2023 grapes are Harvested!

Vintage 2020

Japanese/日本語

Zinfandel

We had a warmer sprint in 2020 and the grapes grew early and veraison started early. The wineries nearby have the same situation. We needed to be careful about the amount of water we should give since we had another drought year. The older trees are probably OK but the younger ones need more water than usual. We also got grapes eaten by birds and mice. This could be the biggest challenge of the year.

Getting ready to have buds break

We have a few Zinfandel trees in our front yard and neighbors walk by and say something while I work on the trees. One lady asked if the grapes were for eating and I said they were for the wine, Zinfandel. She said "Oh, nice". It's nice to start a conversation with strangers.

There are a lot of weeds to be cut out. I don't pull out and leave the roots. By doing this I don't have to eliminate microbes which benefits the quality of the vine trees.

Not all the buds are pointing upwards which makes the canopy messy. I need to prune the trees thinking about two years ahead.

( Early April, 2020)

Second year vine trees

The vines planted last year are growing nicely. Bugs break and shoots come out in early spring. All the flowers will be cut off this year so that they don't give too much stress to the young trees. We train the canes so that they become cordons, permanent arms with T shapes.

We need to think about the sunlight, not invading the neighbors and not too much crowd of canes.

( Early May, 2020)

Floral bud

After the bud break there are two or three flowers per cane. We leave two flowers looking healthy. It is a good idea to thin the clusters to prevent the grapes from over-cropping. It is not so easy to work on every cluster.

( Eatly May, 2020)

Grape flowers

The grape flower blooms and they are getting ready for the berries.

(Mid May, 2020)

Protecting the grapes from birds

Birds know ripe berries and they eat only the sweet grapes. We put bird reflectors to keep them away. We are also annoyed by mice. The bird net and the mice trap protect the grapes but they are not perfect.

(Mid August, 2020)

Harvest

I got up at 5am and got ready for the harvest. The temperature in early morning in September is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit in California. Every cluster has a different growth schedule. We need to have at least two times for the crop.

We had a bucket full of Barbera and Zinfandel had twice as much. Pino Nore is all gone and eaten by mice.

( Late August and September , 2020)

Grape Stomp

It is easier to crush the grapes by stomping but the bucket is too small for me. I asked one of my grandchildren to work on it. The crushing is usually done by a machine for a commercial winery but it is best to be done by foot since the machine sometimes crushes the seeds too. It gives bitterness to the wine.

Starting the fermentation

The active fermentation with a small amount of crushed grapes was already prepared a few days ago. It is poured into the must slowly. The fermentation activity spreads into the entire must within a half day.The bucket is filled with CO2 and there is no chance of having the grape touch the oxygen which would ruin the wine. The dark color is extracted from the skin and the juice becomes "wine red". At this time the temperature management is the most important item to control.

Aging

We age the wine with French Oak chips before bottling the wine in November, 2022.

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