A non-Winemaking Week?

This week has seemed to be less about making wine and more about taking care of other things. I designed a new sign for the tasting room, see if you spot it next time you are in, and we are finally getting a new web site. While this is quite exciting it has taken the viewing of many other sites, deciding what we like or dislike, some writing and lots of discussing. Anything that you would particularly like to see or a website that you think is a great example of something to do or not to do, please let us know. As you know, we love feedback. In fact, we are also redesigning our labels so the next time you are in the tasting room spotting the new sign ask Mary to show you the new ideas so that you can let us know what you think works and what doesn’t. Everyone’s input on the 7 label was invaluable and I think that label came out great.

I have been doing some winery work. This was the week to check SO2 levels in the wine and adjust as necessary. Everything smells good, well almost everything, and flavors are developing nicely. I still have a few problems barrels that have reduction, more delicately known as ‘that barnyard aroma’ which I have been working on fixing, I hope to get them clean in the next week or two. It takes almost a week to run the trial in the lab and then another week to administer the correction in the winery. A slow process especially if I don’t get it all cleaned up the first time and I need to go back and run the trial again.

The weather has been erratic to say the least. Sitting in my windowless office I never know what the sky will be showering down when I step outside and for the last few days if I don’t like it I just go back in the my office and re-exit a few minutes later. Everything will be different. Unfortunately if I do like the weather of the moment it changes a little while later anyway. The vines and the poppies seem to be happy and are growing well; the guys are removing suckers from the vine trunks and will start cleaning the heads shortly. Bloom should happen this month, Sebastian says the foch should start in the next ten days or so.  Just hope for no rain during bloom, if the flowers are damaged they may not set fruit and then we won't have much of a crop.  The picture to the left is a close up of the our friend the chardonnay plant (pictured above).  The green balls will be the flowers and you can see how the grape cluster will develop.  Later when I talk about removing shoulders I'm referring the short branches at the top, well in this picture the bottom, of the cluster.  Shoulders tend to run behind the rest of the cluster in physiological development and it is often best to remove them.  The flowers won't be much to look at but they smell great.

Just for laughs, Phineas and his new box . . . if at first you don’t succeed . . .