Journal | September 18, 2017
Hardscrabble Journal
Time for Reds (and Chardonnay and Rosé)
After a bit of rest and regrouping, we’ll be back at it this week. Today Jonathan and I will be putting the fermenting Chardonnay in barrels. First we will rack (transfer) the 2016 Hardscrabble Chardonnay from barrel to tank. Once the barrels are clean and available, the 2017 Chardonnays will fill them (along with others). This year we purchased two 350 liter barrels (standard barrel is 228 liter). The larger the barrels, the less impact the wood has on the wine.
Tuesday we will start the red harvest at Boisseau Vineyard. Just a day or two ago it looked like we would have a leisurely harvest, but now Hurricane Maria is speaking to me. At this point there are lots of unknowns about any impact on us, but I have to take the possibility into account. We have a lot of grapes in the ‘window’ of ripeness: Boisseau Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot; Avenius and Hardscrabble Merlot; Hardscrabble old vine Chardonnay; and Rose blocks (mostly CS). I would not want any of these to go through a remnant rain. At the same time I would like to get as much ripeness as possible. Can’t bring them all in at the last minute, so need to start soon.
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