2013 Barbera and Teroldego Harvest

 A few days before our harvest TK and I went to pick up picking bins.  Five at a time was my max. 

 I knew I kept him around for a reason.

 I am super excited because picking in small bins instead of a large half ton macro bins is not only better for the fruit because it doesn't get smashed under it's own weight, but was going to make transportation from the truck to my house significantly easier than last year. 

On Sunday September 1st, TK and I were up at 3:15am to drive from Napa to Yuba city to delivery the picking bins and help harvest.  We arrived a little before 6am.  This is a low light shot of the pickers.

We moved the picking bins from TK's truck to the flat bed trailer.

 TK filled the boxes and I carried them back to the trailer.  That made me a "swamper".

 The Yuba City Vineyard after sunrise.

Teroldego vines.

Taken from the truck on drive back to Napa at 8am.

 More scenery on the drive home from Yuba City. 9am

 By 11:00am, all the fruit was in front of my house.

One hundred and twelve bins.  So many bins.

 Fortunately all my great friends showed up to help carry it.

 New friend Josh, Eric and Joanna.

 I am so happy about our efficient system.

 Wine enthusiast Eric back for more winemaking labor.  Bottling the 2012 was just so much fun, he had to come back and get sticky and sore.  What a lovely friend.

TK and Joanna.  Jo is a winemaking intern from Georgia.  She is my right hand at work this harvest.

Getting close to the end!  

 But wait, there's a surprise in the cab of the truck.  More bins!  I mentioned it was one hundred and twelve right?

Thanks to my sister Julia for being the photographer.  And thanks to no one for telling me I put my clothes on backwards.  Hazards of getting dresses at 4:15am.  

It was Julia's idea to follow the path of the bins.  First, pick up at the trailer.

 Across the driveway, through the front gate.

 Across the hallway.

 Through the courtyard.

 Into the winery.

 And stacked up on the pile of other bins.

 TK organizing the stacks.

 All of the fruit.  So much fruit.

Josh and Eric took turns cranking the destemmer.  Joanna sorted the fruit by tossing out the unripe clusters and only feeding the juicy ripe ones to the crusher/destemmer.

The berries and juice fell into the macro bin, where TK and I scooped them into the 5 gallon buckets.

 Once full, TK dumped the buckets into the tank.  And that's how you use gravity to fill a tank when you don't have a pump.  Buckets.  You can never have too many buckets.  Or friends :)

 While sorting, Joanna found a cluster the size of my head.  Looks like a chicken to me.  Also, shirt still on backwards.  Thanks guys.

By 1pm the tank was completely full, but we still had 35 or 40 bins left.  This was unexpected but since there was only 1 tank, the rest of the fruit stayed in the macro bin.

 Mmmmm.  Grape soup.

 In a few days this brown soup will be magenta wine.  Magic.  But also chemistry.

This cluster looks like a teddy bear to me. 2:30pm, shirt finally on the right way.

Then a pizza lunch and lots of hosing down.

Next: Inoculation and pumpovers!

-L