Tasting Notes: from the winery

We are starting a new feature called Tasting Notes to give you the latest directly from the source. Every month, there will be several new Tasting Notes from the vineyard, from the road, from the tasting room and from the winery.

Today's Tasting Notes are from the winery and Mike Harney...

Well, usually March in the winery is a slow time of year and surprisingly we’re very busy. The 2009 wines are safely barrel aging and ready for their first racking. I always feel like the initial racking of the reds is when we get our first feel for what the wine will really do, so I am excited. We’re getting ready for spring and summer, and the bottling schedule is full, here are some of the wines we are about to bottle:

Stone Table Red Our first STR was such a hit that Jon has decided to make it a staple on our list of offerings. Our second bottling is a blend of Napa Valley Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. We really love it and hope you will, too.

2007 DARK This is our port style, fortified wine. This year for the first time we have blended the two varietals of our ‘Dark.’ The blend is one third Zinfandel and two thirds Petite Sirah. The blending of the wines added a depth and complexity that we really love.

2008 Napa Valley Chardonnay While we used the same vineyard in Napa as previous years, in 2008 we blended in a small lot of Napa Carneros Chardonnay that we couldn’t resist. It was a wonderful wine on its own, but when we blended it with our usual Jamieson Canyon Chard, we seemed to strike a chord. The Carneros just adds a bit more melon to the nose and a slightly more crisp acidity to the finish.

2009 Connecticut Pinot Gris For such a challenging growing year, the quality remains remarkably high. The same fresh pear that we tasted in the 2008 Pinot Gris we can find here in the 2009. The yield, however, is a bit lower than we would have liked, so with only about 135 cases, get some while you can.

By the time we get these wines bottled spring will be upon us and more wines will follow such as our 2009 Merlot, our new 2009 Napa Pinot Grigio and more. By then, we’ll be thinking about Springfest and trying to help the vineyard team keep up with the handwork.

See you soon!

-Mike