The fall crush is upon us at the winery!  We harvested the Pinot Noir grapes a week ago and the Syrah and Riesling will be coming off the vine in short order. 

How do we know when the grapes are ready to harvest?  The leading indicator is the amount of sugar in the grape juice, as measured in units of brix.  To measure the sugar, we walk down every other row of the vineyard and pick one grape from every fourth plant.  These grapes are dumped into a food mill, ground up, and a bit of the resulting juice is poured into a refractometer.   A reading in the low- to mid-twenties means it is time to think about picking.

But it isn’t all work on the farm in the fall.  This past weekend we celebrated the harvest with our Fall Crush celebration.  Thanks to all who attended for your great participation!  With U-pick pumpkins, U-pick apples, U-press cider, and U-stomp grapes there was something for everyone to enjoy.  (Oh, and yes, we did a little wine tasting as well.)

Speaking of winetasting, last month the guys from Wine Press Northwest came to Chelan to check out all the buzz happening around the local wine scene, especially since the establishment of the new AVA.  They had good things to say!  Their write-up is well worth the read.  Their website also has numerous video interviews with local winemakers, which give a good intro to the wine scene here.

While in Chelan, the editors conducted a thorough “terroir tasting,” sampling wine at all the area wineries, looking at  how soil types, climate, vintage, viticulture and winemaking practices play out in the bottle.  We are proud to say they noted our 2006 Pinot Noir as “Outstanding” and also recommended our 2007 Riesling and 2006 Syrah.  Here’s their report:

Tunnel Hill Winery 2006 Pinot Noir, Columbia Valley, $25.  The Evans family, a four-generation farming operation on the south shore, flashes its skill as growers and winemakers with this bottling. It’s a lighter color in the glass than most, and there’s a brightness to the aromatics with strawberry freezer jam, cherry vanilla cola, caramel and cocoa powder. Get ready for an incredibly easy sip of juicy Bing cherries, root beer, cranberries and more cocoa. Food-friendly acidity makes this approachable from almost every angle. (13.7% alc., 100 cases)

Tunnel Hill Winery 2007 Estate Riesling, Columbia Valley, $15. Harvest came late in the season, Oct. 27, and helped produce aromatics of baked apple, dried apricots and drawn butter. Here’s a softer, easy-drinking style (2% residual sugar) with tasty Asian pear, apple, 7Up and pink grapefruit flavors. (11% alc., 250 cases)

Tunnel Hill Winery 2006 Syrah, Columbia Valley, $30.   Here’s the family’s first estate-built Syrah, and it is more food-friendly than most around the state because of its low alcohol and lofty acidity. Aromas center on blue and red fruits - currants, raspberries and blueberries - joined by a hint of smoke, leather, cracked pepper and fresh-baked brioche. The palate seems focused on cranberry, racy acidity and orange pekoe tea tannin. Enjoy with braised meats or lamb. (13.2% alc., 50 cases)