2014 Vintage

2014 vintage was of average quality. We measured phenolics in the grapes before harvest for the first time and again during fermentation – the levels were 30% below 2013. Volume was also down to below 1 ton due the lingering Eutypa infections which had forced us to cut off more arms and pull out 60 vines. We harvested early October with a large crew of 18 including for the first time a dedicated photographer: Ken Ogle.

1 Steam-cleaning the destemmer

2 Steam-cleaning the vibration table for berry sortimg

3 Moving the destemmer to sit on top of the berry sorting table

4 Steam-cleaning the fermentation tank

Cleanup

Before every harvest we need to thoroghly clean all equipment; this takes almost a day

1 Night’s fog lifting

2 Nets are still on

3 Collection buckets in place

4 Grapes looking good

Dawn before harvest

This is what the vineyard looked like in the morning before harvest

1 Getting to work

2 Stevie Rossi vying for the tractor job

3 Picking instructions

4 Andy & Greg Martin, David Fenyvesi and Matt Crosby

5 Jane Ogle in charge of transportation

6 Naveen & Jess Agarwal with Jai

7 Ken Ogle, the official photographer

8 Steve Rossi picking

9 Andy Martin through the leaves

10 Erika Fenyvesi picking

11 Second shift: Dominic Chan & Pearl Wong and Florian von Meiss & Jetti Guenthard

12 Ngoc & Steve Rossi with Greg Martin in the middle

13 Michelle Crosby picking

14 All done picking

14 Weighing and recording the results

16 Done picking, let's go for lunch

Picking grapes

We had a large crew of 18 so the picking did not take long

1 Donna the host & cook

2 Rosemary Rossi, the other cook

3 Self service for Matt Crosby & Steve Rossi

4 Self service for Jane Ogle and Steve & Ngoc Rossi

5 Mostly beer drinkers here

6 A beer and wine table

7 Only wine at this table

8 Relaxing moment for Dominic Chan & Pearl Wong

9 A joke among the Swiss

10 Jess & Jai Agarwal time for a nap

11 Stevie & Steve Rossi - no nap here

Lunch

Lunch was prepared by Donna and Rosemary Rossi

1 grape bunches to be sorted

2 Florian von Meiss & Jetti Guenthard and Pearl Wong under supervision

3 Dominic Chan, Susan & Dan Steele and Jane Ogle sorting

4 Andy Martin & Steve Rossi sorting

5 Bella and Tanya Beder sorting

6 Ken Ogle, the photograper, sorting

7 Jetti Guenthard, Pearl Wong and Terry Carltz sortng

Sorting Bunches

We sorted the bunches using new improved sorting grids

1 Florian von Meiss loads grape bunches into destemmer

2 Terry Carlitz monitors stems coming out of destemmer

3 Steve Rossi, Jane Ogle, Dominic Chan and Jetti Guenthard sorting berries

4 The entire destemming & berry sorting operation

5 The berries fall into the fermentation tank over dry ice

Destemming & berry sorting

A large part of the crew stayed on for destemming and berry sorting.

1 Steve Rossi toasting while Donna is mixing and Jetti Guenthard watching

2 Jane Ogle and Florian von Meiss in serious conversation

3 Donna and Jetti Guenthard feel the lubrication

4 Steve Rossi attacking the desert cheeses prematurely

Dinner

All good berries are in the fermentation tank - time to celebrate. You may wonder why we all needed hard liquor to unwind

Punchdown during fermentation

During fermentation the cap is punched down 2-3 times a day while the fan is running to air out escaping gases. (Oct. 23)

Early pressing of cap

David Fenyvesi is scooping out the cap (mostly berry skins) into a bocket which is then emptied into the press below (Oct 25). After the press is run, the juice is added back into the fermentation tank to complete fermentation while the pressed skins are distributed in the vineyard to augment the soil

Previous page: 2013 Vintage
Top of page: Go
Next Page: 2015 Vintage
Last updated: January 4, 2016