Nearly four weeks into July,,,

Here at Toucan Wines we've had some warm days and cool nights, typical for this time of year. It's been a dry growing season and the vines have produced an average sized crop of what I believe will prove to be outstanding quality. The vineyard is just about ready to net from bird damage, a final step which I hope to get done with a lot of help on August 2nd

This week we bottled our premier release of Toucanet, 300 six-pack cases of 500ml traditional Porto bottles will be released in early fall. Learn more about Toucanet by clicking here. This wine spent up to 22 months in 4 great barrels and the result is very special... you need to taste it for yourself!

Preparation for harvest has started with the ordering of fermentation materials and cleaning. Lots of details at this stage and we still have a few bigger projects to complete before harvest begins. Soon, I plan to rack all the 08' wines and settle on our barrel regiment for the 09' vintage.

Vineyard and Winery Update

With the vineyard tying done, the vineyard freshly mowed (hopefully for the last time this season) and having just sprayed -- I can turn my energy to the winery. Oh yea, I have some hoeing still to do :=(

Our vineyard is looking good and the crop appears to be normal or slightly larger than normal. Once the fruit turns, we'll walk through and crop-thin where needed. The mild, but dry, weather may extend the growing season unless we see warmer days in July. I worry this time of year about cluster burn from the sometimes 105 degree days we get during a heat wave.

In the winery, I have everything ready for bottling the Toucanet. The wine's been racked, samples went to the lab, Nitrogen tanks are filled, corks arrived, additional bottles and boxes arrived. Now it's just a matter getting the wine into bottles. The 08' wines are resting in barrels and developing nicely.

Tying and Thinning the Vineyard...

We're nearly down to the last acre of tying and thinning, it's been very warm the last two days and we're both dragging. The fruit looks great and I'm hopeful for a full crop of the highest quality. After several weeks of cooler weather, these couple of days take some getting used to.

Toucan Wines June 09' Newsletter

Here's our latest newsletter for your reading pleasure. Note in the newsletter the LAST CALL for Toucan Cuvee and Estate Petite Sirah.

The Wine List of Summit, NJ

In Summit, New Jersey, The Wine List of Summit is a fine wine shop where we met Neil and enjoyed sharing our story and wines. Here’s you’ll find both our estate Zinfandel and estate Petite Sirah.

Scalini Fedeli Ristorante, NJ

In north New Jersey several fine restaurants have discovered Toucan Wines. We shared a special visit with Mark of Scalini Fedeli Ristorante offering our estate Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and our 2006 Carignane, Arguably the finest Italian dining in New Jersey, you can imagine how excited I am to be so well represented.

Porter House New York, NYC

Also in NYC and new to us is Porter House New York on Columbus Circle, where the wine list is crafted by Sommelier, Brad Nugent who totally enjoyed and selected our estate Petite Sirah for this fine dining restaurant.

Club Metropolitan, NYC

Back from a quick visit to the east coast, meeting those in the restaurants and fine wine shops who carry our wines in both Manhattan and northern New Jersey – working with my distributor, David Vincent Selection, we made some great new placements – we found the wines very well received everywhere we poured. And, I was exciting to have the opportunity to share our wines with a number of fine establishments in northern Virginia. For those of you who know me well, you’ll know this gave me the chance to spend some special time with my daughters and grandson.

Of these new placements, one is the fabulous Club Metropolitan located in the Metropolitan Tower on 57th Street in NYC, a private fine dining club offering both our estate Zinfandel and estate Petite Sirah.

Wine Grotto in Montecito

A great wine shop, the Liquor and Wine Grotto, owned by Jess and Ingila (these are two of my favorite people) located in the Montecito Village and clearly the best selection of fine wines around. Both love the Toucan Wines 2005 Estate Zinfandel (Jess says it's his fav wine) and always keeps it in stock.

Lucky's Steakhouse

This fine steakhouse called Lucky's is located in Montecito, CA and now serves our 2006 Estate Zinfandel. A beautiful menu and great stop off hwy 101 when you're looking for fine dining.