Cucamonga Valley Vintners Cooperative - The "CoOp"
2011 Crush Fest
I am very happy to report that all of our juice is now fermenting in the wine shed, and tonight I was able to take a small sigh of relief that we are now officially on our way to wine!
For those of you who made it to the Fest, and particularly those of you who stayed most of the day, it is my hope that you share in my belief that the day was truly grand. Not only was the weather perfect, but we successfully crushed our way through 5000 pounds of fruit, kept the kids happy, enjoyed great food and drink, and most of all, enjoyed each others' company! For those of you who missed it, well, I won't rub in the fact that you missed one of the best events in our CoOp history.
The wine shed is totally full, with 17 containers of must (that's wine-speak for crushed/destemmed grapes & juice), consisting of Cucamonga Old Vines Zin, San Diego Zin, Rocky Top Petite Syrah, and around 80 gallons of finished Temecula Chardonnay (now resting in a stainless steel tank).
Thanks again to those who were instrumental in making the day as successful as it was:
Corky Stone, for showing up at 7 a.m. and single-handedly cleaning every container that we needed for the crush, as well as helping with other set-up tasks;
Chris & Angel Capalbo, for showing up early to bring drinks/ice/cups/coolers and help with set-up;
Cathi (& Claude) Bibeau, for ordering the food and helping with money collections;
Chris Capalbo, for taking over the money collection when Cathi had to run Claude to the hospital for stitches to his finger that was injured in the line of duty;
Sue McElroy, for volunteering to pick up the food from Claro's;
Doug McElroy, for sticking around and helping me until every last detail of clean-up was done;
and last, but certainly not least,
My wife, Angela, for putting up with me for yet another winemaking season!
If I forgot anyone, please do forgive me. It was not on purpose and it is now almost 1 a.m., so cut me a break. ;-)
Many others were also instrumental in helping the day go smoothly. You know who you are, so please accept my sincere thanks and appreciation for any and all help, advice, assistance, constructive criticism, etc. that you rendered!
I do not yet have pictures to share with you, but hope to have some from our friend, Jeff, by middle week. I will email you a link to the pics and also post the link on our CoOp website. If you have pictures you can share, please send them to me and I will post them on our website.
Our next event: After the wine finishes fermenting in the next week or so, we will need to press the wine off the skins and seeds. Therefore, our annual CoOp Crush Event will take place on Saturday, September 24th. Again, we will start at 9 a.m. and finish when all the wine is pressed and all the cleanup is done. Please come and help out, and feel free to bring a guest or two. We will have at least two large presses (one "bladder" press and one oak "ratchet" press) on hand to move our way through a great amount of finished wine.
Note that this is entitled an "Event" and not a "Fest." That's because it will be informal...show up to help, to have some fun with old and new friends, taste some more wine, and perhaps order pizza for lunch. We will have coffee, doughnuts/pastries, and water on hand. Please let me know if you will come and if you will bring any guests.
Wondering why I added the yeast only tonight and not on Sunday? There is much more to the story of the last couple of days, particularly the events of this past Sunday, but I'll need to save that for another email. If you run into members Corky Stone or Bob Coberly, they can fill you in before I put it all in print. Suffice it to say, there are always challenges when you least expect them. Fortunately, and with Bob and Corky's able assistance, the challenges were met head-on and with successful results! Thanks to Bob and Corky for their great help which I will explain in detail later.
Chardonnay Pre-crush & Press Events, 8/26 & 8/27
It was a hot day picking Chardonnay in Temecula this past Friday, and it was an even hotter yesterda crushing nearly 2400 lbs of fruit, but we all survived thanks to a lots of hydration (water and Gatorade G2)! Both events were very successful, and the result yielded approximately 120 gallons of fresh Chardonnay juice ready to be transformed in wonderful wine over the next week or so.
The harvest in Temecula started at about 7:30 a.m. and were finished by around 12:30. Our benefactor, Donnie Weaver, owner of the Weaver Vineyard, greeted us and gave many of us the history of her her now 25 year-old vines. We took as much as we could and wish we could have taken more. Thanks to those die-hard CoOp members who drove down to Temecula to participate! They were: Doug McElroy, Paul Carney, Bob Coberly, Dennis Michael (new member), Corky Stone (new member) and yours truly.
The Chardonnay "pre-crush & press" event, while hot, started at 9a.m. yesterday morning and went very smoothly. It was very helpful that we mostly worked in the shade thanks to two easy ups positioned over our work area in front of the two wine sheds. What was different this year than any year in the past was that we utilized a motorized crusher/destemmer (as opposed to our traditional manual crank press) and a very large bladder press (as opposed to our traditional oak ratchet press). The motorized crusher processed the grapes quickly and efficiently, while the bladder press was able to squeeze the juice from nearly 250 lbs of grapes at a time. Thanks to those CoOp members who came out to participate and make it a very memorable morning! They were: Chris Capalbo, Tom Imbruglia, Emily Imbruglia, Doug McElroy, Bob Coberly, Dennis and Gina Michael (new members), Corky Stone (new member), and, of course, yours truly.
Following the crush/press (and the cleanup) around 12:30, everyone kicked back and celebrated with a glass of 2010 CoOp Chardonnay (also from the Weaver Vineyard). It was the perfect end to a great event and a very hot morning of hard work! Of course, it's hard to depict the above events with just words. Click the following link to view photo slide shows on our CoOp webpage! Video to come soon, too!
Tonight, I will test the juice for final sugar level, Sulfite concentration, total acidity, and pH prior to pitching the yeast. Unfortunately, it won't be until much later in the evening, probably around 10 p.m. If any of you would like to join me for this late night testing, let me know if you think you will come by!
Up next:
Our 2011 Annual Crush Fest! According to Joey Filippi, who provides us with our Cucamonga fruit, estimates Saturday, August 10th. Based upon the recent hot weather, some of the Cucamonga grapes are already coming in, but others are still ripening. Nevertheless, and for whatever we have, Saturday, August 10th is our Crush Fest date! I will prepare and send out the usual invitations via Evite.com. Expect yours in the next couple of days. As in the past, feel free to invite your own guest(s). If you can do so, send me their email address and I will send them a personal Evite invitation. Nevertheless, we will need an accurate count for food, drink, and figuring a budget for other Fest "incidental expenses" (e.g., boys' porta-potty, jumper for the kids, etc.). More info to come to start getting excited!
CVVC 2011 Spring Bottling Fest
On Saturday, May 21st, the Cucamonga Valley Vintners Cooperative (aka, "the CoOp") celebrated the completion of its fifth year of winemaking fun! Our 2011 Bottling Fest was a huge success, in large part due to the great turnout of both members and guests. Over 60 adults and 15 kids filled the Walker Estate back yard. We bottled just a bit more than 350 gallons of wine; more than enough for each of our members to take home their individual share of 5 cases of our great 2010 vintages.
This year we bottled Cucamonga Cabernet Franc, Cucamonga Zinfandel, and Temecula Chardonnay. Wine-lovers and enthusiasts gathered around three bottling stations, processing upwards of 1500 bottles of wine!
The day began for a few committed members who showed up at 8a.m. to help with setup, cleaning, and prep. By 10a.m., we were nearly ready to go, just shy a few tweaks until the pumps were turned on and the wines started flowing to the bottle fillers. By that time, upwards of 40 folks were on hand for a welcome from yours truly, an overview, some preliminary instruction, and announcements. By 10:20a.m., we were bottling!
A wonderful Mexican-style catered lunch was prepared on site by "Tacos El Cowboy," coordinated by member Martha Armbruster. Beverages and ice were provided by members Angel and Chris Capalbo, while member Cathi Bibeau served as our event treasurer. Thanks to all those who came early to help set up and to those who stay later to ensure that everything was clean and put away. And thanks to all of you who participated...I hope you enjoyed the experience!
I could go on and on, but the pictures that you will see at the following link tell much of the story. Many thanks to Jeff, friend of members Paul and Elaine Carney, who provided them for us!
Click:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
Click:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
If any of you has pictures you can share, please let me know. If you can't post them online, I can get a thumb drive to you for transferring them to me.
It was truly a fabulous day, with great weather, great friends, new friendships made, and others fostered! There was great food, fun, and a lot of tasting of our "nouveau" wines. I hope those of you who attended feel the same. For those of you who missed it, well, we hope you can attend the next event!
2011 Chardonnay Harvest - Weaver Vineyard - Temecula 08/26/2011
2011 Chardonnay Crush & Press
Event 08/27/2011
Rocky Top Harvest - 9/5/2011
2011 CVVC Crush Fest