Well…it has been 9 days since I blogged. Not sure where to start with getting up to speed!
We harvested the Ferris Wheel Estate Vineyard on October 24, ten days later than the two years prior. We harvested 4 1/2 tons (same amount as 2005). We knew it was considerably less. The fruit is in excellent condition and we are excited that it may be the best vintage for our little vineyard. The brix came in at 23 degrees, Ph and TA look really good as well.
Ferris Wheel Vineyard 10/24/08
Our isolated hilltop
Joan at the picking bin
Our neighbor, Boyd, loaded the bins and delivered our fruit safely to the winery
Pickers! All 35 of them! 1 /12 hours until completion of our 5 acres!
Driving around the vineyard after harvest is kind of sentimental for me. After seeing the grapes hanging and changing all season, to see them bare of the fruit is bittersweet…on to the next exciting step…
More bright faces...Sherman, our sales rep from Arizona, paid us a visit with his family. What a nice visit we had with them, even though brief.
Today has been a heavy white juice day! We are at approximately 150 plus tons of total grapes, will give you exact numbers when we are completely done.
Joan in the tasting room...our employees wear alot of different hats! What would we do without them? I hate to think....
Bobby Lees, our Cellar Master
Sunrise from the Brandborg Estate
I’m being called upon to get outside and help on the crush pad…nice visiting with you!
Beautiful Indian Summer here in Oregon. Rained a bit this am, but forecast is for 10 days of sunshine (can we really believe that)??
Wayne Parker, Melrose Vineyards
Wayne is standing in this picture with his new purchase! Up until 2 years ago, all our wines were pressed using two of these Italian bladder presses…what can I say…it is bittersweet, like losing an old friend.
Visitors came by the winery last Wed. Cyndi and Lenora from Newberg. (Cyndi is a wine buyer from Fred Meyer and Lenora works for Oak Knoll, they both do many other things in addition to that). If you get a chance to meet these two, you will be in for a wonderful surprise (and lots of fun). Thanks for lightening us up!
Cheers to our new friends, Cyndi & Lenora
Terry...are you...stuck?
Since Elkton is so small, (240 Population), folks kind of wander in….
Marty Tomaselli from our local restaurant, stopping by to share words of wisdom!
The plan (as of today), is to harvest the Ferris Wheel
Estate Vineyard on Friday. So…I need to get my act together and get a crew put together to help me raise the bird netting. In the meantime… more and more grapes.
Please check out our new web design, it is not completely finished, but getting there!
WOW…where did those days go?? I am trying diligently to post a blog EVERY day and as you can see, I have failed miserbly! Here’s why…
10/9 and 10/10, I spent 11 1/2 hours each day out in the vineyard applying our bird netting…whew…glad that has been completed. Real satisfaction knowing our crop won’t go to the birds!
Yesterday, Terry processed 7 tons of pinot noir from the South Fork Vineyard (maintained by Melrose Vineyard),all by himself. I went off to host a dinner in Roseburg for Women for Wine Sense. Hilda Jones from Abacela invited them down and since they didn’t stop by our tasting room, I got to serve Brandborg wines for their dinner held at the Wildlife Safari in Roseburg. What a great bunch of women! I had a blast!
Photos follow
The chefs (Carla & Scott Rutter) Hilda Jones and myself
Hilda Jones from Abaceala playing with my props (is this what they do at these dinners)??
The Women 4 Wines Sense Group (CA,OR & WA represented)
Things were pretty quiet today at the winery, the fruit we were supposed to receive will arrive tomorrow.
On the vineyard side of things, all our measures to drive away the cedar waxwings have been unsuccessful. For those of you who aren’t familiar with them, they are a very beautiful small (migratory) bird, light gray with a yellow belly and a black mask like a raccoon. They send in their scouts and when the fruit starts to get close to ripening, they invite their whole extended families to join in on the feeding frenzy! It is enough to make a grapegrower grouchy and anxious. So we are rounding up some troups to help apply our netting tomorrow. A lot of labor, but when compared to losing your whole crop to birds, there is no comparison. We can’t quite figure out why they seem to be attracted to our vineyard and not the others in the area. Maybe due to the fact that we are an isolated hilltop, or maybe just because they know a good taste when they do!
Cold temp last evening 42 degrees…don’t want to be concerned about cold now too! Farming is farming and control what you can and let the rest GO! It is easier said than done for me,,,
Cheers and looking forward to another day tomorrow!
We crushed our first Pinot in Elkton today from the Westbrook Vineyard. It is approximately 5 miles North of Sutherlin, OR. This fruit was harvested on Sept 16 last year. So…that makes it about 3 weeks behind.
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Bobby Lees & Henry
More photos to follow as soon as I figure it out! Exciting day, fruit arrived in great shape, clusters are smaller from this vineyard than they were last year. Grape flavor!!! I experienced dumping the grape bins into the hopper, using the forklift, (might not seem like much, but it really is). Couldn’t get the smile off my face.
My husband, Terry , is a master with the forklift, he teases that he attended Fork U.
Received our first Pinot Noir fruit from the Westbrook Vineyard. They are about 5 miles North of Sutherlin, OR. Fruit from this vineyard was harvested on September 16 last year…..so….about 3 weeks late!
