Summer on the Hill
Ever wonder what is going on in the vineyards during the summer?
If you visited Stemilt Hill today, you would find cherry harvest in full swing: people harvesting cherries while tractors and semi-trucks bumble along the winding roads with full bins of cherries in tow to take to the Stemilt warehouse.
Nestled in the middle of the cherry blocks, Stemilt Creek’s beautiful vineyard crawls down the sloping hillsides.
The vines are full of green, ripening bunches of wine grapes.
So far this summer is looking to be a good year for wine grapes! The summer season started off cool and slow. We had a really hot spell and then it cooled off again. Even though we’ve had a dry spell, we’ve been pretty smoke free in the Wenatchee Valley. These are all good signs for the development of the wine grapes!
The grapes need heat to grow and ripen. However, too much heat can stress the vines and shutdown development temporarily during the day. The acidity also decreases with heat that lingers into the night, causing the wine to taste bland. Dry weather means less mildew concerns which is a great benefit of growing grapes in the Wenatchee Valley.
Between the middle and end of August the grapes pass through a key point of development termed “veraison”, which refers to the onset of ripening indicated by the change of color in grape berries. This is seen easiest in red grapes, when roughly 50% of the grapes on the clusters show red or black coloration. Veraison provides us with a very good indicator of the harvest windows for each variety and our harvest yields.
While the grapes continue to develop, our winemaker, Seth, tops barrels off for future bottling and keeps an eye on the progression of veraison and berry development in the different varieties.
The careful process from vine to bottle is a patient game. We are excited to bring you along our journey from vineyard to tasting room!
Cheers!
Post and Photos by Madison Nicole