I promised Dan that I will try to write a blog during harvest and try to share this experience with you guys. A few obstacles on the way, the first one is I have very limited time during harvest, second this is my first try to blog and last English is not my mother's language. Giving all these, it will be a little more than a "Twitt" and a little less than a blog. In any case I will do my best to facilitate the excitement of the harvest here at Recanati winery in Israel. Let's start.

Despite all the assumptions, the harvest here began a week later than usual. Yesterday we received the first load of grapes for this season, sauvignon blanc from a very old vineyard in the Zichron Ya'akov area. I decided to take this vineyard at 20 brix (slightly lower than anticipated) but I was more concern about the balance in the grapes (I didn't want to loose more acidity) and rot that might spread in the vineyard. The grower took the "Dolav" (a 350 kg picking bin) to a refrigerated room soon after filling it thus I received the fruit at very low temperature. I decided to press this fruit as whole cluster and did not pass it through crusher. The juice is now settling at 8º C for a few days than it will be racked and yeasted.

Sunday night we will receive our first mechanical harvest sauv. Blanc and than we are waiting for unique fruit from an old Carignan vineyard grown without water on a Goblet. It suppose to be an excellent fruit, I am anxiously waiting for it…I will keep you posted.

Gil Shatsberg Recanati winery Israel