Mushroom Hunting

We took advantage of things slowing down a little and went out mushroom hunting with some friends.  Found some chanterelle mushrooms and had them in a wonderful soup  -(with a little wine!).  The forest was gorgeous - after a little rain and sun shining through in shafts of light.  Love this fall weather!

Crush

 These pictures are from earlier this month - when we were pressing the Riesling grapes. 
The first picture is of the juice from the grapes being pressed out into the collecting tray of the press.  We apply gentle air pressure to a rubber bladder - or mat - that squeezes the juice out of the grapes. 
Next we have a hose connected to the press, which takes the juice to the tank.
In the tank there are cold bands that allow us to slow down the yeast for a nice long fermentation.

Harvest and Crush

We have been busy with harvest of all sorts this month - (apples, grapes, hay and this morning we opened up the corn field!)- The picture shows Baltazar, Tom and Neil hand selecting the grapes we will be using for our 2012 Dry Riesling.