

The joke around the cellar during this time of year is that it is always Tuesday. We worked yesterday and we work tomorrow.
Luckily for us, even though we are firmly entrenched in the routine of rising, going to work, and collapsing into bed, we get to live vicariously through the grapes, which are on the thrill-ride of a lifetime. Allow me to paint a picture of their first days in the winery:

For the majority of our Pinot Noir, we add precise amounts of dry ice and Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) to prevent the beginning of fermentation for up to seven days. This is called a cold-soak, and it allows for the juice to absorb more phenolics from the skins. Some of our fermenters are equipped with Glycol jackets that give us the ability to cool and heat the tank at the press of a button, while some of our smaller open-topped fermenters require us to shuffle them between a chilled room and a heated one to manage the temperature of the must. A

Yeast needs oxygen to complete the fermentation of sugar to alcohol, so our Associate Winemaker, Eleni Papadakis, walks the tightrope of introducing the necessary oxygen without over-oxidizing the fragile, young wine. During fermentation, we will punch down the cap several times daily--a process of submerging the top layer of skins in the juice which helps to maintain a homogenized temperature, introduces oxygen to the grapes, and prevents the top from developing unwanted microbial populations. Additionally, the wine can be
pumped over, which entails drawing the wine out from the bottom of the tank and returning it over the top, making sure to wet the whole cap. This does not follow a set schedule, but rather is decided directly by Eleni on a tank by tank basis according to her flavor analysis.
This weekend we will finally get to see our first Chardonnay, as well as more Estate Pinot Noir. We treat our Chardonnay pretty differently (obviously) from the Pinot and the Syrah, so I'm sure it will provide great material for the coming blog posts. Stay tuned. – Written by Zach Bryant, Harvest Intern. Photos by Megan Jones.

This weekend we will finally get to see our first Chardonnay, as well as more Estate Pinot Noir. We treat our Chardonnay pretty differently (obviously) from the Pinot and the Syrah, so I'm sure it will provide great material for the coming blog posts. Stay tuned. – Written by Zach Bryant, Harvest Intern. Photos by Megan Jones.
1 comment:
Only the best!! 300 ton winery right??
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