10/12/2026
Harvest 2026, through the eyes and boots of Mark Neal. 🍇
A long and rewarding vintage.
Following a warm winter with plenty of rain, bud break came at the end of February. Not the earliest I’ve seen, but a reminder of how involved Mother Nature is in growing w**e.
An unseasonably warm to hot March moved the vines forward to pollination in April. It was more than April showers: cloudy skies and rain throughout the month. The rain upset pollination and cut our crop anywhere from 10 to 70 percent. From mid-May the vintage settled into its typical rhythm: morning fog, warm to hot days.
We started picking the earlier varieties at the end of July and expect to finish this week.
Fermentations are still going (I love that smell), and of course some has already gone down to barrel. The quality outweighs everything Mother Nature took in quantity.
This year tested decades of farming. I’ll be watching the 2026 w**es evolve in my caves over the next 12 to 18 months, and talking about them for a long time after.
Mark Neal, Founder, Farmer & Maker