Weather  
Today

It's overcast, having received 0.73 inches of rain yesterday.

The forecasts are for dry and mild weather sandwiched in between another burst of rain Friday.

So, we're reviewing vineyards and predicting the next picking round.

Harvest  2000  October 10, 2000

Rain has given us a chance to clean up, tally totals, and assess the fermentations just beginning. The first picks, Corral Creek and Stoller 667-777, are beginning fermentation after a long pre-fermentation maceration.

Pinot Noir in Winery Awaiting Destemming

The other tanks, less one, are full of Pinot noir and are starting their maceration period, in which we allow fruit to break down naturally for five to ten days, with a little enzyme to help (like Grandma's jelly-making process). We protect the fruit with light pumpovers and punchdowns, blanketing with C02 snow for an inert atmosphere, and adding acid if required.

Chehalem prefers to extend the cuvaison in the aqueous phase rather than the post-fermentation alcoholic phase, so bitterness and overextraction of tannins from seeds are not seen. Juices of fully macerated tanks are dark as wine and richly aromatic and flavorful, although still sickeningly sweet.

Today is Phillip Zull's 21st birthday

Phillip Weighing Fruit

Phillip is our Austrian winery harvest helper. Although he is working on this auspicious day and is far from home, he is bright, cheerful and still firing questions--from his growing up in a winemaking family--that make us not give quick, unconsidered answers. Happy Birthday, Phillip! We'll all have to go to Lumpy's to celebrate.

Harry