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The dust at Ridgecrest is like talcum. It billows under tractor
tires as grapes are hauled from the far reaches of the vineyard
to the truck loading area.
Fruit
is amazing. All of Ridgecrest is harvested except for some
pinot gris, which we're holding for late harvest.
We pulled
the rest of the pinot noir in a day early, along with gamay
noir and chardonnay, because birds and yellow jackets were
becoming nuisances and the fruit was ready.
Today
finishes pinot noir at Corral Creek, with two blocks we are
selling to other small wineries. From the three Chehalem Estate
Vineyards, we sell up to half the fruit we grow. We have approximately
150 acres of bearing vineyard, so that is a good thing.
A GOOD
THING! Martha Stewart's minions visited our friend Doug Tunnell
of Brick House, one vineyard down from Ridgecrest on Ribbon
Ridge, yesterday. I don't know whether she's planning a series
to tell the wine industry how to do things correctly, or just
checking things out. Doug retired to his vineyard from CBS
correspondent duties.
 In
addition to large lots of grapes (e.g., we loaded 8.4 tons
from our oldest planting, what we call the 5 Acre Block, in
a single fermentor yesterday), we are also running small one-on-one
comparison lots. Some focus on clones, specific sites, processing
changes, etc. Others even involve other wineries.
We
are continuing to run an experiment with Bethel Heights and
Rex Hill wineries in which we trade fruit from our best vineyard
sites and make wine from it. It attempts to demonstrate the
influences of winemaking versus terroir. During a recent trip
by Masters of Wine we had them taste blind the 9 wines, 3
from each winery and 3 from each vineyard. It is instructive
to see which predominates, both now and over time -- also,
whether changes in impact occur vintage to vintage.
We
have just traded those lots and destemmed them. They are now
macerating, pre-fermentation.
Enough nerd talk. Need a mocha.
Harry
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