Vintage Notes

A marginally warmer-than-average winter opened the 2024 growing season, allowing the buds of our white wine grapes to break during the first week of March. These slightly higher temperatures were maintained throughout spring and summer as well, with only a modest heat spell in early July deviating from the norm. Total rainfall was also slightly higher than average, and was fortunately spread evenly throughout winter and spring, allowing the soil to retain important water reserves for the warmer months. The beginning of October was occupied by the most notable heat spell of the year, which ended up helping the last red grapevines to ripen. Overall, it was a classic Napa Valley vintage, with no notable extremes.

The 2022 growing season was yet another in a string of drought years. Though our yearly rainfall was only slightly lower than average, the bulk of that rain came in October and December of 2021, while the spring of 2022 was uncharacteristically dry and gave way to a seasonably dry summer. This was followed by an intense heat wave during the first week of September, with temperatures soaring as high as 118 degrees Fahrenheit, causing a dramatic increase in our grape’s sugar levels. We were patient with our harvest, however, and allowed cooler temperatures and normal sugar levels to return before picking.

2020 was a challenging but ultimately one of the most rewarding vintages for us. One of the hottest vintages on record with multiple heat waves well over 100 degrees, vintage 2020 was also accompanied by exceptionally low rainfall: 50-60% below average. Despite the heat and drought, our vines were well prepared for the stress. Due to low rainfall in 2020, the vines prepared themselves for drought by producing less leaves, which requires less water. The heat and drought produced exceptionally low yields but with excellent quality – beautiful concentration and color in the reds.

The 2018 vintage was bountiful, marked by cool, consistent temperatures and timely rainfall in March and April for bud break. Harvest began September 10th, and the grapes were of the highest quality, with lower alcohol and high acidity.

The string of near perfect vintages continues for the fifth year, with an early budbreak and flowering, followed by sunny days and relatively mild temperatures throughout the growing season. We were able to have almost all of our grapes safely in the cellar before the valley’s first significant fall rainstorm arrived on October 14.

For the third year in a row Napa Valley experienced an exceptional vintage and near drought conditions. Budbreak came slight early and the modest temperatures through the growing season help preserve moisture. July’s relatively low temperatures coupled with high relatively humidity slowed down sugar accumulation to achieve perfect ripeness with lower alcohol. Harvest started and ended about two weeks earlier than normal, producing superb quality.

This was a wonderful vintage from start to finish, our best since 2005. We enjoyed a longer-than-average growing season, with 70 days between véraison to picking. A gentle spring allowed for textbook flowering and fruit set, followed by a long procession of warm, sunny days with no nasty heat spikes. Thanks to the excellent weather, we harvested close to 1,400 tons of grapes, averaging around 3.8 tons per acre. While this is more than average for Grgich Hills, it is more typical of Napa Valley wineries.

Cool and long sum up the vintage. Spring temperatures were below average with above average rain, pushing back budbreak by two weeks. The cool temperatures continued into summer allowing for steady but slow grape ripening until a heat spike in the end of August. September started hot then cooled off until another heat spike at the end of September brought much-needed heat to ripe red grapes. Thanks to Biodynamic farming, all of our grapes were ripe and we finishing picking just before the season’s first- significant rain on October 24th.

For the first time in 32 vintages, we did not see a drop of rain from budbreak to harvest. The growing season started with some late frosts, which we managed to escape without much damage. Temperatures were mild through the summer, except for a heat spike for a week in June. After drought conditions and relatively cool summer, harvest was jump-started with another heat spike the end of August. As a result, we had one of our shortest harvests ever—we brought everything into the winery within 30 days of starting. We harvested all of our white grapes in span of 10 days and then enjoyed a short breather before harvesting our red grapes. The vintage produced elegant wines with lower alcohol and wonderful acidity. The white wines have great aromatics and the reds wines have mature tannins. As a result of our organic and Biodynamic® farming, our vineyards were healthy throughout the entire growing season and actually increased yield, averaging about 3.3 tons per acre.

A cool vintage in general, the growing season starting with a wet winter and spring that delayed budbreak and led into a slow, even, ripening of the grapes. Then a heat spike in July helped the grapes catch up to a normal physiological ripeness followed by an unusually cool August that allowed the grapes to completely ripen without dehydrating. Thanks to our organic and Biodynamic farming, the vines remained healthy throughout the temperature swings, providing us with fully ripe, flavorful grapes.

The growing season started early and finished early. We enjoyed moderate temperatures through most of the summer until a heat spell in late August pushed harvest into overdrive so we enjoyed an early and short harvest. These conditions produced clusters with perfectly ripe small berries with concentrated flavors.

The 2002 vintage saw frost in April and then summer brought a long, mild growing season with warm days and cool nights—perfect for fine winegrowing. In late September and early October we experienced some heat spikes that sped up harvest. By carefully monitoring the grape maturity, we picked the grapes when they were perfectly ripe.

The 21st century in the Napa Valley began with a picture perfect growing season. The almost uneventful spring and summer weather pattern, every grower’s dream, produced fruit of exceptional quality. A cool, even growing season throughout, except for a three-day heat stretch of unusually high temperatures in June and ominous rain clouds in late August, led to a compact harvesting period that finished in mid-October.

An abnormally wet El Niño spring and late summer caused a poor set for the 1998 vintage crop. During the growing season, clusters also were subjected to uneven ripening and threatened with sunburn, sending growers into the vineyard, performing more hand manipulation of the vines and reducing crops. With a later-than-usual harvest, we faced the possibility of rains, but nature cooperated with a warm and sunny early autumn. Picking started in late September, went into full swing in October and reached completion in early November. The clusters, while small and low in weight, produced elegant fruit with definite personality and complexity. The juice to skin ratio was very low, which translates into extracted wines with concentrated fruit flavors.

An unseasonably warm winter with substantial rainfall launched the 1996 growing season with an early bud break. A cool spring was followed by intermittent rain during the May bloom period, causing shatter in many vineyards and reducing the potential crop size. A relatively warm summer with several heat spells speeded veraison and ripening, while a cooling trend in September allowed grape flavors to catch up with sugars, bringing the fruit into excellent balance. Smaller clusters and a light crop resulted in deeply flavored grapes, with the overall harvest down by 20-30%.

A long, cool spring followed by a cool summer produced slightly lower grape yields of richly concentrated fruit. The effects of low winter rainfall were mitigated by the combination of cool daytime temperatures and evening marine fog. The moderate temperatures were optimum for grape quality. A two-week period of hot weather at the beginning of August created some uneven coloration during veraison, and we compensated by thinning fruit to allow only the best grapes to reach maturation.

Early budbreak, followed by prolonged bloom induced by cool weather, caused uneven set, requiring cluster pruning in some varieties. June brought unseasonable rain, but worries were erased by the warm, dry weather which followed and continued through the summer. High temperatures brought a somewhat quick start to harvest in August, but a return to normally cool nights and foggy mornings allowed harvest to proceed at a more relaxed pace.

Soaking spring rains during bloom reduced the size of the crop somewhat, but the long, warm summer that followed allowed grapes to ripen uniformly and achieve near-perfect fruit maturity, acid levels and sugar content. Mild weather during harvest allowed picking to proceed at a normal pace and late rains came too late in the season to do much damage. With both red and white varietals showing excellent balance, the vintage was overall one of high quality and slightly lower quantity.