The 2012 Norton crop was our largest ever! The hot, dry summer made for a rich tight crop of great Norton. The smaller berries with tight bunches that look like hand-grenades were packed with deep berry flavors and great concentrated juice. It may be the best we’ve ever seen. Our Harvest Crew worked the weekend [...]
Tag Archives | Harvest Time
Giant Grasshopper in the Vineyard?
For the first time we used a mechanical picker to harvest Chambourcins from our Wine Country Gardens Vineyard. While it looks like a grasshopper, it works like a dream! We picked five tons of grapes in less than two hours. It really is an amazing machine. This is a German-made picker that straddles the vineyard [...]
Looks Like Harvest Will Be Early
We don’t need to add any comments about the hot weather, but one effect seems to be to move the grapes toward ripening faster than “normal” years. Remember, we had a mild winter and an early spring this year as well. The grapes got a running start on the 2012 season that is showing up [...]
How Does That Press Work?
At Harvest Time we find ourselves thankful for the engineering that makes modern winemaking safe, efficient, and a breeze. It’s the pneumatic press. It’s “pneumatic” because it uses air pressure to do the pressing. After destemming and crushing, the must, consisting of skins, pulp, seeds, and juice is pumped into the big round stainless steel [...]
Our 2010 Harvest – A Record Setter
Oh, my gosh! When we said that 2010 was going to be a bountiful year we did not know how bountiful. Thanks to a large number of you that helped us harvest 2010 is going to be a record year in both quality and quantity. Our three main harvests, August 28, September 18 and September [...]
