Chardonnay development 9-27-11

Here are two shots of Chardonnay, one of Cabernet and the flower garden in front of the winery. The Chardonnay is about a week of good weather away from harvest while the cab is a week and a half of good weather away, maybe two. However one block of Grenache the estate Rayas vineyard is almost there. Zin old clone is ready as far as the sugar goes but it is high acid. We may pick 2 or 3 blocks the end of this week or the beginning of next. What fun.


I am starting to name my blocks of grapes. We have the Rayas vineyard as Grenache block 1
the Castel vineyard is Grenache block 2, The Reeves Zinfandel is the first Zin we planted while the next zin is the old clone vineyard. We have an old clone Cab. I need some more names.

Chardonnay development 9-20-11

Yes I know this is a day late but we received our Sauvignon Blanc Grapes yesterday so we crushed, repaired the press and had a very late day which we always do when we are not picking our own grapes. The reason is it takes a while to pick the grapes and then they have to trucked here so we don't get started when the first bins are picked as we do with ours.We also had a press malfunction so I had to repair that while our new celler person ran almost all the grapes by himself. That means he loaded each bin in the bin dumper, sorted the grapes by hand because there were a few very sour grapes in each bin, just enough to hurt the quality and pump the grapes into the press while I was repairing the press. The press was repaired just as he was finishing the last two bins.

This shot shows the Chardonnay out in the sun developing that nice yellow color one sees in our unoaked chardonnay. Barrel fermented Chardonnay wine picks up color from the oak as well as the grape.


The following photo shows some grapes not exposed to the sun directly and they are much greener but both may be about the same sweetness.











Several week ago I showed you some Mourvedre. The following photo shows the same grapes but very little green showing now compared to then.












This next shot shows some cab developing nicely. It looks like a good year if we can beat the rain. Cross your fingers for us.

Chardonnay on the 12th

Now days the progress is in the taste not the looks. I can tell it is sweeter than last week. Roses ad the wildflower aromas to the wine. Believe me? Last night we had a very localized thunderstorm with rain and lightening and wind. 0.4 inches should not do any damage and may even be good for the vines.

We sampled the Sauvignon blanc today in Amador county and it is about ready to pick. Just that the acid was too high. Maybe next Monday.

Following Chardonnay

Notice how the bunches in the sun are becoming golden while the ones in the shade. I am tasting more sweetness in the berries than last week which is a good sign. Maybe we will have a harvest after all. This warm, not hot, weather we have been having here is really helping the ripening. We get up to near 90 during the day which is 8-10 degrees less than the hottr parts of El Dorado county and the Central Valley.


Don't they look good enough to eat?







Below is a photo of the flower gardens in the fore ground then the picnic area and the Viognier vineyard in the back ground.