On Saturday, we completed our Ver Jus harvest. The harvest is straight forward - get up at 5, pick up the truck at the winery, drive to the Brosseau Vineyard (on the map, it is listed as the "Inn at the Pinnacles"), help pick the fruit, load the truck, drive back to winery, destem, crush, press, filter, keg, clean up and try and get to bed before 10 PM.

Last year, we had a crew from In Wine Country who filmed the whole day. You can watch the episode here.


As usual, we bottled a bit of the Ver Jus for cooking. Ver Jus can be used to replace white wine vinegar in most recipes. Two that I enjoy are:

Hazelnut Ver Jus Dressing:
¼ cup hazelnut oil
¼ cup ver jus
1 tsp. honey (or maple sugar)
1 tsp. shallots, minced
1 tsp. fresh thyme finely chopped
Whisk together and adjust with salt and/or pepper/

Ver Jus Cucumber Salad
2 large cucumber
¼ Cup Ver Jus
2 Teaspoons Rice Vinegar
¼ Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon freshly minced Ginger

Peel and cut the cucumber into thin slices. Combine ingredients and mix. Pour the mixture over the sliced cucumber. Serve cool.

I have experimented with using Ver Jus as a replacement for white wine. The results have been mixed. I found it to acidic for butter/garlic/wine sauces.