Crushed?

We hope so.

We've just been hit by the backlash of the same frost that many in the industry have felt first hand, the vineyard in AV we were to be sourcing from has had 75% crop damage. As much as this has pained us it has been an absolute disaster for those who's livelihoods are tied to yields. With yields expected to be way below normal folks won't be able to make per acre nearly what they would have made if our spring had been more, well, spring-like.

In the last week we'd seen this coming and as the proverbial low guys on the grape totem pole had started working on securing grapes from other, equally exciting, sources. What we had not seen coming in all of this was the possibility of losing our crush facility to the doubled output of a much larger competing crush client. Ouch!!

What does this tell one about starting out in winemaking (or perhaps winemaking in general)? That the most important part of the wine plan is the backside of the paper it was written on. Believe you me when dealing w/weather, competing clients, etc, etc... the little guy has to be agile, agile, agile.

So as well as scouring all of the obvious spots for premium coastal CA pinot grapes we've started looking in some not so obvious places. This looking has steered us towards Humboldt County and a small vineyard that has a short history of producing the grapes behind some outstanding wines. Tonight we shared an '06 pinot from the neighboring vineyard and were both blown away by the balance of fruit, acid, funk and bramble that we are both such great fans of. We came to the conclusion that this was one of the better CA Pinots either of us have had in a long time, it was that great burgundy with the perfect addition of CA fruit. This has helped to fuel our excitement in the location and what one can produce from it.

And as such we have to say: "until we meet again Guntly Road."