On Thursday, we sent Manuel out to our Gill Creek Ranch Vineyard in Clements Hills, located along Elliot Road, hugging the north bank of the Mokelumne River.
Manuel’s mission was to pick about 10 bunches or so of winegrapes from each of our vineyard blocks and squish them into 5 gallon buckets to be driven back to the winery on Armstrong Road.
After the grapes have mixed and marinated for an hour or so, Markus blows the dust off our handy Atago refractometer to check, “where the sugars are.”
“Zin looks to be 21.1˚ Brix. That’s OK, and means we are looking at the last week in September to pick,” says Markus, “based on about 1.5˚ Brix rise per week.”
“The Merlot has shattered and light small berries less than 22˚ to 23˚ Brix,” he said, which translates into potentially very nice wine, but less than usual. We take about 10 tons for our wines, but sell the rest of the vineyard to other wineries.
“The Viognier is 20.7˚ Brix – pretty low, but we would like to pick in September. The Chard is still tasting green and very much behind even though it is 23.5˚ Brix. We really want the flavors. Might be 3rd or 4th week of September.”
After Labor Day is when sampling will begin in earnest. This was just a preview.
So with harvest perhaps two weeks behind average, Markus has time to get all the crush equipment ready and organize the winery before spending 4 days a week in the ripening vineyards.
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