Sierra Starr’s 2015 harvest: “One for the record books”

The 2015 growing season has been one for the record books as far as Sierra Starr Vineyard & Winery in Grass Valley is concerned, according to vineyard manager and co-winemaker Jackson Starr. Despite widespread reports of California grape yields being down as much as 50 percent in some cases, Sierra Starr enjoyed perhaps the most fruitful harvest in 20 years. What follows is Jackson’s vineyard report about what looks to be a very promising vintage for Sierra Starr Vineyards:

Spring
Our vines awoke from slumber with bud break occurring in our 37-year-old Sauvignon Blanc vines on April 1, which was 14 days ahead of 2014 and around 3.5 weeks ahead of average (whatever that is anymore). We have a later bud break date than most of California, so this year we avoided much of the spring thunderstorm and moisture issues that negatively affected bloom, and therefore vineyard yields, throughout the state.

Summer
A warm to hot summer followed allowing fruit set and maturation to progress extremely smoothly, without any issues. Thanks to the help of a few brave souls, our vineyard was de-suckered and shoot thinned in a timely manner, allowing all the vines energy to focus on fruit maturation.

Because our wells have held up nicely during this record drought (“knock knock”) , our vines did not suffer any significant water stress and were able to bring our fruit to ideal ripeness. Thankfully we were spared experiencing any fire or smoke damage from the numerous wildfires occuring in Northern California this summer.

Harvest
Our harvest began earlier than usual, August 14, with our Sauvignon Blanc. The fruit, picked at ideal ripeness over a 3-day period, attained a lovely balance of ripeness and acidity. Our Zinfandel harvest began on September 8, and although these wines have barely been put to barrel, we are very pleased with the dark colors and spicy flavors.

The Cabernet Franc picking began on October 2, which is about average for this varietal here at Sierra Starr. We believe this varietal was not early this year due to the fact that it was hanging a considerably larger crop than normal, naturally delaying ripening a bit. We were immediately struck by the color and flavor intensity of this variety and were anxious to get it in the winery to see what we had.

Results
Looking more closely at our yields we saw our totals up a whopping 17 percent on average. Our lowest increase being Zinfandel up around 9 percent and largest increase being Sauvignon Blanc, up around 20 percent.

We attribute this increase to three things: warm dry spring with no threats to bloom; dryer and warmer conditions in our lower lying vineyard blocks, which are normally challenged with cold and frost; and extensive shoot thinning and green harvesting. This increase will put our yields to about three tons per acre.

Sierra Starr is very pleased with the potential of the 2015 vintage, and we look forward to presenting our customers with outstanding quality, varietal clarity and a sense of place.

(Photo: Jackson Starr by SierraFoodWineArt magazine and SierraCulture.com)