Harvest Report 8

What day is it? Is it night or day?

It's all a blur right now.

I thought I could write a daily blog, but when you get home from the winery at 3am it's hard to find the motivation. Call me lazy.

So, where are we now? Well, the Zinfandel is in the bins and we began fermenting it a couple of days ago. These grapes were picked a little early due to a threat of rain (rain in September?!?! Where are we, France?). The color is really good so far but the flavors will be a bit different from the 2005 vintage. I'm definitely picking up more spicy black pepper flavors in this batch.

The "Oaky" Chardonnay has finished fermenting and is at home in eight barrels (two of them new for that toasty-spicy-vanilla flavor). They'll remain in those casks for the next 14 months or so.

The Viognier is done fermenting and is delicious! It's resting in neutral barrels now and we'll fine and filter it early next year.

The Sauvignon Blanc has also completed its fermentation and is on the same path as the Viognier. I countine to taste crisp flavors of lime and grapefruit. This is going to be a great summer wine!

The Sangiovese has finished fermenting and we pressed it yesterday into a stainless steel tank. From there we'll barrel it down to a mixture of new and neutral oak. Then will begin a secondary fermentation to convert harsh malic acid to softer lactic acid. We do this "malolactic fermentation" (or ML as it's known in the cellar) to all our reds to give them a dimension of rich smoothness. This process takes a few months to complete. After ML is finished we'll rack the wine off the lees, wash the barrels and put the cleaner wine back in. We'll probably age this wine about 18 months. We'll keep tasting it in the meantime and release it only when it's ready.

The weather has cooled off so maybe our grapes will trickle-in at a easier pace now. Perhaps that will coincide with better sleep for the rest of harvest. You know it's a busy harvest when you refer to your night's sleep as a "nap!"

Harvest Report 7

The Sangio is in, crushed, and sleeping peacefully in the cellar. We're going to let the grapes and juice settle overnight, then take some samples to the lab tomorrow. We want to get an official read on the sugar level, the acidity level and the pH. We also want to know how much nitrogen is in the juice. Since yeast use nitrogen as food (one cannot live on sugar alone; believe me, I've tried) we need to see if there is enough in the juice. If not, we'll add a little nutrient to the juice so the yeast will have a balanced meal to much on for the next few days.

Otherwise, the juice tastes great. This one will be fun!

Harvest Report 6

Just got a report that our Sangiovese Grapes are at 26 Brix and will be picked tomorrow. This is Kendra's favorite wine so I better not mess it up!

Harvest Report 5

The sauvignon blanc is whistling away in the barrels. Really. If you were to walk by those barrels you'd hear a high-pitched hiss as the CO2 escapes from the vent in the rubber bung. This is a by-product of fermentation. Yeast eat the sugar and convert about 55% it to alcohol, most of the rest is converted to CO2. The yeast should complete their work in about 7 - 10 days. But we'll see. I'll measure the sugar level periodically to make sure the level is dropping and that the yeast aren't sleeping.

Yesterday, I pitched yeast on the viognier. It's takes about a day or two for the yeast to "wake-up" and begin munching on the sugar.

Today, I'm inoculating (a fancy word for adding yeast) the chardonnay. This is the chard we are putting in barrels and will be similar in style to our 2004 Paso Robles Chardonnay (toasty vanilla and buttery flavors with a creamy texture and fuller body). This raises a good point. What should I name the two chardonnays? Currently our "oaked" chardonnay is our 2004 vintage and our "unoaked" chardonnay is our 2005 vintage. Now we have two different chardonnays both from the same year and both are from Monterey County. Anybody got any cool names I could use on the label so folks can tell them apart?

Harvest Report 4

It was back out to the San Lucas Vineyard yesterday to fetch three tons of Chardonnay. There I met Andrew, a college intern, who issued me my weigh tag and helped me tie down my grapes. He's hoping to get into Cal Poly's Wine and Viticulture program. I was impressed to learn he carries copies of lectures in his truck to study during the slow times. He was even kind enough to give me a copy of his notes!

Before I left, Andrew asked me if I I planned to go back up that hill. I said, "How did you hear about that?" "I read your blog." He said. Andrew went to our website the day before to learn about the winery that was buying the grapes. The kid did his homework. He's gonna do just fine at Cal Poly.

I got the Chardonnay pressed to a tank and we'll barrel it down tomorrow. Today we are going to kick off the Viognier. Vino, yay!

Harvest Report 3

The white grapes are coming in fast now! Yesterday we harvested Viognier at Fralich Vineyards in Templeton. The temperature dropped 20 degrees and the wind was howling (the latter making driving an overloaded trailer very interesting).

Here are some shots of the viognier being picked. I know, why am I standing around with a camera while everyone else is working? Well, they were just finishing as I got there (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

It was a super late night in the winery. Besides pressing this beautiful viognier, I barreled-down the sauvignon blanc and "pitched" the yeast. That means the first batch of 2007 wine is underway. I finally left the winery at 2am. Ah, now it's beginning to feel a lot like harvest!

I'm keeping this short, since I'm back up to the San Lucas Vineyard in Southern Monterey County. Our warm-climate chardonnay being picked as I write this. I gotta get my rear up there!

Harvest Report 2

What a beautiful day for receiving grapes! Not a cloud in the sky and the heat has backed off a bit.



All went reasonably well at the vineyard. Except all the workers were at lunch when I arrived. But the delay allowed me to take a nice picture of the grapes and the vineyard. I also found myself snacking on a few of my sauvignon blanc clusters since I didn't bring a lunch of my own.



After loading (and reloading, but I won't go into that) my trailer I had another adventure. While leaving the vineyard I saw a sign that said "No full trucks." For some reason I didn't think that sign applied to me. I figure it was a warning to the big tractor-trailer rigs. But halfway up a hill I had a sinking realization why the sign was posted.



The road was an oiled dirt road. Mix oil and dirt with a steep grade and Chevy pickup pulling a maximum load, and yup, you find yourself going backwards! The weight of my grapes dragged me in reverse causing me to nearly wipe out countless Cabernet Sauvignon vines. Somehow the gods took mercy on me and I barely avoided a disaster.



Next time, I won't be a typical guy and will ask for directions.

Harvest Report 1

Anybody warm?

This recent blast-furnace of a heat wave has stepped-up the ripening of some of our vineyards. So I'm going out to the San Lucas Vineyard in Monetery County this morning to fetch my three tons of Sauvignon Blanc. We'll begin squeezing the sweet nectar out of the grapes this afternoon and getting the juice into a nice, chilled stainless steel tank. At least, then, something will be cool around here.

I don't know what makes me think I'll have the time, but I'll try to post a daily harvest report. I'll share with you all the romance (read: the good, bad, and the ugly) of life in the vineyards and the cellar this season.