Still More Vineyard Updates

Saturday we were at Chaine d'Or topping wine and testing the 07's. Sunday we got out and visited the Crimson and Sesson vineyards. Here's a quick update:

First up was Chaine d'Or. We got a note from Anne Anderson last night, she said the vineyard looks the best it ever has.

This is the Chardonnay section. The plants are healthy, mildew free, and have the right amount of fruit.



We won't need to do any leaf pulling here. There thinning we've already done and the pruning in January has left perfect exposure on the fruit clusters.




Sunday we visited four vineyards. First up was the Crimson-Clover Vineyard in Morgan Hill. This will replace the Uvas Creek Vineyard for us this year, bringing our Santa Clara Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, under our farming control. The vineyard looked great.



Just a little more clean up to do before netting goes on. In about 2 weeks we'll lift the top wire to the final height and trim off any excess growth.



You can see this vineyard also will not need leaf pulling, the fruit is getting the dappled sunlight that makes high quality wine.

Next we headed to the Sesson Vineyard in Coyote Valley. This Spring we installed about 1 1/4 acre of what will eventually be a 10 acre project. The site is planted with three clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and set up for 100% organic farming.



This site is very exciting, and it's great to see the little baby plants start to take off.



Next we headed towards home and stopped at the Catholic church just a few blocks from our house. Last year they installed 20 Cabernet Sauvignon vines, but no one was taking care of them. I called the priest this past Winter and offered to take care of the little plants and see if I couldn't recover the little vineyard.



We pruned, retrained all the plants, cleared the weeds, put in some proper wires, and have been tending the 20 plants.

Finally we arrived home to the Haut Tubee vineyard. The grapes have started to turn red. That means the other vineyards will start in 2-3 weeks.



I took the last picture just to remind everyone that when we say we planted our first 50 plants around our home, it wasn't a huge house out in the country. It's just a small home in the suburbs, and the vines are planted right in the lawn and along the parkway!

More Vineyard Updates

Last weekend we went out and visited more of our vineyard sites for an update.

First up was Arastradero Vineyard on a very, very steep hillside in Los Altos. The vineyard is Syrah grown at about 300-450 feet altitude.



This picture gives a good idea of the slope of the vineyard. The little blue FJ Cruiser at the bottom of the hill is our car. This is taken from about half way up the vineyard.



More of the slope of the vineyard. Jerry had just finished thinning the vineyard and you can see the cuttings on the ground. We do this to make sure the fruit will ripen well and have enough sunlight to get great flavors.



At this point we don't remove any leafs. We want to protect the grapes from getting sunburned or overripe in the hot afternoon sun. This vineyard has a western exposure, so the afternoon sun will be very intense.



Notice the health of the clusters in this picture. The quality we're getting in this vineyard is surprising me. I had some doubts about the vineyard for a number of reasons, but the fruit looks fantastic at this point. It's all scheduled to go to Bradley Brown at Big Basin Vineyards. The fruit looks so good though I'm going to see if he might share a little with me for our Haut Tubee blend.

Next we were off to the Harrison Vineyard. A small 1/4 acre we installed last year off Page Mill Road, in Los Altos Hills. We didn't take any pictures here, as we spent most of our short visit talking with the Harrison's. They have really taken to grape growing and are doing an excellent job with the vineyard with very little help from us. First fruit from here should be in 2010.

Then we headed over to the Elandrich Vineyard in Portola Valley for a fast walk through and talk with the new owners.



This vineyard is also holding some very nice looking fruit. There was a little powdery mildew showing under one of the oak trees, so I sent Jerry out on Tuesday to spray Stylet Oil on the vineyard. This vineyard gets a lot of pressure from mildew, due to a number of 100 year old Italian oaks that over hang the vineyard.



This vineyard was a complete rehab for Stefania and I. We took it from a complete disaster to the state you see now, with healthy fruit and about a one ton yield. The vineyard has some limitations. The trellis system is not ideal, the oak trees make mildew a threat that requires more spraying, and the layout is poor, we can't use any heavy equipment. Still the grapes from this vineyard have been fantastic. We've used then in our Haut Tubee wine and our Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon.

The new owners talked with us a little about upgrading the vineyard and replanting some dead spots. That would really be fantastic if they want to do this, the fruit from here makes well structured wine with ripe tannins and a good mix of red and black fruit. With a modern trellis and a little higher maintenance budget we could get the yield up to two tons (125 cases) and make even better wine from here.

Quoting My Dad -- Santiago on My Mind

"In order to avoid disappointment, expectations need to be in line with reality."

Dad has been on my mind lately - partly because of a recent day trip. A bunch of us went to DeRose Vineyards a couple weeks ago. The winemaker there is also making wines in Chile, south of where I grew up. I would have liked more time to chat with him about the vineyards and logistics, but it was a little crazy in the winery that day (a kid rattling thru the space on a big wheel - a bunch of people cemented to the pouring table - random relations popping in to chat and distract). I bought several bottles to bring home and pour at some future event, hopefully side-by-side so we can get a feel for his style. Kind of disappointing visit though, must not have had my expectations in line.

I can't even begin to express my disappointment at the 2nd winery we visited that day. The objective was to pick up a futures order I had place last year in April and taste through the new releases. There were many obvious new features to the site since the last time we visited, and it was exciting to see how much they've grown. The wines were just ok, but my tastes are changing and I found them all a little too sweet for my palate. Doesn't mean they were bad, doesn't mean I'm a valid critic, just means what I said, my tastes have changed and these wines are no longer my preference.

The huge disappointment though was picking up my box of futures, the 3rd year I've committed to this special release, and they handed me a cardboard box. Blah! I balked! I wanted to know where the very cool wood box was??!! They ditched the wood box for a double stacked, 3 over 3, cardboard lay down box - not as cool, soooo disappointing. I unloaded the bottles when I got home and recycled the box. My plan is to pull the older ones down since they are just about ready to drink and store the latest ones in the wood.

A friend of ours that was supposed to go day tripping with us that day was instead visiting with his friends that were up here visiting from Chile - on winter break. He said they're Americans though, living down there, not Chileans. Curiosity made me ask what they do for a living and he said they teach, at an international school. No kidding, I went to Nido de Aguilas, an international school in Santiago. "No way! That's where they teach!". Small world. We spent the afternoon going thru his photos from his last trip in Chile visiting them and me reminiscing about living there.

L-R: Wes, Ingrid, Amber, Millie, Kathy, Stefania, Paul (out of range Eric - sorry!)

Spicy BBQ Dipping Sauce

Stolen from a note Stefania sent out to a friend in New York:

First a paragraph about how I make it and why and the reasons I choose the ingredients that I do - so that it makes sense and you can feel free to adjust it to your tastes accordingly.

The sauce originated from a recipe my dad started, to go on his spicy ribs, as a sweet complement to them but then I fired it up and added more heat. The base was from homemade blackberries but I've substituted any jam or jelly I've had on hand in the house, including orange marmalade. The one you had at the house was from fresh blackberry sauce - easy to make and I'll put notes at the bottom if you want to experiment around.

Amounts are approximated, adjust according to your thickness and taste preferences.

In a pan, bring to a very low boil and stir constantly:

1/4 - 1/2 c. Jelly or Fruit Jam
1/4 - 1/2 c. Ketchup
1/4 c. Generic BBQ sauce
1/4 c. Brown sugar
1/8 - 1/4c. Acid, I use lemon juice but have added white wine too if I want it thinner (cider vinegar is ok to use too)
1-2 dashes Worceshtershire Sauce
1 Tbsp +/- Sriracha Sauce (1 Tbsp is a lot, start with less and adjust to taste)
1 -2 dashes Tapatia hot sauce
1 capful, never more, of liquid smoke, 1 capful = about 1/4 tsp

I don't add any dry spices - salt/pepper or seasonings because those are usually already a rub on the meat.

To use fresh blackberry sauce, take 1 container of fresh berries, heat to boiling with a little bit of sugar until they are soft and wilted, then moosh thru a sieve (gently!!!) to extract the juice. Just like the seeds in grapes, the seeds in blackberries are very tannic and if you purree in a blender or food processor or moosh them too roughly, you will get an unpleasant bitter edge to your berry sauce.

If you are using blackberry jam or strawberry jelly, sometimes they have seeds, strain those as well. Strawberry seeds will have that same tannic quality.

Other variations I've made include chardonnay jelly, apple mint jelly, apricot jam, plum, cherry...you name it. When I don't have homemade to use I'll buy whatever is on sale for 2 for 1 at Safeway (because $6 for jam in a bbq sauce seems high).

I generally add ketchup or more bbq sauce when I want it thicker, or more acid if I want it thinner, and of course as much sriracha as Paul will let me get away with.

Let me know if you have any questions and please feel free to pass this along.

Cheers,
Stef

Pinot Update Part II

Paul did a great job taking pictures and talking about the status of the vineyard but as I was reading thru it again I had my own commentary to add.

As we drove up Browns Valley Road, the view is of a charred and burned mountain side, the remains of the Summit Road Fire now visible as the smoke has cleared. We drove up to the fire line at Hazel Dell and looked at the ash and charred remains of the forest, even smelled the fresh stink of the recently burned terrain.

We doubled back to the vineyard and once we got up around the bend, the first view of the vines from the bottom of the road was spectacular! I know that the owners were concerned with vigor and that there was too much growth, but the work the guys had been doing was taking care of that. I couldn't help grinning from ear to ear looking at it.

While Paul walked the rows with Pete, I stayed up top in the shade with Barbara and told her about our Oregon trip and some of the vineyards/wineries we had been to. We talked a lot about making pinot and the techniques used and what Paul and I have talked about doing.

Having tasted the wine in barrel from last years harvest I'm thrilled to know we'll be able to make more this year. There is also a great deal of satisfaction knowing that we have been hands on in this vineyard where the fruit will be coming from. The care and attention to detail starts out there and is carried on inside the winery, that's been the goal all along, the dream.

It's like going to the farmers market, selecting the best ingredients and cooking a great meal and being able to share it with others.

Cheers!

Pinot Noir Update

Yesterday evening we headed over to Corralitos to check on progress at the Woodruff Family Vineyard. The crew has been thinning and tucking the vines after the completion of fruit set, and really we're at the point now when prime ripening gets going. The vineyard is in excellent shape and the pictures are pretty impressive.

Note the sandy/clay soil and the vine age in these pictures. The vineyard is made up of 30 year old 'suitcase' or heritage clones. These are the old style clones of Pinot Noir that have come back into style in the last two years in a huge way.



The vines are in perfect shape. Well manicured and spaced now. This is what we love to see in our vineyards. The vines are set up for perfect fruit development. We ended up dropping a lot of fruit in this first thinning. Probably a 15% reduction off the bat. Final yield will likely be 1 to 1 1/2 tons per acre.



Notice the way the sun is hitting the vines? The west side of this vineyard gets the hotter afternoon sun. We haven't done any leaf pulling yet. We'll leave the leafs as they are for the next few weeks to protect the grapes from any burn due to hot temperatures. About the last week of July we'll remove leafs from the fruit areas to expose the fruit to a little more sun. The East sides of the rows will have more leafs pulled than the West sides. This way the vines will get just a little of the hot direct afternoon sun. What we're trying to do is get dappled sunlight on the grapes, but not direct sun.



The final picture captures a large section of the vineyard. It really gives a sense of the slope of the vineyard as well as the forest near by.



We are so happy with how this is coming along. My feeling is that we'll be able to make some really great Pinot Noir from these grapes. I'm expecting a wine that will be medium colored (due to the sand in the soil) with great texture and really expressive fruit. It should be a wow wine. As in wow how did they get so much flavor in such a soft, light wine. The vineyard manager and crew are doing their jobs well, now the winemaker and winemaking crew have to keep it up. Yes those are all the same people!

Condors, The Natural World, Stickers - a rant

Face it, the wild Condors are dead. Those that have been bred and released back into the wild are pets. They have monitoring devices implanted on them, a support crew, live 24/7 assisted living. Our tax dollars paid for Power Pole Avoidance Training. Look it up.

I've been following the condor stories for years - I flew with them in Chile, back when my dad would take me up in the Cessna. I loved the condors, they were giants in the sky, soaring high in the Andes Mountains.

But it's time to let them die, it's time to evolve - tell me, why are there no reports on the dying Turkey Vultures, also poisoned by lead in their diets? I have a theory, it's because no one raised the vultures from chicks or put a government sponsored GPS sensor on them.

Know what else is dying? Nature. Yes, we are killing or natural world, in the name of science of course.

Paul & I were watching National Geographic the other night, a story of the wild cats in Africa, with huge freakin' collars on them - oh yeah, that's natural. And then, on the news, the monarchs in Pacific Grove, being tagged with stickers to track them. Stickers. Natural.

It's bad enough all the fruit in the grocery store has a sticker on it. As a nation we have become obsessed with worthless data. The 2406 number on the peaches in the market means nothing to me. I trust my grocer to post the growing region on the placard with the price - I really wish the stickering would end.

Recently the corn had a bright red "FRESH" sticker on it and I smarted off at the cashier...said I was glad it said fresh or I might confuse it with frozen, or canned, or rotten. Fresh. On an ear of corn.

Maybe if we hand feed the Fresh corn to the Condors they'll live thru the summer.

Taking Notes

I'm on the verge of leaving the workforce and going full time as an entrepreneur. It occurred to me as I'm sitting at my day job that I should get a real clear picture of where we are in the wine business.

Not that I'm flaky or inattentive, but there are certain aspects to this that belong to Paul, in many ways I really am just the inspiration. He keeps good track of the business plan and where we are headed in terms of growth.

Today I've been asking questions and taking notes.

Total barrel counts are below for each vintage year.

2005 = 4 barrels (100 cases)
2006 = 14.5 barrels (363 cases)
2007 = 34 barrels (850 cases)
2008 = 51 planned (1275 cases)

Not that blogging about this is relevant, but I'm hoping that maybe if I put this down "on paper" it will become more tangible.

In many ways I'm looking forward to putting all of my energy into Stefania Wine, the vineyards, and the winery, it's an exciting change. It will be good to be more 'hands on' especially with the amount of growth planned for this years winemaking.

Bring it On!

On Being a Foodie

Somebody once called me a Foodie, and initially I took offense to that. It wasn't until this last vacation trip that I realized perhaps I prefer being called a Foodie and not a Food Snob.

We took off on a recent Sunday, drove up 280, thru SF and made it to Fortuna, CA in time for lunch at the Eel River Brewery. Their table menu credo stated that their objective is to cook all food to order and deliver it fresh and delicious to your table, and that if you are not satisfied bla bla bla... The beers were really good, Paul ordered the Triple X and many of the servers were wearing logo shirts that said Climaxxx and Drink Naked - I think they thought they were being risque.

Anyhow, the food was mediocre, basic fish and chips, standard issue sausage sandwich and sides, not bad pub fare, but no "wow" factor. My inner food snob was taking notes.

Next stop, Brookings Oregon - we checked in to the Best Western on the beach front, with jacuzzi tub and a view (of the Army Corps of Engineers dredging boat dumping sand) and settled in with all our stuff. Paul wanted pizza after the long day of driving and found a place right there in the harbor or another just up the road claiming to also be a brewery. The joint in the harbor specialized in pizza by the slice and we immediately dismissed that and headed to the brew parlor.

Excited to have a fresh pizza pie made to order, I asked for "pepperoni, wine salami, sausage, tomatoes, and roasted green chilies". Yeah! The fact that I said salami tripped up the order taker, as it's listed under "W" for "Wine Salami" as shown on the menu board, so that's my fault for shortening it (still, don't all pizza places have salami and call it such?).

Now, as you all know, a pizza takes no less than 20 minutes, usually more like 35 on average, and yes, we did wait for a bit on the bartender to get us beers...but still. I had drunk not more than a few sips of a pint and our order was up. Huh. Paul fetched our to-go box, brought it back to our table, we swigged a few more gulps then took our pie to go (we had a bottle of SeaSmoke waiting for us back at the BW). Before leaving I peeked in the box and was sadly disappointed with the pie but too hungry to fuss with it - there was pepperoni, and sausage, and salami, and even fresh tomatoes on top...the roasted green chilies however were instead chopped fresh bell pepper. (granted they are both green, but big difference between roasted and raw, me thinks).

The SeaSmoke was the highlight of dinner.

Next day took us back on the road for lunch and shopping in Florence, OR. Last year our lunch in Florence was it's own hilarious story of mishaps so we tried a different location even though the previous was clearly under new ownership and had tried to reinvent itself (really, I ordered hot tea but the server didn't notice that the water was cold...).

We started off for Mo's, they claim to be nationally famous for their clam chowder, and they looked interesting enough to try. The hostess thought it would be about 20 minutes for a table so we scooted across the street instead, no sense waiting when there are other choices. As we exited Mo's, Paul tells me, "I'm kind of glad we didn't eat there, it smells like fried ketchup".

Lunch across the street was good though I was disappointed that the old ladies that came in behind us ordered the last of the special crab melt - I settled for a shrimp melt and I can assure you that it was "just ok". The oyster shooters were huge, too huge to be considered a shooter but they were excellent, but then again, it's hard to screw up anything raw.

A quick trip through the ice cream parlor and off we went to our vacation rental in Newport. The Embarcadero claims to be a resort on Yaquina Bay in the historic waterfront district of Newport. We stayed there last year and liked the view and affordability of having our own fully equipped apartment for a week. I think they use the term "resort" loosely.

We found the Fred Meyer and Safeway in town and walked to the fishermans dock almost daily in search of fresh local seafood. Paul made us cioppino one night and I baked fresh bread to go with it.

On one of our ventures outside of Newport for the day, we ended up in Lincoln City and saw a sign to another Mo's (there are 5 or so in the area) and I had mentioned to Paul that I would definitely enjoy a bowl of clam chowder at least once on the trip. So he scouted out some other options, drove to the end of town and headed back -- side bar: drives me nuts when Paul does this, but he's a Libra and he has to know all of the options to weigh, it's what he does.

This Mo's is huge, compared to the one in Florence, at least it seems to be. It's late for lunchtime and they are busy but the hostess is able to get us a table immediately. Mo's is a large rectangle of a space, with gifty stuff in the front, kitchen in the middle of it all, and open seating much like a school cafeteria. They have Rogue beer on tap, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl for $7.95 and fried onion rings (we had already planned out our junk food lunch well in advance of being seated). And we sat, ever so patiently, for someone, anyone in all the hustle and bustle. Servers came and went to all the other tables...so Paul gets up, takes my hand and says come on, I saw another place just up the road.

We got in to Capn' Rons, they have 20 tables, it was comfortably quiet (no kids - mo's was crawling with the little critters) and our server brought our beer before we could even think about what to have for lunch. She did such a good job of upselling the large bowls of clam chowder and grilled bread to us that she forgot all about our fried onion rings, which was fine because we were both stuffed. I did have one silly comment though about Capn' Rons, our server brought the soup right away and apologized profusely for not having the bread yet "as it comes from the kitchen". Great, where did the chowder come from, the powder room? Just sayin'...

Mostly I'm just funnin' on folks and poking at differences between what I'm accustomed to. Nothing was horrible, and the people who served us have value and I certainly appreciated them all, even if they were "off" a little.

Paul on the other hand tried to kill us one night with flaming vegetables of death, but that's another story for another day.

Please enjoy the photos from Oregon, they are linked here: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/409682

I didn't put captions, they're mostly self explanatory.

Cheers,
Stefania

The Mission Statement

Vision Statements and Mission Statements have been so abused and misused over the last two decades that talking about them can invoke instant invocations of Dilbert cartoons.

I’ve worked at companies that have used them successfully (Acuson - Cybersource), used them poorly (Blue Martini) or had them not at all (CollabNet). I felt the effects were dramatic on day to day performance. At Cybersource the Mission Statement was clear: One billion billable transactions by 2008. At the time I joined it was also a BHAG goal. First no one was really tracking how many transaction we were doing, and when I figured out how to do that, we had a huge company party to celebrate our first month with 1 million.

But that goal affected every choice we made and every action we took. When a course of action was in front of us the question was always, “Will this help us get to one billion transactions.”? If the answer was yes, we did it, if no, we did not. Conflicts did come up, often the choice was “which of these two things helps us get to our goal better?” The point was we always had a guiding Mission we were trying to get to and that framed the conversations we had, our interactions with each other, and the choices we made.

I left Cybersource in January of 2000. I thought the company was loosing direction. It turned out I was wrong, it did loose focus for a little while, but the founder stepped back in when the dot com bust came, and refocused the company back on its Mission. Today Cybersource’s market cap is 1.2 billion dollars, and they made that one billion transaction goal.

When companies I worked at had poor, or no Mission, they struggled and it was often a toxic environment to work in. I felt first hand the effects of not having a guiding set of goals could have on an organization and individuals.

When I started Stefania Wine I thought it was key to define what our vision for the company was and what it’s Mission Statement would be. It wasn’t as easy as it might seem. The vision was out there, but needed to be defined. The Mission, that took a little thought. I finally arrived at a really simple one. And Mission Statements have to be simple. Apple had a great on in the early 1980’s: “Change the World”. Some other great historical ones have included:

Ford Motor Company (early 1900's)
"Ford will democratize the automobile"
Sony (early 1950's)
"Become the company most known for changing the worldwide poor-quality image of Japanese products"
Boeing (1950)
"Become the dominant player in commercial aircraft and bring the world into the jet age"

We are not out to conquer the world, or dominate the wine market, our vision is much more small scale than that. Our Mission Statement reflects that, and where we want to be in 10 years.

"Make Friends"

Every time there is a choice to be made, a direction to go, or an action to take, we refer back to that Mission. Does what we are doing make friends? If it does, do it, if it doesn't, do something else. For us the most important outcome of this great adventure, the ultimate place we want to be, includes a home filled with friends. We also hope people will share our wine, and make friends with it. That would be for us a great achievement. Not just us making friends, but our product helping others make friends.

So when there is a shipping problem, or a bad bottle, or a request for extra wine, a visit, or special request, we go do what it takes to make a new friend. It's not just being nice, it is the very key part of who we are, what we do, and what we are hoping to achieve.

Smoke and Fire.

Last night about 6:30 PM a dark cloud rolled over the Blossom Valley and turned the Sun bright red. It was smoke from another fire in Monterey County.

The Martin Road fire was called 40% contained last night, and Ice Cream Grade, Smith Grade and Pine Flat Roads where all reopened. It actually looks like from reports that the fire is not a threat to any more property now, and they are expecting to have it in 100% contained by Monday.

I'll send the crew to Coralitos early in the week though. We'll stay off of Ice Cream Grade and Pine Flat until the fire is 100% controlled, which will likely come on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Right now the work in the vineyards has slowed down, with the warm weather, spraying is not needed as often, and we'll focus on tucking vines into wires and clearing out laterals to insure good sun exposure. There's also a little weed removal to do under the rows. Hopefully the news the rest of the summer will not include any more fires.

Map Update on Fire

Cal Fire has just updated the effected area map.

It looks like the fire was stopped west at Quail Drive, about 3000 feet from the Llama vineyard. The wind would seem to be moving it South into the Canyon that cuts between Pine Flat Road and Felton Empire Road. That is very dense forest, with no roads or access. I'm not surprised that containment numbers are so low. In that canyon, there is nothing to do but let the fire burn until it reaches a road where it can be stopped.

It looks like it's moving towards Empire Grade, which is a fairly densly populated area. I would imagine that containment efforts largely run along Empire Grade, Quail Drive and Warren Drive right now.

Martin Road Fire

Map of Fire

The Llama Vineyard is on Country Estates, just off of Bonny Doon Rd, about 1/2 mile from the fire lines.

There is another small Chardonnay vineyard also on Country Estates which is closer to the fire. McHenry and Beauregard are both up Bonny Doon Road at the junction of Pine Flat and a little farther from the fire.

This is a very very rugged area with much denser forest that the Summit Road area fire. There are also more paved roads though and it should be easier for the fire crews to move around. THe weather is hot, but the wind is not strong. The area around Martin Road is actually pretty cleared at ground level, at least around Ice Cream Grade and it looks like the fire is moving away from the vineyards.

Cal Fire's link for information.

Pictures from the Crimson Vineyard

Featuring our Intern Rajiv!

























Daniel and Gerardo (Jerry), the veterans tucking and suckering.

Rows they've completed.

Look close, there's Rajiv!

We're expecting great fruit this year from this vineyard. It will replace Uvas Creek a year ahead of schedule.

Vintners Festival Recap

We made it through the weekend ok and generally had a real good time. This is really the only time the winery is open to the public all year so for many people it seemed an annual event. They'd been coming to Chaine d'Or for years.

We poured wine from the kitchen and set up a table with snacks. Every hour I did a brief over view of the vineyards and then led a barrel tasting in the cellar. People really seemed to enjoy the barrel tasting a great deal and I spent most of the time in the cellar answering questions.

I was sampling the 06 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon and the 07 version of the same wine. Both showed really well and there were lots of inquires asking if we would sell futures and when the bottled wine would be available.

The hardest part for me was being 'center stage' the entire weekend. Most of the time winery work is pretty isolated, even lonely. You are by yourself, with your own thoughts, focused on a task at hand. Events like this, I'm talking and answering questions the entire time, meeting and greeting and generally don't get a break. I worked hard to keep water in me to make sure I kept my voice.

I do enjoy that though. I like talking about wine and winemaking with people. I hope I bring some casualness to wine and make people feel more comfortable about asking questions and talking about what they like.

We sold a bit of wine, and had a good time. It was hard to set wine aside for this event. I knew it was on the calender and Anne and Jerry really wanted us to pour Stefania as well as Chaine d'Or, so we set aside 10 cases from the initial release. At first we had planned on setting aside 20 cases, but that proved impossible. Instead we just cancelled a number of other events that were on the calender and got the wine out to our mailing list customers. That's always a hard process to go through.

We had great help over the weekend. Of course Anne and Jerry were wonderful hosts, and Amber and Ingird manned the pouring and sales stations. Sunday Rajiv also came to help and poured as well. It was also nice to meet some of our mailing list customers who had read on here we'd be open. We'll open the winery again in the fall for Pick Up Day and hope to see some friends visiting us then as well.

Day One of the VIntners Festival

We're off in a few minutes for our first public event at Chaine d'Or. Anne and Jerry opened the winery every year for the Vintners Festival and wanted to do that again this year.

We're really not sure what to expect, and how many people might come by. We sent out postcards to everyone on the Chaine d'Or mailing list but didn't really do much in the way of advertising to our mailing list.

We'll largely be featuring Chaine d'Or wines, 04 Cabernet and 06 Chardonnay, but I held back some of our 06 Syrah for this event and a small amount of 06 Haut Tubee. We're really not sure at all how much is going to sell, and what we might have left after the weekend. It's likely to be a long day on my feet and talking with people so I'll try hard to keep water in me and not loose my voice.

I'll try and do an update tonight or tomorrow.

Cult of the Gopher

I've written before about the important role the Gopher plays in every winegrowers life. How it dominates our conversations and we keep counts of our 'kills'. If you check this picture I think you'll agree that the gopher has a long history. It's clear the giant animal in the center of the hunt is the dreaded Gopher.

Saturday night we were invited to an impromptu party with Tracy and Emory Epperson. We planted just over an acre of Cabernet Sauvignon for them this year on 20 acres of land that's been in Tracy's family for decades. It's a fantastic site in the Coyote Valley and Tracy and Emory should be producing some amazing grapes in a few years. They are talking about expanding the vineyard a little each year and eventually putting a winery on the site.

We had been calling this project 'butterfly', but Tracy and Emory are leaning to the name Sesson for the vineyard, which Stef and I both love.

We settled in for a few snacks and opened some wine and relaxed after a long day in the winery. Soon Emory was sharing with us his exciting news of the week. Not only had he killed his first gopher, and done it with the most honorable of gopher whacking tools, a shovel, but he'd also added two ground squirrels!



Emory had officially entered the world of 'Grapegrower'!

So how to celebrate?

Well with no forethought, or deliberate planning, we fell quickly into a 30,000 year old ritual. A huge roaring fire was built outside and stoked with long logs of wood. The fire roared into the night sky and Emory hung a small grill over the flames to roast a beautiful chunk of meat. Tri Tip, thankfully roasting your kill is NOT a tradition. We opened bottle after bottle of wine and toasted away the evening telling stories of past gopher hunts.





It's very primitive, but people still enjoy a roaring fire on a clear night, friends, food, wine and good stories. I think we should all try and capture that more often. Celebrate life's little triumphs with big parties. Celebrate the little things. Worship the Cult of the Gopher with a bottle of wine, an open fire, a chunk of non-gopher meat, and friends you love.

Ode to a Phone

I hate my cell phone. Well not just mine, it's not personal. I hate all cell phones. Phones in general in fact. As Miss Manner's has said; "The phone is the rudest invention ever."

One goal in life for me is to not have to have one. To me that's a sign of success. Really if you are very important, people just can't call you when ever they feel like it. Obama is not standing at the podium and going; " We're coming together because we believe in what...hold on, that's mine, just a second, yeah, no, the pancake mix is in the bottom drawer."

Phones are rude, and no invention in the history of mankind has transmitted more useless information to more people, wasting more time, than the phone. Once standing at the airport in the security line I heard this conversation; "I'm in the line at the airport, it's a long line."

I thought; "Who cares"? I'm in the line, and I don't care that I'm standing there. Who in the world would care that you are standing in line? Is their life so boring and pitiful that you standing in line at the airport is interesting? If it is, you should text them links to a park or a movie, or a good book, not update them on your line status.

So as part of my rebellion against this phone culture we live in I owned a phone that was at least 8 years old. It's main feature was that I could drop it and not care. No Mr Spock in the ear headsets, cameras, or Benny Lava video for me. And belt strap ons? I made Stefania pledge that if I ever strapped a six shooter phone to my belt, she should hit me in the back of the head with a shovel.

I had lots of little pledges like that. I made Jaye, our favorite bartender at Chevy's, pledge that if I ever sat at her bar and made her wait to take my order, she a live person in front of me, so I could talk to someone on the phone, she should pick up a fork and jam it into my forehead.

I loved that phone, because it was an outward symbol of hating phones. My sign to the world that I wasn't going to participate in that silliness. Some people have bumper stickers, I had a ratty old cell phone.

Well, it's dead now. Lost in the vineyard and presumed run over by the tractor. A fitting end. It was sacrificed to the gods of wine. It's terroir now, for ever more part of the 2008 vintage. Probably the finest contribution a phone has ever made to society in my opinion. We'll toast it tonight with a glass of wine. Actually we'd have the glass of wine no matter what, but any excuse works in a pinch.

I think I'll get one of those new iPhones :)

Oh yeah if you call the winery and I don't pick up, it's because I ran over the phone with a tractor. Give me a couple days to get a new one.

Winery Open This Weekend

The weekend is the annual Santa Cruz Mountains Vintner's Festival.

http://www.scmwa.com/VintnersFestival.htm

We'll have the winery at Chaine d'Or open for visitors.

http://www.chainedor.com/directions.html

The cost of the event is $30 in advance or $35 at the door, but we will not be charging our mailing list members or their guests for any activities at the winery. If you want to visit other wineries that are participating you'll need a ticket, but your stop at Chaine d'Or is free.

We'll be pouring the 2006 Chaine d'Or Chardonnay, 2004 Chaine d'Or Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 Stefania Haut Tubee, and 2006 Stefania Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah. In addition I'll be clearing out the very, very last 2005 Uvas Creek Cabernet Sauvignon for $45/bottle. There are only about 18 bottles left that I had held on to for restaurant reorders, but we're going to let those go.

There will be food and snacks for everyone and every hour I'll give a short 10 minute tour of the vineyard and talk about our farming practices and how they effect the final wine. We'll also have some of our 2006 and 2007 barrels available to taste. There is room for a picnic as well on the small hill by the crushpad. It can get chilly though so bring an extra layer if you plan on spending some time outside.

Racking the 07 Cabernets

We spent a long day yesterday racking our two Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignons.

Racking is the process of removing a wine from barrel, cleaning the barrel, then returning the wine back to barrel. We do this for three reasons. First it lets us get the 'gunk' out of the bottom of the barrel. The fine lees that have settled into the bottom of the barrel. These lees can develop amino acids called Mercaptans, that create off flavors, so best to remove them.

Second, and especially true with Cabernet Sauvignon, it's a chance to expose the wine to some oxygen. This helps with the softening of tannins, and makes the wine rounder and more enjoyable.

Finally, we use racking as an opportunity to make any sulfur additions that are needed. Sulfur acts as a preservative for wine and kills any bacteria. Some people add sulfur directly into the barrel, but this can cause problems. Sulfur doesn't really travel well, so if you add it to barrel, it tends to just sit in one place. By doing it when we rack we have a chance to stir it up and expose all the wine to it.

We had a rather complicated set of blending we were doing at the same time, and ended up using four tanks. The final result was seven barrels of Chaine d' Or Cabernet Sauvignon. Six barrels of Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon, which contains fruit from the Harvest Moon Vineyard, Elandrich Vineyard and Chaine d'Or Vineyard. That blend is also about 10% Merlot, which has added some really nice cherry notes. Finally we ended up with one barrel of Haut Tubee. We'll combine this with 1-2 barrels of Syrah we have at Big Basin later and end up bottling about 75 total cases of Haut Tubee for 2007.

Your Stefania Wine Order has NOT Shipped.

Sorry to everyone in New York, New Jersey and Michigan who received a message this morning that your order shipped. You probably thought, "Is he insane shipping on a Saturday?"

It's a software error at the shipping company. I sent those orders in weeks ago and they are processed and then lined up for shipment. They had a hold on them though as we were still waiting for label clearance from those states.

When the shipper removes the hold from the computer, the "Your Order Has Shipped" email goes out automatically. I complained about this last fall, and they told me they had fixed it, but it looks like the software glitch has remained.

Bottom line though is the boxes are still sitting in the climate controlled warehouse in Napa, waiting for pick up next week by Fed Ex.

Sorry for the confusion, I'll speak to the shipper about it again on Monday.

My Vineyard Notes

From 5/26

Woodruff Family Vineyard - Corralitos, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA

Needs suckering, the old Freedom rootstock is prone to throwing suckers. Mid flowering, overall excellent shape. Should yield 8-9 tons of very high quality Pinot Noir.

Llama Vineyard - Bonny Doon, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA

Needs water for 3-4 weeks, drip system has not been on at all and new plants have not had bud break. Turned on water system for owner. Needs a spraying and some suckering. Should yield 800 pounds or so if we net it, vineyard in very good shape.

Arastradero Vineyard - Los Altos Hills, San Francisco Bay AVA

Water needs to go OFF ASAP. Over vigor and throwing laterals from too much water. Needs thinning and a spray of Stylet oil. This was the only vineyard I'm not happy with, I didn't know they had the water on so much. Yields look small, the vines are putting all their energy into growth. Crew needs to spend 4-5 days fixing this vineyard.

Harrison Vineyard - Los Altos Hills, San Francisco Bay AVA

Looks awesome, plants are at wire and have recovered fully from the frost. Need to go out in 3-4 weeks and get the grow tubes off and start training the plants. I'll do this personally so that the it's done right as it's critical for future growth of the plants.

Elandrich Vineyard - Portola Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA

Overall looks good, with good potential yield. Some plants suffering from mites which a sulfur spray will get rid of but no long term damage to the plants or crop. Other plants show 2,4d damage, probably from a weed and feed applied around the vineyard in error. We'll have to watch after that and do some replacements. Bummer, but it happens in suburban vineyards with lots of neighbors and lots of gardeners in the area. Expect we'll get about 1500 pounds of fruit.

Crimsom Vineyard - Morgan Hill, Santa Clara Valley AVA

Vineyard looks great! Much higher yield than expected, in fact we'll have to drop fruit for sure. This looks like it will be the replacement for Uvas Creek we'll need. Very excited to have this come on line a year ahead of schedule, this could become a top site.

Sesson Vineyard - Coyote Valley, Santa Clara Valley AVA

Some frost damage, but most plants re-pushed, others unaffected. Time to mow between the rows. This vineyard looks great. Suspect we'll have very healthy plants here. It's nice to work in these vineyards we've installed rather than rehabs. No problems to correct.

Haut Tubee - San Jose, Santa Clara Valley AVA

Flowering finishing up, which makes sense. The home vineyard is like a little lab for the other vineyards, it's always 2 weeks ahead of the other locations. Clusters look large and loose with larger berries than last year, and a lower chance of bunch rot. Yields look lower, which should help the plants get riper flavors even though the berries are bigger. Things are looking pretty good so far.

Vineyards Tour, 5/26/08

We decided to take a mini-road trip on Memorial Day and visit all* of the vineyards we take care of.

We left San Jose at 9a.m. and dragged Kathy and Millie along with us.

The vineyard agenda was:

Woodruff Vineyard, Corralitos
Llama Vineyard, Bonny Doon
Arastradero Vineyard, Los Altos Hills
Harrison Vineyard, Los Altos Hills
Private Consultation site, no photos - also Los Altos Hills
Elandrich Vineyard, Portola Valley
*Chaine d'Or in Woodside would have been here on the tour, but we skipped it
Crimson Clover Vineyard, Morgan Hill
Sessen Vineyard, Coyote Valley
Haut Tubee (home), San Jose

Photos are uploaded here: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/388768

Given that the Summit Road Fire was at 80% containment yesterday, we noted several groups of fire trucks headed home, thank goodness for that. We passed the "road closed" signage and the Red Cross station at the center of town in Corralitos (where much of the filmed news reports were taking place over the last several days) and only one remaining tv crew truck was on site.
Several of the houses, fences, gates, had home made signs thanking Cal Fire and the firemen who came to their aid.

We walked through the vines, saw Pete on the tractor mowing the grass between rows and snapped some photos before heading back over the hill part way to Bonny Doon. A quick tour through that vineyard and a few extra moments chatting with the owner about the watering schedule for the new plants and we were in Scotts Valley for a noon time snack. Yep, 3 hours, only 2 sites so far.

Heading north on 85 to 280 we chatted about Kathy and Millies trip to Washington DC and dining at Fogo de Chao, good eats.

Paul and I walked to the top of the Arastradero site, vertical stairs (!) and were amazed by how much vigor there was - it was like a jungle between the rows. Next stop was the new vineyard that Paul and Millie installed last summer and though we saw frost damage a month ago, the vines have all recovered and sent long healthy shoots.

A quick drive up the next hillside and Paul stopped in for a private consultation for a guy growing ~100 assorted vines that he is determined to get fruit from this year (past problems with powdery mildew have left him with no fruit for several seasons). I took no photos at this site but did see a jack rabbit that took off before I could get the camera ready.

Next stop, Elandrich in Portola Valley. This site was a major re-hab project when we took it on and we are smitten with the results. There is still some unknown pest though on a handful of the plants so I took several photos of that to see if we can find someone who can tell us what it is and what we should do, if anything. The zinfandel was doing great, the Merlot was happy, and all of the usual trouble spots were still troubling though still doing so much better than our first visit to the site.

At 2:30 we were back on 280 to 85 to 101 south. More fire trucks on the road headed home, I tried to get mobile photos from the car, but again, by the time the camera was on and ready, they were well past us - caravans of 5 to 7 fire trucks at a time.

The homeowner at the Crimson Clover vineyard in Morgan Hill was on his riding mower and cleaning up between the rows when we got there. The cover crop between rows here is Crimson Clover, which is gorgeous when it's in full bloom and lush green with bright red tops, but by now, it's dry and done and though the rows don't really need to be mowed it sure does look better when it's done. A blue jay kept flying through the site while we were there so we addressed that issue with the owner since there will be tons of fruit to harvest (thus requiring netting to keep out the birds) this year.

Almost done.

Our last stop was in Coyote Valley, also a Morgan Hill address, but further north on the outskirts of San Jose is the Sessen Vineyard (though I'm not certain yet if that's what they plan to call it or if I'm even spelling it correctly). This site is an installation we just planted a month ago. The little vines are looking great though you have to search for them in the tall grass and clover (yep, we put in the same crimson clover here too). We'll get the site mowed soon and do some weed control under the rows, as well as get the wires installed. No real urgency just yet on the wires as the plants are barely 6" off the ground.

It was just around 5 p.m. when we pulled in to the driveway at home, a full day with a short lunch break and market stop for rib eyes.

Kathy and Millie stayed over for dinner; fresh bread, baked potatoes, chard, and rib eyes. We opened a Belle Pente Rose to refresh ourselves with snacks while the food cooked, then Paul opened a couple of Bordeaux's to have with dinner (a '98 and '01 Calon Segur).

The road trip was just about 190 miles...billable under vineyard management.

I was glad to take the day and see all each of the sites in one shot, it gave us all a full glance into what each vineyard is up to right now. Most are in full bloom and showing great fruit set, all look spectacular. Our guys are working hard for us and it shows.

Tuesday Fire Update

Yesterday we drove over to Corralitos as part of visits to every vineyard we manage (more on that 8 hour 190 mile trip later). Things were calm and the town square was mostly empty. Home made 'Thank You Firefighters' signs were up everywhere.

We saw lots of fire crews on the roads, either headed home (North), or to Uvas Canyon (South). There was a real good sense that the Corralitos area is safe and returning to normal. It looked like there were two active areas of the fire from the smoke we could see, and that it had moved back to 5-6 miles from the Hazell Dell Road, Browns Valley Road junction.

The CDF is reporting more than 70% containment now anf that 100% containment should happen tonight.

60% contained

The CDF is now reporting that the fire is 60% contained. It looks like a succesful stand was made at Redwood Road and Hazell Dell Road at the south edge of the fire and that area is no longer in danger. Windy Oaks has reported that they've been told they are no longer in danger.

The fire looks like it has been held at the northern edge of Uvas Canyon as well. There's an access road to the summit, that's one of the hardest hikes in the Bay Area, and a claring near the top of the canyon, and it appears crews have stopped the fire there. Keeping the fire out of the canyon would have been a priority.

Once a fire gets into a canyon in California it becomes critical. Canyons become wind funnels and push flames up the sides and out, spreading the fire as flames race up the sides. There was an advatage in this fire as the fire was entering the canyon from the top, and not the bottom, making it easier to stop.

It looks like the fire has been stopped in the critical areas near housing and crews will now work to contain it in the more wild areas.

Fire shift.

Just caught up on reports of the fire and it's mostly positive news. The weather has been cool, and the winds down the last two days. It looks like the crews were able to stop the fire at the junction of Hazell Dell Road and Browns Valley Road.

The Woodruff's look to be out of any danger now. We're planning on trying a visit tomorrow to see the vineyard, but suspect we won't be able to get past the fire lines. I'll send off a note today to Pete and Barbara to see how they are.

Reed's Vineyard also seems out of danger now, and there's no chance of the fire moving down Redwood Retreat Road and getting close to Martin Ranch or Fernwood Cellars.

The bad news is that it has moved into Uvas Canyon Park. The area just east of the park is more populated than the areas the fire has been burning in so far, and the construction is much older, which means very poor fire clearance and breaks. Almost all the housing in the area is build right into the forest.

Some good pictures of the density of the forest in the area are at :

http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/3Dbayarea/html/UvasCanyon.htm

For a referance point on where the fire is to us, check out our lable. The view from the label is the view from our backyard. The fire is burning right behind the twin peaks you see on the left side of the label.

Latest Posting with Updates

We're fine. Working the day jobs as normal today. Herardo was scheduled to work in the Woodruff Family Vineyard today, but I sent him to the Harrison Vineyard and Elandrich vineyard in Los Altos instead.

We could see Reed's vineyard and home in the TV coverage last night. We consulted there and helped him put in the vineyard. He hasn't called me, but I'm sure he evacuated. IF you check out this map:

map

He is located right where the color of the vegitation changes on Summit Road, south of the fire. There's a cluster of houses there, with a good cleared fire area, so it's likely that if the fire does reach that area it will be defended hard and they should be able to save the houses. The vineyard is organic, so all metal, but the plants could be lost. The big risk I think is that they've probably already drained his tanks so there's no water left for the vineyard.

I just spoke with Barbara Woodruff. The are located on Brown's Valley Road, just south of Avocado Road. If you check the map there you can see the terraced vineyard. It's also an area that can be defended well. They have the tractor out now incase they need to help cut a fire line. They have heard a rumor that they are in an evacuation area, but they are going to stay. They can see the smoke on Redwood Road, and the helicopter activity, it looks to them to be about a mile away now. Barbara said it looks like they are changing out the fire crews as there have been trucks on the road for the last 20 minutes.

She seemed fine and we spent more time talking about who I'd sell the grapes too this year than the fire.

Windy Oaks actually looks to be a bit closer at this point. If you follow the junction where Brown's Valley Road turns into Hazel Dell Road, and follow that, Windy Oaks is at Hazel Dell and Sweetwood. I got the email from Judy yesterday as well that they were fine. I suspect she's just not wanting to answer the phone so hopefully they'll send out an update today. They are in a bit more rugged and wooded area than the Woodruff's with less open farm land around, so a slight higher risk.

The weather is cooperating though and winds are down, so keep all fingers crossed.

Fire Update

The winds are calmer this morning and blowing north and west. The fog came in last night, and news this morning was that the fire is 40% contained.

It looks like Reed's vineyard and home are ok from the maps we've seen, but I still have not heard from him.

I'll call the Woodruffs this morning to see how they are doing. The fire was about 1 1/2 from the vineyard there. A close call and a reminder how dangerous the mountains can be. I worry all the time driving through places like Ben Lomand, or Redwood Estates, just how bad a fire would be in one of the more populated pockets of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

It looks like this one's impact will be relatively small. The weather cooperated and the area of the fire is very sparsely populated.

Reed's Vineyard

Stef and I both just spotted Reed's house and vineyard in the coverage.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/feature?section=news&id=6158710

http://www.stefaniawine.com/winesvineyards/vineyards.html

It looks like the fire is 200-300 yards away. The house looked empty. The fire crews will not try and save the vineyard it won't be a priority. At the current time they are saying it is zero contained and they are focusing on evacuations and protecting homes in immediate danger.

Fire Update

Please see Dave Tong's Blog for the latest news on the fire.

It is very close to several projects we've consulted on and about 3 miles from the Woodruff Family Vineyard. Ash is falling in the vineyard there. I've spoken with Pete and Barbara today and they are ok at the moment.

We know this area very well and the rugged roads are one reason we have the 4wd Toyota FJ Crusier as our vineyard car.

Brown Valley Road is closed and I was going to send the crew there tomorrow to spray at the Woodruff's but that of course is off now.

And The Respite

I keep a journal that I call the 'Work Order Book'. It contains the plan and schedules for all nine vineyards we have under our full time management. (I don't include the Haut Tubee vineyard, or the 20 plants at the local church we take care of.)

Each vineyard has a list of tasks, the dates they should be done by, how long it should take, any equipment or training needed, and any conditions that should be met. For instance it says, "don't spray Sulfur if the temps are over 90 degrees'.

Millie, Gerardo, and I each have a copy, and I keep it updated on a monthly basis. I mark off tasks as they are done, and insert maps, instructions, or notes that the crew will need. The Haut Tubee vineyard has actually turned into a training ground. Since everything happens in that vineyard a week or two before the others, I'm able to have the crew come over and we go over the upcoming tasks in detail.

We even let the roses get powdery mildew this year on purpose so that the crew could see it in all its stages and know what to look for in the vineyards. We've sprayed the roses now though, don't want to miss out on Spring roses totally.

Monday I updated the Work Order Books, and guess what? We are totally caught up and on schedule. In each vineyard the plants have begun to flower, so now we just leave them alone and try not to disturb them at all.

There's work to do in the winery, but for the next two weeks, it's time for a break in the vineyards!

Our web 2.0 Adventures

About 4 weeks ago I signed up on myspace. Stef had signed up because her brother Hans had signed up and sent her a note. So I thought I'd sign up too. What a pain in the ass the site was. After fighting with the set up process for 45 minutes, then spending 15 minutes figuring out how to get this Tom guy off my friends list I sent Stef a note:

"I'm on myspace now, you can make me your friend."

to which she replied:

"I'm on facebook dumbass."

:)

So off to facebook a went. That was a marginally less stupid sign up and set up process and there was a feature to actually find people I already know who were on facebook. So I sent notes off to about a dozen people and had about a dozen people add me in. Stef even posted on my 'board':

"Facebook = Lamebook".

Feeling the web 2.0 love.

But I gave it a try and I think I've learned I am squarely in the generation that this stuff is not meant for.

I've still got those 10-12 people linked on facebook, but I find the site about as compelling as Miracle Whip. I've got no reason to go there or use it, and it doesn't really beat actually talking to those 10-12 people. I'd rather invite them over, open a bottle of wine and catch up with them, than read what they did today on line.

Myspace, well that's 'Lameface'. I'm proud to be friendless. Not that I don't get offers every few days from 'Rachel', or 'Lisa", to come be their friends and look at the naughty pictures they took, but I really didn't need another way for SPAM to reach me. I do take a certain joy though in marking those invites as SPAM. It always amazes me that their 'profiles' have notes from 10-15 guys who added them as friends with such witty commentary as 'Yo baby, thanks for lookin me up'. Which brings me back to the Miracle Whip commentary as in, "these guys are dumber than Miracle Whip."

So, you can send me an add request. I might get to it. You might even be the first myspace person to not be a porn site, but I'd still rather invite you over for a bottle of wine.

Shipping and Inventory Update

Time for a quick update on shipping.

We've released all orders for shipment. Everything is now either delivered, on its way, or holding at the shipment warehouse waiting for some state requirement and will ship as soon as the state in question approves it. Only one exception and that is a single order to Missouri, which will go out Monday.

Here is the breakdown on holds:
New York, New Jersey and Michigan: All pending state label approval. This should happen no later than 6/1 and the wines will release from the warehouse as soon as the label is approved.

Florida and Virginia: The Syrah label has been approved, the Haut Tubee has not. If your order included just Syrah, it's shipped. If it included both wines, it's pending still, also until 6/1.

We still have wine left if you have an order form you've been holding on to. Not a ton, just about 5 cases we can still release.

Highlights

Last night was one of the highlights of the winemaking job.

Our friends parents were visiting from Canada and requested a winery tour, so we overlapped them with a winery appointment for a couple visiting from New York. What would have been a routine evening after work ended up being a very special night for us.

We greeted our six guests, toured the vineyard site and winery, and opened four bottles of wine to taste through. Paul opened the Chaine d'Or Chardonnay, Stefania Syrah, Haut Tubee, and Uvas Creek Cabernet. In addition to the bottled wines, Paul pulled several barrel samples for everyone.

Paul entertained the couple from New York while I answered questions and visited with our friends and their parents. For two hours we talked about the weather, grape varieties, childhood memories of rolling hills and prairies, back yards with grape vines, processing, bottling, labeling, art, music, alcoholism, social eating, aromas in wine, anything and everything.

We sent two partial bottles home with the parents, dropped off the opened Haut Tubee bottle with Jerry to drink since he had not tried it yet, and took the leftover Chardonnay with us to sushi.

Figuring it might be tough to get a spot at the sushi bar, our back up plan was to call and order a pizza. As luck would have it, there were several seats at our favorite sushi house; Tomo Sushi.

We brought in a bottle of Haut Tubee for Jun, the chef. He opened it right away and poured for the nine of us sitting there and we also passed around the last of the Chardonnay. The party was on a roll and we were loud and boisterous having a great time. Paul pulled another bottle from the car and some business cards for the folks that wanted to know where they could buy our wine.

It was so much fun meeting our neighbors and talking about growing up in the valley, and hearing their memories of the landscape before high tech took over and the population growth. We must have been there for nearly 3 hours carrying on, eating, drinking, laughing. An evening of much conviviality and joy.

I've blogged before about the coming together of mixed people and having the differences of lifestyles, opinions, backgrounds, political and/or religious views, all mesh over good food and good wine, and in this case some sake, and beer too.


Cheers,
Stefania

Las Vegas "Trade Show" and '06 Syrah notes

By "Trade Show" I mean we had a table at Rock N Roll wine www.rnrwine.com at the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson. What an awesome venue, what an awesome party.

Initially we talked about what we were going to do with the leftover wine...since neither of us really wanted to pack it up and check it on the flight home. Hah! The event was scheduled for 3 hours, from 7-10pm, and we ran out of wine just after 9. Four cases in two hours, and since the cups were small we were giving little pours, ~2 ounces or less. (I'll admit giving smaller pours to anyone on a cellphone jabbing their glass in my general direction).

Speaking of the "stemware", we did a taste test at the end of the night.

We got down to our last bottle, and put our table sign face down with people still lined up for more wine. We apologized for running out and someone pointed to the bottle in Pauls hand. Sorry guys, this is for us...and we headed to a quiet spot by the pool.

My plastic "stem" sprung a leak, as many others had thru the night, and Paul fetched me a replacement - a clear plastic water cup, no stem. Hm.

One thing I noticed with the goblet was that it didn't matter how much you tried to swirl and sniff, there was no aroma present, the goblet was so wide and flat on the bottom that it killed whatever nose you would expect. Then I poured the remaining wine from the leaker into the water glass and was pleasantly surprised, the nose returned! Ok, it was still a plastic cup, but at least I could smell the wine in it.

For those of you thinking you might like to hit an event like this, the VIP section of the party included a Riedel "O" glass, which I would say is well worth the price of admission based on our experience of leaking plastic goblets.

We poured the 2006 Haut Tubee (a cab. blend $20 retail) and the 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah ($35 retail).

I've been enjoying the Syrah a lot but worried that it's so different from the average Syrah. It's bright and crisp, and has a palate cleansing acidity that lends it self well to spicy foods and solid cheeses. The nose is very floral (in the right glass) and clean.

Last night for dinner, Paul braised lamb shanks and simmered them with rough chopped carrots, celery, and potato. I made goat cheddar and herb muffins to dunk in the stew.

He opened a 2001 Cote-Rotie and poured a glass while he cooked. I wasn't ready for wine yet, but sipped from his glass and asked if we could open one more bottle for comparison. Since he almost never tells me "no", he asked what it was that I wanted.

For a side-by-side comparison I had him open the 2006 Stefania Syrah. The nose on our syrah was prettier, the CR was smoky and saltier. Both were crisp, both were savory with the stew, and both opened up over the course of the meal getting denser and fuller. We went back and forth between bites and sips and ended up finishing with the Stefania wine.

At least the wine finished better than the Sharks, what a disappointment that was....


Cheers,
Stefania

Chicago Trip Summary

40th Floor Condo Overlooking River : The view, the view, the view!!!
Deep Dish Pizza : Something I look forward to each trip
Fox & Obel Market : Most expensive dinner "at home"
Blue Man Group : A Must See, great venue
The Bean : Because it's cool
Chicago Art Institute : Winslow Homer & Edward Hopper exhibits
Tulips : Prettiest sign of spring in the city
Museum of Contemporary Art : Inspiring
Lightning Storm as seen from the 40th Floor : OMG Fantastically Awesome!!!
Dinner with Friends : Good Wine, Good Food, Good Party, Great Friends

Best part about coming home :






The Rose Garden & Haut Tubee Vines :