Hello Group, I was short 400' of catch wire when installing my vineyard, does anybody have, or know a close by source for catch wire by the foot or 100s of feet? I don't want to have to buy a whole 100# roll again! thanks for any help, Scott 925-875-1313. swilder@ableserve.com

sorry!

When talking to some of the other members, it seems that there are some common issues being faced by the growers such as: raisining/bunching of some of their crop, raccoons, birds, disappearing fruit on rows. If you are experiencing similar or other issues and/or have suggestions on how to deal with these problems/pests, please post a comment to this entry and share your experiences and suggestions. We can hopefully get a good dialog going here and help each other in this critical time.

With the crush starting in a little over a month, I thought I would post a checklist I made up last year to help prepare for winemaking. If anyone has any additions or corrections, let me know. Who knows, maybe in the future I will dress it up so it is more readable. In the meantime I hope it wil be helpful.

Bill

Sorry for sending again, but the attachemnts didnt go the first two times ---

I'm a little slow getting this out, but we had a meeting July 1 of those who expressed interest in a winemaking equipment coop. We agreed that this would work by cross-loaning equipment we own to the others. Since much of the equipment in the group is owned by Tom Morehouse and Bill Booth, we thank them for thier help and patience while the rest of us fill in some blanks and supplement with our purchases. I have attached a list of the equipment owned by those who attended the meeeting. Those who werent there but have equipment to share, please send me an email letting me know what you have. If you want to participate but I didnt get you on the list please let me know that too, with the equipment you have to share. I also attached our running rules, a list of equipment sharing etiquette.

Bill

We had a good session today on lab work you can do at home. I handed out a list of references to get instructions and other info on the procedures and equipment we discussed. By popular demand I added the link to an online calculator to determine how much metabisulfite powder or standard 10% solution to add to get the desired molecular SO2. The updated reference list is attached. The links work in Word, so no need to retype them.

Bill

The winemaking class today was a smaller group, but we had lots of good discussion and covered a lot of ground. Here is the PowerPoint presentation I used for today.

Bill English

The phone number at Artesian Barrels is 510-339-0170. Marie's cell phone is 510-384-8794. The prior post had the web site. Check it out and if you need barrels, order soon to be sure you get the discount and to be sure you get what you want for the fall. If you want to talk about what you should be getting for your wine plans, email me or call me over the weekend at 254-6958. I am traveling this week on business byt will be back Friday night.

Bill

I have been buying my barrels directly from an importer, Artisan Barrels, http://www.artisanbarrels.com . The French and Hungarian barrles offered by MoreWine come through them, but MoreWine adds a mark up. It is cheaper and you get a better selection by buying direct, although the barrels must be picked up at the warehouse in American Canyon (just south of Napa). Now for the better part. LWGA members will get a discount by mentioning that you are a member of the Lamorinda Winegrowers Association. The amount of the discount will depend on the number of barrels ordered, so we wont know until the orders are in. Ask for Marie. She has a wonderful, but a little hard to follow, French accent. Mention I referred you to be sure. To get the discount we should get orders in soon, like this week or next. If you need new barrels for the fall order them now. They are not in stock so they need to be ordered, made and shipped here before the harvest. Now you can order anything and it gets here end July. In August you get whatever they (or anyone else) has available. They represent 3 French barrel makers, one Hungarian and have barrls made from American oak but to French barrel standards.

As discussed in the meeting today, we are looking at forming a coop among interested LMWGA winemakers to share equipment. Many of the bigger ticket winemaking hardware items are only used once or twice a year. The idea is to jointly buy certain hardware, like destemmer/crusher, press, bottle filler, corker and filtration gear and share the cost and use among participating members. I have done some research and have ideas, but rather than fill pages, let me know by return email if you are interested in participating either for some or all the equpment. We will then get the interested parties together and get it organized.

Bill