At Naked, taking you inside the winery is kind of our thing. But this month, we’re going further and bringing you all the action from the frontlines of winemaking: the picking, pressing and tasting at 4am, the well-earned rewards at the end of the day, and the giant blow-outs at the end of the season.
Make yourself comfortable.
Ciao Angels!
Italian superstar winemaker Stefano di Blasi is elbow deep in Merlot grapes destined for his IGT Toscana.
Stefano says that because of the intense heat this year, there’s a little less juice in the grapes, but no fear – the Merlot remains “fantastic”, and the quality is “unbelievable”.
Can we speed time up until we can have a glass, please?
Watch Stefano in the winery as the grapes roll in
Winemaking: the unvarnished truth
The great thing about having our own winery in the heart of California wine country is that we get the inside scoop on winemaking – every juicy detail from the people in the know. And here it is, courtesy of Franc Dusak, our director of winemaking over in Sonoma and third generation winemaker.
“Everyone thinks that when you come to the winery that you’re going to be tasting barrels and sampling different things.
“Really what you’re doing is cleaning. It’s 99% cleaning.”
Ok so it’s not all crushing and sipping the good stuff. But we thank Franc and the team for their hard work. Our sips are better for it!
Watch this video from inside the winery – we challenge you not to be mesmerised
Franc Dusak
A new chapter begins in Piedmont
Mother and daughter Silvana Aluigi and Camilla Gemme have always championed Gavi at their Piedmont winery, carrying on generations of family tradition.
But this harvest, another grape takes centre stage – one that reminds them a little of their beloved Gavi: Riesling.
Yes, after a few patient years, a new adventure awaits with the family's first-ever Riesling vintage soon in the making. It’s a new grape, a new adventure, but the same Piona family and the same passion.
Sounds like you’re in for a treat…
Read the full report from Silvana and Camilla here
An exciting new chapter: in grape form
Full steam ahead for our new Corsican stars
Do the names Julien Zaffrila and Iris Dubusse ring a bell? That’s because this is the talented winemaking duo that Ben Darnault recently championed by giving up his Winemaker of the Year award in their favour.
And now, you’ve got a front-row seat to watch this next generation of winemakers take on harvest. Because after a hot and challenging summer, their Vermentinu grapes are now reaching beautiful maturity and are set to be picked very soon.
In the meantime, check out this video update from Julien and Iris and come along on the journey.
Rainy day blues and remarkable fungi
Is rain still harvest’s enemy number one? Maybe not. At least according to Sonoma-based Ondine Chattan. Years of experience has given her the tools to deal with most scenarios during the most hectic time of the winemaker calendar. But what about storms during harvest? And fungi?
By the Light of the Moon
Take a nighttime stroll through wine country, and you’ll see that the vines are far from peaceful. You’ll find rows and rows of crews hand-picking and machines humming away. And it’s not just because they’re too excited to get some shut-eye.
Daytime heat affects both the grapes and the people picking them, draining the team’s energy and the grapes’ precious juice. To solve for the sun’s intensity, some winemakers prefer to pick at night. Cooler-temperature harvests allow the grapes to preserve their juice and freshness, leading to a better wine in your glass. Not to mention a bit less sweat on the grapes by the picking teams.
Ben Darnault’s team has been burning the candle at both ends, capping off their first full week with a nighttime Rosé harvest.
Get the full French Dispatch here.
La Vendima Begins
Oscar Aragon’s team is waiting in the wings, walking the vines and tasting for that moment of precise harvest perfection (at last!). While the weather hasn’t been cooperating for all our winemakers across the Northern Hemisphere, Oscar’s found himself on the lucky end, with low temperatures and no rainy days ahead.
Now there’s nothing left to do but enjoy the quiet, sharpen the snips, and wait for harvest – or vendima, if you’d like to fit in with the locals.
Lights out in Priorat: a dramatic opening act
If you’re going to kick off harvest among the sweeping slate slopes of El Priorat, you might as well do it with maximum cinematic drama.
For Franck Massard, day one in Poboleda delivered a surprise hailstorm just as the first crop arrived at the winery. And to top it off, the local power grid threw in the towel, plunging the team (briefly) into darkness. Talk about a high-stress opening act to harvest.
The good news? Day two brought calmer skies. The storm has cleared, the power is back on, and the fruit coming off those legendary slopes is looking phenomenal.
Harvesting on these steep, slate terraces is all about patience and picking each variety at its peak. First out of the blocks is the delicate Garnacha Blanca. Over the coming weeks, the team will hand-pick their way through the rest…
Check out Franck’s full updates from the slopes of Priorat here.
Some of Franck’s dedicated picking squad – organic fruit this good demands to be picked by hand.
Rage against the machines…
When Katie Jones kicked off her harvest, the plan was beautifully simple: no rushing and no big picking machines or crushers.
Just a faithful team hand-picking old vine grapes, so only the best fruit made it into her winery.
Turns out, the machines had other plans. Or rather, the extreme heat did.
With temperatures soaring, Katie’s equipment has gone on strike (a very French tradition). First, the press refused to start. Then the cold unit packed it in. Finally, the refrigerated container gave up the ghost entirely.
Katie has spent more time staring at the insides of broken machinery this week than she has at her beloved vines.
Thankfully, through it all, her team has kept their cool and the stress hasn't transferred to the wines. The reds are rolling in, and the Syrah – against all mechanical odds – is looking magnificent.
Read Katie’s harvest vision and catch up on the subsequent mechanical meltdown.
Peek inside the belly of the beast (AKA Katie’s winery kit) – a sight she is fiercely hoping to avoid for the rest of harvest.
The Chanel No. 5 of the vineyard
Harvest is a high-stakes waiting game, as Marica Bonomo will tell you…
Down near the shores of Lake Garda, she’s been out pacing the rows to check if the Holy Trinity of winemaking – sugar, pH, and acidity – have finally clicked into perfect balance in her Cortese.
Cortese is a notoriously aromatic grape that Marica calls the "Chanel No. 5” of her Custoza Bianco because of its elegant perfume.
Watch Marica’s vineyard update right here.
Nothing like a father-daughter duo
Like Stephen Millier, Aussie-in-California Daryl Groom’s 2026 harvest is his earliest ever.
But this one is different for another reason – Daryl’s working the vines with his daughter, Kara, also a winemaker.
They are in a rhythm: grape sampling for one another to check sugar content, sharing the vineyard inspections.
“We each walk separate rows and take our own samples then compare. If similar, we know it’s correct.”
On August 17th they reckoned they had another week until go time. Watch this space.
Check out Daryl’s post here.
Daryl Groom and his daughter share a shot from harvest 2026, following a vineyard inspection during which they tested the sugar levels of grapes ripening ahead of picking.
All’s quiet (ish) in the Southern Hemisphere
While the Northern Hemisphere is picking and pressing, on the opposite side of the world it’s quiet – and cold – according to Kiwi winemaker Nicky Parish.
The vines are dormant but the winemakers? Far from it. This is “the moment we get to shape what's coming rather than just react to it,” she says.
“Everything that happens later… starts from the choices made out here in the quiet, in the cold, right now.”
Kicking off Naked Sonoma’s second harvest
It’s usually my three-year-old daughter who's giddy at the sound and sight of heavy duty machinery. But a few weeks ago that was 39-year-old me.
I was lucky enough to visit Naked Sonoma in mid-August, and even luckier that the trip coincided with the early days of harvest in California.
On my final day, a parcel of grapes was due to arrive in the winery where Naked is based. (It will never not be cool that the office is in a winery.)
With about half an hour until I absolutely had to leave, the grapes landed. With hi-vis donated by a colleague (thanks, Sarah!) I did an awkward run-jog across the car park, and watched the whole thing unfold, from forklift to crushpad to tank.
(And yes, I was a little late to check-in at the airport.)
Read our CEO Maza’s account from Sonoma, including Scott Peterson’s bucket of Sangria served with a side of jazz-funk. – Clare S
Maza at Naked Sonoma
A 51st and earliest ever harvest
In September 1975, Pink Floyd released Wish You Were Here, the Pope canonised the first American-born saint, and Stephen Millier got his first harvest under his belt. Fifty-one years later, Stephen is still crushing, but things are getting going much earlier, on a record-beating August 6th – bumping Stephen’s summer holiday off the calendar.
First up, 2 tonnes of Calaveras County Semillon, and lots and lots of chatter about the weather.
As Stephen says: “Our whole industry is dependent on the weather we get. Our daily temperatures are nearly 100 Fahrenheit (nearly 38 celsius). They’re not ideal, but what else can you do but talk about them.”
F. Stephen Millier in the Vineyard.
The countdown is on and every day counts
There was relief in the Loire Valley in late July as rain finally arrived after weeks of relentless, can’t-stop-thinking-about-it heat.
“It has given the vegetation a chance to recover and brought some much-needed freshness during this final stretch before harvest,” says Miguela Villebois.
Now, with work in the vineyard finished, “it’s time to let nature take its course as we patiently wait for the grapes to reach full ripeness”.
“The countdown is on! If weather conditions remain favourable, we expect to begin harvesting around 24 August. Until then, every day counts as the grapes continue their journey towards perfect ripeness.”
See more from Joost and Miguela here
Photographs by Joost and Miguela Villebois of vineyards and grapes in the Loire Valley before harvest 2026
