5am. September 1st. I’m sitting in the backseat of my truck waiting for the crew to show up to pick the Syrah from Reeves. It’s quiet and still. Even through August we have had a strong marine layer every morning When it settles in it sits heavily like a down comforter. 

The last 2 weeks have been a lot (hence a little late post). For reference, we are about 70% done with picking fruit in this small amount of time.This is a much more condensed version of harvest, no doubt spurred by the heat wave we had last week. And boy, was it hot… I think 104 on the crush pad. But this is what we live for.

I was having this thought the other day while cleaning the press. Winemaking is fun. Like really fun.

Maybe not fun like surfing a wave is fun. Winemaking is incredibly involved, can be quite monotonous, and often stressful. With even those three things though, I see a microcosm that “mimics” life. Using airquotes here is important. Life, now, is not like life use to be. Life use to be incredibly involved, quite monotonous, and often stressful. But through this, there is a deep sense of fulfillment. 

So, maybe fun isn’t the right word. It’s closer to having purpose. 

It’s easy to get up at 4am everyday to get to the vineyard. It’s easy to stay late to finish managing the ferments. It’s a puzzle and we are figuring it out.

Creation is everywhere.

Both the Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc have completed fermentation. These lasted approximately 7 days without yeast or nutrients. The life force in these wines is strong.

Evan I visited RAG on Tuesday. It is such a joy to share the intimacy I feel with this vineyard with a close friend. When we stepped out of the car, Evan remarked, “I just got full body chills” - speaking of that heavy, weighted, stillness. It reminds me of backpacking in the Sierras. There’s so much energy we are taking in subconsciously that affects us in a very real way. It’s important to consciously put yourself in settings that can permeate your being.

Wednesday: we picked Syrah from Ambyth. 23 brix pH 3.47. This was a quick ferment - all whole cluster - that is going to be pressed on top of the Grenache which is set to be picked this coming Wednesday.

“That’s pretty hipster” remarked Anthony. 

“Paso needs more hipster” I replied 

Next up was vermentino and fiano - both for some skin contact and the all important BLUSH FTS (from the start). Without a doubt, vermentino is my favorite varietal to do skin contact on. The smell is incredible. Spice, bruised apple, fall. We get fruit from Margett vineyard for this wine. Blake does a great job, and this year is definitely some of the best stuff I’ve seen. Big berries and super clean. All the fruit was destemmed. I like the idea of whole cluster, but it’s going to the n.v. so(u)lera which already has a ton of that from last year. 

Valdiguie was picked on the same day as the verm for the blush. This was 100% whole cluster while the destemmed verm was put over the top. The idea is to let the val get kind of carbonic while the verm does the textural job. 

Once the heat came in Sixmile Bridge was firing on all cylinders and brought in 75% of their fruit in one week. That was fun. 

I picked more verm and grenache blanc for ALR from duas Terras. Richard is one of my favorite people to work with. The vermentino was foot tread and left to sit overnight on he skins. The GB just sat overnight. The next day the grapes were pressed together, the juice was settled, and then put to the concrete pyramid yesterday. Totally has this lipton tea type thing. 

Reeve’s Syrah today, Grenache Friday, and more Grenache Sunday. 

Carignan is going to be today too - that’s from Richard. I’m actually pretty excited about that ferment. This grenache blanc I picked last week from there is currently sitting in a tank ready for the carignan to be put over the top of it. It’ll end up being like 66% Carignan 34% Grenache Blanc - which is a pretty high percent of white grape. Much like the Blush though, I’m hoping this make a lighter more feminine and pretty wine rather than this big hit you over the top type thing. Hard to say what it will actually be like but I’m confident it will turn out well. 

That then just leaves some Assyrtiko to be picked, and then it’s on the MOV.