MY FORTIETH HARVEST!!!

 It's a little hard to believe this is the fortieth time I've been through this cycle. It seems like yesterday I was standing on the crush pad at Phelps and this is my tenth vintage in Spain.  As they say, time flies when you're having fun!

2022 looks to be an outstanding vintage in Montsant. We've had near perfect weather in spite of the fact that the vines were almost two weeks late coming out in the spring. We had a few little heat waves but nothing too severe. 

Josep Maria has done an outstanding job. He brought twelve people to pick and they were done by a little after 3:00pm. We ended up with three full trailers (6350 kilos or right at 7 American tons). We were done processing by a little after 5:00pm. The fruit looked fantastic! Small berries with practically no raisining or spoilage. The chemistry is spot on.

The fermentations are going well. I have three pumpovers left to do and then we'll let it rest while the fermentations perc on down. I'm so grateful!

                                                                      ¡BENEDICIONES!

Getting started Tuesday morning, September 20.

I picked a little. I can't begin to keep up with these people!

The reason I'm laughing in this video is because the guy with the pink hatband broke into some crazy dance moves as I turned the camera away. It turns out he's from Mexico. After all these years, he's the first Mexican I've met over here.

Josep Maria pulling the trailer along the road to keep from damaging vines.

I have two white grapevines in the vineyards. This is over three pounds off one vine. They were super sweet this year.

Finca Alta.

Into the hopper!

Up the conveyor!

Through the de-stemmer and the must pump!

Old Faithful. I also have another fermenter but this is where the wine will end up after fermentation.