WINERY & HARVEST UPDATE…FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH

Caitlin Pianetta – Winemaker

• First Grape Crushed Date: September 7, 2022

• Varietals Brought In: 8

• Vineyards Harvested From: 6

• Total tonnage crushed… and eventually pressed: 35 tons

• Last Grape Crush Date: October 3, 2022 (roughly 4 weeks earlier than our normal “end” date).

• Final Barreling Date: December 30, 2022** **Due to equipment breakdowns… and a lot of frustration.

This harvest began with such positive outlook, which, as “Murphy’s Law” always dictates, is, of course, too good to be true. As you know our growing season started off in a very positive light. Even with the above average AND consistent temperatures through the summer and early fall, we still felt very optimistic on quality.

Then the grapes decided to take on “ideas of their own.”

Needless to say, the most challenging aspect of this year’s harvest was trying to stay in tune with each vineyard and varietal (as it normally tends to be), however, due to weather, water and other factors… our biggest challenge was keeping up with the vineyard’s schedule.

One of the biggest benefits… if not the “best” benefit of being a small winery, is the flexibility to bring grapes in on short notice, especially if they are at their most optimum potential.

We always stress the fact the Pianetta wines are “site specific” from vineyards we select for their specialized farming practices, which then are fostered

through our barrel process for optimum flavor and varietal expression. These principles have been the foundation of our winemaking style and will never change for our brand. What you will notice is subtle vintage differences due to factors of each vintage year which include a myriad of elements…

including: farming techniques, water quality and availability, weather fluctuations late and/or early freezes, abnormally high temperatures, wind intensity, rainfall, timing of said weather conditions, as well as other unexpected environmental factors.

Overall, in a nutshell. Our “harvest” timeline was one of the shortest we had ever seen. However, as mentioned before, things rarely work as smooth as we hope. The good news is that we were able to get the grapes off the vine on time and received some amazing quality fruit during a very difficult harvest atmosphere.

When our hopes showed us bright lights of being able to enjoy the holidays in a much more relaxed manner, as mentioned above… murphy’s law took over. This year our challenge stemmed from unexpected equipment failures delaying the final days for wrapping up the barreling of our 2022 harvest season to December 30th, 2022.

But… as always… the silver lining I see is that we were able to scramble enough early and frequently enough this harvest season to be VERY happy with the quality of fruit we received.

Long story short… I cannot wait to share the 2022 vintage wines with you all…. More to come!! Special Thanks to our founder, my father, John Pianetta for his persistent (yet sometimes grumbling submission) but dedication to our parallel ambition of producing wines to represent the ground. Thanks Dad!!