Cool days, a little moisture in the air, and a walk through the rows with my two boys. Cabernet Franc grows a loose, open cluster, which matters more than you would think in a damp September, and our first red of 2026 comes off on Labor Day.
- Walked the Bliss Vineyard rows with my two boys, tasting Cabernet Franc.
- Low to mid 70s all week, unusual for early September in Hopland.
- Cabernet Franc grows loose clusters; Zinfandel packs tight and traps moisture.
- Cool days slow the sugar and give the fruit more hang time.
- Our first red, Merlot, comes off Monday on Labor Day.
Last Sunday I walked the rows at Bliss Vineyard with my two boys. No job to do, no crew, no reason to be out there except that the fruit has finally started to taste really great, and the boys couldn’t get enough. We stopped in our young Cabernet Franc block and pulled berries off the same cluster, and my older one held his up to the light before he ate it, the way he’s watched his Nonno do a hundred times.
It’s been a strange stretch of weather. Low to mid 70s all week, which is not what early September usually looks like here. By now we’re normally well into the 90s, with everyone hiding in the shade by two in the afternoon. Instead there’s moisture in the air. Tuesday morning brought something between a mist and a very light sprinkle, enough to bead up on the leaves and burn off by nine.
A week like that is exactly when cluster shape starts to matter. Cabernet Franc grows a loose, open cluster. The berries sit apart from one another with air moving between them, so a damp morning dries off and moves on. Compare that to Zinfandel, which packs its berries in tight, shoulder to shoulder, with nowhere for the moisture to go. In a wet September we watch our Zinfandel like hawks. The Cabernet Franc mostly takes care of itself. Same weather, two completely different conversations.
The cool stretch is doing something else for us, too. Sugar climbs slowly when the days stay mild, and slow is what we want. The longer the fruit hangs without the sugar getting away from us, the more time the flavors and the tannins have to fill in behind it. Rush the ripening and you get a wine that’s ripe on paper and hollow in the middle. Give it these extra days and you get color, depth, and a wine that holds together in the glass. Right now, waiting is the work.
Then Monday, we go. Our first red of 2026 is Merlot, coming off on Labor Day while the rest of the country is standing over a barbecue. That’s harvest for you. My boys will probably last 20 minutes before somebody needs a snack—but they’ll be out there.
Thanks, as always, for following along. The next time you open a bottle of ours, that patience is a good part of what you’re tasting.
Cheers,
Kevin Brutocao
4th Generation, Brutocao Family Vineyards
Did You Know
The Cabernet Franc my boys were picking at is a parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. Somewhere in 17th-century Bordeaux it crossed with Sauvignon Blanc, and the result is the grape now growing on our Contento hillside. DNA testing confirmed the pairing in the 1990s. So walking from that block over to the Cabernet is really walking from parent to child.
Featured Wine
Brutocao Cabernet Sauvignon — Three Ways
While we wait on this year’s fruit, here is what the last few vintages already gave us. Same Contento hillside, three levels of selection: our estate Cabernet Sauvignon at $36, the wine we open most nights and the one that earned 93 points from Wine Enthusiast; the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon at $70, built from the barrels Hoss sets aside, with more structure and more time in oak; and the Legacy Collection Cabernet Sauvignon at $120, the top selection of the vintage, bottled as a tribute to the people who built this place.
