01 Nov November Newsletter: Celebrating the Bountiful 2023 Harvest
Fall is here and harvest season is a wrap! We hope this newsletter finds you filled with anticipation for the changing seasons and upcoming holidays. Thanks to all that rain we were yammering on about earlier this year, the 2023 Mesa Del Sol harvest was a bumper crop, absolutely flush with grapes, and we can’t wait to tell you all about it in “A Late Harvest Brought a Record Year.”
Aside from our grape harvest, our organic garden also flourished this year and you might say that fruit was coming out of our ears. Thanks to our water supplied by the Arroyo Seco River, which continues to flow strong, Mesa Del Sol enjoyed bountiful baskets of apples, pears, pomegranates, persimmons, and citrus, all from our thriving organic garden that Gary tends so passionately. Stacey may actually have to learn how to bake a pie, (not kidding). We even tried our hands at harvesting our olive trees, which you can read about in “When Life Gives You Olives…
This busy year also saw the launch of our very first Mesa Del Sol Wine Club, which was very exciting indeed! Be sure to sign up for our wine club by clicking here if you want to be “in the know” at Mesa Del Sol. Finally, as if the timing could not have been any better, with the launch of our wine club, we also received some amazing reviews from Wine Enthusiast. Check it out in “Bragging Rights.”
As we reflect on the bountiful harvest of 2023, we are so grateful for your continued support. We look forward to sharing these exceptional wines with you soon. Thank you for being a part of our winemaking journey. Until next time, take care and enjoy the fruits of the harvest season.
The best is yet to come!
Gary & Stacey Lyons
A Late Harvest Brought A Record Year!
As Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers once sang, “The waiting is the hardest part.” As the harvest months approach, we often find ourselves waiting and anticipating the timing of “The Pick.” Gary is seen touring the vineyards to get the brix count or sugar content of the grapes. Some winemakers like to pick at a lower brix count, while some at a higher count. It’s hard to know exactly when the time is right, so we wait, we test, and we see what those grapes will bring. Boy did they bring it this year with a record-breaking harvest, producing an astonishing 20 tons of grapes for our little Mesa Del Sol.
The harvest season began 3-4 weeks later than usual but this delay made us just a little more deliberate and methodical in our picking. While the harvest was bountiful, alas we had to leave 5-6 tons of grapes on the vine. No worries, this will serve as nature’s fertilizer, nourishing the soil for next year’s crop. No doubt the result of the perfect growing conditions, our fruit ripened more slowly, leading to a richer, and more robust profile. As a result, our grapes were picked at an impressive 24+ BRIX (sugar content), promising bigger, bolder wines. Yum!
It’s a stark contrast to last year’s high temperatures, which accelerated the ripening process. Frankly, Stacey was about to call it a day during those high temps last year, but she stayed loyal to our harvest season. Now comes the fermentation, followed by 18 months of barrel aging. But we’ve got a feeling it will be worth the wait…and we can’t wait to share this special vintage with you!
From the Vineyard
As the harvest season comes to an end, everyone is ready for a little R&R, a post-harvest “VayCay,” if you will, including our vineyard. It’s time for a little pampering, think of it like a spa treatment. We will be dropping the remaining fruit, pruning the vines, and planting a cover crop to provide natural fuel to get the vineyard primed for the winter months.
In the spirit of growth and innovation, we have exciting plans ahead. We will be adding over 150 new vines to fill in some of our open spaces. Additionally, we plan to introduce a new varietal to our wine lineup by grafting Cabernet Sauvignon onto our Zinfandel rows. Gary and Stacey are very excited about this endeavor, which should produce 1-2 tons of exceptional grapes. All in good time, my friends.
When Life Gives You Olives…Make Olive Oil!
Introducing Mesa Del Sol’s Liquid Gold!
As the winemaking season comes to a close, we shift our focus to the olives. With 15 olive trees, we decided to harvest our fruit and send it down to Paso Robles for our first community press! Why a community press you ask? Do you have any idea how many olives it takes to make just one gallon of olive oil? A heck of a lot!
As we drove up to the community press in Paso, we met a bunch of other olive oil enthusiasts dropping off their bins. At first, we felt a little inadequate when one gentleman had an entire trailer filled with olives compared to our meager 5 bins yielding 160 pounds. Thankfully, other folks showed up with just a few buckets from their neighborhood olive trees.
All in all, it was such a fun experience to meet nice people and combine our efforts to make something we all grew and will enjoy. We think the finished product rivals some of the best olive oil we’ve tasted. While we will not be selling our first release, we eagerly anticipate serving our new olive oil to our wine-tasting and wine club guests in the year ahead. Any guess what family will get in their stocking this year?
Bragging Rights 🍷 Wine Enthusiast Scores 🍷
The 2021 Wine Enthusiast reviews are in, and we couldn’t be more thrilled!
- Our Prima Rosso red blend scored an impressive 92 points,
- Our popular Syrah followed close behind at 91 points,
- And our beloved Sangiovese rounded out at 90 points.
A big thank you to our dedicated team who helped make this happen. We also submitted some of our earlier vintages for review and will share those as they come in.
Have you yet to try these award-winning wines? With the holidays fast approaching, now is the perfect time to stock up on elegant whites and robust reds!
Featured Winemaker-Megan Bell of Margins Wine
Megan Bell is the winemaker and mastermind behind Margins Wine. Megan is known for producing low-intervention wines using grapes from underrepresented regions, vineyards, and varietals. She sources her Sangiovese from Mesa Del Sol. Here’s what she had to say about this uniquely delicate varietal from our distinctive AVA.
“I am lucky to have worked with Sangiovese from the magical Mesa del Sol vineyard in Arroyo Seco since 2017. It is rare that one comes across a California vineyard that has been farmed organically since its inception, and even less common to find one that, in certain years, can make it through the growing season without any applications of organic products whatsoever.
The hot, dry air and cool nights of the Arroyo Seco gorge allow the Sangiovese to achieve optimum ripeness without losing acidity. Customers often remark on the uniqueness of this wine – a delicate expression of Sangiovese that is rarely found in California and is only achievable by sourcing from Mesa del Sol.” ~ Megan Bell, Margins Wine
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