The Morning After

Another great weekend! Saturday was spent in the new tasting room and Sunday was the TAPAS Grand Tasting event in San Francisco. Today I am back in the winery, a little slower than normal. Almost like having a hangover, though not from alcohol consumption.

The tasting room is doing well in Healdsburg-you always wonder if you are located in the right spot, people will actually buy the wines, do you need more gadgets.............definitely a learning process. I expect that the cool weather and the economy are keeping the amount of traffic down somewhat, only time will tell.

The TAPAS event at Fort Mason yesterday was a hit! Great wine, great Paella provided by Marco Paella, and a fun science demonstration by Schmahl Science who this benefit was for. It was an absolutely beautiful day in the city- perfect for sipping the wonderful Spanish varietals that were presented. This is out second year doing this event and 'we need a bigger boat' to do this again. Little did we anticipate the interest in Tempranillo, Albarino, Touriga,.......I think we are onto something!

In the vineyard, Frank has been out leaf pulling to open up the shoots to allow air flow and light into the canopies. So far the vines are looking very happy- good crop out there so far. Weather has been very cool, and there have been 'threats' of light rain- haven't seen the rain.

It is mid June and harvest is ever present on my mind. Here is a short video from last harvest :



Back to the winery- the Mustang Winemaker

Budbreak for Coral Mustang Vineyard!

Well, the growing year has begun- the first sign of leaves began about a week ago with the Grenache and has moved into the Tempranillo and Zin. The few vines of Bordeaux varieties in this vineyard have some pretty fat buds, but no leafing yet.

This is always an exciting time-seeing the vines come back to life. This is also nail biting time because a good frost right now can cause a lot of damage to the new growth. There are 'backup' buds, but the fruit is not as good even if it is a good way for the vine to perpetuate the species. Today the temperature is in the high 70's-hard to believe that there could be more cold- I have to keep telling myself that it is still only March!

This last week was a hectic one for the Mustang Winemaker. It was the first bottling run for the new winery in Hopland that I am a part of, as well as a QUICK trip to Pasadena for Family Winemakers of California. Both events went very well, though all seems like a blur now.

Bottling took three days with Reisling, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, and Merlot bottled for different clients- this means label, bottle, corks, foils change with each wine. Settings for these changes take time and can be frustrating to get each package just right, but a great team makes it seamless. May will be the next bottling run- the 05 Reserve Tempranillo and the 06 Vista Creek are on tap to be bottled at that time. This will happen on a brand new line that is going in now- yippeee! I will send pics when all is setup.

Pasadena- met a lot of great people for possible distribution of Coral Mustang. It was also time to do a little catching up with people that I only see on occasion- trade ideas, plans, broker names, how big the kids have grown. Not as much time to do that as I was back on a plane two hours after the event was over at 6pm.

Just before I started writing this blog today, I voted in the American Wine Blog Awards-http://www.fermentation.typepad.com/

There are some great blogs out there- found a couple more to add to my feeds to attempt to stay up to date with the latest and greatest. Check this site out and vote! This blog is not in the running as I did not have enough posts-but look out next year, here I come!



Until Next week- Cheers from the Mustang Winemaker

Shhhhh- the Grapevines are Going to Sleep

The short days of winter are here along with dropping temperatures. This has prompted the vineyards to drop their leaves, eat less, and go into hibernation mode. It is always beautiful to watch as the leaves turn color and litter the ground. So ends another year for the grapevines. It won't be long before they will awaken for another year to bring us one of the pleasures in life- wine.
This is also the time for many celebrations-some religious, some pagan, some just for thanks that we are here- a time to reflect.
This past harvest has brought some incredible wines. This year has brought me some incredible opportunities for me as a winemaker. I am now getting the chance to work with a nice spectrum of wines and the many challenges that go with starting from scratch. The sparkling wines will be following next harvest. Pretty exciting!Sometimes you never know where your life will lead you with all of the twists and turns.
I have finally sent out my first newsletter-if anyone is interested please email me or you can signup on my webpage. Speaking of webpage-I hope to have some updates soon. With the new opportunites I have not done the updates that I had envisioned.....Stay tuned!
I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving-until next week,Cheers to good food, good wine and good friends-The Mustang Winemaker

Week Number Two for Coral Mustang

Things seem to be running well for the blog, next will be a link to my website! Comments are welcome.

News on the wine front: The weather has been very cold here in Sonoma County-good for the grapes, not so great for the humans. The vines are in deep, deep sleep, waiting for the longer days to arrive. The 2006 wines are doing well with the Rose looking like another winner!

Tomorrow is the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento. This is a fun day-meeting up with friends that I get to see maybe once or twice a year due to distance. It is also a chance to see the newest technology............technology and winemaking do not always seem to go together in my mind. I will be attending with some co-workers from my 'day' job at another winery, let off steam and have a beer, or I mean wine, or whatever seems appropriate at the moment.

Well, it's back to the cold cellar-again good for the wine, bad for the humans.............The Mustang Winemaker