A fickle year. Winter alternated between stormy snow and spring-like thaws. There was an early bud break, then a very rare--and luckily limited--May frost. May remained chilly, then came hotter than normal temperatures in June, allowing the vines to make up for lost time. But, unfortunately timed rain storms interfered with flowering, leading to fewer berries per cluster. There were several isolated hail storms during the summer that further reduced our fruit. September brought humidity and rainstorms, then finally an extended and very welcome period of clear, sunny, mild weather led into October. It brought our earliest ever harvest of merlot and cabernet. Crop quantity was low, but after such a difficult season, our persistent vineyard management and selective hand-harvesting led to surprisingly ripe, flavorful grapes.