Last year, my bonsai vineyard offered up a disappointing 4 lb (1.8 kg) of grapes, 2 lb Pinot Noir and 2 lb Leon Millot. I was so looking forward to making wine from my own grapes, but what was I to do with 4 lb? Make wine anyway! I mashed up the grapes by hand, added pectic enzyme, cold soaked for eight hours, then pitched the yeast. I “pressed” seven days later in a cheesecloth lined colander. A month later, I decanted into this 500 ml Grolsch bottle. Today, seven months later, it’s still in the Grolsch bottle. With an ordinary batch of wine, I might start opening bottles every so often to see how it was coming along. Once I thought it was hitting it’s stride, I’d start serving it regularly. With this batch, I’m thinking about giving it two years. That means opening my Puget Sound grown “2006 Leon Pinot” in late fall 2008. I think I’ll keep the guest list short 🙂

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