The High Point of Harvest Season

It’s surely Harvest time here at Chrysalis and the workload has been nonstop. Starting at the first of last month, we pulled in around 5.5 tons of Albariño for our Albariño Verde wine. The fermentation went smoothly and the wine really personifies that Vinho Verde style. The rest of the Albariño followed just a couple of weeks later and proved to be just as delicious. 

Probably the leading topic was the decision to bring in our Fer Servadou for our Tximeleta wine. Due to some weather constraints, we decided to pick the fruit earlier than initially intended. The fruit was beautiful, but just a little less ripe, which proved advantageous, because the color seems to be spot on. It’s still just a bit early to see the end results, but once the fermentation ends, and the lees settle to the bottom we will have a better indication of its final characteristics.   

While we wait on the Tximeleta to finish fermentation, we’ve turned our focus to Viognier. The fruit looks amazing, but the flavor is just a little too green for our liking. If you will remember last year, I talked about how the ripeness of our Viognier and it should be closer in both color and taste to a cantaloupe. Currently, it’s leaning towards honeydew. We want to push that ripeness for a more complex wine. Our finger is on the trigger and we are ready to pick at any moment.

While the whites are slow to ripen, the reds have not fallen down on the job. Our red varietals are starting to ripen and I will say the Tannat is looking particularly gorgeous. Both the Petit Verdot and Tinta Cao are becoming juicy and super flavorful. Come the first week of October it will be Norton season. It marks the halfway point for us at harvest, but easily the most intense part of the season. All in all, harvest is looking pretty good!