Our Cabernet came in on Saturday as scheduled, and it looks really, really good. The fruit arrived very cool, and the weather has cooled off a lot this week, so we were able to do a long, cold maceration before fermentation. This will result in a full extraction of the fruit.
It was interesting crushing the [...]

So, I bought four kilos of raspberries the other day. They were so beautiful and fresh that I just couldn’t resist. The two flats didn’t look excessive at the time, but once I got them home…. My favorite way to store raspberries is to make a coulis—a slightly sweetened, strained puree that freezes well. Simply [...]

Ed walked the Manzur vineyard yesterday, and he has decided to move up the Cabernet harvest to this weekend. He says the grape tannins taste ripe and the stars are aligned. (His brief sojourn as Errázuriz’s biodynamic specialist apears to have affected his brain.) Stars or no stars, that will mean a busy weekend for [...]

We crushed our second lots of Syrah on Saturday—two more bins of 800 kilos each. This is the fruit from the side of the vines with afternoon sun exposure. (We harvested the morning side last weekend.) Again, the clusters were clean and ripe, with small berries. This is the last of our Aconcagua Syrah. We’ll [...]

We started crushing on Saturday, and for me that means there’s a crew to feed. I also wanted to help pick the Tempranillo, so dinner had to be something I could prepare ahead and then throw together at the last minute. Lasagna sounded like the perfect solution. I had some grilled chicken thighs left over [...]

Saturday was a busy day. We started fairly early with the Syrah, receiving 1,600 kilos of fruit. That’s two lots for us, since we ferment in one-ton bins that actually hold 800 kilos (to leave space for the fermentation to push up the cap of skins). (Incidentally, I think it was in 2006 that we [...]

Saturday we moved most of the 2008 vintage to Viña San Esteban, where it will be stored in barrel until blending and bottling in about six months. The 2008 vintage was our largest to date, and we are planning to make about the same amount this year. We just don’t have the space for that [...]