Harvest  1999  October 7, 1999

So far we have picked 45 tons of fruit, bringing in 20 tons of pinot noir and 25 tons of pinot gris. All but 6 tons is from Stoller Vineyards, the earliest vineyard site.

Fruit condition is perfect! So perfect that our sorting crew falls asleep at times--having to sort out only the occasional leaf and errant chardonnay cluster from the pinot noir grapes.

Fruit in the vineyard is not yet fully ripe. This morning Cheryl and I sampled Ridgecrest Vineyards, our oldest plantings and the highest elevation vineyard of the three.

Pinot noir sugars are close at 21.5-22.5, but flavors are not yet fully developed and acids need minor softening.

With minor rains anticipated in the next week, we will see if full flavors come before moisture. And we'll see if the rain is enough to actually make it to the roots of the plants. One of the advantages of extended dry spells like Oregon has during the summer is that there is great rain absorption capability before affecting fruit on vines.

New picking bins have arrived! (We get excited about small things around here.)

The picking bins we traditionally use are very shallow, wooden bins designed to hold approximately 1/5th ton. Wooden bins can soak up water during rain and washings, which can foster bacterial or fungal growth under the right conditions. This we don't want, especially for grapes that will be fermented on their skins, like pinot noir. So we are trying the first of 50 heavy, white plastic bins in the same size. We'll let you know what we think.

Oops! Press load is done, so we've got to go.

Harry