Monday, June 6, 2011

Please Mr. Sunshine, come out and play!

Oh my. All these years and only now have I learned what weeds really are all about.  Bought a riding mower and have made additional arrangements after the weeds grew 2.5 feet in two weeks.  Rain, rain, and more rain.  Despite all the heavy rainfall, the vines are looking promising, with better budding than any other vines we have been seeing.  No evident damage from the November freeze.  Wish it had not hit so many so hard.  Too many dead vines with no foliage at all.

A very nice time with Steve and Kate.  Great company.  Delightful food and wine.  First time tasting Adamant wines and quite liked these...full flavors front to back with long finishes.  Must try more!  Liked the Beresan semillon, too.  Tried Stevenson Cellars and enjoyed his focus on high acids and piercing flavors.  Ran into mediocrity at several spots, but nothing offensive.

We had a few moments of nice sunshine then zoomed back to Seattle to pick up my folks and sister for Shane and Connor's graduation at UW.  Still getting used to having two graduates, both gainfully employed and on their way.  Connor has been coming out to Grape Hill with friends and "gets it".  Hoping that Shane will spend time on the farm this summer so he has some attachments set before moving to Minneapolis to start his job.  He will be missed!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Shane and Connor Blends ready to bottle.

Oh my! The fruits of eight years are coming together in the glass.  I had thought that the Liliana would be the top wine from our first really complete year on five year old vines (100% cabernet from a multi-yeast small lot blended back together after fermentation).  Not so sure now. Everything is tightly-would and adolescent at best, yet the blends are pretty dazzling.  Shane is 67% cabernet and 33% syrah.  Connor is 60% syrah and 40% cabernet. All the fruit is from Little Vineyard.  After about three hours on air, each started showing beautiful elements.  Reminded me of some of the blends from Bunnell Family Vineyard in Prosser, which I had not expected.  Dense, intense wines with tons of body.  The fruit is as good as it gets.  Bottling this week! 

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

High Activity Ahead

May is booked, and weekends are getting booked up fairly quickly across the last week...some going out as far as November.  Sue and I nabbed Balloon Weekend, of course.  We need to sit down to figure out our own times during the summer heat, plus we are thinking to add a harvest celebration to compliment our regular May get-togethers.  Thinking about how much fun it will be to bring in grapes, crush, and then have a really fun evening meal after everybody gets silly.  Maybe we will all take turns getting cleaned up in the outdoor shower.  That sounds so banal "outdoor shower"...he, she , it, deserves a name!  Little Vineyard, Big Table, how about Wet Vistas?  Have to think about that one...afraid that it might turn up in some pretty weird places if I were to Google that one!

Getting ready for blending the '09s. The cabernets are flat out wonderful.  I don't have a full handle on the syrahs...that gamey, barnyard, bacon thing is more than I can get my mind around.  Do I celebrate it by leaving well-enough alone?  Do I tamp it down with some of the brighter flavors from the Brunello-yeasted free-run cab?  So many decisions!


 It really is a joy to look forward to serving Bogin wines during this year's Grape Hill celebrations.