Skid Marks

You can almost see the skid marks on the roads around the Alexander Valley now that nature has slammed the brakes on the harvest. The temperatures have plummeted over the last few days as have the sugar levels in the grapes.

 

A week or so ago, we took a Brix reading of 23 from the Cabernet Sauvignon on one block. This week, that number fell to 19. So after scrambling since the end of August, we've won a bit of a reprieve.

 

That gives us some time to finish up fermentations and pumpovers and free up some space in the tanks for the next wave. This week, we've received the first loads of Cabernet Franc and Merlot from the estate vineyards. 
Cab Franc is an intriguing grape.  

We used to grow small quantities around the winery, enough to produce a few hundred cases of a varietal wine with a bit left over to blend into wines like the Cab and CYRUS. But there's been a lot of interest in different varietals over the past few years so we've planted some new Cab Franc which should begin producing good quantities of fruit over the next couple of years.

Smack in the middle of all these Bordeaux varietals is the Gewurztraminer. It always comes at an inopportune time, usually when we are coping with a convoy of Cab or Merlot trucks. We pressed the first Gewurz on Wednesday and more came in yesterday and today.

About the only thing that helps is that the Gewurz is first in and last out. Because our growers up north in Mendocino like to pick the grape at night to preserve the freshness of the delicate grapes, we press the Gewurz very early in the morning or very late at night. Over the next few months, harvest will be a 24 hour a day undertaking.