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What Harvest Is Really Like in Napa Valley | Bruce Devlin | Barrels & Roots
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What Harvest Is Really Like in Napa Valley | Bruce Devlin | Barrels & Roots
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I sat down with Bruce Devlin, winemaker and general manager at Ballentine Vineyards in St. Helena, Napa Valley.
Bruce has been making wine for over 25 years, and what strikes me most about his story is how deeply rooted it is in curiosity, from home-brewing beer as a teenager, to studying fermentation science at UC Davis, to spending a summer peeling mislabeled bottles in a German winery. He breaks down what winemaking actually looks like from the inside: the 12 touches per vine each season, the gut-wrenching decisions when a heat wave hits at 119 degrees, the harvest days that stretch to 60 tons when rain is coming on Monday.
He also shares something I think gets lost in the romance of wine culture: none of it happens without a team, without trust, without people willing to show up at 4 a.m. If that's what the fruit needs.
What's one experience, a place, a person, or a single glass that changed the way you think about wine?