Note from the "WineMaker"

This past week I spoke with a winemaker and asked him how the 2008 crush went.

He said that this was a weird season, meaning for most of the summer it was dry...very dry and then the rains came. With the dry weather the berries stayed small and this would have been good, but people got scared of the rains and harvested earlier than they needed. Harvesting early means a lot of different things. The first being low sugars. Grapes need to hang a long time in order for their sugars be be at the right level. If a farmer pulls his grapes earlier than predicted his sugars will not be at the correct level and he will turn in grapes with low sugar. Second being grapes that are not mature. A mature grape will have brown seeds and not green. A winemaker wants brown seeds because green seeds create a tannic/off tasting wine. Some people do not mind tannic wine but a winemaker wants a good balance in his wine.

"Pa the Harvest Babysitter"

Here is a picture that was left out of the Cabernet Harvest.

This is "Pa the Harvest Babysitter"

Pa watched after Caden while the rest of us harvested.

Caden loved the tractor.

(Caden calls it "PUT-PUT" b/c of the noise it makes)

10-14-10 Fertilizer

For the past two years "Phosphorus Deficiency" has made it's mark in late August and into September in our vineyard. This year we tried Frank Hopkin's 10-14-10 vineyard mix. We applied this mixture in early spring hoping to see results in the late August and September months. Well, the mixture worked and we are now into late October and no signs of "Phosphorus Deficiency" are in the vineyard. With great results this year, 10-14-10 will be in our vineyard fertilizer program for years on out.