Early September in the Vineyard and Winery...

Having survived the heat wave of late August, we're waiting for the Estate Zinfandel and Petite Sirah to come into full ripeness. We might be able to harvest a small quantity this weekend and then wait and see.

Last Friday, Terrie helped me rack the 08' wines and I must say they are very special - a vintage worth waiting for.

The first of the 08' wines to release will be 150 cases of the "Old Vine" Evangelho Vineyard Carignane - which I hope make available during the upcoming winter holidays. We'll be able to offer, from the 08' vintage, a typical sized offering of Estate Zinfandel - blending with 11% Estate Petite Sirah and currently resting in 80% new French and Hungarian oak barrels. I expect this wine to release in early 2011; And for our Petite Sirah lovers, a mere 24 cases of 08' Petite Sirah will be available, very similar in style to our 2006, the 08' Estate Petite Sirah will sure to please. Also from the 08' vintage, we'll bring back the Toucan Cuvee, up to 50 cases of the Toucan Cuvee will find it's way to our customers in 2010.

The Vineyard's Ready for Summer

We made our third pass through the vineyard and finished this weekend. We finished thinning some rather heavy growth for this time of year and tying the last of the loose vines. I've done the second to last mowing for the year, weed-whacked the roadway, and now we're set for summer. The weather has been alarmingly mild, but a heat wave is approaching, as a result the vines have really taken off with the milder weather.

Our next vineyard work will be one last pass to clear any over-growth obstructing the output from our sprayer and to determine if second crop should be removed. We'll also hoe the vineyard one last time before netting.

The wines are selling well and by the way - our 2006 Toucan Cuvee is drinking beautifully. If you haven't got yours, consider stocking up before it's gone. We only made 128 cases.

2006 Toucan Cuvee Released

4/1/08 -- 2006 Toucan Cuvee is now available - at $24/bottle a great value!

Our 2006 Toucan Cuvee is a beautifully balanced blend of 55% Estate Zinfandel and 9% Estate Petite Sirah, plus 36% of Old Vine Carignane from the Evangelho Vineyard.

Both our estate Zinfandel and estate Petite Sirah wines spent the year in mostly new French, Hungarian, and American barrels before blending. Our 2006 Carignane made from rare old-vine Carignane grapes grown in Contra Costa County also spend a year in fine oak barrels.

To compile this blend, I selected three barrels of Estate Zinfandel from the seven barrels produced, two barrels of Carignane from five produced, and added a half-barrel of estate Petite Sirah. Once blended the Cuvee aged another 4 months in fine oak barrels (a total of 16 months in oak) prior to bottling.

A beautiful deep ruby color; forward black cherry and ripe fruits, vanilla toast, and a bit of spice on the nose; tastes of black raspberry/cherry, and earthy notes. This is a very balanced wine offering a lush full-mouth feel and some good complexity. Having spent sixteen months in fine oak barrels, this wine has mellowed nicely and will continue to develop in the bottle over the next year or two. Drink now or lay down.

The 2006 Toucan Cuvee was bottled on February 28, 2008 with alcohol of 13.9% and only 128 cases were produced. Customers will soon find this wine in mostly restaurants and tasting bars, but it's also available directly from the winery. Click on the ORDER link at the top of this page to have our Toucan Cuvee delivered.