The 2001 harvest for Changala Winery started on August 29 with Chardonnay from Dunning Vineyards. Bob Dunning has made fabulous wines from his estate vineyard for many vintages now and we feel extremely fortunate to get the first grapes off of his vineyard this year. Heidi Changala and Bob Dunning had to patiently wait for the high acid content fruit from this Westside Vineyard to come down into balance with the well developed fruit characteristics of this Chardonnay. 

These grapes were hand picked into small plastic bins and transported immediately to the Winery where they were whole cluster pressed and chilled before being racked into small French oak barrels for fermentation. We used 50% new barrels for our Chardonnay and all of the wine has gone through malolactic fermentation and now exhibits soft lush tropical fruit flavors as it ages in the oak.

Our 2001 Syrahs come from the Pianetta Vineyard in Indian Valley and the Meeker Vineyard on Von Dollen Road. The wines made from these vineyards both have great deep burgundy color in common but differ in fruit characteristics. The Pianetta wine has a distinct chocolate spicey flavor while the Meeker Syrah exhibits blackberry and violet flavors and aromas. The Paso Robles Cabernet also has great color and exhibits bright cherry and berry flavors. 

The dry farmed Westside Zinfandel of the Clevenger Vineyard was the last red grape that we received this year. This head trained spur pruned vineyard just off of highway 46 west is farmed the traditional low yield low input style of the early Paso Robles Zinfandel vineyards.

Whites started this vintage and whites ended it. The final grapes in the door this year were Viognier from the Zaca Vineyard in Los Olivos. The long growing season in Santa Barbara County this year allowed these grapes to hang on the vine until the aromatic flavors of this Viognier developed to its fullest. Like the Chardonnay, Viognier was whole cluster pressed, chilled and then racked into barrels for fermentaion. Unlike the Chardonnay, our Viognier in fermented in neutral oak to accentuate the delicate flowery aromas of this variety.

The course of the harvest was a welcome relief from the late and hectic harvests of the most recent years. An early start on Chardonnay followed closely with Syrah got us started and then a cool period allowed these wines to get through fermentation and into barrels before our cabernet was ready. The weather warmed back to near summer temperatures in early October to get the Cabernet ripe and our Zinfandel and Viognier hung out in the Indian Summer weather until they matured to their flavorful peak of ripeness. Wines from the 2001 vintage are already showing great promise with their deep color and full range of flavor.