Other plans

July had a plan. Marketing strategy, the first AERILYN social posts, CRM demonstrations, sample labels, compliance work, space planning for the warehouse. Harvest would come in mid to late August.

It didn't happen that way.

We knew the season was running ahead of last year. I expected to finish a few more projects before heading to California. Instead, I changed my flights.

Last year, our first pick came on August 22. This year, it came on July 17.

On July 1, Alisa predicted harvest would start the week of July 20. She was within two days. She is thirty harvests in, and I should have known to pay close attention.

For traditional method sparkling wine, timing shapes every decision. We look for three things to converge: sugar between 17.5 and 19.5 Brix, with a target of 18.5, the acidic backbone of pH between 2.9 and 3.2 to carry the wines through years of aging, and ripe fruit flavors in the vineyard. The numbers narrow the window. Taste makes the call.

Our first pick of harvest 2026 was Chardonnay from a stunning coastal vineyard new to our program. The decision came on July 14, when Alisa tasted the fruit, tested the Brix, and sent a simple text: "Let's pick. Friday."

Three days later, the crew arrived at 4:00 a.m. and moved through the rows, hand-harvesting the most beautiful clusters.

After pressing, the numbers confirmed the decision: pH 2.94, TA 12.0, roughly 11% potential alcohol. On spec at every measure.

In seven days, we completed four picks across four vineyards. Pinot Noir, Meunier, and Chardonnay all came in during a narrow window. Smaller lots were pressed at a friend's winery before the juice returned to our main production facility for settling and fermentation. Press cuts were decided by taste as the juice came off the press.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I noticed something.

For the first time in three harvests, I realized how many women are shaping these wines. Alisa leads my winemaking and cellar operations. An all-women crew picked the Meunier. At the new coastal vineyard, the entire farming leadership team is women. I spent more than thirty years in operations leadership, and this is the first time I have looked around at something I built and seen women carrying so much of it.

Four base wines are cold fermenting in a combination of neutral oak and stainless steel barrels. The cellar has grown quieter. John Sebastiano Vineyard, our fifth and final pick, is still hanging. The fog returned at the end of July, temperatures cooled, and ripening slowed.

The harvest arrived early. The final decision still belongs to the vineyard.

Ever curious,
Tammee