Newsletter September 2009

Harvest Update from Anne Moses

Yesterday, I had the chance to work alongside James in the winery and the vineyards. We started by testing the Brix (measuring sugar levels) in the barrel-fermented Chardonnays that have been “cooking away” in the fermentation room. It is amazing how the CO2 propels the aromatics of the Chardonnay juice—it is like sticking your nose into a fruit basket (golden delicious apples, pineapple, peaches, honeydew melon) and a flower bouquet (tangerine blossoms, frangipani, vanilla) at the same time.

Next, we were out in the vineyards, sampling berries and assessing ripeness levels. In the vineyard, we don’t just measure the Brix to assess ripeness, we look at the color of the foliage, the color of the seeds (they should be brown not green), and the firmness of the grape pulp—tactile and sensory cues that you develop over years of working with winegrapes.

Because there were no grapes coming into the winery that day, we (James, Robin Langton our asst. winemaker and I) got the opportunity to have a “proper” lunch instead of the steady crush diet of deli sandwiches or taco truck burritos. (That said, the taco truck parked down the street from our winery has a great carne asada taco!) We went to El Dorado Kitchen for house-made salumi, truffled frites, mussels (Robin), gazpacho (me), and a classic Reuben (James).

After lunch, we returned to the winery to crush up our ziplock bags of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir samples, and measure the sugar levels. Next, the picking schedule was organized for the week, and if that schedule holds true, it looks like we will be more than 50% complete with our harvest by the end of this week.

To wrap things up, we tasted all of our fermenting Pinot Noirs that had just been punched down in their open-top fermentors by our harvest crew. Most are only halfway done with their fermentations, but I was struck by how deep the colors of the wines already are—always a good thing. It is looking like another great vintage for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.