we get a frost event.  If it freezes any time between now, and near the end of October, I'm toast.

About Montoliva Vineyards & Winery

Mark Henry was one of the first to plant the prized clones of Sangiovese introduced to the U.S. by Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo in 2001, and the first to plant the southern Italian mainstay Aglianico in the North Sierra Foothills. Chicago Park, California is on the western slope of the Sierra Foothills at 2200ft elevation, about equidistance from Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. Warm summers, cool evenings and soils of decomposed granite create a very happy home for our 1820 Sangiovese and 80 Aglianico vines. This, combined with the old world tradition of close planting (4ft x 3ft), means that Montoliva Vineyard & Winery is blessed with an annual bounty of high-quality fruit.

Some of the original settlers of Chicago Park were first-generation Italian-Americans from Chicago, Illinois. The orchards and vineyards of Chicago Park bear witness to their quest to start a community in the untamed West that mirrored their homeland. Their spirit lives on at Montoliva Vineyard & Winery. Founded in 2000, Montoliva Vineyard & Winery creates Tuscan-inspired wines of uncommon depth and character

Nevada City Winery (Nevada City/Nevada County) Harvest Report

Mark Foster, winemaker for Nevada City Winery, Nevada County in the Sierra Foothills, sends along this report:


Mark Foster looking
at the grapes


"Nevada City Winery has harvested only whites to this point: Viognier, Sauvignon blanc and Gewurztraminer.  

The Sauvignon blanc numbers were perfect, but the crop was down 40% due to the late Spring frost this year. 

The Gewurztraminer came in at about 50% of estimated crop. It too had beautiful numbers and color. 

We are expecting Sangiovese and Primitivo early next week along with Chardonnay from Clarksburg.  Our local Chardonnay supplier lost most of his crop to frost too. 

It is looking like there are some varieties that may not make it this year.  I am seeing some leaf loss on older vineyards.  It has been quite hot for the last few days and the sugars are climbing and the acids seem to be holding."

About the Nevada City Winery, from their website:

"Nevada City Winery was founded in 1980 in a small garage on the outskirts of town by Allan Haley, a Nevada County native with a European wine education and a dream of bringing winemaking back to the region.  They are extremely proud of their role in revitalizing the wine industry in Nevada County and have been recognized with numerous awards.

Winemaker Mark Foster joined the Winery team in time for the ’92 crush.  As a scientist with numerous advanced degrees, he found himself seduced by the science of wine after a trip to Napa.  He went to U.C. Davis and worked towards yet another Masters degree, this time Enology.  The result was three years at Chalone followed by seven years as a winemaker at Madrona Winery before coming to Nevada City.  “First of all, for the philosophical scientist, wine is the perfect blend of art and science. My goal as a winemaker is to be creative and make great wine. Nevada City is the perfect place to blend experimentation with wonderful viticultural environment. The result? Great wines!”