KCOY TV visited the winery early Wednesday morning and posted this article on their web site.
NEAR BUELTON – In 1962 Pierre Lafond opened the first winery in Santa Barbara County since prohibition. Today, there are more than 100. Plenty has changed since then. Technology has workers picking faster, more efficiently, and earlier.
Before the sun comes up, the lights go on and the grapes come off. Pierre Lafond winery has light rigs on their picking bins which allow them to pick between three and four in the morning.The fruit comes to the winery at a cold 55 degrees instead of 85 which allows the winemaker to manage the fermentation process a little easier. The pickers are behind the idea as well. They are able to work faster in the cool morning hours instead of the hot afternoon sun. In fact, thanks to the cool of the morning, workers cut off about 11 tons of wine grapes out of 4 acres in about 5 hours. Which means that in one morning, Pierre Lafond Winery produces the equivelent of 600 cases or 7200 bottles of wine.
Lafond plans to finish up picking their pinot noir in about 10 days but wont finish their full harvest until late October. However, that plan depends on the weather.
To access their web site: KCOY.com
Harvesting is going well. The fruit is coming in at the right sugar and ph – the cooling weather has helped to stabilise the ph. And so far we can sequence the various blocks as they ripen.
It has produced some exceptional Pinot Noir, some of which we have bottled under our vineyard designate label.
Once processed we cool them even further to about 40F. We want the grapes to soak for a few days before the start of fermentation.
The last picture is of the senior staff for the Vineyard, Winery and Tasting Room at their annual ’Beginning of Harvest BBQ’. There is never a lack of opportunity for a BBQ and putting a name on it sort of legitimizes it.
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