Vintage Notes - 2021 Fallbrook, California
Posted on January 22, 2022
My family and I finally made the big move back to California at the end of 2020, and decided to settle in Oceanside. We fell in love with its classic beach town vibe, but of course, took into account its proximity to agricultural lands.
An hour's drive north east of Oceanside lies Temecula Valley, southern California's most established wine growing region. It was recognized as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 1984 but commercial wine production started in the late 1960's. There are now dozens of wineries operating in the area, best known for wines produced from Italian and Rhone varietals.
Fallbrook is even closer to Oceanside, a short 10-15 miles as the crow flies from the Pacific Ocean. Better known as 'the Avocado Capital of the World', Fallbrook has a small but flourishing wine industry.
California Wine Regions
California Vintage Notes
I started working with D'Vine Path this past August after a chance meeting with executive director Lenila Batali. It's been a pleasure working with everyone involved in their program, from the students and facilitators to the administrators and volunteers (read a bit more here). Their small estate vineyard in Fallbrook's Morro Hills is planted exclusively in Cabernet Sauvignon.
Since I joined so late in the season, I did not take part in any cultivation of the vineyard but I believe the students did a fantastic job managing the vines under the tutelage of viticultural instructor Tom Olmstead. 2021 provided a consistent and moderate growing season throughout California. Fallbrook was no exception.
Students and volunteers hand picked 1.7 tons on October 9th, about 3 weeks later than previous years. We destemmed and crushed into 3 half-ton bins. One bin was allowed to proceed with indigenous fermentation, while the other 2 were inoculated after a 4-day cold soak. The wines were pressed to barrel 2 weeks later and have just finished malolactic fermentation last week. They will now be allowed to mature for the next 8 months in a mix of neutral barrels and French oak.
Thus far, we're all very excited about the quality of these wines and we're looking forward to following their progression until bottling!
