Good Day Wine Makers and Drinkers 2010

What a gorgeous growing year to date and consequently we are looking at an early harvest by about 2 weeks. Please get your bottling lines going and empty your tanks, carboys and barrels. We all, I am sure, have been looking forward to a hot dry year and an opportunity to make some big fat reds. We are fully stocked with barrels and chips to ensure that you have all the tools to match the year with the style.

Recent research out of Cornell claims that early leaf removal on reds reduces the green characteristics considerably. While we have always removed leafs, we generally focus on the harvest order and therefore leave the cabs until the end. In continuing our commitment to quality by reinvesting the profits from retail, we improved both the farm and the processing. Firstly we purchased an automatic leaf remover. This imported German machine amazingly removes the leafs whole and hardly touches the bunches. We were able to speed up the de-leafing and allow the workers to focus on thinning. The spin off benefit is that the bunches dry off from the morning dew very quickly and mildew pressure is greatly reduced. The research also concluded that the varietal character in whites is greatly increased if the sun comes in contact with the berries. Sun burn is a very big concern but a slight de-leafing on the afternoon sunny side and a complete de-leafing on the morning sunny side seems to work.

I mentioned earlier a change in the processing. We are importing a new destemmer from France which claims to be extremely gentle on the berries. Both the drum speed and the paddle speed can be adjusted independently for variety specific conditions. The new monho pump is also an improvement, especially for the reds, as there is zero chance of seed cracking or over crushed berries. Our goal is to have the red must more whole and not as over processed which I feel is the direction that most high quality commercial wineries are going. These improvements will also help our wholesale wineries improve their end result which is market share.

You will notice that the juice prices are the same as last year and will probably be the same next year. We have introduced a couple new products in the store including 80L stainless tanks, and an excellent double cartridge filter.

We would like to start something new at the farm this year called a wine exchange. We are encouraging all winemakers to bring 750ml bottles of their home made wine including variety and name. You would then exchange your (4) bottles with someone else's (4) bottles. Obviously you can mix and match and we will start it off with a couple of cases. Cathy and I have enjoyed the wines that you drop off for us and this is what gave us the idea to share. Please do not be shy.

Hoping to continue enjoying happy and healthy families

See you at harvest

The Watsons