The 2026 harvest is imminent and the winery is abuzz with preparations. While the grapes continue to ripen on the vines, the King Estate team is hard at work — hiring seasonal staff, fine-tuning equipment, ordering supplies and deep-cleaning tanks and totes.
One of the final steps before harvest is determining the ideal pick date for each block in our estate vineyard and those of our vineyard partners. Every vineyard and block ripens at its own pace, so our team is in the field, tasting grapes for flavor and maturity and collecting samples to analyze in the lab. All this information helps determine the optimal harvest date for each block.
Because of our higher elevation and cooler conditions, King Estate is generally one of the last vineyards to ripen. As a result, harvest typically begins with our partners farther north before making its way home to King Estate.
