Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Fear Not

I find myself compulsively checking the weather and looking for a sunny image. The vintage has been a bit chilly and, as it turns out, one of the coldest in recent history.  However, despite the grumbling you may be hearing from some people that the vintage will not ripen properly, I would hold out hope.

We might be behind in growing degree days, brix,seed ripening, stem lignification and any number of other factors that I'm clueless about, but I think we'll still be able to make some wonderful wine (call me an eternal optimist).  The grapes have great flavor, in spite of the fact that their sugar levels are significantly behind where they should be at this point. 

Putting aside my love of low-alcohol, acid driven wines. There is a strong possibility that this vintage could turn out to be pretty strong, with the potential to age very well.  If we continue with this stretch of good weather, we might be looking at something very similar to the classic 1999 vintage.  However, there is one thing that is certain, it will be a late harvest.

Aside from fears for the worst, the harvest crew here at Lemelson is upbeat and in good spirits.  We were assured from our fearless leader and head winemaker, Anthony, that things are looking okay, but that we are in store for "eight days of pain" when the fruit does actually start coming in because it's all gonna come in at once. In the mean time, we entertain ourselves with sterilizing everything and perhaps painting his kitchen.

Carl

No comments:

Post a Comment