Vintage 2020: Chenin Blanc Harvest

My last post was called Vintage 2020: Getting Ready for Chenin Blanc Harvest written on October 8. Already 9 days have passed and much has happened. We prepared for harvest on Saturday, October 10, 2020 and put out a call to all of our friends for help on Sunday with the Chenin Blanc harvest. Most of our vineyard, that is 17 of the 36 rows is planted to Chenin Blanc so this is our largest harvest in any given year. This year, we anticipated harvesting between 5-6 tons of fruit.
Our friends came at 8 a.m. to help with the raising of the netting.

Harvest commenced around 10 a.m.

The lunch bell rang at 1 p.m. Everyone was ready for a break!

Our harvesters found creative ways to rest their weary bodies for the lunch break. Note to owners: get more picnic tables!

It was time to pick up the filled lugs and transfer the grapes into the 1/2-ton bins.

We were able to fill twelve of these 1/2-ton bins, with the twelfth bin being half full.

The day wasn't quite over. Our stalwart friends hurried to get in the remaining rows of Chenin Blanc before darkness fell and the threat of rain on Monday made harvesting on Sunday an imperative. The remaining filled lugs were picked up from the vineyard, our friend Bill, the owner of a flatbed truck arrived around 6 p.m. and the 12 bins were loaded onto his truck.

It was 7 p.m. when the last bins were loaded onto the truck in darkness.

Bill drove the flatbed truck and we followed behind to Jonathan Edwards Winery. By the time we reached there it was 7:30. Jonathan Edwards and his crew were still working to destem their harvest of Chardonnay. Like us, they were rushing to pull in their grapes before the rain on Monday. Jonathan Edwards stacked our bins three high and moved the 4 stacks into his winery.
With that done, our day was over.
We want to thank all of our friends who came to help with the harvest! You are the best! More posts regarding the Chenin Blanc harvest to follow.