Been far too long without writing, but we have been hoppin' here at Rack and Riddle. Grapes started coming in for sparkling Aug 8, and we finished Nov.13th. In general the grapes looked good and the wines are coming along beautifully. Now the real work is ahead- getting the reds through malolactic fermentation, getting the whites and sparklers cold stable and ready to bottle after the new year, filtering, blending, crafting- there is not down time in winemaking that I know of, there is always something happening.
This years harvest season also included bottling, disgorging of bubbly, and some travel. The bottling line is fully functional- yippee! Screwcaps, corks, burgundy glass, bordeaux glass, tapered glass, the list goes on.
We have been disgorging the beautiful bubblies that we made here which include a Brut, Blanc de Blanc, and a Rose' - all from Mendocino County. Give us a call if you want some for your tasting room or special event.
Generally travel is not even contemplated during the harvest rush, but this year was the exception. We had the opportunity to represent US winemaking along with Family Winemakers of California in Hong Kong for a huge wine trade show. What an incredible experience and a wake up call that we have a lot of work to do if we want to compete with the European market there.
The wines are calling me back, gotta' go for now- Penny, the Mustang Winemaker
Lori and Jamie have just brought bottles in from the line and are getting ready to run a "Gold Coast" on a sparkling rose. Gold Coast checks the % of sugar in the bottle.
Stan and Lisa are looking over the assembly operation taking place here at Rack & Riddle. Keep posted for a demonstration of these machines at work! It's amazing to think that these machines will be able to riddle 8 cages each. Each cage can hold 576 sparkling wine bottles. So, each riddling machine will able to riddle 4608 bottles at once! At approx. 4 pounds each, that's 18,432 pounds per machine!! This is some machine!
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