Schramsberg Vineyards
Spring has sprung in the Napa Valley and beyond. After a few days of beautiful summer-like weather our vineyards made some major progress in budbreak and we’re starting to see those buds pushing their wooly heads out of the previously dormant canes. We’ve had some much needed rain in February and March and it looks like that will continue into April. They do say that April showers bring May flowers, so we’re going to be counting on a beautiful floral show here on Diamond Mountain.
The way we know it’s spring in the winery is twofold. The first sign is the ice building up on the outside of the tanks as our wines undergo cold stabilization. This is the process in which we chill the wines down to freezing temperatures to ensure that the tartaric acid found in the wine is precipitated out of solution. For those who are a few years past high school chemistry, we’re making crystals form on the inside of the tanks by chilling the wine down. Interestingly enough, those crystals are the basis of cream of tartar which is used in baking. We keep the wines this cold until we blend them and this guarantees that when you chill down a bottle of Schramsberg sparkling, that those same tartrate crystals will not form inside the bottle.
The other sign of spring is the sound of clinking bottles being filled by our tirage bottling line. As is the case at the end of March each year, our caves are the emptiest they will be until next year. From the start of April forward, we’ll be working on filling up all of the areas we’ve emptied over the past year and bottling all of the 2024 vintage. We have about 1.5 million bottles to fill and stack somewhere in the caves before the end of June. Keep in mind, these aren’t projected to start being available until 2027, so some patience will be required before you see them in the Visitor’s Center.
So if you’re visiting us in the coming months, please forgive the carts rushing by full of bottles and the sounds of stacking in the caves, it’s a little busy in there this time of year, but it’s all part of the process.
Davies Vineyards
Spring season has hit, and the early-early morning air at the cellar door is a rush of aromas… vanilla, marshmallow, chocolate, and Christmas spices, as steam gushes out of freshly emptied wine barrels getting their rigorous maintenance. At the same time the Davies Whiteboard task list is loaded with housekeeping, cleaning, light wine packaging, and the ongoing to-dos for Pinot and Cab barrels aging quietly in the din of the barrel room fans.
However, the tempo is going to pick up, because around the corner in April, the cellar crew will begin climbing the barrel stacks, wine thieves in hand, pulling close to 150 sample bottles representing all the 2023 Cabernets. The Winemaking team have the dates set aside to evaluate and classify these lots and in the following weeks and provide a roadmap to assemble initial blends. By months end, wines will be racked, blended, and put back to barrel to coalesce before our early-July bottling run.
And finally, with an eye toward the 2025 Vintage and crop estimates finalized, we are confirming the last few barrel orders for the season in anticipation of the new round of wines that will need a home come September and October.
