This past weekend, we harvested our 6 rows of red grapes. We wanted to test the concept with our Cabernet Sauvignon and asked two of our friends, Barry and Niall to help us with the harvest. We started at 9 a.m. on Friday, October 24, by raising the nets and then began harvesting the Cabernet Sauvignon. Three of us harvested the 2 rows in 90 minutes. Truth be told, the red grapes are easier to see and they are rot free so harvesting is easier.
We borrowed our friend's crusher/destemmer and after harvest, Barry and Niall came back to our winery on Taugwonk to help with the destemming of the Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cabernet Sauvignon was not the easiest grape to crush and destem. There were a lot of stem bits that we had to remove so it went a little slowly. However, we were done by 2 p.m.
Having tested the moving parts of harvest and crush, we sent out a call to our friends if they would like to help us with harvesting the remaining four rows of red grapes on Sunday, October 26. Our friends answered the SOS and came out to help us with raising the nets at 9 a.m. Barry was the first person there taking off the clothespins with my husband and documenting the process with his stealth glasses-cam. Michael and Elizabeth came and knowing our process helped our new harvesters, Colin and Tulie with how to raise the nets. Geoff, Laurie, Kathy, Mia and Niall made quick work of the net raising.
Many hands make light work and the harvest of the Cabernet Franc and the Barbera finished at 11 a.m.
We even had time for a leisurely lunch before heading off to our winery located on Taugwonk Spur for the destemming and the crushing of the harvest.
Geoff, Mia, Tulie and Colin joined us at the winery for the destemming and crushing of the Barbera and the Cabernet Franc. Luckily for us, the Barbera with it's large grapes and the Cabernet Franc were not as difficult to destem and crush as the Cabernet Sauvignon.
Our red grapes are still in recovery mode from the spring frost in 2023 and the bad case of downy that affected the leaves and therefore ripening in 2024. We had a good harvest, enough to make a few cases of red wine. The Brix on the reds reflected the stellar ripening year that 2025 has been. Tulie helped my husband collect the juice and we tested the Brix with the hydrometer.
These are the numbers for the red grapes:
| Variety |
Brix |
pH |
TA |
| Cabernet Sauvignon |
23.0 |
3.13 |
7.8 g/L |
| Cabernet Franc |
25.0 |
3.16 |
6.7 g/L |
| Barbera |
25.5 |
3.0 |
10.2 g/L |
We want to thank everyone who came to help us harvest our 2025 Vintage! Aloha and Mahalo!
