BC Harvest Update Oct 5 -- Anyone want to work in the winery on Friday, Oct 7th?

Just a quick update from the Harvest '05 crew at Boedecker Cellars.

- Thoughts about the rain
- Help needed this Friday at the Winery
- Micro work on the way for Dave

Thoughts about the rain
Well, I'm sitting here watching it rain, but breathing a quick sigh of relief that the weather forecast looks better moving forward....

So far, we've picked one block from Cherry Grove Vineyard in Gaston - That's a grand total of 3 tons (out of a planned 20 tons) in the winery so far. I've been filling my time with worrying about the rain, wondering when everything else is going to ripen, worrying about the rain, thinking about other things I can do while I wait for fruit to ripen, worrying about the rain, etc.

Honestly, I was out in the vineyards today, and other than the water that the grapes have taken up over the last few days, there isn't any significant damage at this point. It's going to be a great year!

Think happy thoughts of nice looking grapes

Help needed this Friday -- Fruit sorting!
It looks like we're going to have a big picking day on Friday - We'll pick another 3-5 tons from Cherry Grove, pick ~ 1.5 tons from our block at Shea, maaayyybe pick our block at Stoller (another 3 tons), and probably pick our Chardonnay from Anderson Family, too.

--> If anyone would like to come and help sort fruit (it's really fun, and we feed you...free beer), this Friday would be a wonderful time! Even if you can only make it for part of the day, we'll definitely be able to use the help.

For those of you who are interested, just send me an e-mail (stewart@boedeckercellars.com)

Latest micro work for Dave!
I've taken the first juice samples for Dave's mad lab! For those of you who don't know, Dave Shykind is our unofficial microbiologist and photo-microscope guru. I'll soon have some really cool pictures of yeast cells up on the web site from Dave! Right now though, Dave has graciously offered to help me culture some juice and wine samples to ensure that all of my ferments are clean and free of any nasty little organisms.

Until later!