Airlie Winery-Mary Olson, Owner
Elizabeth Clark, Winemaker
We spent the last 2 weeks at the Winery, as the first shift of the Harvest Crew, along with Jake and Lynn Whalen from Phoenix, Arizona, Bob and Kathy Gray from Prescott, Arizona and Tom Danger from Tuscon, Arizona. The grape ripening was slower than expected. We were able to bring in the Muller Thurgau and Marechal Foch before we left for home. Mary is still waiting for the other grapes to ripen a little more and praying the rain soon stops. They still need to bring in the Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Chardonnay. During the time we were there, Bob Gray along with the Clean Up Crew almost
finished a new deck as an addition to the tasting room. The tool shed was re-organized, the Foch and Gris barrels were cleaned in preparation for barreling down the new wines. We picked sample grapes and tested them so Elizabeth could determine if they were ready for picking. We worked the de-stemmer, pressed the white grapes and sent the red grapes to fermentation tanks, innoculated the juice, cleaned the filter, punched down the juice and labled some of the 2008 wines. Mike worked his favorite job, bringing up the totes of grapes with the tractor. One tote on the front end and one on the back end. Each tote holds about 800 to 1000 pounds of grapes. 
Last year we helped plant 2700 new grape plants, it was great to see them growning when we arrived this year. It takes about 4 years before they will start producing. Mary now has about 38 acres of grapes.
Elizabeth Clark, Winemaker
We spent the last 2 weeks at the Winery, as the first shift of the Harvest Crew, along with Jake and Lynn Whalen from Phoenix, Arizona, Bob and Kathy Gray from Prescott, Arizona and Tom Danger from Tuscon, Arizona. The grape ripening was slower than expected. We were able to bring in the Muller Thurgau and Marechal Foch before we left for home. Mary is still waiting for the other grapes to ripen a little more and praying the rain soon stops. They still need to bring in the Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Chardonnay. During the time we were there, Bob Gray along with the Clean Up Crew almost
finished a new deck as an addition to the tasting room. The tool shed was re-organized, the Foch and Gris barrels were cleaned in preparation for barreling down the new wines. We picked sample grapes and tested them so Elizabeth could determine if they were ready for picking. We worked the de-stemmer, pressed the white grapes and sent the red grapes to fermentation tanks, innoculated the juice, cleaned the filter, punched down the juice and labled some of the 2008 wines. Mike worked his favorite job, bringing up the totes of grapes with the tractor. One tote on the front end and one on the back end. Each tote holds about 800 to 1000 pounds of grapes. 
Last year we helped plant 2700 new grape plants, it was great to see them growning when we arrived this year. It takes about 4 years before they will start producing. Mary now has about 38 acres of grapes.
Elizabeth developed a new wine she named, 7 . It is a blend of 7 
different white grapes. It is one of my favorites.
We ate lots of wonderful meals, laughed alot and even drank a little wine. The work has only begun, Jake and Lynn are staying another week and then another crew will need to finish up.
different white grapes. It is one of my favorites.We ate lots of wonderful meals, laughed alot and even drank a little wine. The work has only begun, Jake and Lynn are staying another week and then another crew will need to finish up.
