A Successful Harvest Begins in the Vineyard
Ahhh harvest, a magical (nerve-wracking, stressful, sleep-deprived) time of year for each member of our Two Mountain team. From the viticulture and winemaking crews to the tasting room and wine club staff, our entire team is hustling and busting a** to make sure our year of hard work comes to fruition in a bountiful harvest. Although the early-morning picks and late-night punch downs can leave our crew reaching for an extra cup of coffee (or two… or three!), harvest remains one of our favorite times of the year. At the end of a hard day’s work, we enjoy celebrating the new vintage as well as the changing of the season with our friends, family, and every guest that visits our winery.
We invite you to grab your favorite beverage (not going to lie, when it’s harvest, it’s probably going to be a beer or scotch for us) and dive into what makes harvest such a special time of year for us. Afterward, make a reservation to come and experience one of our favorite seasons in Yakima Valley. We can’t wait to raise a glass with you!
Allowing the Land to Shine
The soil profile is one of the major foundation components that make each vineyard site unique. At each of our eight vineyards, all within four miles of the winery, we farm on thin (4-12 inches) of silt loam soil which is laid on top of river rock. This natural formation is extremely well-draining and yields relatively low vigor vines that produce smaller berries and lower crop levels. The end result are wines that are deeply concentrated in flavor with balanced tannins and/or acids (depending on varietal) and structure. “We aim to lean into what a site/block wants to be,” says Patrick Rawn, Owner and manager of vineyard operations, “we must take the time to understand the nuance and specificity of a vineyard and embrace that. Our goal with every block, and finished wine, is to speak very clearly about its place. Minimalism—both viticulturally as well as in winemaking.”
To maintain this philosophy, where we allow the land to shine through each bottle, we must take care of the land first. We’re proud to say that, beginning with the 2020 harvest, 100% of our vineyards are certified sustainable under Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing, a grape-growing commission based out of Lodi, California. This farmer education program awards the “Certified Green” seal to vineyards outside of California that share the rigorous values of verified, scientifically sound sustainable farming, which emphasizes environmentally and socially responsible practices to ensure that farming will carry on for future generations.
For us, this means that we’re constantly evaluating how we can utilize new technology and practices in all areas of our business, from farming practices including irrigation, ecosystem, and soil management to human resources and general business practices in order to improve and better take care of our cozy corner of the planet. This land has been in our family for four generations (that’s over 70 years!), and we are committed to maintaining and preserving the soil and its heritage for generations to come.
Check out this video to hear brothers Matt and Patrick Rawn speak more about our sustainability efforts.
Continuous Improvement
If you’ve ever seen (and hopefully tried) a bottle of our #RawnRosé, then you know that we like to experiment and challenge the status quo! The petite, pink (and pretty damn perfect, if we do say so ourselves) 250mL bottles are fun and just what every picnic, hike, dinner party, you-name-it-adventure needs! However, we’re not only looking to innovate when it comes to packaging. We’re always seeking out new techniques and practices to implement in and out of the winery—what’s that business geek buzzword, “continuous improvement”? Yeah, we do a lot of that. We experiment with trellis types, irrigation protocols, canopy management strategies, and more—all in an effort to remain as sustainable as possible.
Over the last several years, we have also begun deploying several new technologies in the vineyard to help us optimize decision-making through data. If you’re a #datanerd like Patrick, check out our Harvest Dashboard, where we will be tracking the status of this year’s harvest as the fruit rolls in!
In the meantime, here are some Harvest 2021 Fun Facts to hold you over until the fun kicks off:
The current crop estimate is 1,096.54 tons. Because we are precise like that.
Fruit quality is looking very excellent this year with moderate to light crop loads.
The heat this summer did pose a challenge, however, it has resulted in smaller clusters and berries, which will overall produce better wines (woohoo!).
It’s official! We’ve picked our first block! Chardonnay from the Hilltop Vineyard was picked very early in the morning (around 3 am) on Thursday, August 12th. This fruit was sold to one of our best neighbors and will be used to make sparkling wine.
The next fruit expected to be picked will be Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc (approximately around August 25th).