Crush 2023

Yay for Crush 2023! On September 12th, we started the crush for the 2023 Harvest! We harvested the first fruits from our Sauvignon Blanc vineyards here in Redwood Valley, California. Our family and staff gathered as the truck, loaded with grape bins, rolled up to the winery. Katrina Frey also celebrated her birthday today, so we had lots of reasons to celebrate. The festive energy brought smiles to everyone's faces as the first grapes went into the winery cellar for juicing. Over the course of the many moons to come, these grapes will turn from organic juices into the organic WINES that you love. 

Daphne, who works in the Frey Vineyards office, brought handouts of a blessing of the grapes for each of us to recite together as the first fruits arrived. 

"Spirits of Sun, Earth, Water, and Air 
Ye have made this world so fair 
Singing bird and flowering tree 
Ye have blessed all things that be. 
For this place be blessing, too, 
In all we think and speak and do. 
Beauty here with courage keep, 
Banish fear. For falling, weep. 
Spirits loving, good and wise, 
Love and joy bring to our lives. 
Thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us; 
Thanks to the rivers and streams and their water; 
Thanks to the grapes and the grain fields that feed us; 
Thanks to the herbs which protect us from illness; 
Thanks to the wind and the rain for their cleansing; 
Thanks to the bushes and trees and their fruiting; 
Thanks to the moon and the stars in the darkness; 
Thanks to the sun who looks ever earthward. 
We thank the Great Spirit for all Goodness."

We each partook of a glass of freshly pressed juice to seal the blessing and taste the first sweetness of the harvest season. Crush 2023 is particularly exciting because we've been waiting longer than usual for the sugars to develop. Now, the grapes will be streaming in steadily for the next several months, giving us our 2023 vintages for you to enjoy in the near future!