Bottling Season

The downtime between the end of one harvest and the beginning of the next is not exactly that--rather, it's the portion of the year when the cellar is busy caring for wine that was harvested in years past. It is their job to ensure that the wine remains top notch all the way until its release. In other words, the wine does not leave their watchful eye until it is practically in your glass. Barrels are checked and double and triple-checked, temperature is monitored religiously, wines are filtered and fined until they are clear and beautiful, and last but not least, the wines are bottled and labeled and set aside to be cellared.

Bottling is such a crucial piece of the journey from vine to glass, and one that is seldom placed in the spotlight, but when the process is seamless and well organized, the wine loses nothing in transition.

As it looks like harvest is coming a bit early this year, (it's like Christmas!) the cellar crew is chugging along day after day to bottle red wines from 2011.

Showing the Vineyard Some Love

It's been a month since our last post, and the status of the vineyard has progressed a great deal. What had previously been miniscule flowering buds are now finally resembling berries, albeit with firm green skins to protect their precious interior from the elements. As far as vineyard management, we have just completed round one of suckering. Excess shoots and foliage have been removed, allowing that early summer sun to shine on our fruit and focus each plant's energy on the adolescent clusters.

The one most important detail, however, is that all of this growth and maintenance is happening earlier than usual, which is good news for this year's harvest. Early setting fruit frees up more time for ripening, and gives vintners the peace of mind to pick when the time is just right.
When grapes develop and ripen behind schedule, harvest tends to coincide with the first fall rains, the result of which can range from a less than ideal to disastrous harvest.

Needless to say, this early bird growing season has everyone at Peju very hopeful and excited for Harvest 2013 and we will keep you updated as the growing season continues.

With no before photo, it's hard to compare, but it's clear to see just how neat and tidy and ready for fruit-bearing the vines are looking post-suckering in these pictures!