2023 Harvest Report – Monte Bello

January 2024

A Late Start

After several years of dry mild winters, welcome rain and cold weather returned in 2023. By mid-January we received over 36” of rain, with more to follow in February and March. Not uncommon at our mountain elevation, some of this precipitation came in the form of ankle-deep snow events.

With renewed moisture in the soil, cover crops thrived. Because we farm organically and do not use synthetic fertilizers, these cover crops, when tilled back into the soil, act as a natural fertilizer, providing crucial nutrients to the vine.

Cool winter weather continued through much of April, delaying bud break by a full four weeks. This in turn pushed flowering into the last days of May for chardonnay and mid-June for the bordeaux varietals. At this point, conversations with the vineyard team regarding when harvest might start invariably included the word “late”. Indeed, despite a few heat spikes in July, mild temperatures continued through most of August, confirming that there would in fact be a late start to harvest 2023.

An Abundance of Fruit – and Patience

With a plentiful base of moisture and nutrition in the soil, the vines responded with a full crop. The more crop, the longer the vines need to ripen the grapes. By mid September the grapes were 90% ready to pick, needing just one last bump of warm days to reach full ripeness. But in 2023, fall set in early, and instead of the warm weather needed, obstinate cool temperatures persisted into late September. Resisting the temptation to just get the fruit off the vines before the possibility of winter rains set in became an exercise in patience. Choosing to wait it out, we were rewarded in mid-October with a week of warm weather that gave the grapes the sunlight and warmth needed to reach ideal maturity.

2023 Vintage Preview

In recent years, as changes in climate trend warmer, ripening a full crop, such as 2019, has not been a concern. In many ways, the cool growing season of 2023 was a throwback to the 70s, when the grapes ripened over an extended period while preserving beautiful acidity. Quality across cabernet blocks is excellent. Our only regret is that a number of merlot blocks do not have the intensity to include in the Monte Bello so the 2023 will likely contain a higher percentage of cabernet sauvignon. As always, the makeup of the 2023 Monte Bello will be determined by blind tasting in February. Despite the challenges of a cool growing season, there will be an abundance of quality wines to choose from.

—John Onley, Head Winemaker