Harvest Journal 2025
SEPTEMBER 23, 2025
It's time for the "heavy-hitters": Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Petite Sirah. Cabernet Franc was the first to the winery from this group, with nearly ten tons picked in 9D on Friday, 9/19.
We were back to work on Monday 9/22 with Petite Sirah— crushing eight tons of the dark and richly-colored grapes. Tuesday, 9/23, we brought in the first of the Cabernet for the year from Block 16B. Very pretty fruit!
As of today's pick, we are well over halfway, with 36% of of our 114 acres left to harvest. The weather has been perfect, with just enough heat to give the remaining fruit the nudge it needs to finish ripening. We're in the home stretch now!
Cabernet Sauvignon from Block 16B, September 23, 2025
SEPTEMBER 15, 2025
The last Zin of 2025 was picked in Blocks 12 and 29 on Friday, 9/12, bringing us just past the halfway point of harvest for the year, with Bordeaux varieties, Mission and Petite Sirah remaining. The action is all downstairs for the moment, where fermentations from the first half of picking are being cold-soaked and coaxed to completion.
As the red wines finish their bubbling and reach dryness, the free-run wine is put into barrels for aging, and the skins and seeds are scooped out and pressed, then spread back in the vineyard to help nourish future vintages.
SEPTEMBER 10-11, 2025
The Zin pick continues, with Block 22 coming in on Wednesday, and Block 28 on Thursday. Though they are right next to each other on the far southern edge of the Ranch, and share the same soil and elevation, there are a couple of important differences. There's a slight age difference: Block 22 celebrates its 30th birthday this year, while Block 28 has a few more years to go to reach that mark, planted in 1998.
Second, there's a difference in plant material: Block 22 is FPS (Foundation Plant Services- the plant gene databank at UC Davis) Clone 2, the same clone we planted in Block 7. By contrast, the original budwood cuttings for Block 28 were taken from the Zinfandel vines on the Brandlin Ranch, originally planted on Mt. Veeder in 1926.
For a few vintages in the early 1990s, by agreement with his fellow farmer, George Hendry made a bottling from the Brandlin's gnarled vines. When the vineyard was sold, he was able to take cuttings for the Hendry Ranch. As is the case with so many things George has done, it was an experiment that sought to answer an important question: was the rich and rustic character of the Brandlin fruit due to its mountain location, or was the distinctive character part of the fundamental genetic makeup of the vines? If you've tasted them side by side, you know the answer!
SEPTEMBER 9, 2025
Let the Zin begin! Tuesday's light rain accompanied the first Zinfandel of the year, from the 50-year-old vines in Block 7. Grapes harvested this year so far total just over 150 tons and counting.
Harvest 2025 so far is...like buttah... After a brief hot spell that came to a close at the end of last week, the season's moderate temperatures returned, giving us the leisure of plotting our next moves. The characteristics of the fruit so far this year reflect the mild, warm conditions: abundant, intact, beautifully-formed fruit with very few severely dried or otherwise damaged berries.
One of the things that is really cool about Hendry is our crew. We're a pretty small operation, with just two people full-time in the cellar, and fewer than a dozen working in the vineyard. There's a lot of experience out there, including people who have worked on the Hendry Ranch for 30 years, and even longer. The fruit that makes it into the winery is the result of careful planting, pruning, thinning and care by this year-round team. Throughout the growing season, they've already set the stage so that they are bringing in beautiful fruit—fruit that belongs in the wine, makes sorting a simple process, and winemaking a joy.
SEPTEMBER 8, 2025
The winery is abuzz with activity this morning! The air is full of the aromas of bubbling fermentations and grapes being crushed. The final three blocks of Albariño came in on Thursday and Friday, and are literally chilling in their tanks. Vials and pitchers of pretty pink Pinot Noir samples are being shuttled from the winery to the lab.
Meanwhile, Primitivo grapes from our next pick, Blocks 10 and 24, are rumbling in to the winery upstairs, and the tasty sweet juice is already being pulled out downstairs for our next rosé!
Our winery may not be fancy, but it is smart: it's set up so that gravity does the work, without pumps. The incline sorting table and crusher-destemmer on wheels roll right up to each tank on the second floor, so that the crushed grapes go directly into the top of the tank. The saignée juice can be strained directly into our stainless steel rosé "shopping cart," from the spout downstairs. Later, when the fermentations are finished, barrels can just as easily be filled downstairs with free-run wine. Gravity-flow = efficient + easy on the grapes (more control for the winemaker) + less energy.
SEPTEMBER 3, 2025
Today, we picked the last of the Chardonnay for the year in Block 9E. We'll finish the Albariño, and then it's on to the reds, with Primitivo looking likely as the next grape to be picked. Cooler weather this week will give us a chance to check the sugars again and make a plan for the next round. The fruit is looking great so far, and we are chugging right along...
SEPTEMBER 2, 2025
Happy Labor Day to all those who labor! It was HOOOOTTTTT this weekend, so the crew spread out and pulled grape samples from all over the Ranch to check the sugars in the remaining blocks. The decision was then made to bring in Block 13 Merlot, which was at 25º Brix, today. The fruit was pretty pristine: intact grapes with very few raisins or damage, and zero juice running back into the bin.
So far, we've picked all of the Pinot Noir, one block of Albariño, both blocks of Merlot, and all but one block of Chardonnay, with the last one, 9E scheduled for tomorrow, September 3. The high temperature is predicted to drop from yesterday's mid-90s to the upper 70s by next weekend, (whew!) so that should slow things back down, not to mention being a big relief for all.
AUGUST 29, 2025
The 2025 harvest so far: Nearly perfect, slightly cool weather marked the majority of the 2025 growing season. Our first round of sugar samples in mid-August showed Pinot Noir in Block 4A and Chardonnay in both 19 and 20 all contending for first pick. It was anyone's guess!
After a week of warmer temperatures, Block 19 finally prevailed, and the first fruit of the vintage was brought in on August 21st. Block 4A was right behind, sandwiching Pinot Noir between the two Chardonnays, with Block 20 rounding out the week. Our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir blocks continued to alternate through the end of this week, with some very pretty, and very tasty fruit coming into the winery from 5A and 6. Continued mild weather expected through the first week of September will hopefully allow us time to get the fermentations going, and some of the wines barreled down, before the next round of picking in the Primitivo and Zinfandel blocks.
