Last Day of 2010 Crush

Crushed the last of our fruit today. Had a bit less than a ton of Petit Verdot to do. It went pretty smoothly which was a nice way to end things after our last round (which saw some mechanical headaches). So now all we are left with are a few more bins of fruit heading into Malolactic Fermentation to handle and get into barrels. It is great to see the season winding down. Had a gorgeous sunset to finish the day off with. This afternoon kind of summed up the season as far as weather was concerned. We had a nice warm blast of sunshine to take the chill off in the late afternoon, then it started raining, got cold again and the sun set on a typically undecided 2010 day. Hopefully next season's weather will be a little more straightforward. It would sure make it easier to grow stuff. -Neil

Punchdown of Grapes

We "punchdown" the grapes to mix them up during fermentation.  The wine is picking up color and tanins from the skins of the grapes.  Neil is punching down the Malbec here, which is getting close to being ready to press.

Anke's guests from Germany

Anke, the winemaker at Steppe Cellars, brought some of her guests from Germany by during our Federweisser weekend.

Malbec...Crushed

We picked up and crushed our 2010 Malbec today. It was nice looking fruit and the day went really smoothly. This wine will be going into our 2010 bordeaux blend and our 2010 Malbec varietal. Our Merlot and Grenache are fermenting nicely.

Fermentation!

Just a quick update on the two batches of fruit that we have received so far. Anke has warmed both lots of grapes and added yeast to them so we are off and fermenting! So far everything has been going very smoothly with both the Merlot and the Grenache. We should be getting some more fruit in the next few days...possibly some Cab Sauv. -Neil