As the year comes to a close and the 2024 wines complete fermentation, we wanted to share a behind-the-scenes look at what’s happening both in the vineyard and winery at Suhru & Lieb Vineyards—a winter vineyard update from our winemaking team!
While winter on the North Fork may appear quiet from the outside, some of the most important vineyard and winemaking work of the year is already underway. From winter vineyard preparation and pruning to barrel aging and bottling plans, our team is hard at work laying the foundation for the 2025 growing season and the next generation of North Fork wines.
Over the past several months, our Vineyard Foreman, Ildo, and his team have focused on preparing the vineyard for dormancy and protecting vine health throughout the winter months.
As temperatures drop, grapevines naturally enter dormancy. During this stage, the vines rely on the nutrients and energy reserves they stored during the growing season to survive the winter and prepare for spring growth.
Throughout November and December, the vineyard team has concentrated on several key projects:
If you’ve driven along Oregon Road near the tasting room recently, you may have noticed increased activity in the vineyard.
Over the past few weeks, the team has removed approximately 2.5 acres of vines from our Corner Vineyard in preparation for planting a new grape variety in spring 2025.
We’re not quite ready to share which variety is coming next—but we’re excited about what’s ahead and look forward to revealing more in the coming year.
One of the most important vineyard tasks of the year is now officially underway: winter pruning.
Winter pruning helps:
This process is both meticulous and labor-intensive. On average, winter pruning requires roughly 40 labor hours per acre, making it the single largest vineyard task of the year.
Over the coming weeks, the vineyard crew will continue pruning all 54 acres in preparation for the 2025 North Fork growing season.
Inside the winery, the 2024 harvest season is officially wrapping up.
All 2024 white wines at Suhru & Lieb have completed fermentation. The next steps for many of these wines include:
Bottling of the 2024 white wines and Rosés is expected to begin toward the end of January 2025.
Meanwhile, the 2024 red wines have completed malolactic fermentation and officially entered the next phase of development: barrel aging.
During barrel aging, the wines slowly evolve through controlled oxygen exposure and integration with oak, helping develop:
At the same time, many of our 2023 red wines are now beginning to come out of barrel in preparation for bottling.
This transition also creates space in the cellar for the incoming 2024 reds.
As we move into the new year, the winery team is shifting its focus toward blending and bottling.
From January through April, the cellar will be especially busy as we:
Once bottled, many of the reds will continue aging in our warehouse for anywhere from several months to several years before release.
Winter may feel quiet, but it’s one of the most active and important times of year behind the scenes.
Between vineyard preparation, pruning, barrel aging, blending, and bottling, every decision made now plays a role in shaping future vintages.
And with several exciting new releases planned for spring 2025, there’s plenty to look forward to in the months ahead.
Stay tuned—we can’t wait to share what’s next.
