Harvest Update

We've been working feverishly the last 5 weeks as the grapes have been coming in each weekend. As of today we have everything  in from our vineyard at the winery and are just awaiting the final grapes of the season, Chambourcin,  from our growers, the Bergmeier's at Cambrian Ridge Vineyards near Auburn, NE. Chambourcin is always a late season harvest and it looks like they may come in either this weekend or next depending on the latest numbers from the vineyard.  Chambourcin is what makes our popular Rocky's Red wine as well as our Soliel.

Here are some photos of what has been happening in the cellar since my last post:


We've been working on a beautiful dessert wine and it looks,smells and tastes wonderful. Hopefully we can get that out for the holidays!

Brianna is done fermenting.








Our Marquette is harvested, fermented, and has been pressed off.

Marquette grapes awaiting harvest

Here is what is left after the Marquette has been pressed.

Here Richard is punching down the cap on the Frontenac during fermentation.  This gets done 3 to 4 times a day as a thick cap of skins forms and you want to push them back down into the juice so the flavors and tannins from the skins can work their way into the wine. By the way he generally tries to color coordinate his shirts to the wine he is making!











During harvest there are many late nights. After a late night press Richard is cleaning the press with hopes of eventually catching some sleep. All in the name of good wine!

 Finally here is a glimpse of our new barrels that just came in. These will be for our 2013 Big Bold Red.