The vineyard belongs to my father-in-law, Miles Turner. He has given me 1/2 ton this year to play with. Thanks Miles! Our summer has been a cool one, with bursts of the normal 100+° heat heat, so harvest is a bit later than I remember. But today the brix are at 26°, so it is time to keep my three kids out of school for a day’s worth of farm labor! Yippee!!! My husband, Willy, our three kids, my father-in-law, and our friend, Jim Moser, have come out in the wee hours of the morning, with a bin lent to us by Steele Wines, clippers, grape cutting knives (they look like mini-scythes and are super sharp!) buckets, and a very large coffeecake. (I strongly believe in rewarding the help.)
It took us three hours, a new record for us, though about 2 hours longer than it would take professional grape harvesters to get the same 1/2 ton. And we only had three cut fingers, five grape fights and three screams from close encounters with ants and earwigs. It was a great morning. Now it is on to Steele Wines, an award winning winery nearby, to borrow their crusher/destemmer.
The must (it actually looks like watery grape pulp, with lots of whole berries) is safely stashed in “Primary Fermentation†canisters. I have three of food-grade polyethylene plastic and two trash cans I bought in a pinch. The must is sulfited to ward of any unintentional fermentation due to natural yeasts in the vineyard. I will leave it alone for two days, to pull juice from the grapes.
