2024 Harvest Report
Dear friends,
Back in October, this was the post I couldn’t wait to write. And yet, here we are…hello, Thanksgiving. Time flies when you’ve got a wine hustle and a full-time job. But now that I finally have a minute, I’m still excited to write to you – and there’s still much to tell.
The air in SoCal is crisp today, it’s going to get dark way too early, and it’s now been a month since the new Alta Sueños vintage went to barrels. By now the 2023 wine is in many of your hands. So from the top, I want to say thanks again to everyone who purchased wine – as well as to those of you who tell me you’re enjoying the story of this adventure. Just for you, here’s a much-longer-than-advisable post.
But before we get into it, a quick reminder that if you’re interested in trying the 2023 Alta Sueños wine, it’s available at a special price to mailing list members only:
Okay, Onward to the Harvest Report…
Despite July’s record heat, 2024 was an abnormally normal growing year for most of California. This is to say that harvest came two weeks earlier than last year, and about a week later than it did back in 2022. Go figure. This year, we picked the fruit at Besio Vineyard on September 29th and wine went to barrel on October 18th.
For me, one of the biggest challenges was making this vintage happen in the first place. Last year, I used a month-long sabbatical to get Alta Sueños off the ground. But for the foreseeable future, this project will depend on about a week and a half of vacation, followed by an additional couple weeks of remote work for the ad agency during the day, with early mornings and late nights at the winery. Sleep? Not at all guaranteed. But this year, thanks to a supportive employer and very helpful friends in the wine world, everything fell into place. Having passed the test of ‘24, Alta Sueños will continue, and even expand, in 2025 and beyond.
Sept. 28: A Visit with the Vine Shaman of Santa Cruz
Ken Swegles and Abbey Chrystal live on a legendary vineyard called Ascona, high in the mountains above Santa Cruz. Corinne and I know them through our friends Colin and Hannah McNany, who host Alta Sueños at their own winery in Buellton. Through his company, Rhizos Viticulture, Ken has harvested Besio Vineyard since 2017.
Part farmer and part mad scientist, Ken has spent years bringing regenerative agriculture to the Santa Cruz Mountains and beyond. In a sense, Ascona Vineyard is Ken’s laboratory, and I’ve long wanted see what he does there. This year, we were lucky to be invited up the night before we picked Besio Vineyard. Thanks for having us, you guys.
Ascona is a magical place. Standing at its crest you can look down at Pacific clouds rolling in hundreds of feet below your feet; or look up and be humbled by the towering pines all around you. In addition to vines, Ascona is also home to ducks, dogs, chickens, vegetables, herbs, and wildlife from large mammals down to microbes – with each supporting every other in myriad ways. To sum it up, the word is balance; and you can immediately feel its effect in the air. Even my palate seemed to sharpen there. Which is lucky…because Ken and Abbey are generous hosts, and their cellar is deep.
Sept. 29: More Time Getting to Know Besio
Besio Vineyard is much smaller than Ascona but for me, it’s no less interesting. From 45-year old head trained vines, it produces a wine that I find more characteristic of the vineyard itself than of any specific varietal in the mix. As it happens, that’s exactly the sort of wine I’m most attracted to; wine that says more about the nature of a place and the people who farm it than a winemaker’s whims and desires.
Since 2016, these vines have carried on without Carlo Besio, who knew them better than anyone likely ever will. The vineyard is now professionally managed, of course – but that’s no substitute for the attention of the person who planted the cuttings and tended them with his own two hands for more than 35 years.
When I got the opportunity to make Besio’s wine last year, I didn’t know if it I’d ever get that chance again. Things are different this year, and I’ve been working hard to get a better handle on what these vines need – and to better know the people involved. Jane Besio, who still lives on the vineyard, is wonderfully friendly and open to telling its story. This year I also met a new member of Ken’s team, Rory Monninger, who shared a bounty of insights as we worked our way through each block of the vineyard.
With Rory’s help, this year I was able to track where each block of the vineyard landed in the bins. This made it possible to ensure the Pinot Noir landed on top, which in turn allowed that Pinot to be tipped into the fermenter in whole clusters, rather than be destemmed with the rest of the fruit. My hope is this stem inclusion, about 15% overall, will be reflected in the structure and aromatics of the 2024 wine.
Overall, Besio’s yield was down a bit this year, aligning with the trend seen at many vineyards this year. That said, the vineyard still produced plenty of juice, the quality is simply awesome. Get excited for next year’s wine.
Oct 1 thru 18: Cellar Work in Santa Barbara County
In total, the 2024 Alta Sueños California Field Blend spent 17 days on its skins before being pressed and racked to barrels on October 18th.
I spent most of those days working with Colin McNany on the dozen other wines he’s creating for his Marbeso label. It’s been a hell of a hands-on education, supplemented by a lot of independent book study, too. Four vintages in, I feel massively more confident with my own work in the cellar, and I’m also certain that I’m making winery life easier for Colin now, too, even as I tend to my own project.
In the coming months, I hope to share more of these adventures. No lie, doing all this while holding down a demanding, deadline-based job ain’t easy. But I hope you’ll stay tuned – because there are cool ideas in the pipeline, including a big opportunity concerning Besio Vineyard that I’ll share when the time comes. And last but not least, I’m setting an intention to add another wine, likely white, to the mix next year.
Until then, there’s plenty of ‘23 Alta Sueños to go around. Just join the list, drop me an email, and I’ll be waiting to fill your glass.
Cheers,
Mike
