First Grapes - Crush 2009

Our first grapes of the year arrived today: Zinfandel/Primitivo from Snows Lake Vineyard in Red Hills Lake County. More info about this fruit in last week's dispatch.










Last year we grafted over the rootstock to Zinfandel grapevines:










We had 4.3 tons come in today - and are still waiting to get the final stats from the lab as to sugar, pH, etc. We'll update in the next day or so!













The winemaking crew kept a very close eye on things ... and it's on. They're continuing to monitor the other vineyards, sampling grapes, and now seeing this first lot through fermentation. The winery smells like grapes today & we know that in the next few days, aromas of fermenting grapes will waft through the building.