Hot on the heels of our final bottling day of the year, we rolled into the start of Harvest 2020. With a lot help from our vineyard crew and a great boost from the exceptional weather of the season, the grapes were ready to be picked!
Harvest this year was a bit different for us as we tried to navigate the social distancing restrictions that we’ve all come to know, yet the camaraderie that often exists through harvest still persisted. It’s traditional to throw a pre-harvest party and a post-harvest party (basically we try to fit in as many celebrations as we can). These were things we couldn’t do this year but luckily the joy of seeing the fruit come in and our hard work from the earlier parts of the season paying off kept our spirits high.
Harvest days start bright and early as we roll nets up and drop baskets off in preparation of our hand picking. We had an awesome crew who came and gave a hand to help us pick, so a big thank you to them!
After the fruit comes in, we crush and de-stem the grapes. The whites will either move directly to the press or cold soak on the skins for 24 hours depending on the variety. The reds will go directly to a cold soak for a period of 3-5 days. Once fermentations start, we are busy monitoring them and doing punch downs on the red wines to keep the slowly-rising skins in contact with the juice. The reds will make their way to the press after fermentation is complete and then will be put to barrel for about two years.
In the vineyard there is still much work to be done after picking. We race against the clock to get the canes tied down to a wire close to the ground and get the soil piled up over top to protect them from the winter temperatures. This year, the weather was on our side and we were able to get everything tied down and buried just in time, phew!
Harvest is always a hustling and bustling time of the year but it comes with such excitement. You get to rejoice in the fruit coming in but also put your mark on how the wines will turn out. Before you know it, it’s all over and as grateful as we are to have our weekends back, the itch for next years harvest already begins!
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