Harvest Timing: Landing on the Ship at Just the Right Moment

“Harvest only gives us one chance each year. The question is, how do we know when it’s the right moment to pick the grapes?“ by Chad

Harvest feels less like docking a calm ship in harbor and more like trying to land a jet on a moving aircraft carrier. The window is narrow, the deck is shifting, and you only get one chance to stick the landing.

For years, I’d hear winemakers say, “You just know when it’s ready.” Back when I was at Ste. Michelle, I honestly thought, how the heck do they know? It sounded more like mysticism than farming.

Fast forward to our Estate Chardonnay. Clone 95, grown right here, farmed regeneratively. That was the first time I experienced it. I was walking the rows, tasting berries, and it wasn’t just numbers on the page, it was the balance. That magical tension between acidity and sugars that makes the fruit sing. And in that moment, I got it. This is what they were talking about.

That day with our Estate Chardonnay (the 2024 vintage just sold out) was also a reminder of how much Jeana and I rely on each other in these moments. I tend to come at it as the farmer, watching the weather, tracking numbers, looking for patterns in the vineyard. Jeana brings the winemaker’s lens, tasting for balance, structure, and imagining what the juice will become in the cellar. It’s a constant back-and-forth. One of us might say, “Let’s give it a few more days,” while the other says, “No, this is the moment.” And in that tension, in that partnership, is where we find the sweet spot. We’re learning to land the ship together.

Part of what makes it so fascinating is how complex grapes really are. Compared to an apple (15-30) or a cherry (25-35), which might carry a handful of flavors, wine grapes contain hundreds of natural compounds (over 1,000). Each one has the potential to show up later in the glass. That mix of sugars and acids I was tasting wasn’t just “sweet vs. tart,” it was the foundation for layers of citrus, stone fruit, floral, even nutty or mineral notes waiting to emerge in fermentation.

Now, if you’ve tasted with us, you know we don’t go crazy listing off every possible flavor. That’s not our style. We’d rather let you discover what you enjoy in the glass without complicating it. But here’s the thing, the reason wine feels so alive, and so different from vintage to vintage, comes back to that moment in the vineyard when we decide to land on the ship.

Since then, every harvest has been a chance to refine. One year a touch leaner, another year with more weight, each vintage is a teacher. None of it wasted, all of it building to the next decision.

So when you sip our Estate Chardonnay, you’re tasting more than grapes from our farm in Lake Chelan. You’re tasting that aha moment, the first time I truly understood what “ready” meant, and the quiet complexity that comes from picking at just the right time.

Cheers,