I took a day trip out to Lafond Winery yesterday to catch up with our winemaker, Bruce, and see how the red wine harvesting was progressing. Little did I know I would find myself ten feet deep in a fermentor bin with a shovel and rubber boots halfway through the day. I now longer need to ask myself how our production staff can be completely covered in all things grapes and water by the end of each Harvest day.

Pinot Noir is the first to come off of the vines, and we started harvesting it a couple of weeks ago (early September). After the fruit comes off of the vines, it is crushed and subsequently fermented over an approximately two week period on the skins. Depending on the size of the lot the fruit ferments in an appropriately sized vessel.
Yesterday, we pressed the juices off of the skins that had finished fermentation inside of the stainless steel containers. The free run juice is first extracted from the vessel and then it is a more laborious process to get the rest of the juice. After the free run juice is pumped out, the bin is left full of the remaining grape skins. We then shovel out those skins into bins, which are then taken out to the press. For the skins that we cannot reach from just shoveling from the outside through a relatively small whole, I put on my gear and hopped into the bin. Let me just say, after this experience, my respect for our production staff sky rocketed, my arms are exploding with soreness this morning. But how fun! Then we sprayed down the tanks and got them squeaky clean and took all of the bins full of skins to the delicate press, which extracts the remainder of the juice that needs to be gently separated.
This was just one day, don’t ever let anybody tell you that winemaking is “easy.”
If you are local or in the area, come visit the Lafond Winery and Santa Barbara Winery Tasting Rooms to experience Harvest first-hand.
Joanie Hudson, Director National and International Marketing, Santa Barbara Winery / Lafond Winery & Vineyards
Nestled in the Santa Rita Hills of the western Santa Ynez Valley, Lafond Vineyard is ideally situated to produce Pinot Noir exhibiting the unique and exotic flavor profile one finds in only a few regions of the world.
I am eagerly awaiting the first Wednesday of the month with our new Passport to the World of Wine series now in full swing. Pinot Noir will be this coming Wednesday, giving tasters and visitors the opportunity to taste five different pinot noirs from around the world (this time being New Zealand, France, Oregon, and two from the Sta Rita Hills). 


of Lafond brought in the mix of 35 wines. I brought two bottles:
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