Syrah - Day 0

Mission Statement: In order to keep the commuting and telephone calls among the widely dispersed members of Urban Vintners (TM pending) to a minimum, we are posting our wine's progress in blog form.

Today was day zero for the second wine of the 2009 season. After our small batch of Cabernet Sauvignon cleared the fermentation tank we realized there were still grapes to be had this season. Though a little rain fatted and battered, grapes were hanging on the vine. After a week of making calls we found ourselves a vineyard scheduled Saturday for an eleven a.m. pick.

Harvest day found the three Urban Vintners and their indulgent significant others pulling up to a little homestead vineyard just east of downtown Napa. Most of the vines had been picked, but there were enough grapes left hanging for modest purposes. With a few pruning shears in hand we set to work picking our four-hundred pound quota.

The grapes on the vine were survivors. Mold and mildew had started to take hold, forcing harvesters to be selective about which clusters to take or clip off grapes that were too far gone. Despite the less than ideal conditions there were plenty of good grapes to be had and the 6 of us with some assistance from the vineyard staff were able to quickly pick our allotment.

The hand-cranked crusher-destemmer that the vineyard had available was a bit of an adventure to operate. It was balanced on a frame that required the cranker to maintain downward pressure otherwise the crusher was liable to jump off the frame. The crusher was up to the task and we managed to keep it on the frame. Within a few hours of our arrival we were ready to leave with three fermenters full of must.

The next step was back to Luke's family's house in Napa to inoculate the grapes with sulfites. After a little math determining the dosage for each fermenter we weighed and added the sulfites to kill any rogue microorganisms in the fruit. Then it was off to lunch at ABC Bakery Company.

The trip back to Sacramento in the back of my Jeep was a bit of an challenge. Highway 12 is a little more curvy than I am comfortable with 55 gallons of grapes and juice sloshing around in brimming-full-plastic trashcans behind the seat. Traffic on 80 didn't help matters either with a brimming full freeway stopping at a few points to ogle two wrecks in the west bound lanes. A little bit of juice managed to make it over the brim of the 32 gallon fermenter and splash my sweatshirt and back seat.

Back in Sacramento the grapes had to hang out in the back of my car until some assistance labor in the form of Luke showed up to help lower the full fermenters out of the tailgate of the Cherokee. Once offloaded the grapes got to acclimate to their home for the next few months, my garage, and rest overnight before we put the yeast to work on them.