Vineyard Diary

Harvest took place at the Twin Vines vineyard yesterday. Rain and cooler weather had conspired to delay things, but the sugar level readings this week indicated that it was indeed time to pick.

Twin Vines is about 2 acres, and is planted to 5 red Bordeaux varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cab Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. We initially determined the planting proportions for this vineyard by finding the published blend quantities for as many red Bordeaux wines, and as many California Meritage wines as possible, and then finding the average.

We ended up with about 50% Cab S. going down to around 5% of Petit Verdot and Malbec. Interestingly, these varieties have differing ripening characteristics, which can prove to be a challenge when it comes to picking (because we want to harvest just once each season). As it stands, harvest went perfectly--the fruit was great, averaging around 26% sugar (or, 26 brix), and we came away with about 3,550 pounds of grapes for our first field blend.

Here's a link (click on the image above) to a couple of snapshots. The shots are not too exciting, serving more as documentary than drama, but at least they set the scene.