From California to Oregon...Harvest is Underway!
"Every vintage presents new challenges and 2020 is no exception. I am thankful for the talented men and women who we work with everyday; and the collective intelligence and passion they possess to help our wineries find the creative ideas and resourcefulness to overcome any crisis. More than ever, I believe humanity these days needs wine -- for the connection it brings to the natural world and to our friends." - Sashi Moorman
Harvest looks a little different this year. Like with many parts of our lives in 2020, we've had to get creative, think outside the box and at times force ourselves out of our comfort zones to find solutions for challenges we never thought we would face. But at the end of the day, Mother Nature doesn't wait! The Lompoc harvest is nearly complete, and the vineyards in Oregon that follow closely and patiently behind are finally ready.
The term “work-family” has been taken to a whole new level this year. The team of winemakers that have been working harvest in Lompoc are not only spending long days working together, but they’re also living together! Winemakers do tend to see their families less during harvest, but this year the sacrifice is bigger. It’s a complete commitment to the harvest - and to the safety of their coworkers. The show must go on. Luckily, sanitation has always been a pretty big ‘thing’ for wineries. So we’re covered on that one.
The plan for the harvest in Oregon is similar. A selection of the winemakers that have been laboring to produce wines for Evening Land’s sister wineries in California are traveling to the Eola-Amity Hills to take on the next wave of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. They are properly scrubbed in, well-seasoned and prepared to hit the ground running. The differences they will experience in the winery with the grapes they’ve worked with in California will be representative of the complexities and nuances in the finished wines from the two vastly different areas.
“2020 can be defined as a Roller-Coaster year. A wet spring resulted in small yields. That might be a blessing in disguise. It should end up being a great vintage. Mother Nature always shows the way." - Raj Parr
Yes, harvest does look different this year in many ways and there are many unique challenges. But much like any other vintage, the long days of hard work envelop our lives in a way that is unique and beautiful, and we wouldn’t trade it for anything else.