2nd week of Harvest

We thought this week was going to by busy with grape deliveries, but the weather cooled off and now the sugars in the grapes weren't skyrocketing like they were last week. Wednesday we had 2 tons of grapes (clone 115) delivered from Las Brisas vineyard in the Carneros region. We kept getting calls all day about when the grapes were to arrive and they ended up coming in at 5:30pm. I ran out to get us all dinner just before then so we were able to eat before we started crushing. The grapes were just picked that day and they were warm to the touch. We sorted through the grapes and they looked pretty good. The sugar in the grapes were high, 27 brix. We finished with everything around 8:30pm.
The next delivery of grapes was from Saralee Kunde.....it was set for 5:30am on Friday with 14tons, 2 clones of Pinot Noir. Randy and Jack accepted the delivery of the grapes at 5:30am and I showed up at 6am. When I came in the guys told me that they only delivered 7tons of grapes, only the 777 clone of Pinot Noir. Nonetheless, we got started and 6 volunteers arrived to assist in the process....it went smooth! These grapes were at 25 brix. We finished at about 10:30am. Then, we were able to enjoy some coffee and bagels (Martha, our lovely harvest intern provided.....thank you!!!!!). No grapes came in this weekend....it was nice to have some time off!! However, there are always punch downs to be done. Three times a day everyday the grapes need to be manually punched down until they are pressed. We have a schedule with all the Lost Canyon folks so none of us get too burnt out. At this point, we have received 11 tons...and 47 more to go. Keep checking in to see our progress.