ENFOLD 2014 HARVEST
SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2014 thru THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014
AUGUST 23, 2014
Mother Nature is a paranoid schizophrenic!
Paso Robles is suffering its worst three-year drought in recorded weather history. The average annual rainfall here is about 15 inches. We have received less than 10 inches, total, over the past three years. We lost 10% of our plants in December due to two days of 17 degrees. We normally begin irrigating our plants by the end of April. This year we started watering the second week of January. The earliest we have ever harvested is the second week of September. This year we may harvest the last week of August!
Bad Mother Nature!
Given all that…
Our Syrah is prolific and very tasty. We will probably pick it at the end of this month.
My year long experiment of vertical shoot positioning vs. “don’t do anything, do not prune, position or drop!†may turn out to be a boon. It takes hours and hours to trim, prune and position the shoots each spring and early summer. The quality of the fruit from the “un-positioned†vines seems to be as good as that from the vines which took hours to train and clip. More to follow regarding this experiment.
SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
We picked our Syrah today. The earliest ever! The fruit is delicious – a great balance of acid and sweet. It is so promising that I may bottle it as a single varietal or, depending on the quality of our Mourvedre and Grenache, blend it to create a GSM. I will make that decision about 18 months from now.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
We harvested our Mourvedre and Grenache this morning. We started at 6:30am and finished picking before 11:00am. The “night chilled†grapes will retain more sugar than if we had picked them in the heat of the day. From harvest to crush the fruit spends less than 24 hours in the picking bins. It is trucked over to Le Vigne where our winemaker, Michael Barreto, keeps the fruit cool until crush, often crushing that same day. The numbers ( Brix, pH, TA ) and taste of these two varietals suggest that a GSM will be boffo!
Vines & Fruit
SEPTEMBER 20, 2014 “Lucy Stomp Dayâ€
Our Zinfandel, as always, is our problem child. Since it was ripening unevenly, characteristic of Zinfandel, I dropped any still-green fruit before we netted the vines to keep birds from eating the berries. We hand harvested, today, our first row of Zinfandel which is “reserved†for our “Lucy Stomp.†The grapes tasted terrific. I hope a few more weeks’ hang time will bring this fruit to perfection.
Table Setting
Anita and cousin Sheila as Lucy
Where “hand made†no longer applies
SEPTEMBER 25, 2014
Today a crew of neighbors and wine club members saved the day. Because so many vineyards are picking early, we could not secure a professional picking crew so we asked for help. And that’s what we got! While the volunteer crew was not as speedy as the pros, I know we had more fun! We added to the fun with a champagne and red wine celebratory luncheon at a local (and neighbor’s) restaurant. And we will have even more fun in “single bottling†our community harvested Cabernet Sauvignon. The numbers and taste are perfect –lush with copper colored juice tasting of cherries and licorice. If the fruit continues to hold its promise, members will be in for a real treat, unfortunately, twenty-four months away.
OCTOBER 1, 2014
Our Zinfandel was harvested today. It reflected the extra hang time ( 26 Brix ) with a complex taste of blackberries and leather. And close to two tons, too.
Good Mother Nature!
A few words about non-vineyard matters…
We constructed a pergola under which stands a 24’ long concrete table which accommodates up to twenty-four people. Our “Lucy Stomp†participants will have their picnic lunch here (après stomp) on September 26th, 2015. Reserve your place soon (joseph@enfoldwines.com). To see what the “Lucy Stomp†is like view this You Tube video:
Recently, we hosted a group of 24 “Wine Snobs,†a local gaggle of wine lovers, to a wine tasting picnic. Thanks to the organizing efforts of Renet, we added ten new wine club members! Contact me or Anita if you have a group which would enjoy a picnic of California rolls, bbq baby-back pork ribs, cousin Tom’s homemade macaroni salad (better than mom’s!), corn salad and a sampling of our latest vintage. And, oh yeah, Anita’s famous chocolate truffles.
Salute
Salute La Famiglia, our wine club, now has 102 members. Our maximum is 150 given our small production with a goal of 300-325 cases per year. Please tell your friends to join before it’s too late (www.enfoldwines.com [wine club tab] ).
OCTOBER 9, 2014
Our 2012 wines are our best effort to date! We bottled five blends under the guidance of Michael Barreto, our winemaker for the past two years. Michael is head winemaker for Le Vigne Winery (www.levignewinery.com). We are very fortunate to have Michael take our fruit. His degree is in Enology from Fresno State with graduate work in winemaking at UC Davis. We met in 2007 when he finished making our 2005, “George’s Blend.†We are one of only four private clients. He adds a European touch to round off our Paso fruit.
Plan a visit to taste and lunch with us during our slack time — December through March. We would love to see you and sample our best efforts together.
Salute la Famiglia,
