Today, Jason and I with a little help from Dave Moore, pressed the first Merlot that we crushed a couple of weeks ago. This was the first time using the new press with the new hopper or “the funnel” as i like to call it. Things went pretty smoothly for the first time minus a small hick up were we blew a small fuse on the press controls and it took us a while and a couple of calls to figure it out and fix.

After the small fuse issue, things went much more smoothly and the press is great. We were able to get a much higher quality pressing that should really add to the quality of the wines. Clean up was also much easier and quicker then in the past. I’d say well worth the money spent..

Since there was just a few of us, I was only able to snap a couple of pictures and movies with my cell phone. Enjoy…

– Bob

Cleaning the Hopper

Starting the Dump into the Press

Dumping into the Press

Press Running through a cycle

Jason and Jim, our friend from winery, returned yesterday with 2 tons (4 bins) of Merlot from Chandlers Reach Vineyards. This morning we started early on the crush trying out our new setup. We had to rush to try to beat the first fall storm as well as get done so we could all get ready for Elise’s big 40th party. Things started out ok but we did run into some problems along the way.

The day before, the fork lift company came by with our new longer forks so we could safely use the dumper on the bins. This morning, Jason and I positioned the crusher, adjusted “the funnel” and setup the pump for our new crush configuration. With everything ready to go, Jason got the first bin and positioned it for dumping.

Things were going well for the first bin, but we seemed to be getting a few too many skins coming out with the stems and the crusher was bogging down occasionally. We made a few starts and stops and many adjustments along with a gas station stop for more Propane, but finally got it going. I think in the end I was not running the must pump quite right and the must coming out of the crusher was backing up. We now thinking we’ll have to adjust our must pump setup and maybe go with our two long tubes instead of using the short one to the crusher. All in all, things worked out okay and we will continue to refine the setup, but are probably close.

Thanks to Jim and Lisa for their help today as well as The Haavik.

– Bob

Again here are a couple of photos and a movie taken by Robin… semi official photographer:

Bob and Jason Discussing the setup

Dave Waiting for More Grapes

Ready to Dump the Grapes

Jim Getting the Last of the Grapes

The New Setup

A Little Video…

Today marks the beginning of crush 08. Our friends Dave and Bill went over to eastern Washington and picked up a ton and half of Alder Ridge Merlot. With their help we kicked off the 08 crush. We had a couple of early kinks to work out but for the most part we had good weather and a successfully start to crush.

– Bob

Here are a couple of photos taken by Robin… semi official photographer:

Bob, Dave and Jason crushing…

the crushed grapes going into the fermentor

As Robin said Friday night I drove out to Alder Ridge and picked up 1 ton of merlot (enough for about 50 cases.) Thursday Bob, Jill, Robin and I crushed. Thank goodness there were 4 of us here as there were a few hiccups with the new setup but that is to be expected and now the must is quietly waiting for us to pitch yeast in the morning. Everything looks and tastes great. The Snipes Merlot will probably be ready next week following by Cab Franc not to long after that. The cool weather is giving us some extra hang time for all of the fruit still in the vineyard which is great.

Getting Ready for the crush

Loading the Grapes

The Crush going to the Fermenter

Clean Up!

Just a quick update that Jason is picking the first bins of Merlot today. We’ll be starting the 2007 crush tomorrow morning bright and early. It feels like autumn has truly arrived! The skies are grey. The air is crisp. Ripe scents abound.

More on the crush coming soon…

-Robin

Sunday Sept 9th Baker and I took a load of bins over to Snipes and then stopped by the vineyards. With the warm days and nights we have been experiencing it looks like the Merlot harvest will begin soon. Luckily I have been in contact with the Vineyard Managers so was not shocked with how sweet the fruit was at Snipes, we are about 2 weeks ahead of last year. Alder was very close as well. If the weather continues to hold like this we might end up picking next week. Cab Sav, Cab Franc, Petite and Riesling are all looking like Oct. harvests. For those interested in numbers here are some for Merlot. (Brix, PH, TA)

Snipes 24.2, 3.72, .51,
Alder Ridge 24.4, 3.28, .62

- Jason