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 the year. On the bright side, the Ovalle Syrah we already fermented looks really nice.

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 was done. And at some point, we received 1300 kilos of Cabernet Sauvignon, which we’re fermenting in two bins (one regular small bin and one super small microbin).

On Saturday we received 1550 kilos of Syrah from Gonzalo Manzur, our grower here in the Aconcagua valley. The fruit looks great—clean and ripe. We crushed the grapes into two small fermentation bins. The fruit macerated for 24 hours, and then we inoculated on Sunday.
We also harvested the first of our Tempranillo this weekend, on Sunday. We’re picking in two stages this year, because the fruit is ripening somewhat unevenly. This first stage yielded about 700 kilos.

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It’s official: We’re buying vineyard land in Cauquenes! Ed made an offer on one of the properties he’s been viewing, and the offer was accepted. The offer was based on a price per hectare, so we had a surveyor come out to measure the land. The property had been estimated at around ten hectares, but the surveyor set it at 13.3 (that’s 32.5 acres). It’s not all suitable for planting. A seasonal creek runs through the bottom part, and it gets pretty boggy down there in the winter and spring. There’s also a grove of old-growth espinos (thorn trees—the local mesquite), which is home to a pair of burrowing owls. We’ll probably be able to plant about half the property—probably tempranillo, syrah, maybe malbec—and there’s a hectare or so of hundred-year-old vines of pais (mission), which we’ll graft over to carignan.
While Ed was there, he spoke to one of the owners of another property nearby. Someone has made an offer, but if the sale falls through we’ll match that offer. Fingers crossed—it’s a beautiful piece of land which is mostly on a hillside. Not very practical for planting, but it would be wonderful to include as part of our project.