the Busy Season

Dear Autumn, it's been a fun harvest season, but I miss my wife.

Pinot Gris harvest is hand sorted at Rex Hill Vineyards.

For the winemaker, fall is a season of constant preparation, incessant measuring, meticulous cleaning, lifting, organizing, mixing, watching, driving, and recording---not to mention being sticky and wet, fearful of bunch-dwelling spiders, and most likely falling on your ass a few times.

Ryan Lee Sharp (winemaker, Enso Winery) transports 4 tons of Malbec and Counoise into the winery for hand-sorting and de-stemming. He and his partner, Chris Wishart, will harvest numerous tons of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Pinot Gris, Mourvedre, Reisling, and more throughout the season. And this is a small production wine joint!

Wine as Art
Tons of grapes are picked, hand sorted, de-stemmed, transferred into fermentation bins, and cold soaked to encourage vivid color and complexity. After days of cold soaking, grapes are inoculated with yeasts, and fermentation begins. Yeast eats away at the grape's natural sugars and produces alcohol over several days. Sugar + Yeast = Alcohol, CO2, & Heat. Throughout the fermentation process, CO2 pushes grape skins and seeds (must) to the top, forming a tough cap which is punched down into the juice multiple times each day. When brix (sugar levels) and alcohol levels are ideal, wine is pressed into barrel or tank, aged for months, and finally bottled for further aging---and finally---release. Every winemaker has a unique process; a different approach; a special concept. All this work results in an inspiring, romantic, piece of art.

Braun and Sharp scoop the dregs of fermented Zinfandel pomace into the press.