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!

Look New Toucans

The current Toucan image on our label won't be going away anytime soon, but here's a sneak preview at the next label image. After many years both on our home winemaker and our commercial wine label the two Toucans image has been ever present. The new label look will make it's premier on the port styled wine we made in 2007 from both estate Zinfandel and estate Petite Sirah using brandy distilled from 2006 estate Zinfandel.

Harvest Party, Birthday, Good Times

This past weekend we enjoyed our annual harvest party for friends, family and all those who volunteered in the vineyard this year. Great weather offered up a cool evening which we enjoyed by the fire pit along with great food and desserts. Terrie also surprised me with a cake to celebrate my birthday - thank you to the ladies who baked it!

A warm thank you to everyone who came to enjoy the day and the weekend. We appreciate the long drive from the Bay Area and from the L.A. area to spend a little time in the country.

New Landscaping for the Winery

Terrie gets all the credit for building a dry creek and getting the winery landscaping looking beautiful for fall. The dry creek was built between the winery and and our home in a natural location for water flow. During heavy rains this area always runs with water - so the idea to help it's path should work well. Jake looks on wondering what all the fuss is about.

Huasna Oil Signs

Here's a short video of signs located along Huasna Road. These signs reflect the opinion of the community faced potential oil production in the Huasna Valley.

Barrel Hoist Installed

After many months in the making we just installed a barrel hoist and the rails in the barrel room. The hoist rides on steel rails and is designed to lift empty barrels which we can now stack three-high is our small winery. This great tool will save our backs from the heavy lifting with a safe lifting solution. Thanks to Bob and Josh for the design, welding, parts and install!

Barrel Repair, Frost, and Bottles

Our barrel cooper made a special trip from Napa to repair a French oak barrel that had developed some end-grain leaking. That was a very interesting process to watch; the great service and craftsmanship saved me from removing the wine I had just placed in that barrel.

We had the first frost of the season last night. Sadly meaning that our tomato crop and berries from the garden are about finished for the year.

Yesterday our bottles for older wines still in barrels arrived. If you thought the winery was full before... well it's really full now. Our 07' estate Zinfandel and estate Petite Sirah bottle style is unchanged for the next vintage and this delivery included the traditional Port style bottles we will be using for our estate port (yet to be named).

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.

2008 Petite Sirah Fermenting

2008 Petite Sirah - our small production of estate Petite Sirah (in these two bins) will produce a little over 2 barrels. Most of which we'll blend with the 08' estate Zinfandel to produce our premium blend - the estate Zinfandel (this vintage will produce about 300 cases of estate Zin) and maybe 25 cases of estate Petite Sirah.