Harvest 2013

Harvest began at 6:45am this morning, September 14, 2013. This is the second earliest harvest since we've been doing this wine thing (the first was our very first harvest, 2004, which was on September 10). The morning was perfect; overcast and cool, with moments of light mist.  Made for happy fruit and pickers! Brix were anywhere between 22-24.

Today, we picked the first 55 rows of 777 and the small block of Pommard, totalling just under 12 tons. With one ton equating to about 63 cases of wine, we essentially harvested 756 cases of wine today!

After picking, the fruit was then taken to NW Wine Co. in Dundee for processing. Dave and I manned the sorting line until breaking for lunch at about 1:30. When hand sorting fruit, the first thing to mention is that it is a very sticky job! Sorting involves pulling out leaves, sticks, unripe bunches, and other stuff that doesn't belong in the fermentation tank (ie: lady bugs, pincher bugs, spiders, etc.).

Using a Euro Select destemmer, the fruit is carefully separated from the stems, resulting in many whole berries. The must is then put into a stainless fermentation tank.

And then the magic begins. The 2013 vintage.