Latest Update…
It surely has been a while since my last blog, and I have no one to blame but myself. It seems that I am a loyal member of the Procrastinators Club of America. I was going to attend this years meeting, but just didn’t find the time!
In all fairness, I guess I have been a little busy watching the time go by. I feel like we just ended harvest and it is slowly creeping up on us again. From what I can tell so far the growing season has been perfect (cross your fingers).
In the winery, we finished bottling in March and have been slowly releasing the 07’s. The Fess Parker, Smoke & Mirrors and the return of The Impostor have been a lot of fun to taste so soon after bottling and the fact these wines are bottled in our new package makes it even more exciting. We also just released our one of a kind: Trials and Tribulations. A dessert wine made with grapes dried on trays, until the sugars reached 44-48 brix. It took 2 years to ferment, before it finally stopped. We ended up with only 10 ½ cases out a ½ ton of fruit, so as you can guess, this wine is very limited and extraordinarily special.
As harvest approaches, certain decisions will need to be made concerning the bottling of the white wines. As Dan and I monitor The First Date components, we have come to the conclusion that the wine needs a few months in barrel and will be bottled in February, instead of July. We believe this will give some extra length and mid-palate richness. We have now realize that the cement egg has added an extra layer to the wine and we really want to take advantage of this as long as we can as we age 150 gallons of Roussanne in it.
Talking about cement eggs! We have answered the age old question, what came first The Egg or The Hippo, and yes The Egg did come first. This question is not as popular as what came first the chicken or the egg, or why did the chicken cross the road, but never mind all that. The Hippo is another cement vessel we are bringing to ferment and age our red wines in. I believe our delivery date is just two weeks away and we are all excited as we wait patiently.
Last, but not least, I am going on a sales trip to Washington D.C., Maryland…my home state…blue claw crabs, Yummy! and on to New York…bagels and pizza! Then I fly to Orlando for a little work and some good times with my family at Disney World. As the saying goes, all work and no play will make my hair even grayer.
Have Fun,
Jeff
