We were picking Block 1A by headlamp at 5:44 a.m. on August 27, 2024, before sunrise at our vineyard in Eagle Point, Oregon. The Pommard from that morning became Enchanté, our first sparkling wine.
By 6:51 it was light enough to film bins of fruit on a trailer by the ranch barn. The load was weighed at 1:18 that afternoon: 7 bins, 3.05 tons, recorded as hand picked. Our plan that year was 3 tons for sparkling and 6 tons for red.
Picked early
The juice measured 18.9 Brix (the sugar reading), with a pH of 3.46 and 7.4 g/L of total acidity. We picked early to keep that acidity. The pressing and fermentation are in our Enchanté release post.
The summer before
July brought a long heat wave that peaked at 112°F at the Medford airport on July 6. August was close to normal there, with two rare summer rains. We picked in a cooler spell; the airport reached 100°F again two days later.
Enchanté is $45 a bottle, sold in threes.
