Weather  
Today

We don't care much any more. There has been only 0.05 inches of rain since one month ago today.

It's bright, crisp, cloudless, crunchy leaves underfoot and skidding across the empty crush deck, pushed by a chilling breeze football weather.

True Oregonians are ready for rain and concerned we haven't had any. I watered outside plants that are still blooming yesterday. Strange, but the winemaking side is very pleased.

Harvest final:
Total: 298 tons
(128% of forecast)

Pinot noir: 162 tons
(132% of forecast)
Pinot gris: 63 tons
(132% of forecast)
Chardonnay: 53 tons
(118% of forecast)
Riesling: 9 tons
(129% of forecast)
Pinot blanc: 6 tons
(139% of forecast)
Gamay noir: 4 tons
(86% of forecast)

Kelly and Dan Celebrating a Successful End to Sales Year

Cheryl and Sam, Still Pregnant

Final Grapes in the Door

	Corral Creek Riesling on November 1
	Ridgecrest Post-Harvest, Yellow with Perfect Blue Sky (looking North with Bald Peak to East)
	Pinot Noir Pomace After The Press, Before Composting

The final grapes were harvested November 1st, the traditionally last picked Corral Creek Riesling. Seas of barrels in our staging area have dwindled to orderly few racks and a few remnants, with only five red wine fermentors left to drop and press, then barrel down--a total of 100 barrels worth, but some of it our best stuff.

In a summary, 2002 was a vintage of quality and quantity for us. The quality is as good as we've seen from all three vineyards, with deep color and flavor extraction, but without excessive tannin buildup.

The luxury of a long and dry, but cool ripening end to Harvest 2002 enabled perfect calls on when to pull blocks from all three vineyards--all vineyards still had something hanging until the last week of October.

Heavier than expected croploads on one or two blocks (but still with exactly 3.0 tons per acre for the harvest) gave us better acids and not extreme sugars with extended ripening.

Sugars in general were as high as we've ever seen, with alcohols later being a consideration for us.

Flavors, color, extraction and intensity were high across the board, so balance will be exceptional.

	The Crew after Another Dry, Sunny Day This Week

Final pressing, prepping and barreling down Pinot, bundled up and sipping steaming Torrefazione mugs, inoculating Riesling ferments and then heading to the Oregon Coast for a couple days of R&R mid-week await us.

Relaxing a bit, planning the next budget year and new plantings on Ribbon Ridge and Stoller, plus some grafts at Corral Creek, celebrating a great close to our Sales year by Kelly and Dan, and hopefully seeing a squalling Cheryl Francis offspring will be welcome diversions to a relatively long harvest.

Fond Regards,

Harry