2025 Harvest Notes

As we wrap up our 18th vintage at Sleight of Hand I thought I’d give you my early impressions on the 2025 vintage here in WA State. To put it simply, 2025 was AWESOME!! I liken this vintage to 2012 and 2018, both very even keeled growing seasons without any extreme heat spikes during the summer. Our growing degree days (GDD) were on par for average until the end of August into the beginning of Sept. when temps stayed quite warm (but not HOT) to accelerate harvest in some of our sites.

Keith and I, and plenty of other winemakers, felt like this vintage did not adhere to the normal harvest schedule like in years past. Our traditionally cooler sites like Les Collines and Blue Mtn. Vineyard harvested off before some of our traditionally warmer sites like the Rocks District and Red Mtn. The Ziggy Stardust Block up at Elevation Vineyard, which in years past was our first Syrah to come off, was close to our last this year. And we even picked the Funk Vineyard AFTER Stoney Vine, which has never happened. Although I can’t tell you WHY things were picking off when they did, I can tell you that we made some awesome picking decisions based on the quality of the wines we now have in our cellar.

Our native fermentations took their sweet time, never showing any stress, but also taking longer to finish than in years past. I think we averaged 3 weeks on the skins this year, which is a little longer than normal. I love how the color and tannin extractions this year are looking, and the acidity is quite fresh, thanks in part to our picking decisions. Some standout lots so far are both the WeatherEye and Elevation Cabernet Sauvignon, Stoney Vine Syrah, and Les Collines Grenache. But truth be told, all the lots are fantastic. Our winemaking team of Keith and Baily, assisted by Madi, Anna, and Flint this year, were all rock stars. And the harvest lunches were NOT to be missed! We can’t wait to share our wines with you soon! Stay tuned for these beauties! Trey