Wine Lovers Club
Summer Miscellany
After a long, cool and wet spring, we are
starting to emerge into summer. That
for us means getting ready for our last bottling of the year and thinking about
harvest. We will be bottling our next
Port in this run and some Chardonnay.
As of now things look normal for harvest, but I am hoping for some hot
summer weather to avoid the problems we had getting grapes mature last
year. We have upgraded the oak barrels
we use to age our wines in, and now use mostly the most respected (and most
expensive) barrels from France for our wines.
The biggest change I expect to see are in our Bordeaux varieties. These varieties are not expected to be top notch
when they come from Santa Barbara county, but we have always had excellent
success with them by being very selective in our vineyard sources and our aging
regimen. By switching to a new
selection of oak barrels, I believe our aging regimen will produce even better
wines from these varieties in the future.
If you have not visited the tasting room recently, you will not know
that we have upgraded the merchandise we offer in addition to our wine and have
some unique items. We have released the
new vintage of Sauvignon Blanc and it is being received as our best in at least
a long time. It has the classic
Sauvignon Blanc characteristics with the added flavors of some tropical
fruit. There seems to be disagreement
over whether it is papaya or mango. We
are out of the 2000 Old Adobe Pinot Noir, but the 2001 vintage will be released
before too long. We also sold out of
the 2000 Stolpman Vineyard Merlot and have replaced it with the 2001 vintage
from the Westerly Vineyard. The 2000
Santa Ynez Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is almost gone as well. Hope to see you soon. Art
This Month’s Wines
As mentioned above, we recently sold out of the 2000 Stolpman Merlot, but one of the benefits of wine club membership is that we like to give you the last shot at these wines, whenever we can. So we saved just enough of this wine to include in your shipment. Next month we will send you its replacement, the 2001 Westerly Vineyard Merlot. Your second wine this month is another great Bordeaux variety, the 2000 Santa Ynez Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is not quite sold out yet, but it will not be around long so we wanted you to have it now, while you can. So these wines represent one of the benefits of membership, getting the last option on many of our wines, and next month represents another benefit, when you will receive two brand new releases. Enjoy.
2001 ~ Westerly Vineyard ~ Santa Ynez Valley ~
Santa Barbara County
MERLOT
Merlot
is one of the great red wine varieties native to the Bordeaux region of
France. In its native region it is
almost always blended, usually with Cabernet Franc and sometimes with Cabernet
Sauvignon or both. In California, it is
more common to find wines, such as this one, which are one hundred percent
Merlot. It is our style to produce big,
full-bodied wines, and the deep ruby color of this Merlot is the first indication
that we were successful. The nose shows
off some jammy fruit characteristic of fine Merlot and invites you to taste the
wine. On the palate, the fruitiness is
complimented by nuances of chocolate that add to the wine’s complexity. 335 cases made.
2000 ~ Santa Ynez Valley ~ Santa Barbara County
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Cabernet Sauvignon is another of the great red
wine varieties native to the Bordeaux region of France. In its native region it is almost always
blended, usually with Cabernet Franc and sometimes with Merlot or both. In California, it is more common to find
wines, such as this one, which are one hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon. It is our style to produce big, full-bodied
wines, and the deep ruby color of this wine, which runs all the way to the
edge, is the first indication that we were successful. The wine has a pleasant nose with spicy and
woody aromas from the oak barrels and hints of cherry. On the palate it is smooth and full
flavored. It starts out fruity and rich
and follows through with good acid balance on the finish. 360 cases made.