Final Press of Concord

  Last night as the weather took a turn towards Fall, we made our final press of Concord juice.  The grapes were sitting in crush tubs while the pectic enzymes removed the colors and tannins from the skins.  After waiting the correct length of time, we bucket the must into the press and force the remaining juice from the skins and seeds.  This year's harvest produced 600 gallons of delicious juice.  The bountiful harvest has us thinking very optimistic thoughts about the rest of the 2012 harvest.  We still have Vidal Blanc, Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc yet to pick and if the weather continues to cooperate, it looks like the juice is going to be exceptionally abundant and of very high quality.  We can only hope that conditions remain favorable and we get our harvest in before any long stretches of adverse weather strike.