Harvest has come all at once...

After our initial harvest of estate Petite Sirah, we held off thinking that harvest would be spread out over weeks and weeks. But, we're finding the fruit is perfectly ripe and the flavors are perfect. The only problem is... it's all ready (well just about). We've picked the majority (with the help of many friends) of the crop and tonight and tomorrow we're going in for more.

Toucanet Releases...

Our Estate Toucanet is the premier release of a wine produced from the desire to make an entirely estate based Porto styled dessert wine. This premier release is represented as a blend of three barrels from our 2007 vintage and one from our 2008 late harvested vintage - all of which have been fortified or Mutage with brandy spirits distilled from our 2006 Estate Zinfandel. As you can see, our premier release of Toucanet is the product of three great vintages from our estate vineyard and a wine made in the style of the finest age-worthy Porto dessert wines.

Select estate Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, harvested from our small vineyard, once crushed, was cold soaked pre-fermentation for several days. A slow fermentation with special yeast ended with the fortification of fine brandy - Mutage d' esprit. Aged in fine oak barrels for up to 22 months, Toucanet is an incredible and lovely sweet dessert styled wine that tastes of dark sweet fruits, deep raspberry liquor, wild cherry-vanilla, and hints of mocha. Presented in 500ml traditional Porto bottles and sporting our new image of five Toucans, this wine is ready to enjoy now and will hold for up to ten years with proper storage.

Order from the winery direct or one of our fine wine shops and restaurants.

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!

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.

Toucanet Release Party in Arroyo Grande

On October 10th, from 1-7pm, we'll be celebrating the release of our Estate Toucanet. This wine was produced from the desire to make an entirely estate based Porto styled dessert wine.

Lund's in the Village of Arroyo Grande - Oct. 10th 1-7pm

Select estate Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, harvested from our small vineyard, once crushed, was cold soaked pre-fermentation for several days. A slow fermentation with special yeast ended with the fortification of fine brandy - Mutage d' esprit. Aged in fine oak barrels for up to 22 months, Toucanet is an incredible and lovely sweet dessert styled wine that tastes of dark sweet fruits, deep raspberry liquor, wild cherry-vanilla, and hints of mocha. Presented in 500ml traditional Porto bottles and sporting our new image of five Toucans, this wine is ready to enjoy now and will hold for up to ten years with proper storage.

A few magnums and a few standard sized 750ml bottles will be available to members of the Toucan Wines Club.


Produced:
302 (6 pack) cases of 500ml traditional bottles
24 bottles of 750ml traditional bottles
6 magnums 1500ml

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.

Hot Day on the Central Coast...

Today the heat arrived in force and the grapes are soaking it up. The LaBrea fire is growing out of control about forty miles south-east of us and the wind is kicked-up. Were all hoping CDF gets control soon! I'm enjoying a little time spent inside recovering from a little knee surgery and getting strong for harvest.

Last week we ran up to the bay area to fetch the grape-brandy (shown here in stainless steel storage) for this year's Toucanet. Our first release of Toucanet which spent up to 22 months in fine oak barrels will be available next month. Our brandy, distilled from our 2006 estate wine, in the initial release - is prepared by St. George Spirits, well known for their Hanger-One Vodka and more importantly the many fine products crafted at this artisan distillery.

The vineyard is netted and we await the ripening of our 2009 vintage.

Vineyard Netted and Ready for the Birds....

Well, we're not hoping for birds but we get our share. And yellowjackets too. It's that time of year and this time the netting was done with the help of the crew from the Huasna Valley Farm. These folks chipped in and made it all look simple - I drove the tractor and they did the rest!

Today, I worked with Terrie to fine tune the ends of the rows by adding bricks to pull back the nets from the fruit. Birds will team-up and weigh down the nets to get access to the ripe fruit. Those birds know every trick in the book - and were working to keep one step ahead. Yellowjacket traps are set, Terrie has about 12 traps that she keeps filled with cat or dog food. Seems to be working great right now.

A dry year and now very windy. Not hot, but mild and dry. Should be an outstanding year for our estate wines.

We also have a bunch of new pictures for the series "Where Did You Wear Your Toucan Wines Hat". This is a picture of Dave Smith, of St. George Spirits - this is the high-end distillery we use to produce brandy from our estate wines and for our Toucanet.

To view additional pictures, join us on Facebook - click here. To get your own Toucan Wines Hat, visit our website.

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.