2020 First Harvest Auxerrois---Part 1

We had our first harvest on September 17, 2020. We harvested our Auxerrois grapes which so far has always been our first variety to ripen. One of the parameters that we look for is the value of the titratable acids (TA). On September 8, 2020 when we took the Brix, pH and titratable acid information of the Auxerrois and Chardonnay, we saw that the TA was 8.2, so we knew that harvest time was approaching. Since we want to make a balanced wine, we aim to keep the TA at a level which we feel is appropriate. Sometimes, that means that the sugar level is not quite as high as we would like it to be but we take what Mother Nature gives us.
This year, we had almost 3 rows of Auxerrois to harvest. This may sound like a slam dunk but our rows are 800 feet long so it is not trivial. Harvest time was set at 9 a.m. but thankfully some of our friends arrived before that time to help us lift the nets so that we could access the grapes. The day began as a moderately cool day but by the time we were half way down the first row, the sun came out and it was a pleasant day to harvest grapes.
Here are photos of the people who came to help us harvest the Auxerrois:

We finished harvesting the grapes around 3 p.m. We are working with the crew at Jonathan Edwards Winery to process our grapes. We got to the winery 10 minutes before closing time and Jonathan was kind enough to help us weigh the pallets and put the grapes in the press. We agreed that we would convene on Friday morning to press the harvest. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Auxerrois harvest on this blogsite!