Freshly-picked grapes
Mother Nature tried her best to derail the 2010 harvest with a cool summer, late heat, and early rain, but the grapes prevailed! This morning, we picked nearly seven tons of Merlot from the Moon Vineyard in Carneros near Napa. The acids and sugars were perfect, making the grapes truly “ripe for the pickin’.” We crushed the grapes, and the juice is now fermenting as the yeast gently converts the sugars into alcohol. The Merlot looks, tastes, and smells great so we anticipate that the 2010 Moon Merlot will be deep in flavor and long in finish. Now, we are exhausted, but it was a good day all in all!