Winemaker James Schreiner has a new nickname this harvest season—we’re calling him the “Limestone Cowboy.”
It’s a name James earned from all of the time he spends tromping around the calcareous slopes of our Willow Creek District estates, deciding when to pick the fruit.
Naturally, when we caught up with him for an early report on the 2024 harvest, his boots were covered with limestone powder from our To the Moon estate vineyard. Here’s what we learned:
EARLY RETURNS
The harvest is happening much earlier than last year, thanks to a warm, steady summer and lower yields. “We’re about 25 percent of the way there already,” James says. “Nearly all of our eastside Zinfandel is picked, and we’re picking Merlot and Viognier at To the Moon Vineyard right now. We’ll be getting into the eastside Cabernet shortly.”
He adds, “The flavors are tasting great early on, the Merlot we just picked has small berries and it’s high in color and concentration. The recent cooling trend was a blessing, we’ve got nice Brix, acidity and flavors coming along.”
A TALE OF TWO SIDES
We farm estates on the east (Estrella District) and west (Willow Creek District) sides of Paso Robles. The eastside is a warmer growing environment and the fruit typically ripens earlier compared to our vineyards in the westside coastal mountains.
This year, however, the ripening gap between these two areas is unusually pronounced. “We have lighter crop loads in the eastside vineyards and everything is coming on fast and early,” James says. “But in the Willow Crick District, the fruit is hanging out and ripening much more slowly. Normally, the spread between the two areas is closer, but this year is unorthodox.”
James and Assistant Winemaker Skye Bruce will happily take it this way. “We’ll get this big first turn in the winery. A lot of the early eastside picks will be fermented and racked to barrels by the time a lot of the westside fruit is saying ‘Pick me!’ It’ll give us a bit of a breather and make the logistics of the crush easier to manage.”
Stay tuned for more harvest intel as the season unfolds at the Opolo estates!
