loved this photo I had to post it...

this shot was featured in virtuosolife magazine nov/dec issue with a nice write up on big table farm  : ) it just captures summer to me   : )

here's the link to the article

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/virtuosolife/20131112/index.php?startid=92#/100

and the photo is by brown cannon -  www.browncannon3.com 

a thank you...

Harvest is wrapping up... are we done? .... well not quite yet.. Brian still hasn't had a day off yet but the days are not quite so long... 

We had our annual thank you harvest dinner this past Saturday.. and quite frankly there are a few more folks I still need to thank  but I needed to call it at 25 people... perhaps next year we'll have to have it up in our new hopefully soon to be built winery to make more room : ) ... It was a beautiful feast thanks chef Alex and the beautiful Kia for doing such a great job with the meal..  thanks Tiffany and Michael for sharing your photos... : )

 

beautiful handmade pasta

 

chanterelles and porcini I found in the woods

 

the tables ready for the party

 

the prep ...

our chefs : ) 

a beautiful day - a few weeks back

We hosted a great group of folks for a day at the farm of food and wine it was a really special day and our friend chef Alex did a beautiful job with all farm fare - everything for the meal came from the woods, pasture and garden of big table farm

 

there is a light at the end of the tunnel

 

Just as the fall light shifts the last of the grapes are rolling in... 

we are in the final weeks of harvest now - It has been a 'tough harvest' not for lack of quality in the fruit -- only because it hit hard and fast and required quick and flexible movements on the part of the whole team in the winery and the picking crews - fruit had to be picked and processed at a moments notice  as mother nature was particularly fickle this year ... but with all that I think the wines will be beautiful and elegant -- we had a beautiful long even warm summer that will show in the '13  vintage and we got 80%+ of our fruit in BEFORE the rain - I think the 13's will be more like a 10 - 11 in alc but I think we are going to have VERY nice spice and soft tannin - but of course only time will tell...

on the other hand the rains have given us the perfect mushroom conditions!! thanks jeremy and elaine and laura for bringing all these beauties in from our woods and sharing with big table... we've had lots of chanterells in soup sauteed on chicken and steak you name it...  yum!! and that one above is a queen bolete ! - yum!!

 

We've had some great folks helping out for harvest!! thanks to all that have volunteered to sort fruit and stomp!!!

 

also on one last note we've been getting some nice press of late from both the 

SF Chronicle and a nice mention from Eric Asimov from the NY Times : )

 

Harvest is in FULL swing!!!

about 80% of  our fruit has come into the winery thus far!  

We are having a bit of a deluge from mother nature at the moment...  so the rest will come in next week... 

- I'm at the winery now as I type this - I'm gonna head home soon -- it's very early tonight I'm gonna be home by 11pm I think!!  sadly Brian will stay on  ... the days  have been very long starting at 6:30 and running into the wee hours of the morning... but it's go time ... it's a very intense time of year .. but this is when it all happens and everybody has to bring there a-game... : )  

these first photos are what I like to call grape-porn of the beautiful fruit as it rolls in ... I always take a deep breath as I see it I'm filled with excitement, anticipation and the gravity of it all knowing the financial investment, all the work that went into that fruit and all the work about to be poured out to make it into wine... 

 

 

This walnut was in one of the Wirtz Vineyard grape bins -- I liked it given this years label on the '11 Wirtz .. kind of full circle...

 

 

after the fruit sorting ... (that's Peter part of our great crew this year)

 there's the fermenting, checking, pumpin', punchin' and Katie's favorite the stompin'!!  

(pressing and barreling down photos next)

 

 

This is my favorite thing to do this is punching down... : )   

 

Katie and Elaine (thanks for the beautiful lunch!!) 

 

katie is back for her third harvest with her indomitable spirit - I loved this photo it shows who she is... !!

cross your fingers for H2O but NOT from the sky

The well rig showed up today ... the water witch came sat and here we go... dry holes are VERY expensive ... so if any of you know a water dance do it for us tomorrow... but no more from the sky ok we've gotten plenty of that this harvest...  

a small reprieve

 

Harvest is now officially in full swing... the long days have started!!  photo of grape sorting coming soon to a blog near you!!! in the mean time...I had a small reprieve today from the winery after a number of longs days of juggling the farm, office and winery work - today no fruit was coming in so I stayed at the farm and got on top of some things that had to get taken care of at my desk and this evening got to go out to the garden and gather dinner as well as the stuff for soup for the folks working there tails off to make the wine!! we had a roasted pork tenderloin with pear sauce, with garlic kale and sage butter potatoes and squash soup ... all from the farm... it was a fun meal to put together it truly felt like fall!

vagaries of nature

I have so much respect for our farmers - aka vineyard owners!! even more now that we are 100% responsible for the farming and all aspects of the wirtz vineyard - the buck literally stops with us... this year we learned hard and fast how MUCH framing can cost !!! wowzers... all good lessons  -
 ... brian and I drove around our southern sites this past weekend... and I got to visit the vines and some of the growers! and snap some shots of the fruit that await us in the coming weeks... here we go people... harvest is a commin' fast!!!

 

Wirtz Vineyard in the evening light !!! 

 

Brian talking to Tom abotu the 2013 vintage ... it is worth noting he IS smiling ; )   

 

Tom Cattrall of the Cattrall Brothers Vineyard with the 2011 with the inspirational truck!

 

Lucy From the beautiful Sunnyside Vineyard  showing me some of her gorgeous Matilija Poppies ...

 

I was so excited to visit this site Lucy and Tom do a beautiful job!!

 

 

The infamous Don of the Pelos Sandberg Vineyard with another on of his 'tools'

 

This is a shot from the top of PSV - I'm very excited for Don's newest plantings in this rocky soil!!

 

 and miss KT !! - who is joining us for harvest again this year!!
- THANKS katie so glad to have you back for the third year!!

 

The garden and farm have been feeding us very well ...it's been a good year for the btf garden! 

 

and 'the winemaker' 

 

and his wife... 

 

back on the homestead --  the boys that keep me smiling... 

 

happy harvest everyone!!! cheers from all of us at Big Table Farm!!!