2008 Glos McDowell Vineyards
We harvested our least amount of fruit in 2008— the old vines suffered from the dry spring, and fruit set was diminished by frost and late spring rains. We made less than a half barrel. But it was by far the best wine since 2005. One factor was the purchase of a new sulfur spray rig by the McDowell family; another was probably the very low crop load. Laslty, we harvested the fruit more rationally but less romantically than we have in the past.:in 2006 and 2007, we decided that the southern section of the vineyard was ripening much more quickly than the northern section, and we also wanted to harvest the whole vineyard under the full moon. As a result, we harvested the southern section a little earlier than we would have just for fruit quality, and the northern section a little later— so that we could do them 28 days apart, each on a full moon. Silly.
This year, the McDowell family harvested the fruit themselves, and they harvested the vineyard all at once—during the day. Their care more than made up for the loss of moonlight at harvest. The result is a beautiful, rich, fresh wine that sings of the special vineyard.
About 14 cases hand-bottled by johanna and graeme