This year’s harvest is early and compressed. With warmer weather it seems that all the fruit is getting ripe at once. Warm daytime temps also mean night picks. The crews are more comfortable, the fruit gets to the winery in good shape and we are almost always at the front of the line on the Crush Pad. Our first pick of 2014 began Saturday at 1:00 am. At 2:30 in the morning we lost one worker to a rolled ankle. The rest of the guys finished up just as it began to get light. We picked five tons of Pinot for Frostwatch and six tons of Sauvignon Blanc - three each Frostwatch and a Ryan Zepaltas project. Our son Alec assisted on this pick before heading off to Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo on Sunday. Looking forward now to getting the Chardonnay off by the end of this week.