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A Look Back at the Year:
Vintage 2003 Harvest Photos
In the cool, early morning
fog on September 28th, we picked our merlot into 1/2 ton bins.
Later in the morning
after picking, we hand sort through all the fruit to ensure only
the best quality.
From the sorting table,
grapes go through a crusher-destemmer and are pumped back into
1/2 ton macro bins for fermentation.
Wonderful,
baked bread and fruit aromas waft off the bins during the 7-day
fermentation, as the yeast does its work.
We get in up to
our elbows - we punch the grapes down twice a day, by hand, and
check progress of the fementation by measuring sugar concentrations,
known as brix.
Once fermentation
is complete, Deb pours the grapes from the bins into a grape press,
where a bladder gently squeezes the juice from the grapes.
 Deb's
keen on quality control - she tests the finished wine, as it rests
in stainless steel tanks for several days before barreling.
Putting the wine
to bed - the aroma of newly toasted wood and wine pour out of
the barrels as we pump the wine in, Cindy's favorite job.
Once the wine is in barrels
we can relax. Deb plays with Cesar the winery cat.
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