Monday, February 26, 2007

Labels... are on.

Last Thursday the naked bottles of Quattro and Rockfish Red finally got covered. It was a long, uneventful day. Labeling already full bottles, called "shiners," is frankly anticlimatic. We know how the wine tastes now. There was no anticipation and no welcome feeling of putting the vintage to bed. The wine's been in bed for weeks, getting it's beauty sleep. No, the labeling process was all the work, plus some, with no dramatic climax. I really appreciate the help from Dan, Roberto, Trey, Susan, Daniel, and Jose-Luis all that much more. Can't wait for next time.

Speaking of, next bottling is March 12. We'll put the 2006 Viognier and A6 "to bed." Also, a very limited release of Riesling made in a fairly dry style. I'm tweaking all the wines right now, but they're all pretty good. I think the 2006 whites are fairing better, generally, than the reds. All the rain during September affected the October harvested reds ripening. Sure, the rain diluted the September harvest whites, but the flavors from the warm summer are pushing through. Hopefully that will be true of the reds with time.

I'm putting up our new winery sign. I think I mentioned earlier that hooligans stole our original sign. The new one is identical, but I plan on making it a bit tougher to snatch. Did you know you can buy bear traps on Ebay?

2 Comments:

At 8:28 PM, Blogger Dale McGlothlin said...

Congrats Tim! Thrilling time for you. Hey, I'm a wine virgin, but have two big farms down in the extreme southwestern part of Virginia and would love to grow grapes there. I think eventually make wine there also. Where do I go for help getting started? Since my area is so economically depressed I am sure there are dev. dollars to help, but where can I find a step-by-step guide to getting up and going? Thanks for the help and, again, congrats and I'll look forward to trying your wine. dalemcglothlin@comcast.net

 
At 8:13 AM, Blogger Muddjack said...

This all sounds so exciting!the inner workings of a micro/farm winery posted for all to see brings a cozyness to the grape I haven't felt since Welches. I also heard it through the grape vine that you recently hosted an Easter egg hunt for the kids at the farm. With this in mind, I must ask, which came first the chicken or the cork?

Caress the grape...indulge!!!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home