Crush!

Finally, it’s time. 

The beginning of harvest season officially kicked off over the Labor Day weekend with the arrival of the first sauvignon blanc grapes into the CrushPad winery.  You can see a short video about that event by clicking here. 

As for our grapes, it’s looking like early next week for the pinot from Doctor’s vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands to come in.  Our winemaker Chris Nelson sent us the following note on Monday:

Brix: 24.8
pH: 3.20
TA: 10.0

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Note that these are the numbers on the earlier ripening fruit (Calera and 115). We’re getting there for sugar and flavor, we just need the acid to drop a bit so we’re going to push it into next week for the first pick.

Wondering what we’ll be doing on crush day?  You can see a short video about it by clicking here.  We’ve been told to expect to get very dirty and covered in grape juice stains (how is that different from being at home with three young kids every day??)

If you want to join us, CrushPad is offering 3-hour Crush Camps that will provide a fun and intensive experience at the winery.   We expect to be up there at least four times over the next six weeks so we can definitely arrange for a fun experience for anyone who wants to get dirty (and can get to the winery on relatively short notice).

It’s amazing to think that eight months ago this was all just a hair-brained idea and now we’re about to bring in our first grapes.  It’s going to be a great few weeks!