Skip to Main Content
Search

A Harvest Preview: Organic and Extraordinary?

Harvest Predictions

As we approach the har­vest at Thibido Vine­yard, Josh shares some insight into what has been a remark­able year for the vines. Now in its sec­ond year of cer­ti­fi­ca­tion by the Cal­i­for­nia Cer­ti­fied Organ­ic Farm­ers (CCOF), Thibido Vine­yard con­tin­ues to out­do itself year after year with vibrant canopies, con­cen­trat­ed fruit and the promise of anoth­er bril­liant vintage.

Winter To Spring

The 2024 grow­ing sea­son began with a strong start, thanks to anoth­er favor­able rain sea­son. Although the win­ter start­ed warm, it even­tu­al­ly cooled to allow the vines to go dor­mant and then ush­ered in wel­come rains. As spring arrived, it brought with it a long, cool peri­od, per­fect for gen­tly awak­en­ing the vine­yard from its slum­ber. This slow start to the grow­ing sea­son allowed the vines to ease into their nat­ur­al cycle, with con­sis­tent growth through­out the year.

Summer Heat

Unlike the typ­i­cal hot Paso Rob­les sum­mer, this year’s grow­ing sea­son was marked by mod­er­ate tem­per­a­tures, with only one sig­nif­i­cant heat wave. Our Rhone vari­eties, known for their resilience in heat, have thrived in these con­di­tions. With care­ful canopy man­age­ment, we’ve main­tained healthy shade for our grapes, pro­tect­ing them from sun damage.

While clus­ter counts are on par with last year, the clus­ters them­selves are small­er, sug­gest­ing an aver­age to light yield for the 2024 har­vest. This reduc­tion in yield is not a cause for con­cern; rather, it sig­nals a sea­son of more bal­anced ripen­ing, result­ing in high­er qual­i­ty fruit and even more deli­cious wine. This year’s lighter crop load also means less stress on the vines, set­ting them up for con­tin­ued health in the years to come.

Farming and Wine

Metic­u­lous soil man­age­ment and organ­ic farm­ing prac­tices have played a cru­cial role in with­stand­ing the sum­mer’s heat with min­i­mal irri­ga­tion, ensur­ing that our vines receive just the right amount of water. I spend count­less hours ensur­ing that our irri­ga­tion is effi­cient and effec­tive. Gib­sey might say that it’s obses­sive, but in my opin­ion it’s farm­ing done right.

As we pre­pare to har­vest the fruit this fall, I’m real­ly excit­ed for this excep­tion­al fruit to go to bot­tle and even­tu­al­ly reach your glass to illus­trate the unique char­ac­ter of the 2024 grow­ing sea­son. The com­bi­na­tion of bal­anced ripen­ing, small­er clus­ters, low yields and a com­mit­ment to organ­ic prac­tices promis­es to deliv­er wines of superb qual­i­ty, embody­ing the essence of Thibido Vineyard.