Wine Making By The Light of the Moon

Err, more like light of the garage. Our fruit from Borra Vineyards in Lodi finally arrived! I won a ton of Zinfandel and a ton of Barbera at the TWGGA conference earlier this year and after multiple false starts getting the fruit here, it arrived first thing Monday morning at Pheasant Court Winery. We struck up a deal that Pheasant Court pay the shipping, we help with the winemaking, and they could sell the wine under their label. We just want a few cases in the end.

So, on our day off from Benton-Lane, Bobby and I went out to Pheasant Court to process the Zin and Barbera after dark. Pheasant Court is a small operation that is done in what is basically a barn adjacent to Charlie's, the winemaker/owner, house. The "crushpad" was his driveway. Brix levels were taken and both wines are projected to be pretty big- probably in the 14% range. After crushing and de-stemming, we got a grand tour of the cellar and talked wines and vines with Charlie. Via horse trade, Bobby & I scored a bottle of Chardonnay made from Woodhall grapes for a bottle of Bobby's 2009 Pinot Blanc (also Woodhall fruit).

Tomorrow will be pitching yeast and taking more accurate Brix measurements. And then all the excitement and wine management begins! Cheers!

Loading the Zin into the crusher/de-stemmer

Checking the quality of fruit

Processed Zinfandel!