The Last of the Pinot

Today we brought in the last of the Pinot Noir fruit for A.P. Vin for 2008. It was definitely bitter sweet as the fruit today was the most difficult yet.

The Clos Pepe Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County had suffered from the 2008 California weather issues; frost in the winter, heavy rains in the spring...you name it, it got it. So Andrew knew in advance that this was not going to be an easy crushing day.

We do not have a sorting line as some wineries do so we had to make our own as Andrew has done in the past.

A table, 2 bins - 1 for good fruit, 1 for bad

This was our "sorting line." The picking bin of fruit was aligned with the end of the table and the grapes were spread out for sorting. The fruit was then put back into 1 of 2 picking bins again, 1 designated for good and 1 for bad fruit. It wasn't the quickest process as it took Andrew, Tim and I about 3 hours to go through 1 ton of fruit but it was the only way to remove anything that was considered undesirable for Pinot, containing either botrytis (mold) or berries that are under ripe which left them tart and acidic.

Once the fruit was sorted it was then time to run it through the crusher and put into a fermentation bin. Now, it has been said that you know when harvest is about to end in a winery...when everyone has their roles and things run seamlessly! For Andrew, Tim and I...today was that day. Andrew and Tim loaded the picking bin on the forklift and Andrew and I positioned it perfectly above the hopper of the crusher. At that point I took my position on the crusher and transfered the fruit from the picking bin to the hopper. Once the picking bin was emptied, Andrew manned the crusher controls and the additives while Tim manned the stems and cleaned the emptied picking bin. Meanwhile, it was then my job to move the grapes through the hopper.

Emptying the picking bin into the hopper.


Andrew and I in full groove.


Emptying the berries from the hopper.

Today was another long day, about 12 hours, as we not only had to handle the last bit of Pinot fruit but we also have 24 bins either in cold soak or in fermentation. So even after the last of the Pinot was sorted and put into the fermentation bin and then lined up with the others, we still had punch-downs to do and numbers to run.

Considering Andrew and I were toying with Mother Nature when we were trying to picks dates for me to be here, I don't think we could have timed it any better as I was able to see 99% of the Pinot fruit come in during harvest. Now if I could just stick around to see it all go to barrel!