Two More Inches of Rain=Happy Grapevines

We have had a nice bit of rain here in Sonoma County-actually saw the Russian River rise and it was muddy. Even with the rainfall, here in Cloverdale we are on water rationing and making decisions on the water regimen for the vineyards as well as ourselves-very short showers these days! Check out my weather station data for rainfall udpates- Palomino Lakes/Tres Palmeras Vineyard

Aside from the weather I attended a great event at the Sonoma Mission Inn supporting the YWCA -what a great event-Women, Wine, and Cheese benifits the YWCA women's shelter and features women winemakers and cheesemakers. An auction lot of wines made by the winemakers there landed $4,000 - not bad!

There is another Benefit coming up May 16 - Cigar BQ -always a great event whether you are into cigars or not- great wines, great foods, and it all goes to charity- what a great mix!

Not much to report on the wines- they have all finished with their '2nd' or malolactic fermentation and are resting peacefully in barrels.

Pending licensing, the tasting room is a go! I and 4 other wineries have joined together to have a tasting room in Healdsburg- Yippeee! The room is across from the Raven theatre - 118 North St.
Will be having a Grand Opening the first part of June- but will be open for some limited tasting beginning this weekend.

Well, the cellar is calling-
Cheers from the Mustang Winemaker

February and the Weather is Fine-Global Warming?

I love February in Sonoma County! Pretty much every year we have one gorgeous week-no rain, temps in the high 60's, low 70's, flowers start to bloom- false spring. I look forward to this break and try to make the most of it. Trips to the ocean, picnics, dust off the barbeque and I break out the Rose', not that I ever put it away........

This was President's weekend, so there was one extra day to revel in the weather. Saturday was fresh oysters from Hog Island Oyster Company paired with a fig cake and 2005 Coral Mustang Rose' as well as an Elizabeth Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. The Rose' was a great match with the Kumomoto oysters-fruity vs salty- and the Sauv Blanc went better with the more 'steely' Freshwaters.

Yesterday was more Rose' paired up with my famous clam chowder- again the fruity and salty, along with some of the crispness balancing the creaminess of the soup. I also tried a Saint Gregory Pinot Blanc with the soup. This fruity, slightly creamy wine was almost too light to balance with the soup, but it went quite well with the oysters that we set aside from the day before- that doesn't happen very often!

Speaking of the incredible weather, this weekend was the 2nd Climate Change and Wine Conference - http://www.climatechangeandwine.com/eng/index.php

Catavino, one of my favorite sites has been there and reporting back 'live'- please take a look-http://www.catavino.net/
They are doing an incredible job of reporting! There are a few other blogs out there reporting as well-some interesting comments that I will comment on later in the week.

It is also time to vote for your favorite blog : http://fermentation.typepad.com/fermentation/2008/02/about-the-ameri.html
There are some great bloggers out there, many that I have 'met' through blog sites like Twitter and Wine Sense. I hope next year to be in the running!

Unitl next week, cheers to good food, good wine, and good friends- the Mustang Winemaker

Tempranillo Hits Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento California!

What an exciting time! Tempranillo is making the news in the grape growing world. This was made clear at a seminar that was presented at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium that takes place on the west coast once a year -http://www.unifiedsymposium.org/ The TAPAS organization was approached (http://www.tapasociety.org/) to organize this seminar and it was very well done. There were several grape growers in the crowd that wanted to know how, when, and where to plant Tempranillo. This is very good news to those of us who love this grape and the wines that come from them.

This was also the time for the annual meeting of the TAPAS organization. New officers were introduced and wines from those in the group were shared. This was a great time for me to acquaint/reacquaint myself with other members and talk about the trials and tribulations of this varietal.

This month you will see some updates to my website which is always sadly neglected during harvest. Please stop by and let me know what you think- http://www.coralmustang.com/
I also want to invite you to the e-newsletter that has wine specials and new recipes that I have fine tuned to go with my wines.

That's all for now- see you all next week- Cheers to good food, good wine, and good friends,
The Mustang Winemaker

Into the New Year We Go! Drink More Tempranillo!

Happy New Year All!

Over the last couple of weeks I have had the chance to make some new blog friends, look at changes to the website and see where I need to go to get Coral Mustang out to more of the wine world-it is not easy being small and a producer of a varietal that many don't know yet-but I love being on that forefront-bringing something new and wonderful. Changes to the website should be showing up any day!

You will see some new links off to the right, and down the page will be the latest Wine TV spots-Gary brings a great new perspective on wine-this is truly innovation for the wine and tech world to merge. There was also a great podcast and blog discussion about where wine blogs are going:
http://winecast.net/2007/12/19/unfiltered-7-wine-blogging-today/
http://www.catavino.net/2007/12/12/wine-blogging-in-2007-how-far-have-we-come/
I would love to hear any comments!

So on to winemaking!
The wines are in resting phase at this point-in barrels and waiting for the day that they are ready to be bottled. My wines generally do not go through any fining (example eggwhites), but I always like to keep that option as it is still a natural process-people do this same procedure with soups to clarify them. The direction the wines are going this year, I don't see that they are going to need anything except some time to age. The vineyard here in Sonoma County has seen 5 inches of rain in the past few days- this is a good thing! It has also been cold- another good thing. The vines need the rest-as they are in hibernation mode they are not using much energy to survive, thus leaving the strength for the growing season. And that will be here before you know it.

Please contact me if you would like the latest e-newsletter- it has great information about Coral Mustang Wines as well as wine specials-penelope@coralmustang.com or see the signup area on the website www.coralmustang.com.

Until next week- cheers to the New Year- The Mustang Winemaker