All in all a very busy weekend for the crew.

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

So far this was the smoothest crushes of the year. We adjusted our must pump setup and got a much better flow then last week’s crush which definitely helped the crusher as it did not bogg down at all. I think we’ve now got the setup tuned and will be ready for the crushes coming up.

thanks to Dave for his help yet again and Elise for the yummy dinner. Also great baby sitting Shea!

– Bob

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 Robinâ?¦ 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

– 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 for the other excitement the 2008 harvest is right around the corner. We have some new vineyards to add to the mix this year and say good bye to one of our favorites in Snypes River Canyon. I would be remiss to not say thanks to Keith for all of the help he has given us in the past and to wish him the best of luck with his future plans. One vineyard we have added is Chandlers Reach. Chandlers Reach is located directly west of Benton City and looks across the valley at Red Mountain. We are getting Merlot and think this site will add backbone to our Merlot blends and enhance the fruit character of our Cabernet blends. We are finalizing our contract with one other vineyard that while small is very exciting. More on that in the next post.

What we have been doing since the last post. Well for a while we just got rest, I hung out with the family so they remembered what I looked like. Bob has been working on home projects and Dave, Marco, Christina, Jimmy, Chris, Dick, Jill, Robin, and Jim have been working on seeing if they can get the purple stains off their fingers . Once rested I did the usual cellar work of racking, topping, cleaning and prep for the next year. I also spent some time in Europe this summer and I have to say one of my top experiences was sipping a beautiful rose on the beach in Barcelona with my good friend Antoine. Barcelona on one of those places that should be on your must visit if you have not been there.

What is new. We have quite a bit of new equipment in the winery or on its way. We have 3 new tanks, 2 500 gallon and 1 225 gallon Pasco Polly tanks that we will use for blending, racking, and short term storage if needed. I picked them up last weekend and now I am trying to find the right place in the winery. We also purchased a new horizontal membrane press. It is a beauty! I will be picking it up down in Oregon this Friday. This press will allow us to be much more efficient while still being incredibly gentle. Finally we have a new, or at least new to us forklift. Yes no more worrying about lift gates and how we will move the heavy objects around the winery. I am very excited about all of these new toys.

Picking up the new tanks

Waiting for the ferry

On the ferry, yea I got some funny looks and one of the staff actually gave me his address in case I had any “extra wine”

Finally 2008 harvest updates. As anyone who has been to the NW this year knows it has been much colder than the summer of 2007. From a heat standpoint I can’t remember this many cool days in the Valley. That being said a cool day in the Valley is much different than a cool day in most places, after all it is a desert so the vineyards and fruit have not been in any risk. Many of our vineyards have now done their final green harvest (cutting off any fruit clusters that have not fully changed color) and have been very selective in their leaf thinning. At this point we are anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks behind 2003,2005 and 2007 and are a little bit behind 2004, and 2006. We expect to pick our first Merlot the next to last or last week in September and will probably see Cabernet the end of October. I personally like the extra hang time so expect this to be another great year.

I will be taking a trip to the vineyards this Friday morning and will report back with updates.

Oh and one other note, Thanks to Bob and Robin for keeping the blog post up last year. I have promised Jill I will post twice a week so expect to read more from me this harvest.

Yesterday marked the last day of harvest and crush for us. The final grapes to come in were a batch of delicious riesling. The pear, apple and lush flavors of a crisp fall day are amazing in this grape. I can’t wait to taste the wine that evolves from this fruit!

I have managed to take a lot of photos of various days in the winery this fall. As things continue to mellow out, we’ll add more of them to the site.

The crush goes very well and we are done relatively quickly, finishing early afternoon.
– Bob

Taking a Break – 1/2 Way Done

Fuel for the Troops

Cleaning the Crusher

First we must put the pallet jack in the back so Jason can move around the bins after they are loaded. We lower the lift gate and Jason and I both look at each other and say, “where is the lift gate? What’s this tiny half gate?” The lift gate is a little short, about half the size we hoped and about 1.5 feet shorter then the width of the bin. Long story short and note to self – make sure to rent the yellow truck not the white truck .

Jason makes it to Alder Ridge vineyard in good time and picks up 4 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon, 1.5 tons of Cabernet Franc and some bins for our friends in Sodo. It takes a little doing but he is able to pallet jack the bins in the truck side by side. It’s tight but our friends have a fork lift and they might be able to help us re-arrange the bins after we drop off their grapes. After dropping off a few bins for our friends Alex and Jim, follow Jason back to the winery to help us unload.

Now the fun… Jason calls and tells me he is close and gets back to the winery about 6pm. The first bins to come off are just singles and Alex and Jim have figured out a system to get them off with the small lift gate. The bins hang off the end of the gate about a foot and a half, and if we lower the gate slowly, there are no problems. Then we get to the the stacked bins.

Jason, Alex and I maneuver the double bins weighing a ton or just over a ton slowly on to the lift gate. Easing the set out a few inches at a time. We do this partly because of the weight and limited sight but also because the pallet jack keeps getting stuck on the uneven truck bed and lift gate connection. As we have the double bins finally on the gate and clear of the bed, Jason and I hold on to the top bin pulling slightly back into the truck. We are all worried as the gate lowers and moves away from the truck slightly, that the top bin will come tumbling down. But with a little luck all works out.

After more man handling and a few mini heart attacks, we get all the bins off the truck and loaded neatly on the crush pad for tomorrow’s work…
–Bob

Getting Ready for the crush

Loading the Grapes

The Crush going to the Fermenter

Clean Up!