Vern Fisher of the Monterey County Herald came by one day and photographed us as we processed Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on the same day. Click here to see and hear the slideshow he put together. By the way— I’d have to get my arm twisted to do both whites and reds simultaneously here, because, well, you’ll see why…..but sometimes I’m reminded that Mother Nature is stronger than me, hee hee. Anyway, I’ve long admired Vern’s photographs in the paper, and I think he was able to capture what we do here on a very busy day.

The slideshow starts out at Chula Vina….the first photo is Henry Carrasco, owner of Chula Vina…the crew is shown harvesting the Chardonnay and Pinot that we subsequently are shown processing. Chula Vina is in Chualar Canyon, BTW, and it is one of my favorite beautiful places. Enjoy…

***Update: 11-9-07 It looks like Tanner will make it! Thanks to all for the calls and well-wishes! Annette

I’m not sure why I missed this one and I have to say this is disturbing and embarrasing for me given that I have been in the wine industry for awhile and own dogs—but I did not know that grapes are toxic to dogs. My dogs go with me everywhere and spend a lot of time in vineyards and in the winery. They have eaten grapes or grape skins here and there with no effect. But the other day, my little dog Tanner got into some grapes and is now experiencing kidney failure in a vet hospital in Capitola. The veterinarians tell me that this is not well understood—they don’t know what it is about grapes that is toxic to dogs and have no idea how it affects the kidneys, just that it does, and often does alarmingly quickly, but yet doesn’t affect all dogs. So, there you go. Tell your friends that have dogs: raisins, grapes, grape skins (and, I would venture to say wine as well) can be toxic to dogs. And maybe while you’re getting the word out, could you say a little prayer for Tanner, too?

Due to harvest crew constraints, we all finished harvesting Hilltop Ranch Pinot Noir yesterday ourselves. It had rained earlier that morning, but it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day, and the fruit looked great, as well. Most vineyards we sourced from produced a short crop this year, but Hilltop came in with a good yield & high quality to boot. Here are some photos:

Mark & Kara

“No cauliflower pickers in my vineyard!” Appolonio—da man.

“Here are your assignments…”, says master Luke, and..

...hauling buckets.

Dick….”Now why did we train these cordons so low??”

And me with Sweetie.

Where’s That Wascally Wabbit?
These two are so happy because harvest is almost here. They don’t particularly care about Brix or the quality of tannins in grape skins. I can assure you that only three things are on their mind: riding in the car with me, having the opportunity to find some nasty thing to eat while out and about, and most importantly, the chance that harvest time brings to chase—and catch—jack rabbits in the vineyard. Yes, these two may look unassuming and downright harmless, but together they are sublime jack rabbit chasers and faster than you might think—far more efficient than Elmer Fudd ever was. And much like Mr. Fudd, they don’t know quite what to do once they catch the rabbit, but that’s OK with me and probably with the rabbit, too.

Harvest is almost upon us

It’s a pretty amazing fact that we haven’t started harvest yet. There are some grapes being harvested in Monterey, and I’m seeing (and smelling) onions being harvested, and also lettuce, and broccoli. The artichokes above are past their prime, but I took that photo so you can see the haze of smoke from the fire near San Jose that has been hanging over the Salinas Valley on and off for a week. Not one grape has entered this facility. It’s amazing because most every other area in California is in full picking mode (a friend at Sonoma-Cutrer says they are halfway done already—and it’s not even the middle of September!). We are bottling the remaining 2006 wines tomorrow, and will also bring our first load of Sauvignon Blanc in tomorrow as well—it will be interesting to see how that works out. Crops are definitely small this year, quality is looking great, and it looks like everything will come in at once.

Speaking of Bottling…
James, Mark and I have been finishing our 2006 Pinots and here’s a view of wine that most don’t see…..this photo was taken as we were just emptying our last tank.

This is one of my favorite times of year here in Monterey County, maybe because I like suspense. This is bloomtime for the “earlier” varieties of winegrapes such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc. The challenge here in this region and in this climate, though, is getting the right weather to achieve relatively good “set” or good pollination and fertilization of each berry on the cluster (the grape flowers are bisexual, by the way, and are self-pollinating, so bees are out of the picture). We tend to have extremely variable weather in the spring which can include late frosts, heat waves, gusty winds, rain and even hail. This poses a challenge to get good, consistent set.

These are photos from Chula Vina today, and I’ve attempted to capture the infant clusters, on the verge of blooming. This is Pinot Noir—Dijion clone 115 to be exact—and is at the bottom of the hill in this vineyard. This block tends to be last to do most everything. The blocks further up the hill are just starting to bloom, and the Chardonnay—at the very top ‘o the hill—is just finishing.

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Speaking of Chula Vina Chardonnay, here’s a nice review on Appellation America of our 2005 offering. Unfortunately, we are nearly sold-out. The 2006 should be released this November, and dare-I-say just might be the best yet…..

Wondering who does our graphic and package design? We get compliments all the time on our label design, product photos and advertisements and because of that feel I should mention one of the folks behind the scenes. The wonder woman behind all of that design is none other than Ginny Westcott. She has an incredible talent and great sense of style (and is also a joy to work with)!