Leaves drop on my walk

As I was commuting to work this morning (this means walking 100 yards through the vineyard), all of a sudden I felt very exposed. I realised that almost overnight the Mourvedre vines had lost all their leaves and that I could no longer walk through without being noticed. Strange how my path is altered so slowly in the Spring as the vines add leaves and almost block my passage. Fitting for them to finally drop though as today, finally, all of this year's wine is in barrel. Some Fenaughty Syrah was patiently waiting in tank for barrels to get emptied and make room for its two year or so slumber until it is bottled. A few days of bottling are on the schedule for the next couple weeks and then we open our cellar doors in January for the first tasting of the 2009 Patriarche directly from the barrel. Details at www.hollyshill.com See you then.

October 28, 2009: Harvest ends and the bubbly flows

What a great tradition...ending harvest with a bottle of Champagne.

We brought in the last bit of Roussanne which will be made into our Late Harvest Roussanne. In addition to the shriveling fruit on the vines about half the wine will be made from grapes that we picked a couple weeks ago and have been drying on the ground. We are able to get even more sugar using this technique and the process also adds different characteristics to the wine making it more complex.

We had some new winemaking interns this year:

They learned important tasks like cleaning up and raking stems. Marin, however, prefers to drive the forklift.

Esme decided she would sit this vintage out and maybe join in for the 2010 harvest.

And then there was one...

We got all our grapes in before Tuesday's huge storm. All, that is, except for four rows of Roussanne which will be picked super ripe for the dessert styled Late Harvest Roussanne. Last year we were picking Mourvedre in November...I prefer October by far. We really pushed our limits though. Every single tank and fermenting vessel was full by the end of Mondays big "last" harvest. A late call on Monday for two free tons of Syrah was tempting but there simply wasn't any place to put it.



Here's a run down since the last entry:
10/5/09:
3 tons Petite Sirah
1.6 tons Mansfield Mourvedre (Apple Hill)

10/7/09:
5 tons Fenaughty Syrah-Young Vines (Apple Hill)
2.8 tons Fenaughty Syrah-Old Vines (Apple Hill)

10/10/09:
2.7 tons Roussanne (Estate)
3.7 tons Mourvedre (Estate, East Slope)
2.7 tons Counoise (Estate, Cooper Block)

10/11/09:
1.45 tons Lightner Mourvedre (Apple Hill)

10/12/09:
2 tons Mourvedre (Estate, long rows below tasting room)
1 ton Mourvedre (Estate, West Slope)
4.75 tons Roussanne (Estate, long rows)

The Heat Was On

Wow. All that hot weather the last couple weeks made for fast ripening fruit. Just about everything was wanting to be picked at the same time. Here is a breakdown of harvest since my last post:

9/30/09:
2.25 tons Estate Mourvedre

9/29/09:
2.7 tons Lotus Mourvedre

9/27/09:
6 tons Estate Viognier

3.85 tons Co-Fermentation (39% Mourvedre, 36% Syrah, 15% Counoise, 10% Grenache)
1 ton Estate Mourvedre (top of hill just below the tasting room)
2 tons Estate Syrah (lower east slope)

9/26/09:
4.42 tons Cabernet Sauvignon (Covington Vineyard)

9/24/09:
3.75 tons Estate Grenache (east side)
1.4 tons Beaucastel block Grenache
2 tons Estate Petite Sirah
2.25 tons Estate Viognier (lower short rows)
1.5 tons Estate Grenache Blanc

9/19/09:
9 tons Estate Genache (west side)

The grapes are going to mature slower now with cooler temps.
More to come.

September 14, 2009: More Syrah

We harvested about three tons from the north slope and two tons from the west slope of our estate Syrah vineyard. Also, three tons of Syrah came in from the Wylie Vineyard. Eight tons in one day isn't to shabby.

Next up should be a little grenache from the west side of our vineyard. Stay tuned...

August 31, 2009: Harvest Begins

Two tons of Syrah were brought in from the south side of our East Slope today. Early? Kind of. Except that the vines on the south side of the hill really struggle so they set less fruit and thus it ripens faster than everything else with more normal crop levels. UC Davis is doing research on soil in the Sierra Foothills. They dug a few holes in our vineyards earlier in the summer and we found out that the soil is only two feet deep on that side. It's like trying to grow grapes in a pot over there. The grapes taste great and all our equipment still works!!!

Camping, Camping, Camping

All I can think of this time of year is camping. The challenge of cooking great food in the outdoors and pairing it with great wine. OK, yes this is car camping but we have three kids under five years old. One must get very creative when you intend to make pressed Cuban burgers for dinner but realize once you get to Big Basin (far from anywhere) you forgot the main ingredient...burgers. Pressed Cuban burgers minus the burgers anyone! That's when you feel like a contestant on a reality cooking show. Using intuition, a pantry the size of a grocery bag and blind luck is my idea of roughing it. I never forget to bring the wine though.

What are some of your favorite things to cook while camping???