Fall is here. The harvest is finished. The wine is beginning to age in the barrels.

The time now is spent cleaning the equipment, making repairs, sprucing things up and thinking about slowing down for a while.

It was a good summer. The weather was moderate, we had a lot of warm nights which is unusual. The grapes ripened evenly and on time.

The grapes were picked by hand at 24 to 25% Brix (sugar). The berries were smaller than usual but had very good flavor, a nice balance of acid with the sugar. The small berries increased the ratio of skin to juice giving the wine intense color.

As soon as the grapes were picked they were de-stemmed and put into small fermentation bins. As the juice fermented we punched down(stirred the juice) every 3 hours in order to have maximum contact between the juice and the grape skins. It is this contact that gives the wine complex flavors and color.

After the fermentation was complete, it takes about 7 days, the wine was pressed from the seeds and skins and transferred into the barrels where the aging process began. The wine will remain in barrels in the cool, quiet barrel building for up to 2 years.

Now the vineyard is going dormant. Already the leaves are turning golden. Its a beautiful time to visit wine country.

We won’t begin to prune until after the new year. Another year is over. It is a good life.

--Bob and Gloria Retzlaff Taylor and all of the staff at Retzlaff Estate Winery