End of First Official Harvest

As the vines begin to senesce on my first full harvest, I am left with a feeling of great relief and surprising sadness. This was by far the most intense, stressful and rewarding months of my life in recent history. This old body took a beating but kept on tickin’. I had so many competing commitments that it was tough to keep up most of the time- work at Alegria Vineyards, Mauritson Winery, Parmeson Wines, Fall baseball coach, soccer and what about the family… But I must say I came out stronger both physically and mentally, received quite an education and continued respect for the people in this business. This is hard work no doubt about it and I can’t wait to do it again next year!

All of the wine is barreled down and becoming more delicious every day. Will likely bottle the chardonnay and pinot noir mid-2014 and the zin late-2014.

Work will continue in the vineyard – composting, planting cover crops, pruning, trellis and irrigation repair. The pace is significantly slower at this point which will give me time to complete the label, take some classes and catch up on everything that was neglected over the past several months.