Monday, October 4, 2010

California grapes, they're unforgettable...

Previously, I had blogged that I would be getting Cabernet Franc and Chambourcin from a local vineyard.  Unfortunately, that deal fell through.

This weekend, I will be getting about 500 lbs. (fourteen 36 lb lugs) of  Old Vine Zinfandel from California.  I  also added about four 36 lb lugs of Barbera (144 lbs total) to our order.  The truck carrying these grapes should be heading in our direction this week.  Both of these grapes will be from the Lodi region.  This is the first time I have ordered actual grapes from California.  In the past, I have purchased frozen pails of must (crushed & destemmed grapes).  I am hoping that the time spent on the truck doesn't lower the quality level.  

Luckily for me, there is a group of home winemakers in the area that have arranged grape shipments like this for several years now.  They place a large order and have them shipped through Delta Packing to Durham, NC.  In total the group ordered about 393 lugs, which equates to about 14,148 lbs of grapes.  So while my order seems like a lot to me, it's nothing compared to some of the other guys in this group.

So, this coming Saturday (October 9th), I'm going to be driving over to Durham to pick up my order, and heading back for crushing and destemming.  I'll try and remember to take some pictures both of the trip and of the crushing when we get back to Hickory, so I can post them.

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