Hi all! Well, the first couple of ferments are almost finished now (the Cherry Grove Vnyd fruit we picked on 9/29), and we're stacking more and more fruit into the winery every day. Most of the vines are beginning to go dormant, so everything is about as ripe as it's going to get. The only thing to do now is wait for some dry weather windows and pick like mad weasels.
So...We'll have everything into the winery by Friday, and we'll likely have some wine in barrel by the end of the weekend. However, by the time I go back to work on October 24th, there will still be plenty of wine bubbling away in fermenters.
More of today's update:
- Big Thanks to Dave and Ralph!
- The Picking Schedule
- Update from Dave's micro lab
- Margot Arrives!
- More chances to help with the wine-making
Big Thanks to Dave and Ralph
- Huge thanks to Ralph Leftwich for showing up to help sort fruit on Friday! After waiting around for everything to arrive, for lunch to start and finish, etc., we sorted 9 tons of fruit! With Ralph's expert help (who knew that he'd worked in a fruit processing plant?), we got everything into fermenters in around 4 hours! We couldn't have done it without him.
- Dave Shykind has also started his efforts (even with the total lack of focus from your's truly). He's now cooking up agar and slants and getting our baseline micro-biology samples established...More on this below.
The Picking Schedule
There's lots of fruit coming in this week! If anyone would like to help out for an afternoon, please just give me a call (503.866.6699).
Tuesday
--> 1.5 tons of Pinot Noir from Justice Vineyard in the Eola hills
--> 1.2 tons of Pinot Noir from Maresh Vineyard in the Dundee hills
Steve K. is showing up to help - What a great guy!!
Wednesday
--> 3 tons of Pinot Noir from Stoller Vineyard...Uncertain schedule, as TONS of people are picking and sorting on Wednesday, but this will likely be an afternoon affair. This block from Stoller Vineyards delivered some of our most beautiful wine in 2004.
Thursday
--> Rest day...If you'd like to show up and help with the "in between" winemaking tasks, feel free.
Friday
--> 0.5 tons of Pinot Noir from Anderson Family Vineyards
--> 3 tons of Pinot Noir from Momtazi Vineyards
If you'd like to see fruit coming into the winery, this is your last shot for the year. Other than a little bit of Chardonnay later next week, after this, we're all in!
Update from Dave's micro lab
Dave stopped by on Sunday afternoon to collect samples for the beginning of our micro-biological studies. We're trying to figure out what levels and species of yeasts and bacteria are coming into the winery on the fruit, are resident on the winery equipment, and are present in my cooperage. This should be really great, as Dave has the best scope and camera set up to capture images of what he finds. He's already talking over my head! I'm psyched! Stand by for update photos.
Margot arrives!
Tomorrow, our new part-time cellar hand, Margot, arrives. I'm very excited, as I'm pretty old and out of shape, and I can really use the help! We're sharing Margot with Patrick and Lee from Dominio. I'll be sure to you all when you stop by.
More chances to help with the wine-making
If anyone wants to see more “behind the scenes” activities like pressing or sending wine to barrel, let me know, as Athena and I can always use an extra set of hands, and everyone can be useful. Just give us a buzz or send an email!
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