Well it's been a busy weekend. We pressed the Merlot after 3 weeks on the skins. The fermentation was still not finished (still measuring about 2 brix), but we felt we had plenty of color. I think the term used was "glass stainer". The next morning the lid on the barrel had just about blown off due to the continued fermentation. We'll level in the poly barrels for a few weeks until the first racking, where it'll go into the oak barrel. Looks like we got roughly 70 gallons after pressing.

Sunday we went out and picked 1200 lbs. of Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Sugar was about 25 brix. We had a couple of new faces out there with us, and I think they realized it's actually a bit of work to do this. I think they had fun anyhow. We crushed at Dave's house and it's resting comfortably in his garage.