The Harvest

Thursday night, Sabine & John & I headed up to Buelton. We had dinner at the Hitching Post - complete with birthday cake, and a great bottle of wine. The owner and his wife both stopped by to talk 'wine' with John, who was in his element.

Up early on Friday, pancake breakfast, and off to the vineyard just outside of Solvang. Giancarlo joined us for the harvest. It was cool and dewey as we peeled the netting off the vines and began to pick. Well, clip really. You dig around under the leaves, find juicy, full clusters of grapes, and try to find the stems and tendrils to sever with you clippers. Into the bin. Avoid the raisiny clusters, or ones with mold. If they're light, leave them.

We picked 1000 pounds of Cabernet Franc grapes. Cab Franc is one of the 5 Bordeaux varietals. Most people have only heard of Cabernet Sauvingnon and Merlot. But there is also Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. French Bordeaux blends usually combine two or more of these varietals.

John made an amazing Cab Franc in 2001, and I think he's hoping for a repeat. He was pretty happy with the grapes.

After picking, we had a lovely lunch in the vineyard. Giancarlo headed back to his brother's house, and we loaded the vehicles for transport. John & Sabine put 650 pounds in the VW bus, and I put 350 pounds in my Subaru. The drive was long, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open. We stopped in Ventura for a pit stop and a pop, then down the coast to Santa Monica.

Back at Casa Moneta (aka John & Sabine's garage), we unloaded the 35 bins of grapes into the garage. We were back earlier than expected, so the support crew hadn't arrived yet. But processing the harvest quickly is important. So we dove in.

Leisel and Dieter fed the crusher/de-stemmer. John turned the crank. Sabine cleaned the bins and emptied the stem bin. Me, I had the glorious job of pulling the pieces of stems and leaves out of the crushed grapes. It was wonderfully messy! As the bin of crushed grapes filled, John & I emptied it into giant plastic barrels.

Three hours later...we were done. John added dry ice to the crush (to cool the grapes and prevent bacteria growth). We cleaned the equipment, I got hosed down, and a shower. After everyone was clean, we gathered around the dining room table for champage with fresh Cab Franc juice - delish!

Leisel made a wonderful dinner, and we were all in bed by 9:30! Boy, was I tired....