2025 Harvest Recap

2025 wines are finally all in barrel only four plus months since we started. Finished up this morning barreling down the 25 Grenache from one of our favorite west side vineyards, Jack Creek.

Overall, there is no simple way to describe the 25 vintage. As many of you know the summer and fall were very cool and we, unfortunately, endured significant early rainfall in October and November. If I had to choose a single word for the entire region, I would say inconsistent. A single word for the Volatus 25s, spectacular. The harvest was definitely a time to employ solid Caveat Emptor tactics. It is unpleasant but if a vineyard is not going to make it or has signifcant problems resulting from the cold and rain; you cannot use the fruit to make a good wine. The old adage of you can make bad wine from great grapes but you cannot make good wine from bad grapes was in full force.

So, in essence, we were very picky with fruit this year and the results show it. Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat were a bit short but we made up for that with incredible Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Franc. Speaking of the Cab Franc, I know I am prone to hyperbole but, the 25 is the best wine I have ever made. I cannot wait to get the Cab Franc in bottle and out into the tasting wild. Darker than a Petite and very typical of the varietal, it is amazing already and will be insanely good by the time it goes into a bottle.

We will revisit the new wines in a few weeks with a comprehensive barrel tasting. I’ll make sure to get some video and descriptions as we go through the wines.