Photo above: Owner and grower Justin Laird stands in front of his Napa Valley Suscol Ranch Merlot vines. (Click to enlarge.)

2008 Harvest Report: Merlot: Merlot is prone to 'shatter', coulure. This is the excessive shedding of ovaries or very young berries. It leaves a stem with just a few berries. Brehm Vineyards' Carneros and Suscol Ranch Merlot suffered severe shatter. Yields were less than 2 tons per acre. This condition just affects the berries and not the rest of the vine, though the extremely light fruit load may allow the vine to forget its obligation to provide sugar to the fruit. The Carneros Merlot came in tasting very good. A small addition of acidulated water, or lower brix grapes, combined with a half ounce of tartaric acid per pail will give you a good start. Blended with 20% Russian River or Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon should make a wonderful, good aging, fine drinking wine.

The Suscol Ranch Merlot, grown at the Chardonnay Golf course just east of the Napa's Carneros, had a difficult harvest. The vine rows run east to west. When we destemmed the grapes the majority of the fruit tested between 23° and 26° brix. Near the end of the destemming the grapes changed, the stems became greener and the sugar ranged from 20° to 21° brix. What happened? I consulted with Justin Laird our grower. We had hit a portion of the vineyard where the grapes on the north side of the vines had dramatically less sugar than those on the south facing side. We continued the crush of the grapes labeling the lower sugar pails as a separate lot - Lot A. Even though the yields of Merlot from these vines averaged about 1.3 tons per acre, far below the farming cost, Justin volunteered to supplement the low sugar fruit with a picking of just the south side fruit. I supervised a crew of 20 pickers to just pick the south side of the rows and gave birth to the South Suscol Ranch Merlot. While the Suscol Ranch Merlot has a unique, highly desirable character, its history of very low yields may mean an end to this varietal here…get it while it lasts, it is special. I wish to express my appreciation to Justin for his generous solution to a real problem.

We have three Suscol Ranch Merlots. The low sugar version is a great way to lower high sugar grapes at a give away price. The South side picking and the regular picking offer high quality that may require dilution with acidulated water. As a primary or secondary component, these are the grapes for your finest version of a Bordeaux style wine.
Nun's Canyon Merlot is a late arrival into Brehm Vineyards' selection of grapes. Another project had me source Cabernet Sauvignon on the very western peak of the Mayacamas Mountains above the Sonoma Valley. This terraced, top of the world vineyard is on the west side of Kisler's Chardonnay vineyard. When harvesting the Cabernet Sauvignon, the grower asked if I would like the Cab. Franc and Merlot. Being the grape junkie I am, I could not resist these mountain top black diamonds. They are fully ripe and full of the volcanic, mountain character. The pH needs to be lowered with tartaric acid or a low ph blender. The sugar should be adjusted to 25.5°. If you are searching for the BEST, these grapes will make you happy, and may end your search.

Recommended Yeast: IVC-D21; Enoferm BDX