2026 Harvest Update: The Earliest Harvest of Matt’s Career

October 1 Harvest Update

On October 1st, with nearly every grape in the winery, we sat down with winemaker Matt Brady to talk about the 2026 harvest. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

SAMsARA: Give us a little backstory. Where have we been, and where are we today?

Matt: You can make the case that every harvest is unique, because each vintage throws some new curveballs at you. This year, the really interesting element was the timing. We started picking grapes for our sparkling program in July, which we’ve never done before. Most of the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay came in significantly early.

Anybody who’s been on the Central Coast this year knows it’s been a warm year. But that’s really not what drove the early harvest. It’s been warm pretty much without a break since the 4th of July, but not significantly warmer than average. Just steady and warm, with a couple of little heatwaves sprinkled in.

What really drove the early harvest was the warm winter and the lack of cold nights. It never really got cold at night this winter. That was most dramatic at the coastal vineyards, because the ocean regulates both the highs and the lows. It doesn’t get as hot during the day, but it also doesn’t get as cold at night. So our far west vineyards, like Radian, Bent Rock, Lady of Guadalupe, and Rancho La Viña, were the most impacted.

It started with a short dormancy period. Bud break happened four to six weeks earlier than normal, and that’s when the clock starts ticking. The timing of harvest is almost like a shot clock. Whether the season is cool, moderate, warm, or hot, the biggest driver of harvest timing is bud break. This year it just happened early.

Add the steady warmth all summer, and it’s been warm all of September, too. We’ve got about ten more days of heat ahead, and I think everybody’s ready for a break. But it’ll be the final push for us. Nearly all our fruit is in. The only grapes still out there are Syrah at Zotovich Vineyard, and this heat will get it to the finish line.

SAMsARA: In your two-plus decades of harvests, is this the earliest?

Matt: Definitely the earliest. There are exceptions. We picked the old Grenache block at Larner Vineyard on September 29th, which happened to be my grandfather’s birthday. Larner isn’t coastal, it’s in Ballard Canyon, so it was about three weeks earlier than last year but not as extreme as the coastal sites.

Radian Pinot Noir, on the other hand, we picked six weeks earlier. We picked it on August 24th this year. Last year, we picked it on October 6th. I’ve never seen a harvest range like that in my career.

We talk about this all the time at SAMsARA: the special sauce and the magic of our region is hang time. Our proximity to the ocean and the east-west mountain ranges funnel in the fog and create these long growing seasons. That’s what gives us physiological ripeness, big flavors, complexity, freshness, and acidity. That’s what drives great wines and great vintages.

And I’m feeling really optimistic about 2026. I’m looking at my 2026 harvest data report next to my 2025 report, and aside from the harvest dates, the numbers are really consistent. We got great acidity. One of the things I’m proudest of this vintage is that we really hit the bullseye on scheduling our picks.

We’ve also seen very little compromised fruit. We work with A+ vineyards with a really high level of farming, so we don’t see much to begin with. But our far west sites have more mildew pressure, especially in years like 2025, when Pinot Noir hung out until October. Maybe one unexpected benefit of the early season is that the fruit didn’t hang long enough to get compromised. Everything came in super clean.

All the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are in barrel, and everything’s tasting great so far.

SAMsARA: Anything else that went particularly well this vintage?

Matt: We made a Sauvignon Blanc for the first time, and I’m really excited about it. It’s from Grassini Vineyard, one of the legendary Sauvignon Blanc vineyards in our area. Grassini had a really low crop this year, which made it a nice vintage to jump in with, because there’s such amazing concentration and depth of flavor.

We barrel-fermented it in neutral oak, and now it’s aging in stainless steel. It’s fresh, clean, and zippy. Everything you want out of Sauvignon Blanc.

SAMsARA: Where is Grassini, relative to our other vineyards?

Matt: Grassini is in Happy Canyon, at the other end of the valley from most of our vineyards in western Sta. Rita Hills. It’s quite a bit warmer out there, almost a different planet. We picked it on August 10th, about two to three weeks earlier than normal. Not the extreme four to six weeks we saw on the coast, because that far inland, it does get cold at night in the winter.

SAMsARA: How much Sauvignon Blanc did you make?

Matt: We’ve got one 250-gallon tank filled to the top, so about 100 cases. Very limited. I like making wines I like to drink, and I like Sauvignon Blanc. I think people are going to be stoked.

SAMsARA: Tell us about the sparkling program.

Matt: We started the sparkling program in 2022 and hit the ground running. As we’ve gotten more excited about the potential for world-class sparkling wine in Sta. Rita Hills, we’ve made some winemaking decisions to elevate it. They take more time and investment, but I think they’ll put a better wine in the bottle.

We’ve moved from 12 to 14 months on the lees to 30 months before disgorgement. We’ve also really focused on nailing the picks. With sparkling, the bullseye is tighter. We’ve made killer Grenache at 13% alcohol and at 15%. There’s more flex with Grenache and Syrah, and a bit less with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. With sparkling, you really have to hit it right on the dot.

This year we picked Pinot Noir for Blanc de Noirs at Spear Vineyard on July 31st, and Chardonnay for Blanc de Blancs about ten days later, also from Spear. We’ll probably do a Blanc de Blancs, a Blanc de Noirs, and maybe a cuvée blending the two. Expect some limited sparkling releases over the next couple of years as we transition to the longer aging program.

SAMsARA: What makes Spear such a good fit for sparkling?

Matt: It’s still a cool site, but it’s not as far west as Bentrock and Radian, so we get a little more flavor at the sugar levels we’re picking at for sparkling.

Spear has also been a great partner. They’re certified organic and use some biodynamic practices, and we never have to worry about the farming. They keep the vineyard in tip-top shape. When we added a Blanc de Noirs last year, they gave us great options for blocks and were really flexible.

SAMsARA: Any closing thoughts?

Matt: It’s been a great vintage. But it’s always nice when the wine gets to barrel and you’re on the downhill side.

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Look for Matt’s full 2026 harvest report in four to six weeks, once everything is wrapped up.