Whew...a busy day.

We left the house at 5:20am this morning, to arrive at Stony Knoll at 7:00am to start picking grapes.  Luckily, there was a break in the rain right when we arrived, and didn't start back until we finished.   We were only picking grapes for maybe 15 or 20 minutes.  It is so much fun, but it always seems too short!  I don't think the rain we got the day before will affect the grapes, cause I remember reading somewhere, or maybe I was told this, it takes about 24 to 48 hours for the vines to suck the water up from the soil and start feeding it into the grapes.  Considering the zip code Stony Knoll was in didn't start getting any rain until last night, we should be good.

Anyway, we drove back home, and started pressing the grapes.  That took several hours, and a lot of energy and elbow grease.  That process always wears both of us out.  Once you are reaching the bottom, it takes a lot of muscle power to move the rachet press down one more level.  We were rewarded with 8 gallons of juice.  I treated the juice with Potassium Metabisulfite. 

After pressing, we put the buckets of juice in the chest freezer.  I didn't take any readings on the juice yet, I figured I would do that after we thaw it out.

So, nothing more to be done until next week, when we return from Atlanta.   

Well, I just spoke with Van Coe of Stony Knoll Vineyards.  I'll be picking grapes this Wednesday for this year's Chardonnay.  I just want to record the numbers he gave me in the winelog.

Brix = 22^o
pH = 3.41
TA = 0.685

This year, since we will be going to Dragon*Con the day after picking, I will be chilling/freezing the must after I press the Chardonnay grapes.  When we get back from Atlanta, I'll start the process of fermentation.