Woody Harvest 2011

My "harvest has begun" blog quickly turned into a "harvest is finally winding down" blog with the craziness in the tasting room the past couple of weeks. But instead of giving an update and then waiting a week or two for the next, everything will come out at once. Here's the full rundown on harvest at Woodward Canyon! 

The 2011 harvest was definitely one of those hurry up and wait seasons. We were one of the first wineries in the valley, if not the first, to bring in fruit, our Estate sauvignon blanc, on September 15th.

Estate sauvignon blanc through the press

 Next in was our Estate chardonnay, harvested eleven days later, on September 26th.

Estate Chardonnay

Then our cellar crew played the waiting game until the reds and DuBrul Riesling were ready for harvest. DuBrul Riesling was harvested on October 13th and then crushed first thing the following morning. The first of the reds harvested was roughly two tons of syrah out of the Champoux Vineyard on October 14th.

Champoux Syrah

After that things picked up to a steady pace. 9.3 tons of Weinbau merlot came in on October 18th. 5.5 tons of Sagemoor cabernet and 8 tons of Woodward Canyon Estate cab franc was brought in on October 21st. And we brought in the last of our whites, a bit of Celilo chardonnay on October 22nd.

Celilo Vineyard Chardonnay

The cabernet grapes were the last of the grapes to ripen and be harvested. We brought in Champoux Vineyard cabernet sauvignon blocks 1 and 2 (typically designated for "Old Vines") on October 27th. Canoe Ridge (block 7 and 16) and Spring Creek cabernet came in October 28th. Champoux cabernet, blocks 4 and 2 lower, came in October 30th.

Champoux Vineyard Block 1

The last of the cabernet we brought in was from Les Collines and Hedges Vineyard on October 31st and November 1st and an additional 3 tons of Les Collines cabernet on November 4th.

All in all we ended up with right around 109 tons of fruit for the 2011 vintage. Both Rick and Kevin seem to be excited about the fruit we did get from this cooler, later vintage, and are excited about the wines we will see down the road.

"This vintage reminds me most of 1984 followed then by 1991 and 1993.  The wines are sure to be different but they will be good from good producers.  I believe I told someone else that the wines will be more like the wines we used to make 25 years ago; like left bank Bordeaux possibly"  - Rick Small

Day in the Woody Vineyard

So I finally made it up to the Estate Vineyard to check and see how things were progressing and just like predicted, we are anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks behind. There weren't any signs of veraison on the cabernet franc yet, which in normal years usually starts around the first of August. Now that we've had about a week to a week and a half of consistently 85+ days of sunshine it'll be interesting to see if we catch up in the vineyard and how quickly.

Not a bad way to start the day!

Grape clusters

Great view of the valley from our vineyard

Because of the freeze last winter, we had to cut back most of our vineyard.  Everything except for the cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay was cut back to the ground and will not produce a crop this year. Earlier we let the vines grow in fairly wild and now we are going through the vineyard and thinning down to what we will use to retrain as the trunk and the cordons.

Growth in the vineyard

Cabernet Franc buds, April 12th

I did a quick trip up to the Estate Vineyard earlier today to see how the growth in the vineyard was coming along. It's been a little over three weeks since I was up there last and things have really seemed to have taken off. The vineyard crew has gone through and pruned most of the cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. What were tiny buds, barely noticeable when I was up there the middle of April, are now full bloom buds.

Cabernet Franc buds, May 2nd

 Now we just have to be concerned about the late Spring freezes that we seem to be getting more regularly. If we can keep the buds from becoming damaged at this point we may just have a nice harvest, in sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and cabernet franc, after all.

Tomato starts in the green house

Genaro, our vineyard manager's father

On my way up to the vineyard I stopped to check out the Estate Garden that is planted just below. Genaro, Juan's father, who is a retired vineyard worker likes to spend his time in the garden taking care of things. I also stepped into our greenhouse to take a look at the tomato plant starts. Because of the cool spring the starts are a little smaller than they were last year. We're hoping for a bit of warm weather so they can catch up before we transplant them outside. 

On the way back to the winery, I stopped to take a couple of pictures and came across a kestrel falcon that had been injured. Concerned about the other birds of prey in the area, I had Juan help me catch him and then took him to Animal Clinic East, in Walla Walla. They did an initial evaluation on him and then sent him on a shuttle to Blue Mountain Wildlife in Pendleton, Oregon where they specialize in the care and treatment of injured or orphaned animals, specifically birds of prey. I spoke with Lynne this afternoon and our kestrel is doing fine. She hopes to bring him back to the Estate Vineyard to release him back to the wild sometime this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Field trip to the Estate Vineyard with Rick Small

 

Last week I got a chance to leave my office and head up to our Estate Vineyard with Rick to check out the vineyard and get his thoughts on the upcoming 2011 vintage. Because the 2010 vintage was such a late one with a fairly substantial freeze the middle of November, we lost a lot of the vines for the later ripening varietals.

Here's some pictures. 

Sauvignon Blanc buds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rick looking over the sauvignon blanc block

Rick getting a closer look at the sauvignon blanc buds

sauvignon blanc buds

cabernet sauvignon cut back due to winter damage

2010 Harvest

What an incredibly challenging vintage 2010 has turned out to be. From the beginning, nothing about this vintage has been easy. The year started off promising enough with some abnormally warm temperatures in January, February and March that had the valley thinking early harvest. Many vineyards showed early signs of bud break and harvest was on its way. However early spring turned into a summer no-show, where we had a few days of weather over 95 but the majority of the season was spent in the 80s. Not only were temperatures lower but we were also compounded with more rainfall than normal which lead to the possibilities of mildew and rot in the vineyards. Then to cap off the vintage with fruit ripening so slowly harvest was at least three weeks later than in previous years. We brought in the Woody sauvignon blanc, the first fruit of the harvest, on September 16^th, three weeks later than it was brought in for 2009. Everything else started to trickle in after the sauv blanc. With picking going into the last week of October it then became a rush against the freezing temperatures at night.

Here's a quick harvest note from Rick -

Typically, I remember something unique or special about almost every vintage, but yikes, I almost do not know where to begin this year.  I made my first home wine in 1976 and my first commercial wine in 1981 and in those 30 plus years I never seen a vintage like this.  Let’s see, we’ve had unseasonably cool weather, more rain than I can remember and an uneven set and yes, we are several weeks late but……………..this is agriculture people; it’s farming!  I grew up with this.  A vintage such as this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with wine quality and yet, it has everything to do with wine quality.                                                                                                        

 Do I still have your attention?  Good, let me explain.  This year there are going to be incredible grapes grown and wines made; and there will be grapes not fit for harvest and there will be wines dumped down the drain and here’s why.  The best vineyard owners (farmers) will produce extraordinary fruit this year which will subsequently be made into extraordinary wine by the best winemakers.  The best growers did all the right things as the year progressed.  The heavy crop, surely not to ripen, was thinned back to one cluster per shoot no shoulder, laterals were removed and canopy opened allowing needed air movement to prevent rot or mold or mildew.  The best winemakers are doing the same thing in the cellar.  The correct size and shape of tank to ferment in and enough of them, the appropriate method of cap management, when to drop the tank, how much older wood to use this year and the wisdom to realize that less is more!

Did someone say cooler vintage? Great, that means more expressively bright fruit, unbelievably dark, inky color and lower alcohols.  Damn, I thought that’s what we have been trying to do for the last decade.  So let’s do it!  

 -Rick Small                              

Everyone I talk to keeps mentioned how this is going to be a difficult vintage. Not only has the farming aspect of things has been difficult but wineries are facing much lower yields than normal. So far many wineries throughout the Walla Walla Valley are commenting that production will be down about 30%. We are no different (we picked roughly 1 to 1.5 tons per acre in our Estate Vineyard) but so far it looks like the vintage has the potential to be a great one. Sugars are lower than they have been in the recent past but the acidity is still high, which in turn will lead to well balanced wines that should have the ability to age longer. Everyone keeps talking about this moving trend to high alcohol wines and how we should move away from them; well like Rick said, this just might be the perfect vintage for that. 

With the craziness of harvest behind us, we are now focusing on getting ready for Autumn Release Weekend. This year we will be pouring in the Reserve House where we'll be featuring a couple new releases, a couple additional older vintage pours and some current releases. Starting the lineup of wines will be the new releases the 2008 Charbonneau Red, the 2009 Estate Barbera and the 2009 Dry Riesling, a special pour of the 2009 Estate Reserve Chardonnay, the 2006 Columbia Valley Merlot the 2005 Estate Red Reserve, the Non-Vintage Red, and a special magnum pour of the 2006 "Artist Series" Cabernet.

Also coming up in November is 20something - the new vintage at The Fremont Studios in Seattle on November 20th from 6:00 to 10:00 pm. Join Thomas Woodley and enjoy a pour of the 2009 Estate Sauvignon Blanc. Visit http://www.thenewvintage.org for tickets and more information.

Join us for a busy Holiday Barrel Tasting Weekend , December 3rd - 5th at the winery. We will be releasing the 2008 "Artist Series" Cabernet. Lisa Snow Lady, the artist for this label, will be on hand to sign prints and bottles over the weekend. Also around will be Chef Paul as he prepares small bites to pair with the wines - marinated lamb, roasted veggies, tapenades and a few other spreads are always winery staff favorites. For copies of the recipes visit our website www.woodwardcanyon.com. Rick will be baking bread once again to serve with some of Chef Paul's spreads. Also on hand, Paul Gregutt, author of Washington Wines and Wineries: 2nd Edition, will be around to sign copies on Saturday, December 4th from 12:30 to 2:30 pm.  
  
See you at the winery!
Cheers!


-Shari

Calendar of events

I’m sorry that updates have become less and less frequent. I am trying to be better at posting but things at the winery and in the tasting room have become increasingly busier in the last month or two. There are so many things going on in the month of June, that we are involved in, that I wanted to get the word out. Hope to see everyone at one or more of the events ...

·         June 3^rd – We will be joining in on the national Washington Wine (#WAWine) tweetup down at Olive Marketplace Café in Walla Walla from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Join us and numerous other Walla Walla wineries as we all meet in one central location and collectively taste and tweet about Washington wines.

·         June 3^rd – Join Thomas Woodley, our national sales coordinator, at The Inn at Langley in Langley Washington for an amazing night of food and wine. Chef Mike Costello has put together an amazing 5-course menu and paired it with some fresh whites and vintage reds. Cost of the dinner is $170 per person which includes food, wine, tax and gratuity. Attendees of the dinner will be offered a discounted room rate to stay at the inn as well.Call the Inn for reservations (360) 221-3033.

·         June 4^th – For those that stay the night, join Thomas Woodley and Chef Costello as they dig into their award winning cellar to host a vertical tasting of vintage Woodward Canyon wines accompanied with some small bites prepared by Chef Costello. The tasting will be free to those who attended the dinner the evening before and cost $35 for anyone else.

·         June 6^th – Join Marlene and myself as we descend upon The Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane for Taste Washington Spokane on Sunday from 5:00 to 8:30 pm. We’ll join around 100 other wineries and 25 restaurants at the event and will be pouring our 2008 Washington State Chardonnay, the 2007 “Artist Series” Cabernet and the 2008 Nelms Road Cabernet. Tickets are still available so get yours at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/107945.

·         June 13^th – Join either Thomas Woodley or Darcey Fugman-Small, our owner/general manager, at the Seattle Wine Awards hosted at the historic Rainier Club. We will be pouring our award winning wines – the 2006 Estate Red (double gold), the 2007 “Artist Series” Cabernet (gold) and the 2008 Nelms Road Cabernet (silver). Tickets for the event are still available so get your ticket here.

·         June 18^th – Visit the Walla Walla Valley and join in on the festivities of Vintage Walla Walla. Friday evening, June 18^th, join Thomas, Rick and Darcey for the bbq under the stars out at Northstar Winery from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. Tickets are available for the bbq only or as part of the Vintage WW package.

·         June 19^th – The next day, ten wineries, us included, are hosting special tasting events throughout the valley. For more information on the individual events and for reservations, please contact the Walla Walla Wine Alliance office at (509) 526-3117. Later on Saturday join participating wineries for the Vintage pour gala and silent auction that evening from 5:00 – 7:00 pm. It’s a great opportunity to taste vintage wines with the winemakers who make them. It’s also the chance to bid on amazing packages put together by wineries of the Walla Walla Valley.

·         June 25^th – 27^th – The 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference has decided on a change of scenery and is moving from Napa/Sonoma Valley, California to the Walla Walla Valley. I was able to attend the conference last year and had a blast. It is a great opportunity to meet with fellow wine bloggers and talk about wine and the importance of blogging and social media. California set the bar fairly high last year but I know that Walla Walla is up to the task. The conference is sold out however they are keeping a wait list in case there are any last minute cancellations.

And a heads up look at what is coming up in the month of July ...

·         July 1^st – Join us as we’re pouring a selection of our wines at Olive Marketplace Café at their weekly wine tasting event. For a $5 tasting fee you can taste through our line up of wines. Splurge on dinner while you are there and grab one of their fabulous flat-bread pizzas. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
 ·     July 31^st – Looking ahead, T-Maccarone's and us have paired up to do a farm-to-table dinner out in our Estate Vineyard. Final details are still to come so check back for more information or send me an email at shari@woodwardcanyon.com and I'll keep you updated.

Hope to get a real post up here soon with the happenings at the winery and a recap on Rick and Darcey’s trip over to England and Germany last month. Thanks for keeping an eye on us and hope to see you in the tasting room soon.

Cheers,

Shari

Windy Walla Walla!

The 2010 Vintage is officially under way - we finally started pruning the Estate Vineyard the first part of this month. Rick decided to delay pruning just a bit due to the unusual weather we've had the past couple of months. It's been getting up the low 60's during the day but then dropping back down to right around or below freezing at night. Warm days and freezing nights are always a concern in spring and this year it seemed to have started a bit earlier. Once you begin pruning and the buds get warm, they start opening and become susceptible to damage which can mean no grapes. By delaying pruning, we have hopefully bought us some time in case we do get that early spring freeze.

Because we've held off on pruning longer than most in the valley our bud break has been a bit delayed. We saw the first bud break on our sauvignon blanc (pictured to the left) and our cabernet franc earlier this week. Last year we were at least two to three weeks behind schedule and this year we are almost two weeks ahead. It just goes to show you how different each vintage can be. A couple more weeks of warm weather and we could be further along that that. This should be an interesting vintage!

We have also been busy here at the winery. Our cellar crew has spent the past couple of weeks racking all of the 2009 wines. I'm hearing good things about the '09 vintage from Rafa and Kevin so far. Looks like we'll bottle the '09 whites in May along with some of the '08 reds. I can't wait for the wines to be released yet. The only bad thing about wine is waiting around for it to be released.

Don't forget that Spring Release Weekend is coming up this weekend in the Walla Walla Valley. We will be releasing our 2007 "Old Vines" Cabernet. Our 26th release of this wine is made up of 100% cabernet sourced from the Champoux and Sagemoor Vineyards. We will be doing a special pour of the "Old Vines" Cabernet in our "Reserve House" while all other wines will be poured in Production. We will have our usual $5 tasting fee, refundable with wine purchase, for our flight of wines with an additional $5 tasting fee for the "Old Vines," refundable with "Old Vines" purchase only.

"This “Old Vines” Cabernet Sauvignon is rich and complex yet shows elegance, restraint and sophistication. It expresses the purity of fully mature cabernet sauvignon that one only can get from 35 year old vines. The color is dark red to purple and has complex aromas of earth, cherry, leather and smoke. Flavors of ripe black cherries and cassis married with spicy new oak and vanilla coat the mouth. The texture is soft and silky yet there are mature integrated tannins in the rich, long finish. I love the proportion this red wine displays and with proper storage, it should age for ten years easily."                -Rick Small, winemaker.

We are excited to kick off 2010's busy season with the annual Spring Release.We hope to see everyone at the winery!

Cheers!


Shari

Staff Education

One of my favorite parts of being involved with the wine industry are the amazing “educational” opportunities that come up. We are big on education here at Woodward Canyon because we believe to be able to educate the consumer we need to know what we are talking about. We try to come up with fun ways to educate ourselves so we can keep up to date, not only what is going on here at the winery but also what is changing in the wine industry in general. Recently we did a comprehensive tasting of all our current releases with Kevin Mott - our winemaker, Darcey – our general manager and owner, and the entire tasting room staff. I have always enjoyed tasting wines with Kevin. He is smart and funny and gives you the chemistry side of wine tasting and blending in a way that that even the most novice wine drinkers can understand where he’s coming from.

Our lineup consisted of both current releases in the tasting room and a couple of special reserve wines that we don’t usually open up. It was nice to be able to revisit all the wines at once, talk them over with Kevin and refresh our palates on how the wines were doing. It was also fun to taste some things that we haven’t opened and tasted since they first released.

Though they were all good, my personal favorites of the afternoon were the 2007 Charbonneau Red, the 2007 “Artist Series” Cabernet and the 2006 Estate Red. The Estate Red, soon to be renamed the Estate Reserve, has always been one of my favorite wines. I find the wine to be supple and rich with the perfect balance between black fruit and firm tannins. Rick always says that he perceives an “expression” or a “sense of place” that is fairly unique to our Estate Vineyard and I’d have to agree with him. That is just one reason that the Estate Red and the Charbonneau Red are two of my favorites - both are Bordeaux-style blends from very different vineyards. The Charbonneau Red is sourced entirely from the Charbonneau Vineyard which is planted at the western edge of the Walla Walla County, overlooking the Snake River. The vineyard consists of very sandy soil overlaying shallow basalt rock. It tends to be a cooler site than our Estate Vineyard and has to deal with the weather as well. The Charbonneau Red is a wine that we only produce when the fruit we receive warrants it. It is rich and elegant with nuances of tobacco and leather perfectly in balance with black cherry fruit and soft tannins. The finish is smooth, generous and long.

If you haven't taken advantage of our Winter Special yet, don't forget that the last day is tomorrow. Pick up your 2007 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet at this fantastic price before it's too late. We are already in talks about possibly doing another special next month so remember to check back to see what we've come up with.

Until next time, hope this post finds you enjoying the sun somewhere and a good glass of wine!

Cheers!

Shari

2007 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet

If you haven’t already heard we decided that we would run, as I have nicknamed it, a “beat the fog” or “beat the winter blues” special during the month of February. Rick typically likes to offer a special online and in the tasting room in February. So after sitting down and brainstorming on what we could do for this special Sue and Rick brought up the idea about doing an offering on the 2007 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet. Since this is a great wine that is mostly sourced from our Estate Vineyard and one that is not typically featured at the winery, we thought this was a great way to introduce the wine to those not familiar with it. So we are happy to offer you the 2007 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet at the discounted price of $27 a bottle, no additional discounts.

The Walla Walla Valley Cabernet is a wonderful wine that really expresses a sense of place. Composed of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon (Estate Vineyard), 11% Syrah (Dubrul Vineyard) and 8% Cabernet Franc (again Estate Vineyard) this is a great wine to showcase what our Estate Vineyard is all about. Here’s what Rick had to say about it -

“This wine has a beautiful nose of subtle tobacco, complex spiced oak and clove that integrates beautifully with ripe black cherry/cassis fruit. The wine tastes almost sweet. A rich mouth feel begins with black cherry leading towards a chocolate/mocha finish that is exotic, enticing and long. While this wine may be enjoyed now, it will benefit from additional cellaring and should continue to develop for six years or more with proper storage.”

We plan on running this cab special through the end of February so get yours while you can!

If you’ve been into the tasting room on one or more occasions over the years I’m sure that at some point you have encountered Kellie Berg. She has been a fixture behind the tasting bar for the past eight or nine years and has helped countless of visitors make their trip to the Walla Walla Valley and Woodward Canyon a memorable one. Kellie has recently turned in her notice and has informed us that she will be moving on to new challenges the middle of this month. I know that all though this is a great move for her, I am sad we are losing her and will personally miss her in the future. Help me in wishing her congratulations and all the best in her future endeavors!

As I'm sure you've all heard Punxsutawney Phil has once again seen his shadow, so it's six more weeks of winter. The warm weather a couple of weeks ago really got me hoping for an early spring. The longer winter would be ok if this fog would just lift. I don't remember the last time I saw the sunshine. But fog or sun regardless, I hope to see everyone in the tasting room sometime in the near future!

Cheers!

Shari

2009 Vintage Overview

We’re off to a new year and technically a new decade as well and I thought the best way to start 2010 would be to wrap up 2009. Not sure if everyone will agree with me but 2009 seemed to go by in a blur. We ended the year the same way we started it – cold in the valley with snow and ice covering the ground, though not as much as last winter. For a vintage that seemed to take forever to get going (I was still wondering where the sunshine and warm weather was in April and May) it ended up being a rather compressed vintage and warmer overall.



The first bud break in our Estate Vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley was towards the end of March which starts the process to try to assure that the best possible grapes are harvested. Shoot positioning, leaf stripping, lateral removal and finally cluster thinning are all part of that process. Because of the cooler, wetter spring veraison did not begin until mid July. However, a couple of really hot weeks towards the end of July and into August quickly made up for lost time.


We brought in our first fruit of the vintage, the sauvignon blanc and the chardonnay from the Estate Vineyard, at the end of August. Harvest was a bit compressed as well. Everything seemed to ripen at once which had vineyard crews scrambling to bring everything in at the same time. We have a good crew that finished in our vineyard early and then went with Rick to the Champoux Vineyard to pick our grapes from the Circle Block.

We brought in the last of the fruit the first part of October, which was just in time before the first freeze of the year swept through the valley. It was on the earlier side, the middle of October, and caught some wineries off guard. I hope those that still had fruit hanging were able to pick it shortly afterwards. Now everything is safely tucked in barrel and the wait is on.

Rick is already (or constantly, depending on how you view it) thinking about the vineyard and our next vintage. He is hoping to plant a new cover crop on the terraces next time there is snow on the ground. While he is not overly worried about damage in the vineyard due to the freeze, he won’t know for sure until he checks buds later this month.

Here’s a quick peek on what we’re looking at for the 2009 vintage.

• The cabernet franc from the Woody Vineyard (our Estate Vineyard) is coming along really nicely. It was cropped back to single cluster per shoot this year and should be a great backbone to the Estate Reserve (formally the Estate Red) program.
  
• The cabernet sauvignon from the old hillside out of the Estate Vineyard is also very promising. Almost 20 years old and planted in shallow soil this cabernet will most likely be used to enhance the Estate Reserve and Walla Walla Valley Cabernet programs.
  
• Kevin and Rick are considering a separate bottling of around 100 cases of the Woodward Canyon Estate Chardonnay. As they have tasted through the wines both are pleased with all our chardonnay and feel that a few special barrels can stand alone as an Estate bottling.


• The cabernet from Champoux Vineyard Circle Block and Sagemoor Vineyard Block 3 is looking great. The fruit from those two blocks is what we normally used as the anchor for the “Old Vines” Cabernet program.


• Rick and Kevin are also excited about what we have in barrel from Champoux Vineyard Block 2.

There’s still a lot of time before the 2009 vintage is in the bottle but it looks like it’s shaping up to be another fine vintage for us. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

In the meantime I’m enjoying the current releases we have available at the winery. Check out our website for a list of the wines and order online. Also, last week while doing inventory we came across a number of cases of the 2006 “Artist Series” Cabernet in magnum form. If you missed out on purchasing some of the 750s now is your chance to get some of this vintage before we completely sell out of it. We do have plenty of the 2007 "Artist Series" Cabernet available and it's pouring beautifully! And if you have older vintages of the "Artist Series" Cabernet and "Old Vines" Cabernet and aren't sure about opening them, don't forget to check out our drink/hold page on the website. It will give you an idea on when the best time to open them would be.

Sounds like we just had some people come into the tasting room. I’m going to stick my head out and say hello. If you come through the valley this year, stop in and say hi and I’ll pour you some wine. Happy New Year everyone! Hope your new year’s resolution somehow include drinking some amazing wine this year.

Cheers!

Shari

Harvest 2009

So harvest is well under way for us here at Woodward Canyon. The end of August saw us bring in all of the sauvignon blanc and chardonnay from our Estate Vineyard. Since then we’ve moved right along, bringing in almost all of the merlot, some of the cabernet franc and the grenache, and then the American clone of the barbera, all from the Estate Vineyard. We also source from a number of different vineyards throught Washington State. Yesterday we brought in merlot from Weinbau and today it was syrah from Champoux. So far everything looks good and the boys are excited.

With the start of harvest around the winery comes the start of “crush lunch” for the cellar boys. Rick and Darcey have made it a point to feed the guys every day, and since none of us are huge fans of deli sandwiches we get to experiment a bit with food. Rafa (our cellar master) and Manuel and Kiko (our cellar guys) are huge assets to this winery and a large part of our success. Rick and Kevin get the credit for making the wines and then those of us who sell the wines gets some recognition as well, but those three receive none of it. And really, they should probably get a lot of it. They do the every day things around the winery to make everyone’s life a bit easier. They do everything from pruning and picking in the vineyard to sorting grapes when they come in to cleaning the tasting room and moving wine for us. We're pretty lucky. I don’t know if we could ask for three harder working guys.

Every year, around this time, we also receive an intern from the Purpan School in France. We have been very lucky in the past having hosted some great students. This year is no different. Colin, pictured in blue, will be with us until the last of October. He's a fantastic worker and a really nice guy.

Speaking of lunch, last Tuesday we hosted a pizza lunch for the buyers from W2U out at the winery. We ended up making about 20 pizzas for 45 people, which included the wine buyers, local winemakers and drivers. Thomas and I got to put the pizzas together while Rick cooked them, before he took off to drop bins at Sagemoor. I also found a new favorite pizza – red sauce, fresh basil, sautéed onions, yellow peppers, artichokes, ground sausage and bleu cheese. Delicious!

Harvest Time!

Today we kicked off the 2009 harvest at Woodward Canyon. Rick and the guys brought in two loads of chardonnay grapes from our Estate Vineyard this morning and sent them through the whole cluster press. This is where the entire grape clusters are pressed very gently to extract the juice. Whole cluster pressing is often used in the production of high quality whites and minimizes the amount of malic acid and tannins that are naturally found in the skins and stems. From there we will move all the juice into stainless steel tanks overnight before it is moved again into new French oak barrels and neutral barrels where the yeast is added and fermentation is started.

And our first day of harvest coincides very well with the pre-harvest party put on by the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance for all the members in celebration of the upcoming harvest. So we’ll get together one last time before winemakers’ wives become harvest widows for another year.