Crush 2014, Week One

Wednesday September 4th marked the first day of my 29th harvest, the first day of crush, a day I look forward to and something that we in the wine business use as a measure of time.  We tend to remember harvest by the weather patterns, something that might have happened or the years that the Giants are in contention for the pennant. 2014 at this point will be remembered for how early the year and the third year of our current drought.  Although things are early we are not short on hang time or flavor development. with bud great being so early it’s not like the grapes have ripened in a shorter amount of time, just a couple of weeks earlier that some past vintages. The weather has cooperated this year with very little stress over the summer for the vines, we have had heat but no really hot days that burn or shrivel the grapes. The little rain we did get was at the perfect time, late winter to early spring, which really seems to be what the vines needed.

On Thursday afternoon, I made my yearly road trip to Clarksburg in the Sacramento River Delta to pick up my Chenin Blanc. I always love going to the Delta, its such an adventure driving on the levies and crossing all the different types of draw bridges. I have such great memories of driving through the wear as a kid and trying to guess which sort of crops were growing in all the different fields.

After letting the juice settle for another day and getting some analysis it was time to get the barrels so the fermentation could get started. We use old French oak barrels to ferment in, the well used barrels help preserve the great fruit component that Chenin Blanc has. While the extend Sur Lie aging time adds to building the mouthfeel of the wine.  As all “natural” fermentations go, it takes a few days for the ferment to really kick of, so patience is whats needed at this time.

On Saturday afternoon our first lot of red grapes were delivered, Los Chamizal Vineyard. Chamizal ~ a Spanish word which translates to “a thicket of hardwood”, closely describes the rugged valley, folded between the ridges of the Mayacamas Mountains, which Peter Haywood chose as the site for his vineyards and winery in 1974. Peter grows a number of different varieties but we receive Zinfandel from him. The hillside there is very steep and  basically solid rock and produces beautiful grapes. After being de-stemed to our open top tank the cooling jacket is set at 50 degrees and we start the cold soak. This is the time where I mix the tank once a day and color and flavor is extracted before the fermentation has started. After about 5 days I will turn off the cooling jacket and let the grapes warm up naturally and the fermentation will start.  At that time we will start punching down the tanks two or three times a day.

That’s it for now, I’m going to get another glass of Zinfandel and root for the Giants to wine another game.

Cheers