Crush Week

Headed up to Napa Valley to drop off my husband who would volunteer to work the week at a friend's winery.  We met first in the rain at Mondavi Winery to see our former neighbor (who's since moved to Texas).  Her son makes appetizers for the winery so we tasted some wine, duck spoons, and cheese with Marcona almonds.  I felt we'd come full circle, as Mondavi was the first winery we visited in Napa twelve years ago.  (above, Nickel & Nickel across Highway 29 from Mondavi)

We brought vegetable scraps, etc. for the Summit Lake chickens and ducks.  Just in time for pump-over of their 2010 Zinfandel.  It smelled so good.

My husband helped them punch down a bin of Zinfandel.  Punch-down and pump-over are ways to give the resting, fermenting wine more contact with the flavorful grape skins.

We tasted the wonderful juice, like a sweet, slightly sparkling, slightly alcoholic grape juice spritzer.  

The dreary Fall weather made for some spectacular mood lighting and a misty atmosphere.  Like our former neighbor says, "It doesn't matter the weather in Napa, it's always beautiful!"