This time of year is crazy for me and my winemaking endeavors. I cannot imagine what it’s like for people actually trying to make a living at it!

Here’s a quick update on where things stand with my humble efforts for 2007.

The season started off with our first pick out at Hidden Acres Vineyard. This is our adopted 1/2 acre 20+ year old vineyard. The wine from that pick is undergoing a “secondary fermentation” (Malolatic transformation) where the harsher malic acid is being transformed into softer lactic acid. We are planning at least one more pick out there this season. Since the weather has cooled, we’re in a holding pattern.

Meanwhile, I have also harvested Syrah from Acorn Hill Vineyard in El Dorado County (detailed blog post forthcoming). These grapes went through a cold soak for a few days, have completed primary fermentation, and are currently in the ML phase. I have high hopes for this wine.

This coming Sunday I will be picking Barbera and perhaps Grenache. These grapes will also come from Acorn Hill Vineyard. The last fruit that I will pick from Acorn Hill will be Mourvedre and that should be ready in the next couple weeks. My plan as of now is to create a blended wine of Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre and perhaps have enough Syrah left over for a Syrah-only bottling.

Earlier this week I got a call about some Cabernet Sauvignon fruit that became  available from the Harmon vineyard (also in El Dorado County). Since I have heard great things about the Cab from this location, I picked up some fruit from there too! The Cab is moving along nicely in its primary fermentation and is down to 8° Brix. I started the ML tonight.

So that makes 1 mystery wine from Hidden Acres and 5 other varieties for 2007! This has seriously ratcheted up my little operation and will hopefully result in some fantastic wines.

If that wasn’t enough, I’ve also joined a cooperative effort started by Tim at Winecast to create a barrel of User-Generated Roussanne at Crushpad. The idea is to have several folks join in on the decision-making process for taking a Roussanne from harvest to bottling. In the end, we’ll all get a case of the finished product. So far it’s been fun to bat around the topics of style, alcohol, and acidity with members chiming in on what they’d like to see in the finished product. I can’t wait to see where this project goes!

Since things wouldn’t be complete without looking back at 2006, I also topped up and tasted my 2006 wines. I have two lots of 2006 Zinfandel from the same vineyard, one aging in American oak and another in French oak. The French lot tastes awesome and the American tastes great too. Lots of great raspberry and spice with a soft mouthfeel. I’m very excited about this wine.

The 2006 Barbera also tasted very nice but still has a lot of natural acidity. I’m considering putting this wine through some cold stabilization to naturally drop out some of the acids. This wine really wants to be blended with just a bit of something else, like Petite Sirah, to take the edge off. A work in progress.