2009 Post Harvest

Post‐Harvest 2009 Newsletter What an exciting time... the emails were sent out, tweets and facebook status' updated, notifying everyone of harvest date and time. The labs show Brix 25, TA 0.7 and pH 3.5.

Bright and early 7 am we are out washing and sanitizing the equipment aiming to have all grape picking completed before the heat of the day.

Bagels, cream cheese, fruit, coffee, orange juice and water for our friends and family who have made the drive to enjoy the beautiful day of harvest. Later we will have a barbecue, some chilled beer and fresh squeezed margaritas.

After a brief lesson on pruning everyone pairs up to harvest the grapes, share conversation and enjoy libations. Kristy and Lauren take charge of the sorting table, maintaining quality control of the grapes used for our Estate Cabernet. The grapes are weighed and placed on the sorting table as they are brought in from the vineyard. After sorting the grapes are led to in the destemmer which will destem and break the skins of roughly 50% of the grape.

From here the grape and juice will be transferred via pump into the macro bins for fermentation.

Three hours later, the harvest party begins… Time spent with our great friends and family is enjoyed and many laughs are shared. Thanks to all who made the trip, it’s great seeing your faces, so glad you could join…

The next day after all the labs have been evaluated, the yeast will be picked. The must will be innoculated and fermentation is on its way. For the next two to four weeks the must will be punched twice daily and Brix checked by hydrometer. Our goal is -0.2% glucose/frutose level for the cab. Once reached it's time to press.

Pressing the wine is the separation of skins and seeds from juice. The must juice is now placed in barrels and malolactic fermentation will begin, converting the ill tasting lactic acid to malic, just another step in the fining process… Upon complete conversion the wine will be racked into our oak barrel for aging and storage. From here it's the sensory aspect; smelling, tasting and monitoring the wine monthly until bottling in 18 months.

We have been checking on the Zinfandel grapes weekly as well. We are close to harvest time again, this time for the Zinfandel. We will go through the same process again. Pretty hard to get tired of this lifestyle. The art and science of winemaking...

Once the vines are harvested, they are fertilized and watered for eight hours. We then water weekly until the rain begins or the leaves have all shed. From here the vines go to sleep until bud break sometime in May. We will prune the end of March or beginning of April. Until then, drink good wine, laugh often and enjoy your friends and family.

Cheers till Harvest, Climbing Monkey's Winery