Harvest Update
Two picks under our belt now, and one more to go! Today and tomorrow we're bottling the last of the 2013 Pinots, with much help from family and friends (THANK YOU). These will travel to our warehouse on Friday, clearing out much-needed space in our cellar for the final blocks of Pinot also coming in on Friday.
So far we harvested our 115 and 777 clones of Pinot, plus our Sauvignon Blanc. Next to come in will be the 114 and Pommard clones, with the Semillon, per usual, dead last. (It's not that it's a slacker, per se, but that it just takes its sweet time trying to ripen in a slightly too-cold climate; we're lucky most years to get to 20-21 Brix, but we adore the resulting wine!)
The grapes are looking great. Sugars are coming in just like we like them (22.5-23.5 for most of our Pinots, resulting in a nice, balanced 13.5-14% alcohol). Acids are great this year. The only issue that we've seen is some sunburn in a few blocks, making raisins out of part of the clusters. We deal with this by sorting in the field, then again at the winery. By hand. Very tediously.
We've ramped the whole clusters up to approx. 40% on most of our lots this vintage, which will add to the structure, flavor and general interest of the resulting wines. Right now wild yeasts are at work on our first fermentors of Pinot -- a process that takes us about three weeks, employing hand punchdowns 1-3 times per day all the way through.
The best part? Because we're 100% estate, it's fast and furious for now, but we'll be done in the vineyard very soon. Then we can focus only on winemaking for the rest of the fall, wrapping everything up well before harvest.
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| Gary, Tom, Scott, DeWayne, Joe, Nancy & Kristy, bottling. |
So far we harvested our 115 and 777 clones of Pinot, plus our Sauvignon Blanc. Next to come in will be the 114 and Pommard clones, with the Semillon, per usual, dead last. (It's not that it's a slacker, per se, but that it just takes its sweet time trying to ripen in a slightly too-cold climate; we're lucky most years to get to 20-21 Brix, but we adore the resulting wine!)
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| Sauvignon Blanc in the basket press. |
The grapes are looking great. Sugars are coming in just like we like them (22.5-23.5 for most of our Pinots, resulting in a nice, balanced 13.5-14% alcohol). Acids are great this year. The only issue that we've seen is some sunburn in a few blocks, making raisins out of part of the clusters. We deal with this by sorting in the field, then again at the winery. By hand. Very tediously.
We've ramped the whole clusters up to approx. 40% on most of our lots this vintage, which will add to the structure, flavor and general interest of the resulting wines. Right now wild yeasts are at work on our first fermentors of Pinot -- a process that takes us about three weeks, employing hand punchdowns 1-3 times per day all the way through.
The best part? Because we're 100% estate, it's fast and furious for now, but we'll be done in the vineyard very soon. Then we can focus only on winemaking for the rest of the fall, wrapping everything up well before harvest.
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