It's fall in the vineyard

Truly a misty mountain shot!

Pressed both 08s

This weekend it was clear the Cab was completely done fermenting, and the Zin was either completely done or done fermenting but still going through malolactic . . . so we decided to press rather than risk too much oxygen contact.

The Cab pressed out a really clear 10 or so gallons.

The Zin's free run was REALLY sediment-laden, but the pressed stuff was very clear. In any case, we only got about 8 gallons out of it.

We added 50 ppm potassium metabisulfate, and put in carboys with airlocks such that the gunk can settle to the bottom for us to rack out in about a month.

First rain and boron supplement

We got our first rain last night - only about 1/3 an inch, but enough to allow me to start digging for non-wine related planting.

Today I also created a borax solution to get more boron to the vines - I used a conservative 1 T / 2 gallon solution, and spread that across each row. That should work out to just under 0.05 oz/vine.

Cab Cap Fallen

Looks like the cap on the Cabernet has fallen - a mere 2.5 weeks after beginning fermentation. We've got it on CO2, and will let it go through extended maceration at least until the Zin is in the same state.