Settling In

I've begun making some hobby wine.  2019 was my first year I jumped into the wine making; Peach wine, Petite Pearl, Merlot, and Cab Franc.  2020 I made Chardonnay and a Merlot/Cab Franc blend.  2021's harvest did not give us any hobby grapes due to a bad freeze in October so I made a Viognier from a Wine Lovers' kit.  

This is a picture of the cold room in the Viticulture & Enology lab at the Western Colorado Community College.  My strawberry wine is there and somewhere back there is the Cab Franc/Petite Verdot Rose wine I've been working on.  I also have a Barbera in fermentation.  Fun class.

Our irrigation system was done in 2020, but we finally got the pump and water meter working correctly in 2021.  It took over a year and more money than I ever expected or thought possible, even when employing the cheap labor of Michelle, her brother Mike and a few friends who didn't really know what I was asking them to help me with.  

Our biggest expense was all the digging we needed to do to get the irrigation system in.

Adam and several of his friends came to Palisade for Wine Fest 2019 (USA Today rated best in the country) and while they were here, they helped me harvest some Merlot.  As I mentioned above the 2021 harvest was non-existent but Adam and friends came again to participate in the Tour De Vineyards bike ride.  

Pickin' grapes is hard work.

We've now been in the house three years and have settled into a fairly relaxed lifestyle.