Of course, the heading for today’s post should really read ‘Harvest – Day 2’, but instead we have decided to call a halt! The reason is quite simple….. for the benefit of our grapes (our single most important commodity). You will recall that I have been writing about the timely arrival of some warm, sunny weather, and that each year we do our best to eke out the last bit of maturity in our fruit. Although the potential alcohol does not evolve by too much at this time, the most significant change is to the acidity, which can drop quite rapidly. We often talk about harvesting at the optimum moment, so after a good day yesterday, gathering in some good quality grapes, we have decided to give our next vineyard site another 24 hours to come good. Sorry to repeat this phrase, but every little really does help.

In the absence of any wine news today, I just thought that I would mention that our employee Juan (who was quite badly injured in a car accident a few weeks ago), is now, thankfully, on the mend. He is on his feet and was finally released from hospital some days ago. Despite being in the comfort of his own home, he is still quite incapacitated, with one arm in a sling, and the other in a cast – it’s going to be a long, slow recovery process, and we don’t expect to see him back at work much before the New Year.

Of course, the heading for today’s post should really read ‘Harvest – Day 2’, but instead we have decided to call a halt! The reason is quite simple….. for the benefit of our grapes (our single most important commodity). You will recall that I have been writing about the timely arrival of some warm, sunny weather, and that each year we do our best to eke out the last bit of maturity in our fruit. Although the potential alcohol does not evolve by too much at this time, the most significant change is to the acidity, which can drop quite rapidly. We often talk about harvesting at the optimum moment, so after a good day yesterday, gathering in some good quality grapes, we have decided to give our next vineyard site another 24 hours to come good. Sorry to repeat this phrase, but every little really does help.

In the absence of any wine news today, I just thought that I would mention that our employee Juan (who was quite badly injured in a car accident a few weeks ago), is now, thankfully, on the mend. He is on his feet and was finally released from hospital some days ago. Despite being in the comfort of his own home, he is still quite incapacitated, with one arm in a sling, and the other in a cast – it’s going to be a long, slow recovery process, and we don’t expect to see him back at work much before the New Year.