First Grape Harvest
Block 1, Pinot Noir #667, Brix 22, TA 3.1
Friends and Family gathered to pick our first grapes. We sent 12 tubs to the state-of-the-art wine making facility at Lady Hill Winery in St. Paul for a custom crush. We watched as the wine making team, Dan and Tony, escorted our grapes on the path to greatness!
The berries were weighed and measured, sorted, de-stemmed and put into vats to ferment. The grapes rested on their skins as they gave up their juices until October 7th. The first free juice was siphoned off into an oak barrel. Then the grapes were gently pressed and as the juices were released they were put into each subsequent barrels (four altogether) to age.
As we tasted the product we were surprised at the sweetness of the first juices at harvest. Then as the fermenting process began the juice became more like wine at every stage. The last tasting was done in November and the character of the wine was starting to show.
Bottling is schedule for July 1st, 2017. Fingers crossed.