Yeah! We lived through the H1n1 AND the Thanksgiving weekend all while enjoying some good times & good wines!  While many folks tour the Willamette Valley and get soaked in tasting fees and crowds- we are lucky enough to be off the beaten path.  Meaning fewer folks and more time to hobnob. The family ‘worked’ the tasting room this past weekend- as we always do.  And when I say ‘worked’ I mean its a privilege to be able to have an alternate lifestyle than what corporate America allows.  Here we are- chatting up visitors from all over the place while sampling our Estate grown wines and enjoying life. 

Over the past year we have watched our small bottlings (most in the 100-300 case range) grow & develop into new wines.  The 2004 Kitara Syrah started out as a deep, tart, peppery wine.  Now it has matured and mellowed in the bottle creating a rustic, Rhone style wine with complex dark fruit & long tobacco finish.  A different wine from just a year ago- and it will grow to be a different wine next year.  Syrah is a fabulous grape and grows into a different character  based on the soils and climate.  Our cool climate here in the Willamette Valley is nicely suited to a more earthy version and does more than compliment it’s Syrah cousins grown in the hotter locals of Paso Robles or the Columbia Valley.  If you haven’t had a Willamette Valley Syrah yet- try one.  We aren’t the only ones that have planted some Syrah to take advantage of a great grape in a great growing region.  So try some - before they get too popular.

We’ve had a long strange summer here.  Not just long because my kids have finally gone back to school,  but long due to the incredible heat days that we have had in the vineyard.  What started out as a slow wet spring has evolved into a grand summer and fall-so far.   We are now about 6 days early for the harvest.  We are picking & crushing Pinot Noir all this week, since we’ve picked the Gewurztraminer first as we do in most years.  We’ve hit over 23 brix in the sugar content on the Pinot - which is really outstanding and hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate. 

We are excited for the crush as we have upgraded our equipment and redesigned the crush area. Our new destemmer is made especially for Pinot Noir and it gently releases the grapes without crushing them.  So we have a more gentle touch and extraction.  Come on out & watch the ‘action’ on the new ‘crush pad patio’ with a glass of wine & picnic.  (please don’t feed the animals- or winemakers).  Since we estate grow nearly 90% of our own fruit we can be crushing literally minutes after the grapes are harvested.  It makes for a long day- but the payout is great as our affordable wines have continued to win praise and awards from the wine community.

The harvest season lasts through October and we will be sampling some of the fresh white wines - called Neu Wein in German (ones that are still going through fermentation) in 4-5 weeks.  It’s like a Hefeweizen beer but better- it’s made with 100% fruit- not water & hops.  Give us a call & we’ll keep you up to date.