Carbon, Texas
We keep thinking things will slow down and we’ll get better at posting updates but clearly that has not been the case, so at long last here’s a quick summary. Last fall and winter, we installed a frost-protection sprinkler system, added a 40,000-gallon rainwater storage tank, and got the living space in our Ag Building ready for move-in. We also enjoyed visiting family in Colorado, Minnesota, Ohio, and Arizona.
Continue reading “June 2026 Update”We’re excited to share that we made it through our first harvest season at our new location. The 2025 season marked several milestones, including our first fruit harvested in Eastland County, just a few miles from Carbon, Texas, and our first mechanical harvest.
Grenache was our top producer, while Mourvèdre, Syrah, and Vermentino were close behind. We also harvested smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc and Picpoul Blanc. Although overall production came in lower than expected, we were pleased to meet our ripeness and maturity goals. We anticipate production will continue to grow each season as the vines become more established.
David did a terrific job operating the G2 harvester for the first time!
We’ve been busy since our last update. The Vermentino was harvested for Wintergrass Winery on August 26, a total of 1,671 lbs at 22.5° Brix. Then there was a brief lull as we waited for the Syrah, Malbec and Cabernet Franc to reach their peak. The fruit was well matured with dark brown crunchy seeds, soft berries, and the pulp not adhering to the seeds but we were waiting to see if the sugars would accumulate to a higher level, typically the goal is 24-25° Brix for red grapes.
As the tentative harvest date of September 4 approached the Malbec was at 22° Brix and the Syrah and Cabernet Franc were at 24° Brix. The forecast did not call for rain so with the clusters showing no signs of rot or deterioration we decided to let them hang another week.
We finished the season with a busy weekend thanks to the help of our wonderful volunteers . On September 10 we harvested 1,077 lbs of Malbec for Wintergrass Winery which came in at 24° Brix as well as 1,356 lbs of Syrah for Lost Oak Winery which came in at 25.5° Brix.
Next up was the Cabernet Franc on September 11 with 7,213 lbs (3.6 tons) of fruit in the bins and the harvest was completed with the 2nd trailer on its way to the winery at 11:15 am. It came in at 25.5° Brix, a terrific end to the harvest season!
Our yields were down by 30% this season with possible contributing factors being the hard freeze in February, the late freeze on April 29, the frequent rains during bloom, and the loss of vines to Pierce’s Disease. While we would of course prefer to have a normal full crop, we are thankful that we had a successful season and are very pleased with the quality of the fruit that was delivered to the wineries. It was a tough and unusual growing season. Many vineyards across the state had no crop at all and those that did have a crop are reporting a reduction in yields of 30-50%.
We’re looking forward to tasting these vintages in the future and will do our best to let you know when they are released for sale.
The Cabernet Franc is ready to make its way to Lost Oak Winery and we’ll need all the extra hands we can get so come join the fun on Saturday, September 11.
We will begin at first light (about 7:00 am) and will go until the grapes are all picked or it gets too hot.
We’ll have lots of water, Gatorade, and of course food/snacks 🙂 We’ll also have sunscreen and bug spray (just in case).
We have harvest shears here for you to use. Some folks like to wear a glove on one hand since it can prevent the shears from cutting your fingers instead of the grape stem. Many folks sit on an overturned bucket but you can bring a chair or stool if you prefer.
You do not have to carry the full buckets, just fill them and leave them in the row. The vines are not prickly so you don’t have to wear long sleeves/pants unless you prefer to for sun protection, and a hat is a good idea. There may be some fire ants in a few spots so shoes/socks are usually better than sandals but choice of footwear is up to you.
If you are able to make it and can let me know it always helps to have a head count, but feel free to come even if you don’t reply ahead of time – all pickers are appreciated :0
After all the early season challenges we’re happy to report that two of the varieties have been picked and made it safely to the wineries where the winemakers are working their magic.
The Sauvignon Blanc for Lost Oak Winery was first up and as in previous seasons we picked it in two phases since the south end tends to ripen faster. The first harvest was on August 7, we had 10 people here and picked 1,610 lbs by 9:40 am. The second harvest on August 14 came in at 3,410 lbs. A total of 30 volunteers dispersed into the vines and picked them clean by 9:10 am, wow! It turns out the Sauvignon Blanc did have some damage to the primary buds from the February freeze so many of the clusters were from the secondary buds and therefore smaller in size. Our overall yield was 5,020 lbs (2.52 tons) which was down this season by about 40%, but the quality was excellent so we’ll take that as a win.
We harvested the Malvasia Bianca for Wintergrass Winery today (August 22). It was also a lower yield than normal but very good quality. With the fast fingers of 20 volunteers it was off the vines and in the bins in just over one hour.
The harvest volunteers have been absolutely stellar. It’s a great feeling to see the beautiful hand harvested clusters piled in the bins and it’s even better when the work is done before the heat of the Texas day gets into full swing. You’re all amazing and we can’t thank you enough!
The vines have finally slowed down now that it is hot and dry. We still manage to spend several hours a day in the vineyard but fortunately are able to work in the mornings and evenings rather than the heat of the day. At this point we’re just touching up the tops of the vines to be sure the aisles and middles stay open to allow sunlight and air to caress the clusters. We’re also putting bird netting on the Cabernet Franc. Fortunately it is slower than the other reds so we don’t have to get all the netting done at once.
Budbreak and bloom were a little later this season. We calculate projected harvest dates based on days from bloom (and compare to previous seasons). As the fruit ripens we pull berry samples to test the sugar levels (°Brix) and pH and we also evaluate the maturity of the fruit. We’ve done some berry testing and it looks like the Sauvignon Blanc may be ready as early as August 7 but we’ll know more after we pull the next sample this weekend. Malvasia Bianca and Vermentino could be ready mid to late August. Cabernet Franc may be August 29 and Syrah as late as September 1. As always this could all change depending on the weather and how the grapes respond.
For those who haven’t picked with us before I’ve included the basic information on what to expect below.
Stay cool and we hope to see you for harvest soon!
Harvest info:
We will begin at first light (about 7:00 am) and will go until the grapes are all picked or it gets too hot.
We’ll have lots of water, Gatorade, and of course food/snacks 🙂 We’ll also have sunscreen and bug spray (just in case).
We have harvest shears here for you to use. Some folks like to wear a glove on one hand since it can prevent the shears from cutting your fingers instead of the grape stem. Many folks sit on an overturned bucket but you can bring a chair or stool if you prefer.
You do not have to carry the full buckets, just fill them and leave them in the row. The vines are not prickly so you don’t have to wear long sleeves/pants unless you prefer to for sun protection, and a hat is a good idea. There may be some fire ants in a few spots so shoes/socks are usually better than sandals but choice of footwear is up to you. If you’d like to bring your kids that’s fine but we do ask that you have them pick next to you and that you supervise their work since the shears are sharp.
It’s certainly been a challenging season already. First the February Freeze, then the multiple thunderstorm events with possible hail but we’re happy to report the vines did not sustain any damage from those challenges. However with all the spring rain (17 inches in May) the vines have been on a major growth streak.
For the past 4 weeks we’ve been working diligently to get the shoots wrapped on the top wire. It’s important to have air circulation and sunlight to keep leaves and fruit healthy. Not to mention that it’s much easier to mow and spray when you can get the down the aisles! See the before and after photos of the Sauvignon Blanc below. It’s a lot of work but so satisfying to look back and see the tidy rows.
Harvest dates may be a little different this season based on our most recent calculations. It looks like August will be a very busy harvest month. We’ll keep an eye on the fruit as it begins to ripen and keep you posted as we get closer.
It’s easy for us to be so focused on tending the vines and producing high quality fruit that we forget to talk about the wonderful wines that have been made with our grapes.
We’ve been trusting our fruit to the talented hands of the winemakers at Lost Oak Winery since 2014 and they’ve been winning awards with our ‘babies’ since the inaugural vintage. Lost Oak Winery offers shipping within Texas and to select states outside Texas. If you’re in Fredericksburg or plan to visit, you can purchase Lost Oak wines at the Texas Wine Collective (formerly called 4.0 Cellars).
Tyler Bower has been making wine for several years with some of the varietals that we grow in smaller quantities. In the fall of 2020 Tyler and Amy made Wintergrass Winery official with the opening of their tasting room near Cleburne, Texas. You can read more about both wineries by visiting their websites (listed below).
So without further ado, here is the most recent information we have on wines for sale from our fruit:
Lost Oak Winery Sauvignon Blanc 2020. Bottled in February. Some comments from the recent online tasting by Lost Oak Winery are “crisp, refreshing, notes of citrus and pear, a slight minerality, most characteristic Sauvignon Blanc to date, will sell quickly”.
Lost Oak Winery Cabernet Franc 2019. Always a fan favorite, it’s drinkable now but since it was bottled recently you may wish to hide it away to enjoy at a later date.
Wintergrass Winery Vermentino 2019. Missy’s comments: “crisp and refreshing”. After our initial purchase (and consumption) I went back and bought a case to have on hand for the summer.
lostoakwinery.com
wintergrasswinery.com
It was a nail-biter but we are happy to report that the recent spring freeze passed us by.
The local forecast called for possible freezing temperatures on Wednesday morning. Our vines had been pushing rapidly and had shoot lengths varying from 8 inches to 36 inches. The Italian varieties were leading the charge (Sangiovese, Malvasia Bianca, and Vermentino) with the Syrah neck and neck, which is what we expect on our site. There were numerous flower clusters on all varieties just waiting to bloom and become fruit clusters so we were of course concerned about freeze/frost damage.
In anticipation of a possible spring freeze David has been installing frost protection sprinklers. They are designed to apply a specific droplet size at a specific rate to prevent the plant tissue from freezing. Although it sounds counterintuitive, the concept is that the water coats the plant tissue and as it freezes it produces a small amount of heat (an exothermic reaction) which raises the temperature around the plant tissue and prevents it from freezing. We have the sprinklers working in zones 5, 6, and 7 and tested them on Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday morning’s possible freeze. Typically at our site the coldest temperatures occur just before sunrise (around 7 am) but the sprinklers need to be engaged before freezing temperatures occur. Our plan was to set the alarm clock for 5 am to check the temperature and dew point and start the sprinklers if it looked like they could drop to harmful levels. When we arose the temperature was 34.8°F and the Dew Point was 32° and both were on a downward trend. With several hours of potential temperature drop we decided to turn on the sprinklers. We ran them until 7:30 am when the temperature had increased to 38°F and was on an upward trend. So we were confident that we wouldn’t see any frost/freeze damage in Zones 5-7 (Malbec, Vermentino, original Cabernet Franc). According to our weather station our lowest recorded temperature was 33.7°F and the lowest Dew Point was 31.0° F and we have not seen any frost damage in any of the blocks. Whew, one step closer to harvest!
