Harvest 2023: Syrah

Standing at the winery at Freed Estate, looking toward the river. The building you see is a gazebo we call “the cook shack.”

We harvested Syrah from Freed Estate Vineyard and Melrose Vineyard in Umpqua Valley, Oregon. It was a tough experience, to say the least.

I found out about a week before we harvested the Syrah that the ton I was promised was not going to happen. Another buyer had been promised an amount of tonnage, and they dipped into mine and left me with only about half a ton. I was pretty upset. I had been so looking forward to making Syrah from these grapes my father loved so much. It really hit on some childhood wounds that I won’t get into here. But things felt slightly better when I asked my brother how he would feel if he were me, and he answered that he’d feel pretty upset. He started making calls to try to secure me another half ton. He was able to secure it from Melrose Vineyard. It was disappointing in a number of ways. It wouldn’t be the same as what I imagined it being, and it would be machine-harvested fruit, very likely a lesser quality. But it was better than nothing.

The Syrah + Me

Steve and my brother Bryan picking Syrah.

My mom and the Syrah.

We drove down on the 18th and picked the Freed Estate Syrah on the 19th, leaving it in the cold winery overnight so we could get the Melrose grapes on the 20th and return home. The Melrose grapes took all day, and we weren’t a part of it. My brother drove there to pick up the grapes, and we stayed behind and waited for him to come back.

It turned out the grapes we were supposed to get had too much rot, so they opted to hand pick from another block of better-quality Syrah. This meant the process took a lot of the day, and we had a lot of annoyed texts from the winemaker in charge of us about it. I did my best to roll with it, but being subject to other people’s bullshit drama is not something I’ve had to deal with much since I’ve worked for myself for most of my adult life. Other people’s bullshit drama is a big reason why I work for myself.

Anyway, we finally got back to AVP around 7pm and did what needed to be done that evening. We came back today around 9am to continue processing the grapes.

Steve doing punchdowns.

Ready for samples.

She sure is a pretty color.

Having a moth in your wine is prety metal.