As I am sure many Roche Wine Club members can relate, I, myself, fall victim at times to binge watching various popular series and streamed shows. Although I don’t succumb to many, there are some that lure me in, and I just can’t find the willpower to turn it off or flip to another program. One in particular, even after being produced for so many years, is the show about the Alaskan Crab Season, Deadliest Catch. As the 2025 harvest commences, I had a random thought, does this show lure me in because it might slightly remind me of our annual grape harvest? Of course, our annual grape harvest does not come with treacherous seas, however, we too are faced with a very small window of a harvest season, where all our crop needs to come in timely and be processed before we face our ultimate opponent: early season rainstorms or early winter temperatures. This brings us long nights, long days, sleeplessness, and abundant amounts of manual labor, all within a period of 4-6 weeks, to procure the finest quality of grapes for our 2025 Vintage. Hopefully, as usually portrayed in all my binged Deadliest Catch seasons, albeit all our hard work, stress, and sleepless nights, that our harvest is plentiful, and we all hope that is what is in store as we kick off our 2025 Harvest Season.

This harvest season commenced on September 15th, with our night harvesting of our Tipperary Pinot Noir beginning at 11PM and lasting to the early morning hours of daybreak (pictured). We are very pleased with the quality harvestd as this has been one of the most temperate growing seasons I have ever experienced in Sonoma Valley. Not once did we endure a typical three-day heat spike in triple digits (this usually occurs at least 3-4 times during a growing season). Instead, we were treated to a long, mild growing season with steady temperatures perfect for maturing grapes. We are looking forward to bringing in the rest of our fruit that should exhibit all the wonderful benefits this temperate season has given to our crop’s maturity on the vine. Of course, just like Deadliest Catch, the long-term forecast shows rain, so we are up against the clock and focusing on bringing in this beautiful crop timely and ensuring the quality of Roche wines you all can thoroughly enjoy in the years to come.

My family sincerely hopes you enjoy our wines included in this last wine club shipment of 2025, and hope to see you at the winery soon, or at our upcoming November Post Harvest Party. Until then, please enjoy and best wishes for the upcoming Holiday Season!