We caught up with Cole Ballentine, winemaker at William Cole Vineyards in St. Helena in Napa Valley to see how harvest was going. They are about 1/3 done for 2022 with mountain fruit still coming in. We asked him what vintage 2022 reminds him of. Spoiler alert: It was a really good vintage!  

Mild weather has slowed the tempo of harvest from a sprint to a leisurely stroll as growers bring in their last blocks. “Weather conditions remain close to perfect which is certainly making for a relaxing walk to the finish line,” reports Alexander Eisele from Chiles Valley. “Beautiful fruit, nice flavors, just lower than average yields.” Read the full article…

On Thursday September 29, we met up with Matt Brain, the winemaker at Alpha Omega, to get his take on the 2022 growing season, what he saw in the valley and his expectation for his 2022 wines.

Yesterday, we caught up with Matt Reid, winemaker at Benessere, to see how their Aglianico is doing this year. Being a grape used to hot weather, the heat of early September seems to have only made those grapes happier!

read the article at St Helena Star