People have been asking, and if you don’t drive down Harney Lane frequently you won’t know what progress has been made on the winery. Progress is, of course, never as fast as we would like but there are some definite visible changes occuring. My Dad has taken on the landscaping job and was able to get a fair amount of planting done before harvest got rolling. (see the first pic) Things will slow down with harvest here soon and then pathways and the remaining planting can be completed. There is the perfect spot under the biggest tree for special wine tasting or just taking a moment to be inspired. At this spot, looking up into the grand Diadora Pine seems to put everything into perspective.

And as the pictures demonstrate the Winery Production Building is moving along. In fact it should be fully enclosed within a week and a half. It has been quite a view when I walk into the office in the morning. Several mornings I looked east to see the sun rising while 1 or 2 construction workers straddle the steel beams. If the construction market continues to decline, I’m sure these guys could get a job tight rope walking!! Now they are working on the final wall to the west and then will move on to the roof. While the building appears to be simply a metal building, the panels are actually an insulated panel with a R value of up to 32. Great temperature control, less cooling expenses! We think this is definitely the smart long term option. So….. now some inside work, some doors, some cooling for the barrel room, electrical and plumbing, and some government paperwork and we should be able to move in!!!!!!!!

Click for Winemaking Slide Show

I’ve been raised in a winegrape growing family but I have to admit that winemaking was a little baffling to me. I knew the grapes went to the winery, got crushed, fermented and bottled…..end of story. I had no idea until recent years how much care really goes into handcrafting small lots of wines. So, I thought you may be interested in the simplified version.(Chad-our winemaker- still loses me when he starts talking chemistry.) If you click on the slide show above you can see a little of what goes into it all.

When the bins come out of cold storage they are inoculated with yeast and begin fermentation. The fermenting grapes are punched down 3 times daily extracting tannins and color from the skins. Each day the temperature and brix (or sugar) are measured to monitor the progress. When fermentation is completed the grapes are put into the basket press and then put under pressure to pull out the juice (or actually wine, at this point). This wine then goes into a 500 gallon tank to settle out the yeasts and any other solids before being put into barrels to begin aging.

And that’s an abbreviated version of just the first 2 weeks of a red wine’s life!!!! But it’s a start and it catches you up with about where we are in the season. Below is the PROOF that our wines are really hand crafted. Cheers to the 2008 harvest!!!