Hurry up – and wait…..

There’s no occupation quite like farming to teach you to “go with the flow” in life (well, that and raising children).

Most people work in corporate America, with ISO 9000 and Six Sigma and all these programs designed to wring every bit of efficiency and variance out of a system.

And then you have farming, where most of us are humbled on a regular basis.

All summer long here in Colorado, the grapes have been 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule. They budded early, veraison was early, we netted early. Did I mention that everything was early this year?

And then September hit.

It’s been cool, with occasional bouts of rain. We’re seeing typical October weather in September.

And so we wait.

As of last weekend, the Syrah was at 24 brix, the Merlot was at 21 brix and the Cab was only at 20 brix.

It’s now going to be a race to harvest everything before the first frost.

I love farming. It’s a daily reminder that we’re not in control…..

Winefest

We made it through our first Colorado Mountain Winefest this past weekend. Just barely.

Winefest is the biggie out here each year. It attracts 6,000-7,000 people, and it’s our one chance to pour, schmooze, and hopefully, sell.

We’ve spent the last four weeks getting permits, designing a booth, getting shirts embroidered, buying a tent and tables, and last (but not least) bottling wine.

By Friday afternoon, things were looking pretty grim. Deb had taken the day off from work and had driven out to Palisade to set up the booth and the tent. It was rainy, cold, and very windy. We could only put up the tent frame, for fear that everything would blow away in the night.

Saturday dawned clear, cool and less breezy. By 10:30 am the gates had opened and people were streaming in. As one of the brand new wineries, we got a bold listing in the Winefest program, and we were hoping that a few extra folks would drop by and see us.

Leanne (being the amazing artist that she is) had decorated our booth with old wooden boxes, galvanized tubs, fresh flowers, straw and other antiques. She even hand-painted our logo on some old barn wood as a sign, and we hung it from the tent frame. We actually looked like we knew what we were doing.

Deb had also ordered 50 fresh baguettes from a local bakery. When I went to pick them up Saturday morning, all I could think was “Is she crazy? Who’s going to buy all this bread?”

Silly me.

Eight hours, 50 baguettes, and 15 cases of wine later, it was over. The day was one big blur – none of us had a bite to eat, anything to drink, or even had a chance to wander around and look at the other wineries. I don’t think I went to the bathroom the entire day – it was a zoo.

Thank goodness Wendy came out from Denver for the weekend. Cassandra, Lauren and Lindsey worked as hard as anyone. We couldn’t have done it without them.

The label was a big hit. The Port (oops – we can’t call it that anymore) was gone by 1:00 pm. The baguettes we gone by 3:00 pm. Some of the people attending the festival were “gone” by 3:00 pm too (if you know what I mean).

We got a lot of names for our mailing list. Now we just need to get them into a spreadsheet, and get more distribution in Denver so these folks have a place to buy.

The local TV station filmed our booth (so they told me – I don’t remember seeing them). We were on the 10:00 news that night – for about a half second. I grabbed a still or two from the video – you’ll see them in this post somewhere.

When the dust had settled, we ended up selling almost $3,000 worth of wine. Not all bad for a first-year, part-time winery.

It would be nice to relax a little and revel in our modest success, but crush is coming. Time to unpack the picking lugs, power-wash the macrobins, and stock up on cold beer. Until then…..

Tractor Envy

We need a new tractor.

Our little 1970s Ford 1300 tractor came with the farm. It’s simple, cute, old, and hard as h**l to steer.

The 2-cylinder diesel engine is rated at 16 hp (which probably means about 12 hp at the PTO). It runs amazingly well – which is precisely the problem. I wish the darned thing would die so we can get a new one.

This tractor is at its absolute limits every time you hook something to it. It barely runs our 6’ deck mower, and with the 50-gallon Rears sprayer on (with a full load) it can barely climb the gradual hill we have at one end of the vineyard.

We broke a left front axle a month or two ago, and our local New Holland dealer (Western Implement, Grand Junction, Colorado) delivered a consignment tractor so we could get some field work done. We showed up at the farm one Friday night and there sat a shiny Ford 1720. The next morning I hooked up the sprayer (and later, the mower) and fired her up.

Unbelievable.

This newer Ford had 25 overall hp, with about 22 hp at the PTO. More importantly, this tractor had power steering and power brakes. It blasted through spraying and mowing (no pun intended) with ease.

We’ll make it through harvest this year with the current tractor, but once you’ve tasted power steering, there’s no going back.

Santa – if you’re listening…..

Your Pad or Mine?

We finally have a new concrete pad in front of the winery. Words cannot express how handy this is – no more washing barrels and Macrobins in the gravel.

We framed and poured the pad a week ago, and finally got to walk on it this past weekend. In the photo, you can see that we dug and rigged a drainage trench along the edge of the pad in the foreground of the photo. We hope to mortar bricks over the PVC pipe (with spaces between the bricks) to create a simple drain as water runs off the pad. The PVC trench ties into the septic system and leach field for the farm.

The real fun will come in a few weeks at harvest. We can now rig a tent over the pad for shade and crush right on the pad before pumping into the winery.

It’s amazing how you come to appreciate the simple things in life – some 2×4s and a couple of cubic yards of concrete and you feel like you’ve won the lottery!

Next on the list – grading the property, adding topsoil and compost, putting in an irrigation system and planting a yard this Fall (after harvest, of course). We’ve got a wedding planned for next summer, and we’ll need a green, lush, healthy lawn…..