Getting ready for harvest.

First the syrah, then the cabernet, about three weeks apart. This will be my second year of making wine. Last year's wine will be going into bottles after blending, with blending tests starting now. This has had eleven months "in barrel". I don't expect to wait as long next year, with the plan being to really try to go "oak free" and save just 20% for oaking. I am also going to be needing to find a real cellar for aging. Connor's bedroom isn't too bad, but those 100 degree days had even his room over 80 and that was a scary time for me. No sign that it effected the wine, thank goodness.
Tonight I am drawing out a 1/2 liter each of the syrah and cab to do various blending weights, the goal being to find two complimentary blends with one dominated by each varietal. We shall see. The final arbiter is the wine itself, after all. Ultimately, the wine maker's main job is to let the grapes do the talking and just not screw things up.

Much better growing season this year, so we should have wonderful grapes, far better cab, especially, than last year. Interestingly, I ran through a long malolactic fermentation cycle with the '08 cab and the acids are pretty and bright rather than overpowering. OK, no more writing about it. Let's get out the wine and see what we have!