By Robin GOLDSWORTHY

It was hot – real hot – on Sunday, especially at
3 p.m. But though temperatures hovered around the century mark, the grapes wouldn’t wait. Those would be the Alicante, Burger and Bouchalès grapes, which hung on vines and were ready to burst at Deukmejian Wilderness Park.

Sunday was harvest day and, according to Stuart Byles, founding member of the Stone Barn Conservancy, the group that oversees the Deukmejian vines, the grapes were ready to be plucked.

“We have huge bunches this year compared to previous years,” Byles said. He attributed the generous crop to the “great rain” the foothills experienced.

“We also didn’t get a lot of pests, despite not covering the plants with netting,” he said. “Birds, bees and raccoons can be pretty problematic.”

About 20 workers came on Sunday to the vineyard that is next to the Le Mesnager barn at the wilderness park. They gently pulled the bulging bunches from the vines, put them in buckets and, when they were full, carried them over to George Skorka who was manning the Italian crusher. Skorka is from the Santa Clarita area and grows wine grapes there. He, along with his Bernese Mountain Dog Hugo, guided contents of the buckets into the crusher; well, Hugo basically just licked up any of the juice that spilled onto the ground.

Overall, Byles is expecting an excellent wine this year. He said that typically the Deukmejian Alicante vines produces a brix of 19 degrees – tops – but this year is coming in at 21 degrees.

“Twenty-one to 25 is golden,” he said.

Brix, according to Wine Folly, is a way to measure the potential alcohol content of a wine before it’s made by determining the sugar level in grapes. Each gram of sugar that’s fermented will turn into about a 1/2 gram of alcohol.

There are 11 rows at Deukmejian and, due to this year’s generous crop, they are expected to produce over 200 bottles of wine, far surpassing the 40 bottles (plus or minus) that the 60 x 80 vineyard usually gives up.

The City of Glendale, which owns the property, planted the vines in 2004 or 2005. It then approached the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley to maintain the vineyard. The Stone Barn Conservancy was born out of the Historical Society.  

Jerry Burnham has lived in the area most of his life. Though his childhood was spent in nearby Tujunga, he said he rarely – if ever – came over to Deukmejian Wilderness Park. He and his wife moved to La Crescenta and Burnham became more involved with local events.

“I attended the dedication of the park in the 1980s,” Burnham said.

After the Station Fire, he came up to Deukmejian more often and discovered the vineyard.

“I just started weeding it over the years and then decided I wanted to be part of the whole process,” he said of why he came out in the scorching heat to gather the grapes.

Byles was pleased by the number of people who came out and especially by the bounty of this year’s crop. In fact, more grapevines may be added to the vineyard.

“Growing Zinfandel grapes was popular in the area in the 19th and 20th centuries,” he said. “Maybe we’ll add some vines in the future.”

  robin goldsworthy