Wine Crush, Part Deux: Work, Work, Work

We came, we worked, and we worked some more. It took days get our hands de-purpled.

The second stage, Pressing into barrels, should occur next week. Looking at Tuesday the 2nd since it is a World Series off-night. Stay tuned.

The Friday night session turned out to be pretty tough. Stalwarts Jim, Charmaine and Frank and I (all you other guys owe us!) hand-picked seven cases of leafy Syrah bunches to finish off the Syrah portion of the Syrah/Petit Sirah. We then began work on a new container of Syrah to get eight more cases to go along with six cases each of Grenache and Petit Verdot (sorry, no Barbera or Old Vine Zin available...sounds good, along with a Mourvèdre blend, for next year!) creating a 30/40/30 blend. With the conveyor diverted for use with a big Chardonnay crush, Dominick fork-lifted bins up tot the crusher, with Jim guiding the grape bunches in from a fifteen foot height with a big fork. With the addition of stopper, yeast food and yeast solutions, the two vats are busy a-bubbling, with occasional bunch-downs by Bacchus staff. Thanks again to Jim, Charmaine and Frank for all their hard work.