Today is the best day of harvest so far ... the last day of 2009 fruit processing! It is a little strange and slightly unbelievable that it is actually here. All of the fruit for 2009 is in! It was a fabulous day to end things as well and we were able to process both whites and reds. There were three lots of Chardonnay from our "Cote Sud" vineyard and three lots from the "Mark Bradford" vineyard. We were also treated to a fabulous lunch that Ken and Grace cooked for us and a wonderful Champagne toast at the end of the day. To say the least, it's weird that it is finally over.

Fruit receival went really smooth this year thanks to so many hard workers. I really can't thank our amazing interns enough. They sorted the fruit at the beginning and then our amazing temps sorted it till the end. Truly a team effort. Also a HUGE thank you to Nick and Chris for their hard work. Nick was an amazing fork lift driver and got along really well with the temps. He made them feel at home and always tried to boost their moral when they felt a bit "burned out". He told me one day, “I would go stand in the middle of the room on my head if I knew it would help out”.

Chris also did an amazing job receiving the grapes at the bottom of our slide and getting them into the different fermenters. He also dealt with countless one ton plastic ferments ... always a little trying. I think we ended up having more than 150. I also cannot forget to thank the vineyard crew. They made it so easy to communicate and get a better idea of when the grapes were arriving day to day, which made things run very smoothly. They also had such a cheerful , happy attitude every time they delivered the grapes. Maybe it was because they knew they to were closer to the end with each drop off.

I feel so lucky that I was able to be apart of fruit receival this year. I feel like my knowledge of the process for when grapes come into a winery and when they end up in a bottle is a bit more rounded. You get to taste grapes from each vineyard - the acid, the sweetness, the tannins - and then follow them throughout the year to see how the grapes change and grow into fine wine. I feel like I was able to be apart of the "toddler years" of the amazing wine that is to come. Even though some days were taxing and difficult, it was all worth it in the end.

Thank you so much to everyone. But now, even though it was one small ending in the grand scheme of harvest, time to get back to work. - Katie Santora, Cellar Assistant