Well, it finally happened. I woke up this morning and noticed a heavy layer of frost outside. The thermometer is reading about 27F, which means all the leaves I worked so long this summer to protect from disease to ensure ripening are toast.
It was bound to happen, and we're fortunate that it happened so late this year. Back in 2001, we were frosted on October 8th. That would have spelled disaster for 2009. We weren't even starting to pick our early reds until after then. And the late ones? They would have ended up as rose wines.
The timing is great, though. My plan was to pick our Cabernet this weekend--Sunday, in fact. The frost hitting the leaves will cause them all to fall off by the end of the day. Tomorrow, when we go to pick the grapes, the work will be a bit easier for us, as we won't have to search for the clusters. With bare canes, the grapes will be the only thing left hanging on the vines.
Next week, we'll get all the nets put away, and leave the bare and clean vineyard for a couple months. I've already been thinking about pruning. I'm strange that way, usually thinking 4-6 months ahead about vineyard operations. The empty vineyard will be a great place to walk through on a snowy day and dream about the future wine we will grow there. And how we will grow it will start with the first pruning cut sometime in January......
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The End is Near.......
And it's not a good thing necessarily.... One of our retail people asked me today--yes, today, she was emailing at 2 AM--if I was going to be happy when harvest was over.
Of course not! Harvest is what harvest is. And that to me is the best time of year. It's when the grapes come in--well, we bring them in--and we get a chance to pull back the veil on what we've been working on all year. Sometimes we have good feelings about it, sometimes not.
Think of it as Christmas when you were a kid. You knew going into it that there were gifts you knew you weren't going to want. Like the matching socks and sweaters from your grandmother. But for one fleeting moment before you tear off the wrapping, there's a chance that what lay underneath was excitement. And sometimes it was. But it was the feeling of anticipation and the process of gift-opening that made your adrenaline rush and carried you through the rest of the day as the grownups sat around exhausted..... That's what I'm talking about.
It's also why I haven't been posting. This could be a yearly phenomenon, so deal with it. I'm out here running around in my pajamas opening up presents of Hot Wheels cars, sweaters, and Legos, all the while I can't wait to take the best of them and play with them the rest of the day.
I will admit it makes me tired some. OK, a lot. I'm 39, and this is my 12th harvest. Not a lot, yet. But I can tell a difference. I still wake up early, too excited to sleep, but I can't go go go like I used to. Ray--my assistant winemaker--is starting to show it, too. When he first showed up here in his late 20s, he used to help with harvest then head to the bars. Now, four years later, it's been a few weeks since he's done that. We all get older, but the feelings for this only get stronger.
I'll do this till I die.
Of course not! Harvest is what harvest is. And that to me is the best time of year. It's when the grapes come in--well, we bring them in--and we get a chance to pull back the veil on what we've been working on all year. Sometimes we have good feelings about it, sometimes not.
Think of it as Christmas when you were a kid. You knew going into it that there were gifts you knew you weren't going to want. Like the matching socks and sweaters from your grandmother. But for one fleeting moment before you tear off the wrapping, there's a chance that what lay underneath was excitement. And sometimes it was. But it was the feeling of anticipation and the process of gift-opening that made your adrenaline rush and carried you through the rest of the day as the grownups sat around exhausted..... That's what I'm talking about.
It's also why I haven't been posting. This could be a yearly phenomenon, so deal with it. I'm out here running around in my pajamas opening up presents of Hot Wheels cars, sweaters, and Legos, all the while I can't wait to take the best of them and play with them the rest of the day.
I will admit it makes me tired some. OK, a lot. I'm 39, and this is my 12th harvest. Not a lot, yet. But I can tell a difference. I still wake up early, too excited to sleep, but I can't go go go like I used to. Ray--my assistant winemaker--is starting to show it, too. When he first showed up here in his late 20s, he used to help with harvest then head to the bars. Now, four years later, it's been a few weeks since he's done that. We all get older, but the feelings for this only get stronger.
I'll do this till I die.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Busy-ness
We pulled in our Chardonnay and Riesling yesterday. Harvest is starting to feel like harvest. Time is of the essence. We still will see this week: Viognier, Merlot, and more Merlot, and more Chardonnay. It's time to stop making sense and make wine.
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