2025 marks our third vintage of Deauratus. It is also Eric’s thirty-first vintage of making wine, and Shun’s 20^th vintage.  Looking back through the different growing seasons that we have experienced, 2025 is remarkably similar to both 2015 and 2005.  These growing seasons were all cooler-than-normal, having received abundant rain during their winters, and late to be harvested.   Vineyard yields were also less fruitful, allowing excellent flavor development at lower sugar ripeness.  The cool weather also helped maintain more days of hang time, benefiting tannin ripeness and greater color.

We began harvest with a small pick of chardonnay from Michaud Vineyard on September 5, during a short period of searing heat.  The grapes came in with very intense flavors and firm acidity.  The vines received less rainfall than ’24 and ’23, leading to more water stress leading to greater concentration in the grapes.  Temperatures dropped and a few small monsoonal disturbances came up from the south and dropped an inch of rainfall. This quenched the remaining vines left to harvest. Grenache blanc was picked on September 25, followed by syrah and grenache noir on October 2.  The tonnage was lower than we had hoped for but the quality of the wines made is superb. It’s the right side of the equation to be on when you are quality-minded and attempting to make some of the very best wines possible.

Looking to add a few new wines to the Deauratus portfolio, we set out to look for sauvignon blanc and zinfandel.   Having good connections in the wine world, led us to Benito Dusi Ranch of Paso Robles for zinfandel.  These are the oldest vines of that region, planted in gravelly soil with no irrigation in place.  This is a dry farmed vineyard where the grapes came off the vine with intense flavors and deep color.  We harvested on September 26^th, following the cool weather that slowed ripening.  This is a very delicious and complex old vine zinfandel, and showing great promise to be perhaps one of the best we’ve ever made from this vineyard (where Eric and Shun made fabulous Dusi Ranch zinfandel while at Ridge Vineyards.)

For sauvignon blanc, we went out on a windy road at the base of the Santa Lucia Mountains, along the valley floor following the Arroyo Seco River.  Zabala Vineyard is a multi-generational farming family that has grown grapes on a massive alluvial washout.  The block we chose to work with is organically farmed and extremely rocky being situated nearest the present-day river.   The climate is surprisingly cool and foggy with significant influence from the Pacific Ocean.  Temperature oscillates between cold and warm as the day progresses, with afternoon breezes driving temperatures lower as the fog creeps in at night.  The sauvignon blanc was the very last grapes we harvested, on October 10^th, as it was an especially cold growing season for this unique region.

Mount Veeder Napa was also very late to ripen and be ready for harvest. This is an east-facing vineyard protecting the vines from the very hot afternoon sun. This vineyard is surrounded by pine and oak forest which also moderates the temperature for the vines, allowing for slower ripening.  In late September, a half-inch of rain fell and provided the vines much needed hydration.  This allowed the sugar level to decrease and flavors to advance.  We picked on October 9^th, bringing in all four grapes and co-fermenting the destemmed whole-berries in two small temperature-controlled tanks.  Co-fermentation is our preferred method for creating blends as the grapes extract and the complex fusion happens between their wonderful flavors, tannins, and color molecules.  The 2025 Mt. Veeder Cabernet, in a classic left-bank bordeaux blend, is a substantial wine, showing opulence and muscle.  We also produced a small amount of merlot from the portion held out of the cabernet in order to maintain 75% varietal.  It’s a stunning wine that shows great mountain character and excellent tannin texture.  We look forward to seeing this wine finish its malolactic fermentation and begins to age in barrel.

We have been able to get all our 2025 wines to barrel ahead of schedule so they can begin aging and settling down.  This required a significant investment in new barrels in order to fill with the new vintage. As the 2024’s are bottled, then we’ll rack the 2025 wines out of barrels and re-allocate into some of the older ones for balanced oak.   Our bordeaux lots will be aged in new cooperage as the wines have such excellent intensity that they can integrate the new oak perfectly.

Looking back at the growing season, the resulting vintage made, and ahead to how the wines will age, we were fortunate to have made such an excellent vintage.  The weather threw some challenges but our decades of winemaking experience helped us maintain control over panicked decision-making.  Everything came together perfectly for us. The grapes were very clean and healthy, fermenting with ease, which also contributed to the phenomenal quality of the vintage. All=in-all, this is a vintage that should be well-regarded by consumers at least from our perspective at Deauratus.

All our best,
Eric and Shun
December 5, 2025