Hi all. Well, I am sorry to not have been able to keep up more information on this blog site, but, it is harvest time. I do have more information to share from the California adventure, but, right now I am overwhelmed, as are most winemakers at this time of year, with the grapes coming in for the 2009 harvest season.
It has been a very unusual season. We have had lots and lots of rain and temperatures that have screamed into the nineties for periods of time and dropped into the 50's at night all of a sudden.
So far, we have harvested the Pinot Gris, Traminette, Semillon and Chardonnay. The crop is down all over the board. We are certain this is due to the fact that we had incessant rain during flowering. If it rains a lot at that time, the flowers don't pollinate and so there are less grapes. The grapes are good quality, however, and we expect good things from them.
Pinot Gris and Traminette are now fermenting slowly at about 60 degrees. Tomorrow I will innoculate the Semillon, which has been warming up from the 45 degree at which I settled the juice. We will also rack (transfer) the Chardonnay juice off the sediment (lees) tomorrow so it can begin its process of warming up. The next step will be to innoculate it and transfer it into barrels for barrel fermentation.
No reds have been harvested yet, so what happens with them remains to be seen. As always, Mother Nature will have a huge impact.
I will report on the progress as the harvest continues.
In the meantime, enjoy the vintages you have and dream about the future ones. That's what I do.
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