Molly Cam: Harvest 2012

Woof!  Woof! Woof!  We love harvest!   After a long, sunny, beautiful summer the grapes came into their full sugars a little more than a week ago - then the waiting began.  See, at Styring, we wait.  We wait for flavors.  We wait for rain.  And this year, we got both!

A little rain is a good thing.  It washes away the dust and makes the fruit seem fresher.   A little rain followed by sun would have been perfect and that's what the weather initially predicted.  BUT of course, that's not what happened.  We got a LOT of rain - more than 3 inches!  All of our neighbors brought in their grapes before it started and we chewed our nails for three days as it soaked down to our souls.  Fortunately, our grapes have deep roots because we dry farm and we had three months without rain -- so we didn't take up much water from the downpour.  We had one full day of beautiful sun then pulled in the grapes with spectacular results.  The flavors are robust, the sugars are spot on what we wanted and everything is clean and pretty.  We expect this to be an amazing vintage.   Farming is risky.  Craft winemaking is steeped in tradition and part of that is holding out for more -- most of the time it's worth it.  Looks like 2012 will be a year for the books. 

Right now we're in the throes of fermentation so that relief has been replaced with a lingering exhaustion until everything's in barrel in a couple of weeks.  We hope many of you will visit us during the coming year.  Happy Harvest to all!  Woof!

Molly Cam Pics:

black pearls still hanging

sitting pretty in the shade of the big leaf maple

"sigh" resting before destemming

pretty pretty pinot noir 2012

into the destemmer



falling in love



stems on their way to compost

beautiful color!

the rush of punchdowns, fermentation begins

 

Tastes like Harvest to Me!

You can taste the sun in this Riesling.

As a wine dog, one of the things I love most is walking the vineyard.   See, I'm an omnivore so the world is my snack cabinet.  This time of year, closing in on harvest, there are so many things to eat it's tough to put my attention to any one thing.   I'll spot a juice plumb on the ground, then succumb to the distraction of a mouse scurrying down the vine row.  No sooner do I snatch him up by the tail and the smell of ripening grapes catches my nose.  Honestly, I'm all over the place.

Today I tasted the Pinot Noir and it is delicious.  Sugars are just about right so I expect the wine man to bring them in any day.  Now, don't get all riled up about me eating grapes.  First, there are plenty of grape seeds in the coyote scat and they seem pretty healthy to me.  Second, I don't eat many - just a nick here and there to make sure they taste good.  And, finally, there are plenty for you this year, so  no worries.  Unlike 2010 where we lost the whole crop and 2011 where is was thin, this year looks like a bumper yield and high quality too.  I've tasted it, so I know for sure.  Now don't you feel better.

walking trail along
the upper vineyard, cloaked
in apple trees.

I've heard that in Italy they call the fall season around harvest "Vendemmia."  I don't speak Italian but I call harvest "yummy time."  Gotta go... I see some rotten apples on the ground and you know what that means... deer run!  Woof!



My world is full of feet... hahaha.
Deer will come by for these apples later.

p.s.  follow @mollythewinedog on twitter and see her in the US Wine Dogs 2013 book, in bookstores now.  AND she's Miss May in the Wine Dogs USA Calendar 2013.  Woof!

Something New in the Air

This time of year I can smell harvest right around the corner. We've been through verasion - where the grapes turn from green to orangy purply colors and finally to the blue black of ripeness. Ahh... you can smell the fading summer captured in every black pearl of pinot noir hanging on our vines. Just lovely.

In Italy they call this Vendemmia. Check out the new Vendemmia inspired boots by Merrell. That's kickin it in the vineyard.