Fire!!

On the 25th, Eric and I were heading south to San Francisco and came across this field fire which looked like it had just started. It was moving pretty fast towards us on Stony Point Road. I snapped a couple of shots and then we got the heck out of there. Scary. http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080925/NEWS/809250260

So when we made it to Ed's place in the City they were already in the process of processing a bunch of Rosella's and Garys' Vineyard Pinot. For lunch, Ed pulled some corks (a major fringe benefit of working harvest) and I was knocked over by the 2007 Roar - Garys' Vineyard Pinot Noir. The best Pinot I have had in a long time. Thanks, Ed!! Ed is pretty busy at his facility in the City making wines for Roar (as of the 2007 vintage), August West and Sandler. You should check them out and buy some!

http://www.roarwines.com/

http://www.augustwestwine.com/augustwest/index.jsp

http://www.sandlerwine.com/index.html

Well, we are in the middle of our biggest week at Freeman (yes, to me Monday feels like the middle of the week!!). We will be bringing in fruit from six vineyards this week starting with the Heintz Ranch Chardonnay this morning. On Wednesday, its the fruit from Buck Hill for our 2008 zinfandel - I am very excited for that!

Well, I've got to go. By the way . . . WHAT TIME IS IT? GAME TIME! GO RAVENS! (and thank goodness for Tivo).

I almost forgot . . .

. . . to tell you a quick story from today. The picture is of the press machine - a large contraption used to squeeze out valuable juice from the grape skins after you have already drained off the "free run" juice. After that is over, it must be cleaned out and that's a big job. Tonight, while I was completely inside of the big cylindrical tube, the lower doors shut and wouldn't re-open. No big deal except I had just used hot, steamy water to clean it and I was now trapped in my own little steam bath. The good news . . . I may have lost a few pounds and I discovered that I am not claustrophobic. When Eric rescued me from my winery cage, that sucker was clean - I can promise you that.

Chardonnay Soon

These pictures are from Heintz Ranch. Notice the old gnarly twisty vines? Pretty cool. At the end of a nearly twelve hour work day, taking a vineyard sample at a place like this hardly seems to qualify as work. Half the fun of taking vineyard samples to determine if the fruit is ready for picking is the drive to the vineyard. Although most of the vineyards Freeman sources from are only a few miles from the winery, the drive to the vineyards often includes winding, twisting roads which are sometimes reduced to a single lane or even dirt/gravel. Sure beats the Beltway.

Tomorrow, after another early start at the winery, we head to the City to help out Ed down there. It should be a fun change of pace. BTW, around here, when folks refer to 'The City', they are always referring to San Francisco. It's never Oakland, Sacramento or any other city. While San Francisco may technically be closer than the other major cities in northern California, the reference isn't simply a matter of geography. It's a recognition that San Francisco is just a special place.

More Pics

Gualala, CA Trip Pics

A Day Off

Well, as you can see its been a few days since my last post. I chose to spend them with Katie rather than by a computer. :-) Katie got to see the operation in full swing Thursday afternoon and Friday. She was a trooper - even punching down Tank 2 which had just begun to ferment and was very hard to punch down and through the cap. We were able to get away on Saturday (my first day off!) and head north along Route 1 on the coast. If you have never travelled along the Pacific Ocean on Route 1, you need to add that to your "TO DO" list. Stunningly beautiful scenery. We got back in the area in time for Katie and I to knock out the Sunday afternoon punchdowns. Tanks 2 and 3 were quite a workout - a nice jolt back into harvest reality. We have all 8 of the five-ton fermenters full (plus LOTS of T-Bins) so when they all start to ferment its going to be lots of hard work. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, bringing in the fruit is easy . . . working with it in the winery is the hard part.

Great Days

We have had a few great days. The weather has been perfect, the work has been going smoothly and we've had some good times. Monday, although the amount of fruit we brought in was less than expected, some friends of the winery helped out and then made us a catered lunch. I'll just say this - duck fat fries. Awesome!

Tuesday we didn't bring in any fruit which allowed us to start barreling down the first 2008 Pinot out of one of the 5 ton tanks. Amazing dark color to the juice - almost looks like syrah. That afternoon, some friends from back east stopped by. Talk about perfect timing (the winery usually doesn't accept visitors during harvest). We were just slowing down and finishing up so we were able to put some glasses in their hands and show them around. Three hours later we let them leave. :-) I think Scott and Ann may be fans of the winery now!

Yesterday was another great day. While putting the rest of tank one into the press, we also brought in ten tons of Keefer Ranch Pinot (with more still to come). The fruit looked and tasted excellent. In a year when many growers were hit hard by frost (including Keefer) it's remarkable how they have farmed such high quality fruit with large yields. Well done. We finished off the day with dinner at The Underwood in Graton. I love that place.

I am in a great mood today as you can probably tell. I'm expecting a visitor . . .