Harvest A-B-C's

Harvest is about half to three quarters of the way complete. Here's the scoop on getting the fruit to the winery.

A) Go to each vineyard site often and randomly sample the clusters. Be sure to take your 4 and 3/4 year old daughter so that she can laugh because it's so much fun, then complain because her legs hurt from so much walking, then giggle because she gets a special treat for helping out in the vineyard, then cry because she got a sticker in her boot, then wonder where in the heck she can go to the bathroom almost before it's too late. Then jump back in the truck and drive fast, because it is a long way to the port-a-potty only to hear her yell, "I can't believe I'm going to the bathroom in the port-a-potty", and then hear her yell, "new rule, NO MORE port-a-potty's". Then get back in the truck haul yourself back to the last block you were sampling in and start again. Start randomly selecting your clusters until you have the correct amount needed for your lab analyst. If you are the owner of the winery be sure to calculate just how much wine could have been produced from all of the clusters you had to sample to see if the fruit is ready. Try to get the thoughts about shorting the amount of fruit you are picking for the lab person out of your mind so that you have a good sample.

B) Walk into the winery with your sample bags feeling quite accomplished because you've just walked about 15 miles, carried about 20 lbs in each arm and your daughter made it out on her own two legs. Hand the loot over to the winemaker, make sure to let him know how much you went through and hard hard you worked to get those samples!

C) Sample the vineyard over and over until you're sure there is no more fruit left in the vineyard to even sample! :-) Then wait for the call that the fruit if ready, now your excitement level starts to build. Call your dad who is now mad at you because he's driving truck (pretty much for free) and let him know the fruit is ready for pickup. Know he hasn't complained too much (in all seriousness he is the best and doesn't complain) but you randomly hear comments that his golf game is just awful. Inside realize, it's probably due to the fact he's been driving truck about every day. Hang out until you get the call...."I'm 15 minutes away with the fruit!" Get your crew ready and yell, "Game On!" ...more harvest notes to follow.