Last fermentation of the year. Wild yeast fermented Mourvèdre from our estate vineyard. This vineyard is 5 years old and has never been sprayed. And now with our sheep flock doing all the weed control. The only time a tractor entered this vineyard was for harvest. Yes, a single tractor pass the whole year!

Good evening

Petit Verdot and Mourvèdre pick scheduled for later this week. The fall weather is here and slowing the ripening a bit. The end of harvest is in sight

GM. . . Wine tank pump over. #mesmerizing #fermentation #good juice

Pump over time. Petite sirah at the peak of fermentation. We pump over the juice from below the “cap” to irrigate the wine over the top to make sure everything stays wet and fermenting evenly. This also allows for a little bit of oxygen and some of the fermentation heat to be blown off to help keep things cool.

Prune harvest is underway.

GM….Cab Franc for your wake up call. You are looking at a current temperature of 59 degrees and today is going to be clear and sunny with a high of 88 degrees.

Always fresher at night. We even had a brief thunder storm with some wild lightning, just enough ran to knock the dust down, great way to welcome in September. #herecomesfall

Next generation of grape stompers in action. The Turkovich girls are showing their city boys cousins how work gets done at the winery. #family #kidsworking #farmlife

GM

How do you know if you are on the right track in life?…sometimes there are signs

Labor continues to get harder to find and more expensive. Over the last few years we have moved from 100% hand harvesting our grapes to now we are 90% mechanical harvesting. The machines today are surprisingly gentle on the vines and the fruit. And we are able to get the grapes to the winery much quicker so the fruit is colder and we get a better cold soak prior to the fermentation starting. #nostrag #harvest #farmmachines