Ten Questions with Lynn Diehl - asked of Doug Timewell of Toucan Wines

Lynn Diehl recently did a casual interview with me at the winery and the result published in a regional paper. See Lynn's other work supporting the local food and wine industry at The Tolosa Press and Wine Region News.

2009 Toucan Wines tucked away in barrels...

It's been a weird growing year - first the continuing draught and then just when we thought everything might be lost to heat, the weather and the fruit cooperated and turned out a lovely crop. Further, the weather then turned cold at night slowing down harvest (just a little) and definitely helping by cooling down the winery at night. As our harvest was coming to a natural end, the gift of 5.5 inches of rain put any hope for a second crop harvest to bed.

Overall our estate vineyard yield was down but the quality was there and that's what really counts. We sincerely thank all our friends, volunteers, family and supporters for all the help this year - another year where your help really counted!!

As you can see in this picture, the recent rain has already turned the vineyard green (at least for now).

First Rain of the Season...

On the central coast we are receiving our first real rain of the season, this storm will deliver as much as 6 inches of rain fall.

Fortunately, we spent yesterday morning pulling in the last of the ripe fruit from the our small estate vineyard. Overall quantity from our 3 1/2 in going to be down from previous vintages, but the quality is terrific.

Thank you to those who attended our Estate Toucanet release party at Lund's in Arroyo Grande. If you'd like to taste our latest releases, including our new Dessert Wine, see our Event schedule for an opportunity to taste our wine and say hello. Our next event is this Thursday in Pismo Beach...

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.