Bottling & Vineyard Visits

This Labor Day weekend is full of winemaking activity. I need to wrap things up from last year and start preparing for this year's harvest. I'm like a kid before Christmas.

Here's what my weekend looks like:

Friday	Getting 202 cases of empty bottles from Caliber Wine Group.
Saturday	Bottling my 2002 Eno Pinot Noir from Dutton Ranch. Planning two shifts of folks to help out. Check out last year's bottling session.
Sunday	Visiting my new Pinot vineyard source in Santa Lucia Highlands. Alp, a friend of mine whose a photographer and interested in making wine, will take shots of the vineyard and Kirk, the grape grower. (Side note: This year I want to portrait shots of my grape growers and the people behind the wine. I've always wanted to highlight the people, the life story, and what brought them into wine.
Monday	Going up to Teldeschi Vineyard to check up on my old vine Zinfandel and Petit Syrah.

With harvest steadily approaching, I'm paying attention to the weather. Most folks think harvest is at least 1-2 weeks behind last year. However, on Monday and Tuesday, the temperatures were extraordinarily hot. As usual, it is followed by a low pressure front that brings in cool air. Hot temperatures accelerate the sugar levels (Brix) but don't necessarily evenly ripen the grapes.