The cows are in the barn!

After a protracted and fretful harvest (will it rain? will it rain too much? how are the stems? will we pick this Wednesday? this week? this weekend? should I change the truck rental? how are the acids again? skins? seeds?) we finally sorted and crushed our last ton of White Hawk two weeks ago, and now are monitoring all of our fermentations. Things look great -- despite the uncertainty in the weather and some extra care in sorting, the quality of the fruit all lives up to expectations and the initial flavors taste great. The Viogniers, subject to the late harvest and cool maturations, are deep and complex. The Syrahs all show a lot of fruit up front and a good balance of tannins; for the reds, the real test will be thru first and second fermentations but we are breathing much easier now that the crush is all done!

Since we ferment all of our wines in small lots, we are experimenting with different fermentation techniques. The main thing we are trying is submerged caps: basically forcing the cap down into the juice during fermentation, instead of letting it rise to the top and manually punching down. The objective is maximum extraction, which we montitor carefully to make sure we don't over-tannin the wines, but with the small lots we are using, over-extraction is damn near impossible within the short timeframe of the fermentation, so we are very excited about the process. So far, the colors look deep, black plum almost, with juice that instantly stains your hands when you push into the vat. Along with the submerged cap, we closely monitor temperatures so that extraction can occur but not get too hot so that aromas start to dissipate. We will also be experimenting with different oaks, adding new oak to some wines which can stand up to the wood, expecting to blend the new oak into the neutral oak wines before bottling.

It's just the start -- this dish takes a year to finish cooking!