Welcome to Harvest 2024!

Harvest officially kicked off on August 31st for the Dutton-Goldfield team. It’s been a wild ride of scheduling picks with the vineyards, processing fruit, and solving the tank space puzzle at our production facility.

The Harvest Crew

This year, we’re pleased to welcome 11 interns from 8 countries around the world, including Argentina, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Spain, Hungary, Portugal, Mexico, and the USA. It’s been an awesome experience to learn about their wine backgrounds, cultures, and personalities as they work rigorously over the next few months. We’re lucky to have such a stellar team with us this year and appreciate the vast interest in harvest work from people abroad.

Last week, the Tasting Room team visited Steve and the vineyard crew at Ruxton Vineyard, one of the vineyards we source for the Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir. It was a chilly and foggy start for the crew who got their to start picking at 3am with temperatures around 50 degrees and visibility low. By the time the sun started to rise, we were above the fog line and overlooking the Russian River Valley and the beautiful sunrise.

Steve picks all his grapes at night to ensure the grapes are cool and fresh to processing, allowing for optimal acidity and brix (grape sugar) levels. It’s a wild time of year driving around the Russian River Valley in the early mornings and seeing the floodlights shining over the bustling vineyard crews. While most of the community is sleeping, the busiest time in the vineyard is commencing under the watchful eye of only the moon.