We are bottling today! It is going so well, and the team is so speedy, dilligent, and well-coordinated that I can sit in the shade on the crushpad and write you.

It is mid-harvest and we are objects of some wonder for daring to bottle while we are trying to monitor vineyards, bring in fruit, manage fermentations, and learn how to work with each other. But, in fact, we have no choice— we are still small and insignificant enough that we must accept bottling dates when we can get them, and this was the best date that our favorite mobile bottling line could offer us. The stars aligned in our favor: we brought in wonderful fruit the day before yesterday and won't bring in any thing else until Saturday at the earliest. To the left, you can see Helen and Graeme cleaning up after our last pick: own-rooted, 120 year-old Malvasia Nera from Lodi. We whole-cluster pressed about two thirds of it to make rose, and we are cold-soaking the remaning fruit (3/4 destemmed, then stomped in a tank) in preparation for making a cold-fermentation red wine—which we will then referment in order to make our first lambrusco knock-off.

There is so much else to tell you already about harvest, and so much excitement for the wines that we are bottling today—but all of this will find other means of expression.

If you are ready to purchase wines, please go directly here.