The 2015 Prelude Rosé of Pinot Noir may have sold out on October 1, 2016, but fear not—the 2016 edition is well in hand. Here’s a few highlights from our harvest of Dijon clones 777 and 115 at Tonnelier Vineyard in Yamhill-Carlton AVA, as well as from the production of this newest vintage.
First, in the vineyard…
Look at those gorgeous grapes, just waiting to be turned into Bells Up Prelude Rosé of Pinot Noir!
Picking crew hard at work.
Those bins filled up fast.
Grower Mike, collecting empty picking bins.
Tonnelier Vineyard’s resident vineyard pooch, Rodin, dutifully samples grapes to ensure they’re ready for harvest—with a little assist from Greg.
Vineyard manager Rodin keeps a watchful eye on harvest and all visitors.
On the sorting line…
Fanfare Club Founding Member Mark, who is a pretty big fan of the Prelude Rosé of Pinot Noir, on the sorting line.
Official Treble Maker Katie helping on the sorting line for the first time.
Winemaker Dave inspects the grapes closely.
Consulting winemaker Erica keeping a watchful eye on the fermenter as the grapes fall from the destemmer.
We use dry ice as part of our cold soak process. Here Erica pulls out a fresh scoop.
A full view of the sorting, destemming and grape drop into fermenter process.
Post pressing, the juice returns to our on-site winery and tasting room for fermentation…
Well, we do have a garage door. So why not back in Bluebell with the transport tank of juice?
Dave pumps the Prelude juice from transport tank to stainless fermentation tank.
Another view of the juice transfer.
Fermentation going strong, the “jiffy pop” effect, as Dave calls it.
During fermentation Dave does regular pumpovers. Why? Watch the video below for an explanation.
And finally, a quick overview of why we do pumpovers…
We’re looking forward to bottling and releasing the 2016 Prelude Rosé of Pinot Noir next spring!
