The Second Glass

So I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks, chalk it up to the insanity of harvest. A rush to bring in all of our best fruit before yesterday’s rain lead to 13-14 hour days, and not much to do but work and sleep. Contrary to what I thought, it does indeed rain here, but rain does not stop winemaking! Yesterday it steadily rained all day, and throughout this rain we still crushed 30 tons, mostly cabernet sauvignon and our last small lot of merlot.

Harvest has been in full swing for the last two weeks, and I have finally witnessed first hand the craziness that is working a crush season. When things are in full swing life is nothing but a blur of incoming grapes, outgoing stems and pomace, with the aromas of fermentation in the air EVERYWHERE (seriously, all of Napa valley smells like fermenting wine right now…). Work dominates your life, and the random day off is a blessing to be able to do laundry and food shopping - the things you once took for granted. But if you’re passionate about wine, the whole experience is worth it just to be able to taste and smell everything throughout the fermentation process.

The peak of harvest is just about over here at Chappellet, and with our last fruit scheduled to come in this week we should be back to more manageable work hours. So expect weekly posts again, each one giving a small insight into the art and science of winemaking!