Second Crush 2009

Brought in the mourvedre and some remaining grenache.


Destemmed forever. Running out of garage space.

friday morning

after 4 days of triple digit temperatures we have the following readings from the mourvedre.

row 1 - 25 50%

row 4 - 22 60%

row 6 - 21.5 70%

we can't pick until sunday morning at the earliest. we also forgot to harvest half a row of garnacha (row 7 last brixed at 24)

vendimia 09 ya empieza

we made a very selective pass through the grenache and syrah. harvested approximately 350 pounds. we were even more selective during the destemming by hand. we were assisted by John S. picking and later by Jay, Monika and charming in-laws from Poland. Michael was a workhorse thoughout detstemming until 630 PM.

First Crush 2009 Vintage

Yesterday we harvested the syrah and half the grenache. I guess about 350 lbs of fruit. We had to be selective in the vineyard and also do some triage at my house, because ripeness was uneven. However, the result looks very good. I am particularly optimistic about the grenache.

The grenache is much riper than it was for our first vintage, which was still a good vintage, the grenache that year being light and easy. But it's certainly not overripe this year. Very few raisins. And the sugar level is lower than the slightly hot second vintage, which is good. The fruit looks very healthy and clean. Conclusion: great grenache this fall.

garnacha the day before

row 7 24. 90%

rows 8/9 22. 90%

syrah monday

row 9 - 21.5 100%

row 11 - 21. 80%

row 13 - 18. 80%

row 15 - 2o.5 100%

with row 15 i avoided the red grapes. they are very much a minority in the developed clusters

garnacha on the brink

row 7 - 23.5 100% brown pip

row 8 - 23. 90%

mourvedre/syrah readings 8-22

mourvedre

rows 1,2 - 18. - 40%

rows 4,5 - 19. - 40%

rows 6,7 - 19. - 40%

syrah

rows 9,10 - 20.5 - 100%

rows 12,13 - 17. - 95%

row 14 - 17. - 90%

first grenache brix - august 21

row 7 -23- 80%

row 8 -21.5- 80%

row 9 -21- 80%

august 20th brix readings

syrah

row 9/10- 21- 90%

row 12/13- 19- 80%

row 14/15- 17- 80%

2009 harvest approaches.

on the 10th of august we did a brix reading for the first time in 2009. the syrah read like this -

upper rows - 14.2 brix 50% brown pips

lower rows - 14.0 brix 50% brown pips

last year we harvested the syrah at just over 22 on august 19th. i think it's safe to say that this year the cooler summer will delay harvest of at least these vines. netting isn't done yet and there have been some unfortunate "incidents" with the local birds.