Snow Blankets for the Vineyards

It has been a chilly week here. This is a view out my window when there was a short break in the weather. It is snowin' in the hills!

This has also been an exciting week-more awards for the Coral Mustang at the San Francisco Chronicle tasting! I really like this competition because it is one of the few that recognizes the Tempranillo varietal as its own category, meaning it doesn't get lumped with the Misc. reds..............http://www.winejudging.com/ to see the results.

The home vineyard is pruned and ready for the spring thaw- heck, I'm looking forward to the spring thaw. Did get a chance to make it out flyfishing before the snow and cold- no fish, but a great day to think about the wines and the best way to get them out to you. Any and all comments welcome! The biggest battle is with all of the state shipping regs-old news-but ever present on the minds of winemakers-especially those of us that are very small.

I would also like to welcome everyone to sign up for the monthly newsletter. In it is news about Tempranillo, coupon specials, food and wine pairings, and anything else I can squeeze onto a page.

Speaking of news- a couple of articles about Tempranillo in Bon Appetite and Better Homes and Gardens. One was pairing Tempranillo up with a holiday menu, and the other expressing how much they loved Tempranillo. There will be a session at this years Unified Grape and Wine Symposium about Tempranillo and a tasting of Temps from around the world-should be very interesting. I will write more about that after I have attended.

That's all for now-until next week-The Mustang Winemaker, Penny

Twitter for Tempranillo

Wow, how the world has changed- getting smaller in some ways. It has become so easy to communicate, very exciting stuff! I still remember working in research and how exciting it was to be able to hook your phone receiver to a cradle that then could transmit and share data with another computer............ Here is my newest venture into the Tech world :

follow CoralMustang at http://twitter.com

I have to thank Wine 2.0 and meeting with some people from companies that are trying to use the technology at hand, for bringing me into the world of communication. It will be very interesting to see what this does in the big world of wine.

News Flash- Just received an email from the San Francisco International Wine Competition- Silver for the 2005 Tempranillo to be released August 1, and a Bronze for the 2006 Tempranillo Rose'. It is pretty cool to think that out of all of the wines that are tasted that my wines are getting recognition! Now if I could just get through all the regulatory #*&% for interstate shipping.........

Wine Competitions- good or bad

Tis the season for wine competitions- newspapers, fairs, magazines. Making the decision what is the right competition or whether to compete is difficult. And for good reason. You never know what the outcome will be. One taster loves you, the next thinks you are not worthy of mentioning. Then, if you have a varietal that is not mainstream, well, you never know what you are going to be compared to. For example, Tempranillo. The standards are from Spain and even there they are going through a major evolution- so I say standard somewhat loosely. There are not that many of us making Tempranillo yet, so these wines get lumped in as Miscellaneous Red. That can make coming up with a fair evaluation a challenge even for the most experienced of tasters. So, I am challenged- any comments, recommendations- how do you look at competitions?

Take a look at Tempranillo wineries and vineyards @ www.tapasociety.org/ - this is an organization that is growing and gaining some momentum. When I started with this group there was just a handful, now there are four. A recruitment drive is on, so I expect we will see this list grow.

I also wanted to share a couple of sites that are promoting varietals and appellations : www.avawine.com and www.appellationamerica.com - another good source for domestic Tempranillo as well as other fun varietals.

Well, it is time for a glass of wine and watch the rain- Cheers from the Mustang Winemaker