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Vineyard  & Winery News

In The Vineyard

Winter has been unseasonanly dry up until late January. The upside to this is the crew at Titus Vineyards has been able to do an abnormal amount of upkeep and vineyard work in the wineter sunshine. Zinfandel blocks have all been pre-pruned, the fallow part of the vineyard has now been prepped for new plantings of Cabernet Franc, and we have a great seasons supply of fire wood stacked to keep us warm in the ranch house.  The downside is, well, no water. The rains finally crept into the valley on Thursday, Januray 19th. We sure hope the water is here to stay in order to fill up our well, bring life to the Napa River, and frankly, give Eric and Phillip a chance to hit the slopes. 

At The Winery

Phillip and Eric are nearly done with the final blends for some of the 2010 wines. The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon is gently resting in the bottle and awaiting write ups and tasting notes. The upcoming vintages, although low in production, are some of the best wines we've seen come off of the Titus family vineyard yet. the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc and 2010 Zinfandel are up soon for labeling and release. 
 

 

The Wines of 2009

The 2009 vintage produced bold, juicy wines despite the down production. The season started with a snapping frost season and weather conditions that were not ideal for pollination causing shatter to occur in many of the clusters around the valley. Titus Vineyards benefited from the long, moderate growing season in our valley floor location. With no true heat spikes to further along the harvest markers many were caught by the rain while waiting for sugars to rise. Here at Titus Vineyards, our last day of harvest was the exact day before the first rain. Yields were 30% down from a ‘normal’ year but the fruit was dark and flavorful. 

 

The Wines of 2008

The memorable 2008 growing season began on the heels of a long, dry winter. At bud break the Napa Valley was ravaged by the coldest and longest frost season since 1972. While many hillside vineyards fell victim to frost damage, Titus Vineyards was not heavily impacted but we still needed to fire up our wind machines on a few nights. The unseasonable lows changed almost overnight into unseasonably hot weather that was accompanied by gusty winds during fruit set. The vines were already challenged by drought conditions and record cold, and this continual odd spring weather pattern caused the fruit to not set as evenly as it would under normal growing conditions. Add to this the summer fire season that resulted in several local wild fires making it a smoky, hazy July. Remarkably, harvest developed on a normal schedule running from August 22nd through October 16th. What ultimately manifested at the end of the topsy-turvy weather was an overall fruit yield reduction of nearly 50%. However, the quality of the fruit harvested was extremely high and will result in wines of great depth and concentration.

The Wines of 2007

Our 2007 grape crop exhibited many high quality wine indicators as a result of the year's lower rainfall, early bloom, timely veraison and moderate temperatures. The limited amount of vine stress due to low rainfall over the winter and a solid, warm summer without a lot of heat spikes fostered even grape ripening. The cluster shapes and berry sizes looked ideal. The crop was smaller, with lighter clusters, smaller berries, and thicker skins lending a tannic bite that will yield wines with exceptional structure and age-worthiness. There was an ideal mix of well ripened and just-right berries with very little variation. We expected a short, furious harvest; however, it ended up being one of the longer ones starting September 14th, 2007, and ending on October 15th, 2007.

The Wines of 2006

Overall, the 2006 growing season was long and steady with the exception of a cool spring with late rains, approximately 2 times normal rainfall for this time of year, and a heat spike in July. This climate generated above average yields for the year. All the grapes were harvested in alignment with our predictions avoiding everything coming in at once. Interestingly, harvest at Titus Vineyards began ten days later than we would typically end allowing the grapes to benefit from the extended hang time resulting in optimum ripeness without the threat of bad weather. The lengthy and mild 2006 growing season gifted these wines with good color lively aromatics, well balanced flavor profiles with beautiful concentration, and solid structure that will benefit the wines long term. 

The Wines of 2005

The 2005 growing season got off to a slow, late start with a cool spring and late rains that stretched into June. The long summer brought moderate heat that remained into October. The sizable crop showed higher numbers of berries per cluster, and slightly lower sugar levels. Eric and Phillip did a tremendous amount of fruit thinning leading up to harvest which was the smart thing to do to keep the vines balanced through grape maturation with the goal of maximizing the flavor components in a cool, long vintage. Judicious thinning continued from late July through the first week of September. Due to the mild weather and large crop, harvest was about two weeks late and gradual, with picking stretching out over several weeks. The lengthy 2005 growing season gifted these elegant wines with lively aromatics along with a beautiful balance of concentration and texture.