En La Noche!

The harvest moon shone brightly above Russian River Valley thursday night, although, not quite bright enough for our first night pick. As I drove in a dazed sleep deprived stupor along River Road I saw a glaring light from the hillside. Not just any light but an obnoxiously bright light. From below it appeared as if I was approaching a stadium lit up for the Rose Bowl or an AC/DC stadium show. Was that our site, Saint Raymond?

San Remo, a hilltop Pinot Noir vineyard, was in fact turned from a conspicous 5 acre ranch into Grape Stadium. Pulling through the gates I passed by Elias, widely known as the Mule, who angrily professed "Esta chingadera no sirve amigo!" "The tractor or the light tower?" I asked sipping my coffee. "The both of 'em" came his response.

He wasn't too far off the mark either. Technical difficulties once again threw a few curve balls at the pick as steep hillsides prevented some of the towers from initially entering the rows to illuminate pickers and then, blammo! one of our towers went down.

While a level headed radio call might have sounded "We have zero visibility in block three...over" the boys started to hoot and holler, anxious that the other team would soon overtake them in the amount of grapes picked. On the opposite side of the vineyard Beto's crew was in an uproar over the lighttower. "What good are those lights if I can't see a damn thing" and "We want the Mule to drive for us. We don't want Monton" in reference to one tractor drivers inability to proper light up the pickers.


Now why night picks you might ask? The answer is multi-faceted. When you pick at night the grapes are cooler and the skins a bit tougher making it less likely that the berries will break open and juice. As pinot noir requires delicate vinification mehtods to ensure the true expression of the grape it is of utmost imporance that fruit arrive to the winery as intact as possible. Upon delivery, most reds are immediately destemmed and then put through a multi-day cold soak to extract pigment from the skins and stabalize the grapes prior to fermentation. Also, higher temperatures are more likely to spark a wild fermentation before or shortly after the grapes arrive at the producers doorstep, which could ruin the possibility for a controlled ferment.

Roughly three hours after we began and we had 14 tons loaded and ready to haul out the door. As the night progressed, the pace steadied and the boys calmed and picked at a sustainable pace. Everyone picked their fair share even if they didn't think so. A simple harvest to some but these guys treat it like life an death.

After the pick I asked Beto how things went.

"Crappy" came his response.

"Yeah, why?" I asked

"I got here at 12:45 am and then that young kid comes along and stills the damn tractor out from under me." he replied. I think he was implying could have out picked the other team with the right tractor. Understandable, of course, everyone needs a decompression session.

I could only offer one piece of advice, the harvest is but a puppy and tomorrow is new day.