Grape Harvest Has Begun!

Surveying the fruits of his labor of the last year. We picked the first third of the grapes yesterday morning, the area of the vineyard we call the old Chardonnay. It produced almost 3 1/2 tons per acre, a good yield of quality Biodynamic organic grapes!  The workers began at dawn and finished late morning,… Read more »

Grape Harvest, First Block

Picking is a workout!               Grape Harvest, First Block Although the early morning sky at 5 a.m. was full of stars, by 7 a.m. the fog softened the heat of the past week, and the picking was cool. Two and a half tons per acre yield on the old… Read more »

Crush at Adler Fels Winery

Crush at Adler Fels Winery After harvest and crush, we return to the winery and collect the grape skins and seeds, or pumice, which we will add to our compost. Tanks with freshly squeezed grape juice. Grape skins and seeds being loaded into fruit bins. Chardonnay pumice. Four acres of grapes, 12 plus tons, end… Read more »

Harvest Prep

Adler Fels Winery, Mayacamas Mountains Harvest Prep Donald picks up the fruit bins from Adler Fels, a small winery at 1500 feet in the Mayacamas Mountains between here and Santa Rosa. We have to hire a bigger truck to make the long, grinding drive back to the winery with the fruit, as our truck simply… Read more »