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Marc Hauser wrote: ↑
September 15th, 2019, 3:43 pm
50% chance of rain Monday morning here in Napa.

Probably gonna get a bit wet in the morning. Saying .05 so we're going to go ahead. Still too much to pick to lose a day.

Never PICKED into a T bin just ferment. Polly about time to get mine cleaned up. Would guess we'll put some Pinot in it soon.

Tom Hill, you are a God.

Pinot Gris....done. After Saturday most Gewurtz will be gone. Pinot for Rose'....done. Chard for low alcohol after tomorrow.....done. As my new employee told me today we are entering phase 3 of harvest. Phase one is sparkling. Phase two is aromatic whites and Pinot for Rose'. Now we enter phase thre...

My guess is the 4-5 days of cool weather we've had has slowed the sugars. Can't quite explain the acids.

Pinot Gris on a foggy morning.

Looks like not many takers. Funny but picking grapes isn't nearly as sexy working in the winery.

timmy roos wrote: ↑
September 10th, 2019, 9:03 am
casey how is crop size so far?

Don't want to hurt my arm patting myself on the back but we're hitting some of our estimates. When we're missing the crop is a bit over than what we thought. Pinot Gris tomorrow and Thursday. Will get some pics because that stuff is so unique.

We will shift to multiple clients picking days which makes things much harder to set up. Tomorrow we pick 3 different fields for 3 folks. From a single ton of Chard, to 5 tons of Pinot for Rose' then onto 15 tons of Gewurtz. Every time we change fields, we lose time and momentum. The two small lots ...

Chard 548 about the size of your fist. Kind of like picking Pinot. The sparkling stuff was clone 4 about double the size. Off tomorrow and then another busy week.
Got to meet fellow Berserker Nate Weis briefly this morning. Just as handsome as I imagined!

We broke a single day tonnage record today of 38 tons with a single crew. Started at 5:00, finished at 11:00. We are now officially done with sparkling......240 tons worth. Now onto Pinot Gris, Gewurtz, Pinot Rose' etc. Weather God's are smiling on us. Whoa! A single crew picking 38 tons? As in 8-1...

We broke a single day tonnage record today of 38 tons with a single crew. Started at 5:00, finished at 11:00. We are now officially done with sparkling......240 tons worth. Now onto Pinot Gris, Gewurtz, Pinot Rose' etc. Weather God's are smiling on us.

Things going too well. Passed the 200 ton mark today. Been super crazy this no photos lately. Cool weather finally came to AV with thick fog both mornings. Sparkling stuff will likely be done tomorrow.

Doing about 25 tons/day of sparkling Pinot and Chard. Per day. Crop is on the high side and I'm expecting some of my clients to hold us to max tonnage on the contracts. I'm just happy to have a home for most of my fruit. I hear horror stories of unsold fruit and bulk wine inventories expanding. Also...

I welcome some cooler weather. Have a pretty full plate the next few days. Trying to wrap up the sparkling stuff and move into other things. Gruner is off. Thought we had a ton and ended up with 3 on 3 acres. What this tells me with the girth of this year's wood we could have 8 tons next year! After...

Night time lows in the Apple Hill area in Placerville, and down in the hills east of Sutter Creek (the two areas where my grapes are grown) are 4-6 degrees above what they've usually been. It's the most striking feature of this season, for me. The season itself was probably 10 to 14 days behind at ...

Brix taste like 21 at Moulds and 20 at Houyi. Guessing 5-6 weeks out. No hurry. Really don't care about brix anyway. If I had to watch a number it would be pH and I am looking for 3.65-3.75 at pick. Usually find the rest falls in line at those levels. For reference we picked some sparkling Chardonn...

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First Gruner ever for me!

Powdery mildew is pretty darn preventable even organically. Folks grow Chardonnay in the deep end of Anderson Valley organically.

Today might be the first time I've picked sugar samples before 5:30 am.

Sparkling Chard crop looks on the plus size of estimates. Will break 100 tons today.

Going to break 100 tons tomorrow. 87 tons of bubbles so far. We are picking at estimate so far but it's early. Early rumbings is that there's more out there than previously thought. I'll need another 4-5 days to know where we are. So far pickers are happy and so are we. Shifting to Pinot tomorrow so...

48 tons over 2 days is pretty good. Gonna get another 20-22 tomorrow. Will pick our first Gruner Veltliner crop on Friday. Expecting a ton from 3 acres on third leaf vines. Philips Hill is the lucky client who gets first crack. Very happy to see a cool off coming starting tomorrow. 10 degrees cooler...

Eric Lundblad wrote: ↑
August 27th, 2019, 9:44 pm
What's your mildew program consist of Casey...looks like excellent/clean fruit

So you know we're not organic right? Tons of very strong nasty chemicals of course! But approved by the FDA!

Seriously would be happy share with you in person sometime.

26 tons in by 11:45 and that included a rest break! Our mildew program is certainly working. Some of the cleanest Chard fruit we've seen in years.

Looking good!

Almost 4:00 am. This will be the first serious day. Going for 24 tons of sparkling Chard. Beefed up the crew. Hasn't been quite perfect growing for me the last couple of days. Too hot!

13 tons in.....570 to go! Picked a young Chard block over 2 mornings for sparkling for 2 different clients. Worked with a small in house crew. Nice to not have a major pick early in the season so we can get a groove going. Monday not scheduled but tons of sampling and some irrigating to do. Will sta...

Waiting for more bins on a nice morning.

My forklift is older than 90% of my crew! Hope the rental comes soon!

Off and running! Harvest number 41.....day one!

Safety meeting today.

So it is on for you Casey? Have a great harvest champagne.gif [cheers.gif] My guys picking 8 different sugar samples tomorrow. The Gruner is changing color and tasting good. We think there will be about a ton of that. Sparkling stuff gonna fly now! Will try to keep up with pics. I often have time w...

A winery came and sampled sparkling Chard yesterday and got 18 brix. Looks like Friday. Picking a bunch of samples tomorrow for another client.

More fun preharvest projects.

Hot and dusty. Getting us tough for harvest I guess. Drain tile in a replant field.

Well....CRAP! After yesterday and the 13 brix stuff I was feeling ok. But I had an uneasy feeling about a young Chard block destined for bubbles and another Pinot block that goes to Shramsberg as well. The Pinot is a quad system that has great exposure and canopy. The Chard tested 16.4 and the Pinot...

My three Chard samples were between 13.0 and 13.5 which puts us about 16 days out for 19 brix. Ramping up the anxiety level just a touch. This big moon the last night or so has been messing with my sleep patterns but I'm happy to report I'm not having dreams about harvest quite yet, which is great. ...

Going to do our first sugar tests this morning.

Visited 3 different times from '98 to '02. My buddy who lives in RSA worked in the biz years ago. (He is now a safari operator/tour director). With his connections we visited numerous smaller producers (I kept no notes) and had lots of fun. I was super impressed with so many dry white blends with Co...

Thunder and lightning Friday night along with a tenth of an inch of rain. I was hunting all weekend. Nice to take my mind off of work. Hunting thread over on Asylum.

Pinot coloring up Fast. Sparkling folks are going to want samples soon I'm sure. Still holding to September 6 or so start date.

The crew is finishing up some final wire lifting and hand hedging. As we're about a month out some folks asking for some unpaid time off. I've been helping my builder buddy with a bathroom remodel in the owners cabin: changing out fiberglass shower and changing plumbing, New tile shower and floors. ...

What a difference a few miles make: I left the job in Philo and my car temp read 83 degrees. I pop over the hill and get out to gas up in Ukiah.....97. That's why Ukiah is like the Rhone, and Anderson Valley is more like Burgundy.

Two more winemaker visits today before lunch. Both had no complaints. Weather supposed to cool in another day. Trying to find a couple of fun activities for me and Lynne before harvest. Now with the new dog, it's a bit more difficult. Deer hunting season starts this Saturday. Hope to post pics of de...

Theo, Does this mean my allocation of Alpine Chard and Horseshoe Chard will increase? This sounds ominous. Looks good for an increase in the allocation. Personally, if I was Kevin, I would sell all this Mendicino territory and get what I could. No reason to stick around in an unfriendly area. There...

FWIW Mr Swain is retired winemaker at Parducci. And yes, strong first post indeed.

In many of our fields we do a 'green drop'. When the overall crop is at 50-60% color we seek out clusters that are only 5-10% colored. Those will generally never catch up. The problem is at harvest they will all be colored, but the laggers aren't at the same sugar levels, even though they look like ...

Look, but don't touch.

There really is fruit in there!

As promised. 12 foot wide rows (that was life in 1975) with crazy growth on the last day of July!

Poked my head in a few fields and color is racing along. Finally seeing some shallow soiled areas slowing down. Still some crazy ass growth in dry farmed pinot on St George (photos in a couple of days). Hosting my big visit with Roederer tomorrow. They now buy over 180 tons from us. Expecting many m...

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