We decided to hike up Mt. Wrightson this weekend. The weather was clear and there was a nice wind. The S. Az. Hiking Club was holding a race to the top, but we had other plans. Our goal was to hike from Madera Cnyn up to Baldy Saddle , .9 mi from the summit, then…
Last weekend was a good time to hike up Mt. Hopkins. The 8450′ summit can be reached either by a windy, paved road (which is closed except for guided tours) or by crossing the ridge that connects to Mt. Wrightson. We took the ridge. The hike starts at the Madera Canyon parking lot. We took…
I uploaded these for a friend, Chano Aguayo. He runs a vineyard in Sonoma and wanted to share some photo’s with the folks on Winepress.Us and other amateurs. These are photo’s showing different views to help clarify the canopy requirements for shade, dappled light and airflow. I included Chano’s comments with each photo. Click on…
I racked off the two different wines this weekend; here’s the results: Tempranillo – 13.5 gallon Carignane – 14 gal The skins, seeds, etc, all went into the compost heap. We mixed a little straw in with it to keep the smell down ;-). The Carignane has somewhat of a funky smell. It’s not bad,…
My friend, Ken, and I headed down to Mexico to pick up some grapes from a vineyard he knew about down there. He has a beach house in Kino Bay and was very familiar with the area. Crush season is always hectic, as you just get one variety going in the fermenter, when the next…
This is the second year for the vineyard. I’m very pleased with the way things have turned out so far. The few clusters I harvested have given me an idea on how much I can expect per vine (11-12 lbs) and what kind of acid and sugar levels I might get (24 Brix, 3.7pH, .8TA).…
I’m getting everything ready for this year’s crush. I did some work on the old press. The old press pan and basket were in sad shape, so I replaced them. I bought a new basket off e-bay and made a press pan out of a 3″ deep stainless steel pan that I took to a…
I have three different wines aging currently; Mourvedre, Tempranillo, and Zinfandel. The Mourvedre was made from grapes grown by Bob Johnson at Colibri Vineyards. These were plump berries with good flavor and very few blemishes. I extended maceration on this, pressing after 14 days. I used a combination of D80 and Syrah yeasts, in two…
The summer monsoon season is coming and our hikes are moving to higher elevations to start. This is a good time to check out Sycamore Canyon (near Arivaca), Mt. Lemmon, and Mt. Wrightson.