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It is Halloween and harvest is pretty much behind us; all the grapes are in, wine is fermented and waiting to be pressed, and the last batch of apples are waiting to be crushed and pressed.

At the beginning of October I helped organize the first CiderFest on Vashon. It turned into a very full day of apples, harvest, cidermaking and cider tasting; then topped off with a cider dinner.

As part of CiderFest on Vashon, the Vashon Fruit Club had their annual fall fruit day where people can view various apple varieties, even bring some in for identification. Also the club was crushing apples for juice.

I served on a panel headed by Dr. Bob Norton on “How to Make Hard Cider” attended by about forty people which was a little short of amazing because there were gale force winds, buckets of rain and an occasional blast of sunshine. Drew Zimmerman of Red Barn Cider and Richard Anderson of Westcott Bay Orchards were on the panel also. I know that people enjoyed the seminar because there were lots of good questions.

Following the seminar we had a cider tasting in the Farmers’ Market pavillon. There were nine cideries serving 21 different ciders, from very dry (mine, Irvine’s Vintage Blend) to quite sweet (Dupont Cidre de Normandie). I think about 150 people showed up and seemed to really enjoy themselves. At about four o’clock it got really crowded but no one seemed to mind. Cideries that participated: Aspall Cider (England), Samuel Smith Organic Cider (England), Wandering Aengus Ciderworks (Salem, Oregon), Eaglemount Cider Company (Port Townsend, WA), Blue Mountain Cider Company (Milton-Freewater, Oregon), Irvine’s Vintage Cider (Vashon, WA), Dupont Cidre de Normandie (France), and Red Barn Cider (Mt. Vernon, WA).

Together this was one of the most comprehensive cider tastings ever done.

We concluded the day with a four-course cider dinner at The Hardward Store: we started with mussels cooked in cider, followed by a garden salad using Chesire cheese and cider vinaigrate, a main course of baked salmon with cider and curry. Dessert was a cider bread pudding. All matched with a variety of ciders.

At the dinner, Vashon Rotary recognized Dr. Bob Norton for his contributions to the horticulture community on Vashon and awarded him the Paul Harris Award. Then Dr. Norton announced the winner of the Cider Tasting, the Dupont Cidre de Normandie, awarded in his name.

Now to wine. All of the grapes are in and most have completed fermentation, and a secondary fermentation called malo-lactic which is a bacterial fermentation that changes the malic acid (a sharp acid found in apples) into lactic acid (an acid found in milk products and thus softer). Now I allow the grapeskins to sit in contact with the wine for about three weeks beyond fermentation. I will decide to press by taste when I feel that I have picked up some extra flavor, and when the tannins are softened (called polymerization). It calls for constant attention and tasting.

I suspect I will start pressing the skins in about three weeks, just before Thanksgiving.

And lastly, we harvested the island Pinot Noir from Monument Farm Vineyard on October 26th, a beautiful day. And it was somewhat of a miracle as we needed, and got, a glorious October full of heat and dryness. I am absolutely dumbfounded. A month ago the grapes didn’t even look right…..it was as if they were these taut little plastic purple grapes but they seemed to ripen up, turning soft and black. I mean black, not blue and without the bloom, that dusty quality on the skins.

Right now the crushed grapes are in a tank undergoing a cold-soak, soaking at a cold temperature prior to fermentation in an attempt to get a bit of tannin and color out of the skins.

All in all, a good harvest.

Well, I am right in the middle of harvest. I am making a little less than normal: no Semillon, more Cabernet Sauvignon and a bit of Merlot and less of Cabernet Franc.

I have been busy. In August we had two concerts: Danny O’Keefe and then Vashon Winery’s first Folk Festival. Danny O’Keefe was remarkable as he sang new songs from his recent CD, On Time. The weather co-operated and the concert was held in front of the winery. Danny was personable and approachable and his songs carried up into the trees.

In late August Wally Bell masterfully directed our first Folk Festival with ten different groups playing Americana to Celtic. The festival was headlined by Larry Murante who played at 7pm. Other notables were Kat Eggleston of Vashon Island (recently returned from Chicago), the Hayburners (Jennifer and David) from beautiful Renton and a special apprearance by the Colwell Brothers. All the entertainers were fantastic and most stuck around to listen to their contemporaries.

Then September snuck up on me. At the beginning of September we had a poetry reading by Samuel Green. Green started his reading in the orchard outside reading a poem about teaching his son about killing…….and I swear I would have fainted had my usual early evening deer ambled past us. He should have been there as early Transparents plunked to the ground.

Then we went inside and Green read his and other poets’ works. He own works were sensitive and observant and he almost sang the words to us.

Samuel Green is our state’s first Poet Laureate and sitting amongst the barrels all of us felt somehow connected.

Now wine: throughout this time period I was busy blending and bottling two different batches of Tramp Harbor Red which has sold unbelievably well. The last batch used one barrel from the previous blend to which I added one barrel each of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. I think it was my best to date.

I am just running out of that one and getting ready to blend and bottle a new batch; this one with more Merlot and less Cabernet Franc, again using one barrel from the previous blend.

This is a little more complicated as I am trying to deal with handling the grapes that just came in. The Cabernet Sauvigon is from Upland Vineyards in Sunnyside, a new vineyard for me and one I am incredibly excited about. It is managed by the Newhouse family and I deal mainly with Todd Newhouse, third generation vineyard manager. I met Todd when he asked me to do some research on his property and the original owner, W.B. Bridgman.

Todd has recently opened his own tasting room, Upland Estates, located just below the Vineyards, though his wines are made in Grandview.

When I picked up the grapes his father Steve came over to help. His Grandpa, Al, waved from his truck.

I’ll make another trip over, likely next week, to pick up the Cabernet Franc, a late ripening variety.

Oh, and our island-grown Pinot Noir, grown at Monument Farm Vineyard. It is really struggling to get completely ripe and to develop enough sugars. The early spring rain really set the plants back this year but we are hoping that we will get something……I don’t worry about the sugars because I can always add sugar; it is the ripeness of the grapes that concern me. Right now the malic is strong in the grape and it is slow to change to tartaric but I think it is happening as the grapes are softening.

On Sunday after getting samples of the Pinot Noir I drove over to the Chasselas Dore vineyard and found that the raccoons had beaten me. I am really torn…….the vineyard needs so much work, it is really wild with grass as high as my head and scotch-broom and blackberries between the rows. I am just happy that I didn’t spend too much time working the vineyard.

Well, I keep heading toward December when I have to make my balloon payment to the former owners. I think it will happen, but it is really scary with the credit market the way it is. I can’t even get banks to return my calls.

I have a lot of good wines to sell, and about to go into bottle. I just started selling the Right Bank Red which is an equal blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc that emulates the wines of St. Emilion in Bordeaux. I also hope to bottle a new Cabernet Sauvignon and a new Reserve Red.