wine-ing weekend

Tomorrow we start our yearly pilgrimage to Eastern Washington.  This year for the Zin. The big bold red grape is finally ready to be picked.   The grapes this year are reported to be great! Perfect spring, high heat units, great hang time, big yield, no frost.  All the makings of a great vint this year. This year, we are making a small batch (only 250 pounds) so we shouldn't have contorted backs after lifting, packing, stemming crushing and initiating the ferment.

I love this trek. For the past 9 years I have made the great grape quest with Herb yearly.  We start at o'dark hundred and make a day of racing to Zillah or Prosser or places further.

This year our grapes are once again from a favorite vineyard, Portteus from Zillah WA, another place in my heart on Highland drive. (Topic for a picture post of Highland Drive/Street/Avenue favorite places in my life.)

This time I get to share a passion with my adult daughter.  For the first time.  Our kids have not been very interested in the hobbies we enjoy.  Who can blame them, really.  Seriously my parents never did anything of interest....until I moved out, and/or turned 25, had a child or any combination of all the aforementioned. 

And  so tomorrow we will share a long car ride, a yummy lunch at one of my favorite Mexican (the real thing not a Taco Time franchised fast "food" gut filler) restaurants with a tiny bit of wine and port tasting in the Zillah area.  And we show her how our wine starts.  How we find some great grapes, and hope to Baccus we don't screw them up.  How basic chemistry enriches our life. And how we like to spend our autumn in hopes of basking in accolades in 2 years when this years harvest is finally sipped.

And perhaps we will become that much closer.

Or we can just get drunk, fat and pray for sleep on the ride home.