Montesi Vineyard LLC

So the vineyard has transformed! All of this vineyard renewal from bare leafless vines to hanging clusters in just slightly less than three months is amazing. Take a look!

It’s hard to believe that less than 5 weeks ago these vines were totally bare. It’s been a very nice cool spring with good amounts of rainfall for the year. The vine canopy looks really good and hoping that it continues to develop. It will be a few weeks before the new crop sets fruit.

2019 Harvest completed! Quantities were down from the 2018 harvest. Total harvest of 8 tons was down from 9 tons in 2018. I’ve been told told that it’s not unusual to have fluctuations in yields due to various reasons from year to year. We had a really long cool spring requiring a longer hang time to reach optimal flavor. The 2019 harvest was 5 weeks later than 2016 and 2017 harvests and three weeks later than 2018.

Taking the bird netting off the 70 vine, head trained block that will be used to make Anita’s Cuvée III. The vines are on heavy steel stakes planted in a 6 feet by 6 feet pattern. We had an amazing yield, slightly over 1,000 pounds. Thanks to neighbors John Zamora, Gary and Eileen LaRochelle and special guest Nephew Josh Streckert just a day after being discharged from the USMC, via Camp Pendleton California for helping to harvest these heavy vines.

Well veraison is nearing completion for 2019 where the fruit color has changed from green to a blueish purple. I tasted a grape yesterday and it was still pretty sour. The ripening process during the next six weeks will turn the sour grape into a sugar bomb and ready for harvest.

The vines are cranking and the berry size is probably about 50% of total maturity on many. This has been the mildest spring and summer since we have been here, sixth growing season. The canopies are heavy creating a nice shading for when the late summer blistering heat and sun can be damaging. Keeping our fingers crossed.

The 2019 vintage is on the way! Within the last 2 weeks the vines have flowered and the new berries are showing! It’s late this year due to the cool spring but the canopies are looking very good.

Yesterday we had rain and a cool rainbow. Today we had hail but no hailbow.

Rainbow and rain over the vineyard

We had our first wine tasting of the first vintage of Anita’s Cuvée with family in Memphis. The event was totally over the top, the wine showed well and tasted great. There were cousins in attendance that I haven’t seen in years. I want to thank my brother Louis and his wife Tish for hosting and special thanks to Michael Alley for being a force in initiating the event planning with Janet Ticer, Tish Montesi and Anita Old

Bottling completed. Bad news is the wine could be in bottle shock for 3 months or longer due to the harsh handling in the bottling process. All wine handles it differently and we will be monitoring it periodically. It was tasting pretty darn good today and I was getting compliments from seasoned winery workers. Like I said the winemaker was cautioning on the effects of bottle shock that may not show up for a couple of weeks. I know, it’s weird but it’s part of the process.

Ok, after much interest, here’s the back label.

We are scheduled to finally bottle our 2016 vintage next Tuesday!! It’s been a long road. The back label is even cooler than the front. I’m keeping it as a surprise for now.