Walter Raymond, marking the 35th harvest at Raymond Vineyards, recalled the first Raymond harvest  in 1974. “We didn’t have a lot of equipment, the crush area was just a barn really, but it was an exciting time for our family,” said Raymond, winemaker  and president since the retirement of his older brother, Roy Jr., in 2006. “We planted the vineyards and built the winery ourselves. We really built the business as a family.”

The winery began celebrating the 2008 harvest earlier this year with a “Harvest Boot Camp” weekend to benefit Berkeley Repertory Theatre in April, followed by a 35-year cabernet sauvignon retrospective e-auction lot at Auction Napa Valley in June.

This milestone harvest has been an interesting one at Raymond. Consistently warm weather in the latter part of August and early September, coupled with zero overnight fog, had the Raymond team scrambling. Harvest officially began at the winery on Aug. 25 and seemed to be non-stop activity until the cooling fog and lower temperatures prevailed on Sept. 8. Harvest activity has slowed since and Raymond predicts the winery’s estate cabernet sauvignon vineyards will be picked in mid October, with harvest concluding in late October. “It seems to be a very balanced vintage with great flavors and intensity,” he said. “A new vintage is always exciting.”