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.

Winemaking Preparation

Planning is a funny thing, some folks do it at the last minute while others plan the details long in advance - I think I'm somewhere in between.

Winemaking definitely requires some advanced thought. Barrels are often ordered in the spring to capture early order discounts, while specialty yeasts are ordered before they sell out. And other supplies need to be in stock before the grapes are ready. If grapes are purchased that relationship requires plenty of advanced communication.

Fortunately, I have a wonderful barrel connection with Demptos and love their barrels and the first of our barrels have just arrived. Also, today yeasts arrived and next week I'll gather the remaining supplies from a local lab. I'm building great anticipation for this year's harvest and have every hope for a stellar year from our estate vineyard.

Allow me a brief sales note - we've sold out of 2006 Carignane and we're just about sold out of 2006 Petite Sirah, we still have a little of our award-winning 2005 Estate Zinfandel and more of the 2006 Toucan Cuvee. Please look for our wines at these fine restaurants and wine shops, and know that you are always welcome to call me here at the winery for availability info and to

order directly from us.

Our only bottled and unreleased wine, the 2006 Estate Zinfandel (very limited with 123 cases produced) will release later this year. Our 2007 wines will remain in barrel through harvest and estate bottled this winter.

It's all about the wait...

We've done everything we could - we pruned and pulled the cuttings, we treated for wintering spores, we carefully suckered every vine, we mowed and kept the vineyard clean, we sprayed to avoid mildew, leaf pulled, trimmed heavy growth, weeded, and now that we've seen color - we netted.

What a relief, now the hard part - the wait. For the next 6-8 weeks I'll worry, second guess what I could have done different, and what I should do next year. Here's hoping for the best!