Disaster Strikes

It’s been a busy month at the winery with some serious highs and lows.  Over the weekend, I was in the process of racking my 2011 Russian River Pinot Noir when I accidentally clipped the granite counter top with a gallon carboy on my way out to the garage.  Next thing I know, it shatters, and I’m left to clean-up the world’s largest mess, including disposing of our new rug, and mourning the five beautiful bottles worth I just lost.  That’s 20% of my entire production!  You won’t see any pictures of that event here, as frankly I was too upset at the time to want to memorialize the moment. 

Measuring sugar content with refractometer.

Nonethless, once the task was complete (two days later, mind you) I confirmed my belief that this is shaping up to be my best red wine release yet.  For me, the remnants at the bottom of the barrel were worth keeping, and I enjoyed them over the rest of the weekend.  By the time I bottle this wine near the end of the year, I expect to have something I’m proud of.

Not so, I’m afraid, for my 2011 Corot Noir, which I bottled last week.  As a reminder, this is my first ever production from the home vineyard, and was overrun with problems from the start, from attacking birds and bees, to a resident bacteria, and a lack of skin contact time that has left the wine tasting flat and weak, although not offensive.  In the end, I had enough for ten 375-ml bottles, which is the perfect size bottle for this production really.  It’s not good enough to want to drink an entire bottle with dinner, but since it is homemade from start to finish, it's probably interesting enough to want to open in a crowd to give everyone a taste, before turning to something more enjoyable.

"Vineyard" view from the dining room.

Finally, this year’s vintage of Corot Noir seems to be shaping up much better than the last.  For ecological reasons I’ll never understand, the birds and bees just haven’t been around this year, which means the production remains in much better condition (although I have found the occasional ladybeetle).  Meanwhile, the hotter, dryer summer has caused the grapes to ripen sooner and with higher sugar content than last year’s mess.  I’m currently planning to complete my second ever harvest in two weeks, on the same day as this year’s amateur winemaking competition at the Maryland Wine Festival, where I’ll be entering my 2010 Pinot Noir and my 2011 Chardonnay. 

Which begs the question, the next time you hear from me, will it be more good news or bad?

Westminster vines, two weeks prior to harvest.

Giant Asian Ladybettle -
Not a friend of the vineyard's.