The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Oh baby don't it feel like heaven right now, Don't it feel like somethin' from a dream...The waiting is the hardest part, Every day you see one more card. You take it on faith, you take it to the heart, the waiting is the hardest part.

--Tom Petty

We can never know about the days to come, but we think about them anyway...Anticipation, anticipation...is keepin' me waitin'

--Carly Simon

Harvest always comes a bit later for mountain top vineyards than on the valley floor. Cooler day time highs, and warmer night time lows produce Cabernets of intense color and structure, but on a very different time line. Many years I'm just getting started as other winemakers start their Thanksgiving vacation...which can create a bit of nervousness in a rainy year.

As a high altitude winemaker with a low altitude home address, patience becomes more than a virtue, but a keeper of sanity. I wake up to hear tractors starting up for night time harvesting, laying in my bed wondering..."maybe it's time to service the Kubota." Sometimes I'll walk out and watch their pickers for awhile, then go home and force myself back to sleep.

It looks like my waiting will be over soon. I do grow some valley floor Sauvignon Blanc which may come in the end of this week. I was walking that vineyard this morning and the flavors were really starting to show a lot of ripe melon, citrus, and gooseberry. I'm hoping the acid will drop a bit more in the next few days...only time will tell. After the Sauvignon Blanc comes in, there is often a bit of a lull for me...but that gives me time to get the Sauvignon Blanc juice settled, inoculated, and down to barrel to ferment. Another few weeks, then I can start thinking Merlot and Chardonnay.

Until next time,

Andrew Schweiger

Winemaker, Schweiger Vineyards