I spent the better part of  last week working in the Toronto market. Because the sale of wine and spirits is controlled by the Provincial government it is a very involved procedure. That said, Malcolm Cocks, our representative there,  and I had a very productive sales effort over the four days we worked together.

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Sales trip to Toronto

One of the really fun times of the year is when we get all the barrels down, get a 375 ml sample bottle of each wine, taste through all of them and then start to blend.

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Blending the 2008 Vintage

After successfully irrigating Sat am. I set the timer to irrigate another block that evening. While checking for any major leaks I noticed that not only were there no leaks but there was no irrigation taking place

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The Worry of the well

Went up to visit a new vineyard from whom we are sourcing Grenache for our 2009 Rendition and Viognier for the 2009 Prelude, our white Rhone blend. The vineyard, owned by Ken Riding,  is located on Adelaide Road close to Halter Ranch.

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How far off is harvest?

We are really enjoying some nice weather with early morning fog and temps in the low nineties. This enables us to cut back on our irrigation and conserve water for later in the year. We have our three new (used) stainless tanks ready to move into the barrel room in preparation for trial blending our ’08 wines in a few weeks. We will spend a day moving the barrels out, topping them all up  and checking the SO2 levels before moving the tanks in and replacing the barrels

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A Week of good weather

We’re just beginning to see veraison in some blocks of  the vineyard so from now on the focus will be on maintaing sufficient water to the vines. Due to the hilly nature of the vineyard we have closed the irrigation valves for the vines on the lower hillsides and will more heavily water the vines on top

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Vineyard activity

A winemaker dinner created by our winemaker for the holidays The launch of our limited-production wine program in June 2007 set the stage for the creation of several intriguing food and wine combinations. Produced in small lots, the wines are featured in our Saratoga tasting room, but many are available via our virtual storefront for all to enjoy at the dinner table.

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2008 Holiday Food and Wine Pairing