Well, nature continues to move ahead with her project at a much faster pace than we seem to. I’m sure that just like a great wine, it will all be worth the wait! As you can see, the crop has “set” and crop loads appear to be somewhat lighter than average in some varieties. Despite this, our crews are very busy this time of year. Shoot thinning has been done and now they are “fruit thinning”. This means they remove part of the immature bunches to improve the quality of the rest. From here on out the season always seems to fly by. The grapes will quickly size and then begin to color (veraison). Before we know it, harvest will be here again!

In case anyone is concerned that I haven’t mentioned the wine…..no worries! It’s being taken very good care of too. The 06’s and 07’s have recently been racked and are now resting snuggly in their French and American Oak barrels! Our winemaker, Chad Joseph, was especially impressed with the’07 Old Vine Zinfandel from Lizzie James Vineyard. Can’t wait to see what another year of barrel aging will do for it. While the wine has been “resting”, we have not been. We have our first bottling date set for July 12th so we have been busy finalizing labels, corks, capsules and glass. There are so many pieces to put together and learn this first time around. For instance, “how many holes do you want in your capsule?” What?….. The answer, after checking with the bottler is…..2 to allow for easier application on the bottling line. Who knew?! It’s all very exciting though. Finally, in about 1 month we will have product in the bottle. And even more exciting……it should be ready for consumption a couple of months after that! The pieces are all beginning to come together for the beginning of something wonderful. A new tradition of love, laughter, family and wine. Cheers!