The word harvest does not describe what happens at St. Innocent each fall. Harvest for me, conjures up images of large machines quietly mowing down fields of golden grain, trucks filled with corn, and produce stands displaying rows of gorgeous fruits and vegetables. It might even involve a calm phone call with a vineyard manager discussing when I thought the grapes should be picked. Of course it would be fine if I came out tomorrow to see how things are progressing. That is how harvest would be. 'Crush' is something altogether different.
During 'crush' the polite exchange described above would be followed by another phone call, not 10 minutes later, from the manager of that vineyard speaking in a most animated, agitated, and overstressed manner about how "you gotta pick NOW... it's an all out war with the birds!..shotgun shells disappearing by the cases...there won't be any fruit left in two days!!..the fruit's not going to get any riper, it's been raining for five days....the weatherman hasn't go it right yet, who are you kidding that you think the sun will shine for three more days?...we got to pick NOW!!!." So, given that this is crush, I drop everything and run out to the vineyard.
Only during crush would I decide to pick, I thought sanely, as much, well actually more, fruit in one day than I had harvested in all of 1994. And only during crush would all of that fruit be processed and safely in tanks by 6:30 the next morning, only to begin processing 60% of that amount five hours later. Well, I always said that I picked when the fruit was ready and that winery capacity, or the need for sleep, would not influence my decisions about when to pick grapes. Occasionally I wonder about my sanity. My coworkers say they never wonder about it....
What made all the difference, and allowed us to make good wine in 1997, was experience. The problems of 1993, 1995, and to a lesser extent 1996 taught me, and our growers, that careful attention to crop levels, fruit exposure, and timely application of crop sprays makes all the difference between ripe, clean fruit and a green rotten mess. We had no rot problems this year and were able to ripen all the fruit.
The first grapes were picked September 15th. The Pinot noir for the sparkling wine cuvee was perfect - good acid, delicate flavors, and moderate sugar levels. The Chardonnay for the cuvee was picked next, on September 25th. The last week of September was partly cloudy and drier than the prior week. The Pinot noir for red wine matured rapidly and we picked most of Seven Springs and all of O'Connor and Freedom Hill Pinot noirs on September 30th. The grapes were clean with well developed flavors and good concentration. The next day we picked the Brickhouse Pinot noir, which was incredibly rich and deep, and our first Pinot blanc from Freedom Hill, which was equally ripe with gorgeous fruit flavors.
A week later we picked the last of the Pinot noirs, the balance of the Seven Springs fruit and all of the Temperance Hill. Both lots clearly benefited from the extra week of maturity on the vines and had lovely, concentrated berry flavors and no evidence of rot. The Chardonnays from Seven Springs and Freedom Hill also matured over that week and were picked that same day. The Chardonnay from Freedom Hill again demonstrated that very low crop levels and a great site will produce fruit of uncommon concentration and depth from a varietal that is rarely thought to achieve greatness in Oregon.
On October 10th we picked the Pinot gris from O'Connor Vineyard. On October 13th, the Pinot gris from Vitae Springs Vineyard and the last lot of Chardonnay from O'Connor Vineyard were picked. Both Pinot gris had the greatest concentration of ripe fruit and spice flavors that I have ever seen and will certainly be among the stars of this vintage. Suddenly, crush was over. Over the next week, all of the Pinot noir fermenters were pressed and all that was left to do was to fill barrels with settled Pinot noir wine.
This was the most hectic and unpredictable harvest in my experience. Grapes that were unripe one day were ready to pick three days later. The weather limited our options, but there were enough dry periods to allow the water affected clusters to dry out, reach maturity, and give me the raw material to make the kind of wine I enjoy producing. We made a new wines, the Pinot blanc, from great fruit. I will admit however, I am glad that this 'crush' is over.