Getting ready for harvest
Well, it’s been a great summer - lots of heat & sunshine and our grapes are certainly responding well.
All our grapes are through veraison now, the pinot noir is just finishing the last few bunches… So of course we have to get our bird netting up, because nothing interests starlings & robins more than big bunches of bright purple berries……
We expect to start harvesting in a couple of weeks. Depending on whether the great weather continues, or whether we get some more cool rainy weather of course. In addition to planning harvest, we have to plan the Cowichan Wine & Culinary festival which is just around the corner. I’m really looking forward to it - a lot of really neat things planned including the release of our first sparkling wine, and a chance to show off our new bottle closure - the ZORK…. We’ll even have our bottling line running, and give our fans a chance to “bottle their own” blackberry with a zork closure. I’ll be there to supervise of course, and to sign the labels if participants want a little unique add-on.
Before all this I have to knuckle down and finish the sparkling wine of course. I still has the encapsulated yeast, and this week I have to start chilling & disgorging the yeast from the bottles so we can actually sell them.
All in all, September will be incredibly busy, but it’s always great to see a really good harvest coming in. Hope to see you at the festival. Look for me down in the winery building (the big red building at the bottom of the main yard)
And it’s not a typo… our Pinot Gris is sold out (as predicted), and yes the Rose is not far behind. The Rose should last until the wine festival, but don’t count on it being around much longer…
Mark