Vintage 2021: Chardonnay Harvest---Part 1

Five days after our Auxerrois harvest, on Sunday, October 3, we called on our friends to come and help us with the Chardonnay harvest.

For the first time, we did something correct in our Chardonnay and the fruit escaped being attacked by fungus and birds, although there was a bit of yellow jacket scourge.

Our vineyard spacing is 4 x 7, meaning that each vine is spaced four feet from the next vine and each row is 7 feet apart. In our case, each vine can hold 20+ grape bunches. The picture above shows that for the first time, our vines were carrying two bunches of fruit on some of the shoots!
The eight rows of Chardonnay was harvested by 1 p.m. by the industrious crew. They took a break for lunch and time for my husband to give a toast.

After lunch, a handful of our dedicated friends helped us with the stacking and shrink wrapping of the Chardonnay-laden lugs for transport to Jonathan Edwards Winery.

Once at the winery, Jonathan Edwards brought the palleted lugs into the winery for safekeeping.

When all was said and done, we transported two pallets with 35 full lugs, one pallet with 25 full lugs and one pallet with 15 full lugs and 4 partially full lugs for a total of 114 lugs of grapes. That brought the day of Chardonnay harvest to a close!