2021 was the driest year on record since they started keeping records 127 years ago. It was also the third year of drought conditions for Sonoma County. Contrary to these conditions, the summer was relatively cool and started two weeks later than the previous year. The drought conditions did bring ripeness to each of our varieties at just about the same time. By the end of the first week, we had 40% of the total tonnage in the winery. This included Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel from both Fort Ross-Seaview and Russian River Valley. Despite being a very compact harvest, small clusters and berry size have yielded exceptional quality which makes 2021 a standout vintage.