Old Vine Carignane Harvested...

Last Saturday, with Photo Bob our favorite photographer and transportation director, we fetched and processed a wonderful load of Old Vine Carignane - making this our third vintage from the beautiful Evangelho Vineyard.

Compared to 2008, our journey was relatively smooth - we made good time, the weather was mild, and we arrived safely home to find plenty of help to move the fruit through the crush.

We started this year's journey at 11:30 Friday evening, but we had done some pre-planning in the weeks prior. We made new lids and had lining for the bins, and we were much better prepared for transportation issues. This planning helped keep the fruit cool, arriving at 66 degrees after a long day traveling in the sunshine.

We arrived in Contra Costa at 4:30am in time for a quick bite at Denny's and arrived at the vineyard before the pickers. As the Sun came up over this 120 year old vineyard, our bins were getting full. We worked to find the ideal spots within the vineyard and by 9:30 we had loaded the bins and we were back on the road.

Today, the Old Vine Cariginane is beginning to ferment in small bins inside our cool winery. Everything has gone perfectly for this wine so far, we look forward to another killer wine from this old vineyard.

2009 Toucan Wines tucked away in barrels...

It's been a weird growing year - first the continuing draught and then just when we thought everything might be lost to heat, the weather and the fruit cooperated and turned out a lovely crop. Further, the weather then turned cold at night slowing down harvest (just a little) and definitely helping by cooling down the winery at night. As our harvest was coming to a natural end, the gift of 5.5 inches of rain put any hope for a second crop harvest to bed.

Overall our estate vineyard yield was down but the quality was there and that's what really counts. We sincerely thank all our friends, volunteers, family and supporters for all the help this year - another year where your help really counted!!

As you can see in this picture, the recent rain has already turned the vineyard green (at least for now).

Shipping Wine Again and Harvest Begins...

We’re back to shipping wine this week – the weather is cool and that means we’re shipping any outstanding orders and new orders received today and tomorrow morning – feel free to call me at the winery for available wines and visit the website http://www.toucanwines.com/order.htm

Yesterday we harvested the Estate Petite Sirah, our first crush of the season. The Estate Zinfandel is still a couple of weeks away from harvest - and were looking forward to a warming trend starting later this week. Thanks to all our volunteers who helped out this weekend!

August Newsletter

Here is our August newsletter for those not on our email list. We are announcing the Toucanet Release Party October 10th at Lund's in the Village of Arroyo Grande, specials, and other news. Find us on Facebook and of course please check in on our website to view special deals or new releases.

The weather has been colder than I'd hope for this summer, but a heat wave is coming later this week. I'm thinking late September for the first grapes from our state vineyard. We've been focused on getting ready for harvest, but we still have some work to do in the winery racking our 08' wines. I'm feeling good after knee surgery and getting stronger every day.

Another Toucan Harvest Complete

With some good help this weekend we finished picking the last of our estate vineyard. The last bin of grapes turned out super sweet and with dark color.

It always feels good to have the harvest behind us, now we'll remove nets and give the vineyard a needed drink. After this last batch of wine is barreled down, we'll start a few fall projects on the farm.

2008 Vintage Images

Here's the 2008 Vintage Images movie, thanks to all our volunteers this season for all your hard work, doing a great job, and then coming back for more!

Wrapping up for the season

The process or art of wine making, at least the initial and critical stages, are wrapping up for us at Toucan Wines for another season.

A final pressing tomorrow and one more harvest of second crop later this fall will be the last effort for the year. We'll move to racking, bottling, cleaning and storing away the equipment we only use during harvest. In the vineyard we're waiting for second crop and then we'll remove the nets and again wait for the right time to begin pruning.

We enjoyed a brief rain yesterday and now a little wind mixed with pleasant sunshine is making for a perfect Sunday afternoon. Warm days are in the forecast as we move into the most beautiful time of year on the central coast of California.

September: Harvest Time

Harvest season is here and the picking has started all over the central coast. Our weather has been perfect for ripening grapes over the last week. We're dry and very warm and the fruit is nearly ready for harvest.

We're working on the last minute prep as harvest is nearly here. Terrie is recoating the press with a food grade epoxy, I tore apart the destemmer and cleaned it top to bottom, all the bins, and tools have been cleaned. The new barrels, yeasts, nutrients are all here waiting and I think we're ready to go.

Yesterday the rails for our barrel hoist system arrived and today we'll power spray those and paint them before installation. This hoist will enable a three barrel height in our barrel room - necessary as we leave our wines longer in barrel.

This time of year is perfect for celebrating harvest and the long year of work in the vineyard. This photo taken by a guest while I talk with our dinner guests about the vineyard and it's progress. Above, the netted vineyard stands out over the back drop of our home. Thanks Morley for the pictures.

Overall the vineyard looks good and the crop is developing nicely. Harvest will be the key, we'll work through the vineyard with several passes to capture only the ripest fruit.

Weird weather, harvest begins on the Central Coast...

I'm on break from shuffling case goods around to make room for more barrels in the barrel room.

The weird weather, over the past couple of weeks, has brought humid days and even a little rain. It's started to feel like fall (and we're still in August), cooler nights and morning fog are the norm these past several nights. The long warm days never materialized with the exception of the two seasonal heat waves. The days have been warm but not hot - just very pleasant. This will extend the growing season and pay us back with high quality.

Our harvest is still on track for late September and October, but earlier this week Edna Valley began harvesting Pinot Noir and later this week Zinfandel will be harvested in Paso Robles.

Harvest 2007 Video

I'm adding back a few links that were on our previous site.
I you missed viewing our Harvest 2007 Video
well, check it out!