2019 Harvest and Crush

In spite of the challenges with import procedures, government, weather, and scheduling, the grapes arrived without incident on October 17th. 

The Cabernet Sauvignon fruit looked and tasted superb, and the test results showed good maturity, perfect sugar, and just the right amount of acidity.  Crush proceeded efficiently, and we began fermentation two days later.  Last Sunday, we concluded this important phase of the vintage by pressing the grape juice off of the skins, a process and a technology that dates back several thousand years (and no, no feet were used!).

What follows are a few pictures of the events up to pressing. 

The first tote of grapes delivered.  The shipment was loaded in Washington on the day of picking, refrigerated to near 2 degrees, and shipped to Surrey.  The totes were then transferred to a different truck with the tailgate service needed for delivery at our house. 

Because it was raining, we put all three totes in the garage.  This location offered the added benefit of making the crush proceed more efficiently.

Beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon fruit.

Preparing the garage for crush.  The white device on the left is a crusher-destemmer.  It is designed to crack the berries and remove the stems of each cluster.

Club members Darin, Brent and Bob

Grape clusters are transferred to buckets with any leaves or other removed first.

A 200L stainless steel fermenting tank is filled about three fourths to the top.

Fermenters are covered to keep out fruit flies.  In about 48 hours, cultured yeast will be inoculated (added) to each tank.

Record keeping is very important :-)

Harvest 2019 Approaches

It's nearly time!

After a disappointing, wet and cool September, the vineyard is back on track with harvest planned in the next week to ten days.  Even though the Wahluke Slope is more than 500KM south of British Columbia, tensions were high last Tuesday when the US Weather Service issued an early frost warning.  Even mild frost kills the leaves of the plant and would have necessitated early harvest, low maturity, inadequate sugar levels, and disappointment overall.  Yet now, with several weeks of warm, sunny weather predicted at the vineyard, it looks like we will hit optimum maturity and have an outstanding crop.  Such is the risky nature of agriculture and winemaking.

On that note, we'll need some club members at Fort Langley to help in the crush, when the grapes arrive.  I will provide more details when the dates firm up.  So, if you're up for an afternoon and evening working with the fruit, please let me know.

We are still mired in government and logistics, at this point.  The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, changed its processes and regulations significantly this year.  In order to get a ministerial exemption to bring our fruit into the country, I had to personally get letters of "supply shortage" from the BC Wine Grape Council and Provincial Government.  On top of that, the agency is still trying to decide whether or not we need a new Safe Foods for Canadians license (absolutely endless phone calling with little results).  Then there are also trucking and brokerage issues to resolve.  I think we will need another model for fruit importing, next year.

2018 Syrah

Last Sunday was racking day for the Syrah.  Every four to five months, the wine is transferred out of the barrels into stainless steel tanks and then back into the barrels.  The general idea is to provide some limited exposure to oxygen, which is required for aging, and give me an opportunity to clean sediment from the barrels.  It is a slow and quiet process that fills the cellar with soft aromas of oak, fruit, and spices.  I am very happy to report that the 2018 will be ready for pick up this spring.  It is rich and purple, has notes of pepper, and a very fruit forward cherry tone.  It is a lovely expression of Syrah from central Washington.

Below, a few pictures of the racking and a bit of trivia for your edification.

Setting up the "Bulldog Pup" an argon gas pressure pump that gently moves the wine from the barrel to tank.  Does anyone know why we use argon and not CO2?

"Gas on!", the wine flows through the site window and food-grade tubing to the receiving tank or barrel.  Does anyone know why the Bulldog Pup has a tie down strap on it?

The Syrah temporarily taking up residence in a 200L stainless steel tank - it was racked back into the barrels about an hour later.