The arrival of the first fruit of the 2026 harvest is something to celebrate. Light rain and slightly cooler temperatures delayed our anticipated start date by a few days but on Sept. 11, a beautiful sunny Friday, the first grapes arrived on our crush pad – 17.2 tons of Pinot Gris from Block 11 of our own Pfeiffer Vineyard in Junction City. To put that in perspective, we expect to bring in more than 2,300 tons of fruit this year so there are a lot of grapes to go!
The fruit was hand-picked that morning starting at 7:30 a.m. before being loaded on a truck and driven to King Estate, arriving around 1 p.m. Shortly thereafter the crew gathered around the first tote of fruit for a few words from Winemaker Brent Stone and Associate Winemaker Matt Danner before sharing a toast and the ceremonial sprinkling of the grapes with sparkling wine. Next, the forklifts fired up and quickly deposited the grapes in the hopper on their way to becoming delicious Willamette Valley Pinot Gris.
And so begins Harvest 2026!
