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.

Quick Grape & Harvest Update

Today Mauricio pulled Zinfandel grapes for sampling of sugars and acidity at Snows Lake Vineyard in Lake County. He amended the info, though - it's actually Primitivo (Clones 3 & 4).

The upper blocks are at 25.4 brix and a pH of 4 ... he says the lower blocks are still at 22 brix. It's likely we will hand-harvest the two upper blocks (one on an eastern-facing hill and the other adjacent on a western-facing hill) next week. Later on the lower ones.

The Sauvignon Blanc from Dancing Crow Vineyard isn't as close to being ready - Mauricio's current guess is September 14th or thereabouts.

He's also beginning to look at Merlot and Cabernet from Totem Ridge Vineyard - Cabernet is much later ripening - it will probably be ready in mid-October.