Why did the chicken cross the crush pad?

To get to the Cabernet sauvignon, duh!
Harvest 2018 is officially over in Vinoland.  This afternoon, I assisted Vinomaker with the pressing-off of our Cabernet sauvignon (CS), but before we could proceed we had to shoo a neighbour's chicken away from the press, pump, etc.  Miss Henny Penny may have simply been being  inquisitive about the whole process, but she was still in the way.
The CS looks, smells and tastes great.  I had missed the CS harvest because I was in England, so it was important to me to participate in this final step.  The fruit came in on October 27th, its vital statistics were; 26 °Brix, a pH of 3.5 and TA at 7.2.
Harvest 2018 is done and dusted, whoo hoo!  No chickens were harmed in the making of this wine.

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.

Syrah shuffle.

It usually gets a little bit hectic around here as harvest time approaches.  This year seems to be a little more chaotic than usual.  Vinomaker and I had to put our heads together and come up with a date for our Syrah harvest.  And today was the day.  All went smoothly, the weather was perfect and the harvest celebration afterwards was a lot of fun.
The Syrah fruit looked gorgeous and tasted great too.  The yield, as I suspected, was greater than average - about 30% more.  The Syrah's numbers are: 24° Brix, a pH of 3.58 and TA at 7.2.

Diseased!

This morning was Pinot grigio harvest day in Vinoland.  The fruit looked beautiful and the numbers came in at 27° Brix, a pH of 3.55 and TA at 6.75 - all in a good range.
The 2018 fruit may be in Vinomaker's capable hands now, but I am already thinking ahead to next year and some critical vineyard operations that will ensure a 2019 harvest.  Pruning, of course, is next up, but there is also a bit of replanting to be done.
Alas, there is evidence of Pierce's Disease (PD) in some vines (nine, one right after the other, in one row and at least one vine in the row above them).  The PD symptoms first appeared last year, but this year they are more definitely pronounced; foliar scorching, irregular bark maturity and raisining of the fruit, or, (as demonstrated in the above photograph) miniature clusters (a mere 2.4 inches).
Oh well, it'll give me something to do next spring.