In The Barrel

We welcome you to follow along in the barrel room as BARRA of Mendocino winemaker Jason Welch updates you on how our wines are progressing throughout the various winemaking stages.  Questions about the Barra wines? Email us at info@barraofmendocino.com

12/12
What a difference a year makes!  After the weather challenges of the past few vintages, the 2012 harvest brought back all we love about making wine in California.  Beautiful, warm summer days, crisp, clear
nights, and NO RAIN! The fruit set this year was terrific and in some varieties like Zinfandel, heavy.  Near
perfect weather allowed our vineyards to slowly mature and ripen our luscious fruit to the fullest.  The quality that Mother Nature provided us with this year was terrific.  Robust sugars and perfect balance led to what I think will be a vintage for the ages. 

We started picking our Redwood Valley vineyards home ranch  in the middle of September with some aromatic whites and our first loads of Pinot Noir, and we continued to roll until the third week of October.  Harvest was big, compressed and fast-paced.  Our cellar and vineyard crews did an amazing job keeping pace and working hard to process and pick some stellar fruit.  The flavors and aromas of the  wines we have made so far are clean, vibrant and wonderful. 

I'm really pleased with this harvest and excited to see where the wines end up.  We'll keep you posted on the progress. Salute!

Jason