Harvest Begins!

After lots of worrying about the weather, harvest has started in earnest here in Healdsburg. Our Rockpile zinfandel has already been processed and will be inoculated later today.  Our Soberanes pinot noir from Santa Lucia Highlands is due to arrive on Saturday and our Gap's Crown pinot noir from Sonoma Coast is set to be delivered on Sunday.  The only laggard (as usual) is our super cold weather pinot noir from Anderson Valley.  We don't expect to see those grapes on the crushpad for at least 2-3 more weeks!

To give you a feel of the excitement, Kerith snapped a couple of pictures.  The first is our Rockpile zin from the day before it was picked (notice the uneven ripening and raisins in the bunch - that's what makes zin so difficult to vinify!).  And the second is the next day when the fruit arrived at the winery and went through sorting and de-stemming.

It's a busy time up here - but by far the most fun time of the year!