If 2025 was the vintage of patience, 2026 was the vintage in a hurry. Everything from bud break to the last pick arrived weeks ahead of schedule, and the crop that came with it was the lightest this estate has brought in since 2011. And yet the fermenters are telling a very different story than the scale. Early, light and intense. Here is how it happened.
The 2025 vintage at Palmaz Vineyards marks yet another benchmark in a string of increasingly refined and well-balanced years. With an uncommonly smooth growing season, cooperative weather, and near-flawless fruit at harvest, 2025 is shaping up to be a vintage remembered for both its grace and composure.
If 2023 is remembered as one of the cooler vintages in recent memory, then 2024 will certainly stand out as one of the warmest. Although these temperature differences are measured in fractions of a degree, their cumulative impact can shift the harvest by weeks.
Looking back on 2019, I believe we will remember this vintage as the year of worry. Perhaps still in shock from the fires of 2017 and 2018, 2019 felt like it got off on the wrong foot. With bud break already about 1 week later than 2018, we were encouraged by April’s warming trend and significant sun exposure. Although the trend appeared to be transitioning smoothly into summer with soils drying out, May brought more than a week straight of significant soaking downpours, cold temperatures, and cloud cover. Check out the interactive weather chart below.
It’s a bit strange to celebrate a harvest partially because you made it to the end without a natural disaster. Following a challenging 2017, the 2018 vintage has given us much to be thankful. Besides an excellent long growing season and moderate temperatures, 2018 has been the season of slow development — dare I say, a return to a normal pace. Harvest began exactly 8 days later than last year. Beginning with lower elevation whites, parcels came in with a predictable order and cadence.
Reading my last post as of Sep 30th, it’s clear none of us ever imagined just 8 days later Napa and Sonoma would experience one of the worst urban fires in California history. Although the property burned extensively, fortunately we and our staff were safe and only minorly affected by the fires. Sadly the few parcels still hanging fruit could not avoid the proximity of smoke and ash. We sent the fruit for extensive analysis and determined that while we could have harvested, it would be not have been towards a wine we’d be proud of. Therefore we decided to drop the remaining fruit. We are extremely fortunate that prior to the fire we had brought in almost 90% of the harvest. While 2017 will be infamously remembered for generations, I am extremely optimistic that the wine will be one to remember fondly. Our hearts and prays go out to those who weren’t as fortunate.
