2024 was a positive surprise for our Grape Creek, Invention and Kuhlman estate vineyards after last year’s boiling-point scorcher. Budbreak was a bit early and then temperatures moderated for most of the Summer. At a certain point, usually around 98*F, vines stop metabolizing, so ripening is somewhat on hold until…
A late cold snap in the weather made for a slow start to budbreak this year. As a result, most varietals broke out closer together than usual, albeit about two weeks later than normal. Soon after, daily temperatures rose and gave way to a very mild spring, which is great…
2024 started with very little rainfall, but in early spring, the rains began and lasted through early May. The spring was fairly cool with some mild to warmer weather starting in June. By mid-June, it turned quite warm with at least two weeks of temperatures over 100 degrees. This heat…
Another wild year during harvest in Napa Valley! After a solid 50 inches of rain in the winter, vineyard soils were replenished beyond solid expectations, and spring flowering was perfect. Even more exciting was the health of the vine canopies throughout the valley, and solid leaf growth contributed to consistent…
Howdy, Everyone! Monday, January 29th, we shut down early and closed all day Tuesday and headed to the historic and newly renovated St Anthony Hotel in downtown San Antonio for our annual staff appreciation event. And what a great event it was! The St Anthony was magnificent, and the evening…
Willow Creek District of Paso Robles, CA The Central and Northern regions of California experienced very heavy rainfall throughout the winter and into the spring season resulting in a later bud break. Coupled with reasonable summer temperatures, harvests were 2 to 4 weeks behind normal. We had a couple of…
Heath Family Estate wines are sourced from our estate vineyards at Grape Creek Vineyards and Invention Vineyards, both of which fall within the Texas Hill Country AVA. The key phrase for this 2023 growing season for our estate vineyards was “Heat.” While we experienced more rainfall this Spring than in…
The Napa Valley and Sonoma areas are a near doppelganger of Paso Robles. Average temperatures are generally lower in the North Coast than the Central Coast, but the comparison otherwise is very similar. Yield levels and maturity progressions seem more variable this year than what we typically see with some…
The word for the Texas High Plains for 2023 was “Hail.” Two late hailstorms wreaked havoc on some of the vineyard blocks resulting in a zero harvest. Many of our growers’ vineyards now use hail netting, which worked well in locations where netted. The hail was also geographically inconsistent. Some…
Jeff’s Corner 4-14-23 Howdy, Everyone! I hope all of you are enjoying this beautiful spring weather as much as Kath and I are. We never stray far from our back porch even in January or July, but it has been especially gorgeous in the Texas Hill Country this past week or…
Jeff’s Corner 3-3-23Hey, Hey, Hey,Last Monday was party day!That’s right, last Monday was our annual Staff Appreciation Extravaganza. Once a year, Heath Family Brands closes its doors for a day and a half and we take over a super-luxury hotel in either Austin or San Antonio.This year, we invaded the beautiful…
Jeff’s Corner 2-24 23 Howdy! Well, it’s happening again… Conspiracy theories are rampant on the internet that I, Jeff Binney, don’t actually write Jeff’s Corner. It’s been suggested that the 600-plus stories we’ve posted were actually penned by Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, or even the elusive Moby Grape. So, today…