Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Harvest Approacheth



I’ve never jumped out of an airplane, but it’s a good movie shot when the guys are getting ready to jump and they’re collecting their thoughts quietly with the drone of the motors on the soundtrack. That’s what it feels like to me now at bloom + 105. One-hundred and five days after bloom is the traditional Burgundian harvest, and here we are after a big rain just below good sugar and pH levels, looking at a week of dry weather, waiting and waiting.

When the grapes come in, we’re going to be ready. We have a new galvanized pegboard for hanging clamps and gaskets. We have an intern, Pamela, and Justin, Zach, and Lee waiting to help. We have a new wooden tank soaked up and ready for gris, and a diaphragm pump cleaned and ready for pump-overs. Most importantly, Michael has fixed up U-96, a 1979 Willmes membrane press that Lowell harvested from the scrap yard. It can press 3 tons—of whites! We will continue to use the basket press for delicate red squishing, but now we can get the most of our home-grown program with an appropriate, retro press.

So we just keep waiting. Birds are doing their jobs. The botrytis is out there on a few bunches, and the rain can’t have helped the situation. We have pretty dry canopies, so we hope they dry off and dry up and give us a great year.