Harvest in Wine Country

If you’ve been paying attention to the Wine Country at all, I’m sure you’ve heard that this year’s weather has wreaked havoc on our harvest season. Cold, foggy summer mornings delayed the ripening of the grapes. This caused many growers to cut back the leaves to give the grapes more direct sunlight. A three day heat wave in August of temperatures over 100 sunburned a lot of grapes in the area, creating huge losses (including our own Zinfandel; we lost all of it this year). Even vineyards not affected by the sunburn were weeks behind in harvesting. While this caused a lot of worry for wine makers, wanting to get everything in before the rains this weekend, it actually created a longer harvest season for guests to experience.

While we aren’t busy harvesting grapes, harvest is still a busy for us at the Inn, with lots of great guests staying during this amazing time of the year. I did manage to get away from the Inn to experience a couple awesome harvest parties however!

At Michel-Schlumberger, I was lucky enough to be able to attend one of their harvest luncheons, catered by Jeff and Susan Mall from Zin Restaurant. We began with a tour through the vineyards with owner Jacque. It is clear from first meeting Jacque that he is passionate about what he does, from running the winery to keeping his bees. We were really fortunate to receive this tour from him! He led us through the vines, letting us eat grapes right off the vine! There were even “secret” stations of wine set up, so we could actually drink the wine out in the vines the wine started from! This was such a neat experience, getting to see (and taste) the wine in so many different stages, from grape to barrel to glass. In the barrel room, we also got to taste their just harvested Pinot Gris, which I have to say was amazing!

After the tour, we were seated at a table shaded by a huge oak tree; a completely serene location to enjoy more excellent wines, and begin our lunch. Since we’d arrived, we could smell the house made Jambalaya cooking in a pot right on the patio, but first we started with a salad, complete with Eastside Farm award winning tomatoes. The delectable main course was the Jambalaya, also featuring the home grown tomatoes. We ended with an amazing flourless chocolate cake. While some guests admitted defeat and left some cake on their plate, I made the Mall’s proud by finishing every dish, and with pleasure!

Michel Schlumberger hosts these Harvest Luncheons Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in September and October, featuring local restaurants and chefs, and if you’re in the area for one, I would 100% recommend a reservation, you won’t regret it!

I also found time to make it to Dutcher Crossing's annual Oktoberfest (post and pictures to follow soon), but there were so many options I couldn't enjoy them all! Mauritson, for example, is hosting harvest tours Saturdays in October and November. There were also endless choices for wine maker dinners, harvest parties, etc. It's such a wonderful time here in Healdsburg!