The first stop this morning was at Chaine d’ Or to pick up barrel racks. Jerry and I set off at 7:30. I checked in on the Haut Tubee, and it’s started fermenting. The juice looks extra dark, and the cap needed to be punched down.
Next we were off up Highway 84, to Highway 35, then Highway 9 finally getting to Highway 236. These are all very twisty mountain roads, and it’s about 45 minutes from Chaine d’Or to Big Basin Vineyards. We make about half of our wine at Big Basin. Today we started bringing over the barrels and racks we’ll need there from Chaine d’Or. Big Basin had already started making some wine and the crew there was cleaning up when we arrived.
We stacked our racks right outside the winery entrance. Bradley Brown is the owner/winemaker and he built the winery out of redwood trees grown and harvested on the property. Upstairs is a yoga studio where his wife teaches. Bradley learned to make wine with John Alban, one of the original Syrah pioneers in California.
We then headed back into San Jose for an appointment with our CPA, a brief lunch, and then back up to the winery to sort out which barrels are going tomorrow to Big Basin. In all a typical harvest day in many ways, about 4 hours in the truck, 1 hour in a meeting, 3 hours moving heavy things and 5 minutes making wine.
The last picture is left over from Saturday. Our lab mistress, Stefania, working TA and pH tests in the little lab at Chaine d’ Or.
