Let the Harvest Begin
As most of you know, I am in California for the harvest. Many of you have heard about my wine making work, but many more have asked what it is that I do when I am out here, so each week, I will document for you the process. While there is a crew at the winery, who often help me, I am doing this work myself—it is rewarding, and stressful, fun, and exhausting! I am learning everyday and am excited to share it with you. I hope this will give you a sense of how much work and love goes into each bottle of wine that you enjoy.
First, I must stress, this is only my process. There are endless ways to make wine. I am learning that if you ask twelve winemakers how to do any step in the process, you will likely get eighteen different answers and all with the caveat that “it depends.” This has been my life lesson!
This week, I am completing bottling of the reds from last year. Bottling is by far the most stressful and the least fun. There are so many moving pieces and far too many opportunities for my lack of experience and even greater deficiency in organization to cause problems. That said, I am getting through it. Why bottling now, so close to harvest? Well, I need the barrels, for one, so I have no choice, but also, it is time to share the wine with all of you. (That is the whole point of making it, right?!) It is ready to go into the bottle. That said, there are several decisions before the wine finally rests in the bottle that you buy in the store—filter or not? maybe a little? add SO2 to protect the wine? cork or screw cap or maybe a fabulous glass closure? what shape bottle? how heavy? antique green or brown for reds, flint for whites and pinks? Blend or single varietal? foil? should I put the name on the cork? And, then the label design, size, and the name? Are you starting to get a sense of the stress?
I thought making the wine was challenging enough, but packaging it is overwhelming. I sat in the office with the director of production at the winery, a bit slumped over at the end of a hard day, and I turned to Jay and said with the deepest sincerity, “There are days when this is all super exciting; and, then, there’s bottling.”
Ok, still, I love it, so as I sit here writing about the last week, I am smiling, despite six hours of standing on the bottling line putting a foil on every bottle that went by, feeling a lot like Laverne and Shirley! (Those two gals inspire me still!) Tomorrow the final bottling of 2023 wines will be done, boxes packed and marked, pallets stacked, and one big pallet of reds will head off to Rhode Island. I will exhale, and start thinking about how to make the Picpoul, which will be picked and coming in early next week! Yes, please let the harvest begin!
So far the grapes are looking great. I have visited the Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah at Wild Diamond, the Cinault and the Picpoul at JDM Organics, and the Carneros Pinot Noir. The fruit is about a week to ten days ahead of last year, acids seem higher to me—will keep you posted on the test results—and the flavors are already very promising. This is the fun part!
