The seed deed.

I was back at it today, doing a good deed in assisting Vinomaker with the pressing-off of a fermentor of our 2018 Syrah.  Vinomaker is always experimenting with different yeasts and this particular batch of Syrah was fermented with the aid of ICV D21™.  Vintage 2018 gave Vinomaker a lot of juice to work with, so he has had an opportunity to use and evaluate a couple of new yeasts.
D21 is one of Vinomaker's favourite yeasts to employ.  Isolated from vineyards in Pic Saint-Loup Languedoc, by the Institut Coopéaratif du Vin, D21 is known for maintaining a fresh acidity and floral and fruity volatile compounds, whilst also delivering a robust mid-palate tannin structure.  At the same time, D21 is adept at banishing those horrible, unpalatable stewed/jammy characteristics often found in warm climate wines. 
The 2018 Syrah is already tasting very nice, oodles of black cherry and spice, even before it has had the distinct pleasure of being introduced to the seasoned, Monsieur Chêne Français.

Give a dog a Rhone.

Here is the QC queen performing an invaluable task during the pressing off of a batch of Viognier today. Her job was to make sure that Vinomaker wasn't overly pressing the grapes, extracting unwanted green and bitter tannins. She seemed pretty pleased with the results...until she got distracted by a wasp and chased after it, (which isn't in her job description).
And where is Vinodog 1 whilst all this activity is going on? Sunning herself of course...somebody has to supervise the workers.

And they're off.

Today marked the official start of the 2008 harvest for Vinomaker.  After a ceremonial clip of some Pinot grigio, I was off to work and Vinomaker was left to process the aforementioned Pinot grigio, some Semillon (pictured above) and a very small amount of Orange muscat, alone.  I needn't have felt bad.  Vinomaker had a fine old time of it, revelling in the wonder which is white wine production (ultimately more challenging than red), and conjuring up chemistry, formulae and procedure from the previous year.  Chefs work their magic several times a day, brewers a few times a week, winemakers get one shot a year.  Better get it right Vinomaker, tasters are waiting.