What a long, strange trip it’s been…

I’ve discovered how hard it is to keep a blog current.

I think it started last year. We were planning a wedding and a honeymoon, plus running the winery. It’s our wedding, right? No harm in taking a little time off – you only get married once (OK – twice…).

Then harvest arrived. We had a tough 2007 – not a lot of fruit. Nothing exciting to write about.

Pretty soon it’s like going to the dentist – you keep meaning to make that appointment, but it somehow keeps sliding to the bottom of the “to-do” list. And finally you’re just too embarrassed to do anything.

Sigh.

It’s been a great year – that’s the funny thing. We got married. Went to Italy for two weeks and ate and drank ourselves silly. Stayed in a freakin’ 5th century castle in Tuscany, for goodness sake (see photo).

I missed writing this blog. It’s good therapy, for one. It gives our friends and family a way to see where all the time and money is going, for another.

OK then – let’s try this again!

At Last….. 2006 Harvest

Finally. After what seems like two months of waiting (wait a minute – it HAS been two months!), the 2006 harvest is finally starting to roll in.

We picked Merlot last weekend, and the Cab is next.

It took forever for the berries to ripen this year. We had a cool, rainy September and October – which is highly unusual for this part of the country. The grapes just hung there, luscious and purple, but the seeds were still green and at one point the brix readings were actually dropping.

Crazy. But then, this is farming.

The Merlot, when we finally brought it in, looked great, and tasted even better. It’s all crushed and being pumped-over as we speak.

Whew. At least the weather isn’t a factor any more. We could screw up the wine, someone could leave a valve open by accident, there could be a fire.

But for now, all that Merlot is safe – cradled in a stainless steel tank, fermenting away.

Harvest is like having a baby. It’s hard, and then it fades from memory, and then it all comes back in a rush. The sight of berries in picking bins. The sound of the crusher/destemmer. The smell of the must. The feeling of all your arm hairs stuck together. The yellowjackets. That first ice-cold beer at the end of the day. Standing in the shower at night and watching grape juice run down the drain.

I love it.

This weekend we’re going after the Cab…..

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…..

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…..