Foxtrot Pinot Noir Harvest

Our favourite Okanagan Pinot Noir comes from Foxtrot Vineyards on the Naramata Bench. We love it so much that we volunteered to help with their harvest this year, which took place over a frosty weekend in October. The grapes were fat and sweet and Gustav Allander, Foxtrot's winemaker, was very generous in answering our many, many questions.

Looking west, the vineyard sloping down toward Okanagan Lake.



Sunrise behind ice on the apricot trees. The sprinklers had not been drained and so had to be turned on overnight to keep the pipes from bursting.





The white crates hold about 500kg of grapes. We filled seven crates in a day and a half of picking.


A beautiful example of a ripe, juicy bunch of Pinot Noir grapes.


The grapes are loaded into the de-stemmer, specially designed for Pinot Noir.