If you study the photograph above you will notice that the vines in the front of the photo are still lively and green, while the Pinot Noir vines in the very back have gone dormant. These are Riesling vines at Highland Vineyard. Scott sources these 60 year old vines for his Riesling wine. And they're not done yet. The brix on the grapes is around 19. Scott said that he may be processing these grapes around Thanksgiving. 
It is so strange to see green vines with almost ripe fruit on them in the middle of November. Riesling vines are hearty (they grow in some of the colder sections of Germany.) The skins are thicker and the vines can tolerate colder temperatures. I joke with Scott that if the weather would just get colder he could do an actual ice wine. He says we'd need a high of no more than 28 degrees for two days in a row, so I guess that's out.
After the tour of Highland Vineyards Scott and I have a chance to go out to lunch. I get to ask him about his other business, the one that makes all of this other stuff possible. Scott co-owns a business that does imaging and radiation treatment of prostate cancer. He told me many more details, but that's about what I understood.
Meanwhile, the guys at Coeur de Terre are still processing the Pinot Noir into barrels. I've gotten all of the wine up to temperature and we have yeast in all of the fermenters, so my duties are lightening up. Just in time I might add. I do not know how these guys do it day after day, week after week. Well, they're young, so that helps. When I started, I tried hard to convinced myself that I would stay up with them, work as hard as they did. I've given up such silly notions. I just can't keep up. I've kind of specialized in keeping track of things in the winery, and I think they are happy to have me out from under their feet.
Lawrence the welder was back today with the jig to help hold the bins onto the fork lift. I'm excited. The other holder came off on one of the loads and almost decapitated me.
This one isn't going to do that. Lawrence knows his craft. When Scott suggest that we could just use regular bolts for one piece instead of stainless steel he gets the look. Obviously this just isn't done. Scott is like a kid in a candy store. As soon as the rig is put together he wants to hop in and grab a bin to empty into the wine press to try it out. The new jig works great, and is so much easier to put in place and move around than the other one. It makes things a bit tight to maneuver under the sorting table roof, but it should work great. It's kind of amazing how much engineering went into this one jig. A good craftsman is truly a gift, and this jig is going to make work in the winery much easier (and safer) for years to come.
Later in the morning, while Scott is still in meetings for his other job, I do some things I haven't done before. I go up into the empty tasting room, make some coffee, sit down on one of the wine colored, overstuffed leather chairs and relax. Nice. Then I go for a walk around the vineyard.
Down by the pond I see a whole family of ducks. They manage to stay almost directly opposite of me in the pond, like the southern end of my north compass point. Then as I turn the corner a blue heron lights in front of me (much more quickly than I can get my camera in place.) Then a hawk cries out from the top of one of the old, battered oak trees. And once again the clouds above the winery are glorious. I'm sure this will all end soon, that the overcast grey skies will return for months on end. This time of working in a vineyard is going to end soon as well. My colleagues have have been sending me various communications to remind me that I have to come back, have to return from the mountain top. That is the nature of all great experiences. They come to an end, and we must return to our regular life. But the time away changes us, the experiences create new places in us that we can be touched and revisited. And, I have some beautiful photographs to help me remember.
