A third year in a row of intense drought and late frosts limited us to two harvests, carried out by friends and family in our community tradition. Our Shiraz was so impacted by severe frosts during the last week of April that we decided to combine what little fruit was produced with the Zinfandel harvest on the 6th and 7th of September. Two weeks later we did a second picking of Zinfandel, as well as our harvest for our Rosé. The third dry season in a row held down yields to levels even lower that the 2007 season.

A very hot summer beginning in June put pressure on the dry farm system, which we compensated for in a very limited way with once monthly deep waterings with our solar powered back up drip system. Cover crop growth was again minimal, but thanks to some good early April rains, we were able to delay the completion of the cultivation and preparation of the "dust mulch" to mid April. The summer was quite warm, with several hot spells, the La Brea fire within half mile of the vineyard in early August, and a hot August and early September. Ripening was very uniform, but with sugars on the lower side due to drought and heat stress on the plants. We harvested and crushed the Zinfandel with moderate sugars at 24.2 for the first harvest on September 6th and 7th, and 23.8 for the second pick on September 19th. Grapes for our Rosé (a blend of zinfandel (50%), Mouvedre (40%), Mission (5%), Pedro Ximenez (5%)) were also harvested on September 19th and crushed out at 21.4 brix. While the yield was very low, the quality of the grape was very high. Look for the release of the rosé in the summer of 2010 and the zinfandel (with a touch of Shiraz) in 2011.