Harvest 2026 kicked off on August 24th, with the Sauvignon Blanc from Block 6 on Sagemoor’s Bacchus Vineyard being the first fruit to enter the winery. From our team’s point of view, everything in the winery has been going according to plan and the quality of fruit is high thanks to nearly perfect weather conditions.
“This year, the growing season started warm and fast, with September slowing things down with cooler-than-average temperatures. For the DeLille winemaking style, conditions couldn’t have been more perfect,” said Winemaker Nick Bernstein. The cooler temperatures slow down sugar development in the grapes and allow more time for flavor to build. “We’ve noticed in many 2026 lots, flavors were ahead of sugars. In the winery, we love to see complex flavors coming in before the sugars require us to pick the fruit. This allows us to create a more balanced wine, with those strong flavors, moderate alcohol and retained acidity.”
There are still a handful of lots to bring in, and a lot to be excited about as we get to know this vintage better.
Each vintage brings something special for DeLille, and this year, the team has a new standout block and a special bottling in the works.
This year, we gained rights to a new-to-us but beautifully mature 1992 block of Merlot from Conner Lee Vineyard. “We’ve had it in the winery for about a week and a half now, and we are pressing it early next week. We’ve been tasting it regularly and are loving where this new block is headed. It’s currently a candidate to be chosen as the Merlot for the 2026 Chaleur Estate, which isn’t something we consider lightly,” says Bernstein.
We’re excited to share that we’ve held one of the five acres of Sémillon on Olsen Vineyard to be late–harvested this year. With this extra time on the vines, these grapes will continue to develop sugar and, by the time they make it to the winery, will be ready to be crafted into another bottling of our late–harvest Sémillon, Le Petit Doux. This will be our third bottling of this dessert wine crafted in the famous Sauternes style.
We took some time with our Enologist, Page Kafonek (PK), and Cellar Leads Kaitlyn Neuenschwander (KN), Lindsay Ross (LR), and Sigrid Mellem (SM) to get to the bottom of what they’re excited about this harvest season. This group of women manages all of the day-to-day harvest tasks, from fruit processing to cap management to the intense tank digs after all of the juice has been drained and the grapes are ready to be pressed.
PK: Yeast build-ups for our large ferments. As the cells multiply, the wine gets bubbly; it looks really cute, and each varietal brings a different aroma and color that are exciting to experience.
KN: Punch downs! It’s a really good workout. Plus, you get to see and smell all of the different ferments and get to see each lot go from juicy fruit to wine ready to go into the barrel.
LR: Pressing the red wines at the end of fermentation. It’s a fun chance to taste the wines before they have any influence from barrels or aging. You get to experience the first aromas, see the color, and celebrate the work it took to get here!
SM: Draining and digging out the fermentation tanks. We move all of the juice from the fermentation vessels into barrels. We monitor the barrels less frequently than we do while they’re in the tanks, so it’s a nice send-off to their next phase, where they’ll stay until bottling and an exciting first look to where the final wine is heading!
PK: Roussanne! We ferment this wine in three different vessels: concrete, stainless steel and oak barrels. We get to taste them all individually and after the wine is blended, you can pinpoint which vessels created each of the different flavors in the final bottling.
KN: Chaleur Blanc: is a lot of fun to taste, from different yeasts to different cooperages. In the end, it is so cool to see how everything comes together.
LR: One of the wines I am excited to see develop is the 2026 Chaleur Blanc. We barrel ferment a good amount of both white varieties that go into it, and we have to keep a close eye on each vessel. It’s fun to see the evolution from harvest and how the different barrels come together to create a unique white blend.
SM: I am excited for all of the single-vineyard wines from Red Willow to develop. The care they put into their farming shines through in every bottling, and the fruit always crafts expressive wines. They’re fun to make and delicious to drink!
KN: We’re getting some new fruit from old vineyard partners, including some Merlot from Connor Lee Vineyards and Candy Mountain Merlot. It’s always exciting to see and experience new fruit coming into the winery.
LR: We are doing additional smaller ferments, which allows us to be involved with the grapes up close with punch downs and add that extra level of care into the wines.
SM: It’s my first year as a full-time team member at DeLille after my previous two years as a Harvest Intern! It’s been really exciting to get to learn more and expand my skills as I continue to take on more responsibility with the wine during harvest!
The cellar team cleans the winery and processing equipment after bring in fruit.
Close up of ‘air knife’ removing matter other than grapes from the line.
Page Kafonek managing stems as they are removed from the grapes.
Close up of cap mangement: punch down.
Nick Bernstein reviewing data to check on fermentation progress.
Grapes as they come into the winery, heading to the destemmer.
Barrels filled with wine from the 2026 vintage.
Nick Bernstein tasting a single lot to check on fermentation progess.
