Flaherty Wines

We pressed out the last two bins last weekend, which means that harvest has officially ended. Our scheduled cellar hands canceled at the last minute, so we had a family winemaking day. (Don’t all families do that?) I just can’t say enough about our new press! It simply would not have been possible to get [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Noooooo…. Ed just called to let me know we’re getting another half ton of Pryor Syrah. I don’t know what happened—his workers started picking the wrong block, and it was either send us the fruit or dump it. I am so tired of punching down must. This will make it close to eight tons for [...]

Things are finally winding down. We pressed out the Manzur Cabernet yesterday and received the last of the Pryor fruit— 860 kilos of Carmenère. One last bin, and then no more punch downs. Until next year….

It was another hectic weekend. We pressed out the second bin of Syrah and the first Tempranillo. Our neighbors came around to help, which means it was a pizza day for Jen. Basil pesto, roasted red pepper, caramelized onions, and plain old cheese and salami for the kids. We made a paella after the work [...]

Early this morning we pressed out one of the bins of Syrah to make room for the next round. The other bin of Syrah and the Tempranillo will macerate for another week. Later we received another 800 kilos of Manzur Syrah and picked and crushed the rest of the Tempranillo (about 600 kilos). What a [...]