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2007 Harvest notes
Brooks Family Vineyard

Well it started out as an early year with bud break and bloom (flowering) almost 2 weeks ahead of normal. The winter before had been dry and for the first time in years we failed to fill our irrigation pond. Fortunately most of the summer was moderate, probably the coolest season in the last 5 years, so water demands were reduced and we projected an early harvest, around the first of October. While Bernie and I were off at Burning Man, we had our only ";Burning Vine”; week with some really hot temperatures. On our return we harvested the Pinotage block (you can taste this when you visit) that we make for the family. It was at 28Brix with some intense flavors. We put the water to the Cabernet Sauvignon vines and the weather cooperated as Napa cooled off significantly. Late September was almost cold and things slowed down quite a bit. For a variety of reasons the Cabernet began to show some stress and so we dropped a little crop.
This year we picked the vineyard in three separate passes. First we harvested the terraces on Oct. 4th and the small block in front of the house (clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon). Then we did a second pass on Friday the 5th of the terraces. On Sunday the 7th we picked the ";flats"; in back of the house including the Cabernet Franc. Total harvest was 3.7 Tons or 1.5 tons per acre, much lighter than 2005 and 2006.

The fruit was crushed into five separate T bins and cold soaked for 1-3 days and we inoculated the fruit on October 6th. The free run from the terraces and flats have been kept separate and the press wine has been consolidated. Looks like Brooks Family Vineyard will produce about 240 cases for 2007. The small fermentation lots and the smooth primary fermentation along with small cluster and berries have us all hoping for a great vintage.

WFB

Cabernet Sauvignon-The 2006 harvest was normal at about 2.8 tons per acre ; and occured on October 20th. ; Of course walking the vineyard and tasting the fruit is a key factor in the harvest decision but there is some great technology out there for looking at the wine ";molecule by molecule "; and the results we got back from those tests indicate the highest levels of Color and Tanin we've ; ever seen-so far so good. ; The wine is barreled down in a mixture of new and 1 year old french oak.

Nebiollo- The 2006 harvest occurred in early November , that's nebbiolo for you you've got to be patient. The wine has fabulous structure and it looks to be a good year.