Just taking care of business

In general the winery has been quiet the last two weeks.  Mostly just getting caught up on little jobs and getting ready to leave for Ohio next week to do sales.   Three of the eight barrels of chardonnay are finally going through ML so today I did a little wine swapping, moving wine between barrels and hopefully putting enough bacteria in the inactive barrels to get them all going.

Tasted through all the pinot barrels, checked free SO2 levels and topped everything so they are buttoned up for me to be gone.  The wine really is pretty nice fruit mostly black berry, some black pepper notes and great structure.  With a little time in the bottle this should be a gem.  And there won't be much of it, only about 550 cases.

Barry stopped by and motivated me into some labeling and capsuling.  Now we can clean up the winery and get it ready for winemaking rather than using it for fancy case goods storage.


The vineyard is looking healthy and the crew is still working through and doing leaf pulling, opening up and exposing the fruit to sunshine and air movement.  The Foch, pictured first, is just entering berry touch and this will be one of the last time a spray can penetrate to the center of the cluster.  The second picture is of Chardonnay which is about two weeks behind.  The berries aren't as big nor are they touching yet.  A little heat and sunshine will change that.