Gryphon Wines Harvest 2007

By Zabie Johnston (aka Marie)

My husband, Jonathan, is a busy man. He drives all over the state for wine and CFL's (Compact Florescent Bulbs). He picks fruit and then puts up jams and jellies (last Sunday it was Quince from our Larklinn vineyard property), he even tends our vegetable garden which is still producing tomatoes - in November!

Just this last Wednesday Jonathan left at the crack of dawn for Philo (where Larklinn vineyard is) to check on the fermenting progress of this years harvest. Upon his return, I begged Jonathan to jot down a few notes so I could post them on Niglo's blog - as Niglo's been pretty busy himself (he's in France at the moment doing research for a 'Great Truffle Hunt' we are planning for early February - more on that later) so he wasn't able to go with Jonathan on this trip, or the harvest for that matter. But, here you have it, harvest notes and some really wonderful photos taken by my busy husband.

Enjoy!

This is a photo from the vineyard crest - if you look carefully, you can see yellow headlights in the mist: the pickers arriving!

October 6
Stephen and I rose in the almost dark and looked out to where we knew the vines waited. I had slept in the old trailer and he had chosen an air mattress and sleeping bag outside. High above, a crescent moon and Venus still shown in a starless sky.

Harvest began at first light as frost crunched under foot and a cold mist rose from the frozen ground . It would be a clear sunny day and the race was on to bring the the grapes in still naturally cold. The crew raced up and down the rows and by 10:30 am the bins were full… of perfect fruit. We immediately drove the bins to the de-stemmer
and by noon the grapes were cold soaking in a tank at 50 F. The color of the free run juice already gave a hint of the rich robe this vintage will have. Now it would rest while we waited for the native yeasts to began to work. This would take many days.

As small as this harvest was, I’m grateful for another year of fabulous quality grapes. Stephen, our Supreme Optimist and Kiwi 'Seer', gave the grapes 100 points!










October 13
Today the wine has begun to actively ferment. The sugars are still high but the color has come out of the skins and it is time for the cold soak to end. We all took turns punching down the grapes and tasting the juice… it was delicious!




(This is me, tasting the juice on day 7 of fementation - Yumm... it was a mouthful of berries, an explosion of flavor that was sweet but not cloying with a lingering taste: great promise of good things to come)




November 7
I've just returned from a visit to the vineyard and it looks beautiful. The vines are dropping their leaves for the winter and the fields are green with the first rains. Thirty ducks were swimming on the lake and fish were jumping.

In the winery, the Pinot Noir 2007 is now in barrel quietly going through malolactic fermentation . The color is deep and vibrant showing the promise of an intensity that is really exciting. The alcohol in this vintage will be naturally moderate and when this is matched by great color and body the wine can be truly exceptional. We've got something special to look forward to.