First Steps

This morning I finally got to take my first steps (ever!) in a real vineyard - Santa Rosa Junior College's Shone Farm. Major focus of this class (Fall Practices) will be observing and monitoring the development stages of the grapes and learning when they are "ready" to be picked. Research and lab reports look to be extensive - i.e. lots of work!!

Finally, we get to the "fun" part - Thursday afternoons, WINE 42.1 Winery Practices. In this class, we are actually going to produce the 2010 vintage of Shone Farms wines! We are going to pick, crush, ferment, and bottle one ton each of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Zinfandel. Class began with everyone getting to pour themselves a glass of Shone Farms Sauvignon Blanc and toasting the new semester - ! SB has never been one of my favorites, but this one was surprisingly good, acidic and almost tart. I didn't realize the college had a bonded winery - i.e., the wines WE will produce at Shone Farms will be sold for profit. (The vineyard and winery actually "support" the entire farm operation which includes a forest, apple orchards, olives, and all the livestock for the agriculture program: horses, cows, lambs.) This is going to be a great class!