We are slowly drying out after another extremely wet May.So far so good with the grapes. And there is hope for the new production building to be finished in time to use it with this vintage.

Finally our turn came and the building is started.  We really need the space.

This is a great time of the year in the vineyard. The work makes your knees ache but it sure does beat working behind a desk.

Seven year old Merlot looking good so far.

In 2014 we harvested around 2 tons of grapes, enough for approximately 100 cases of wine.  2015 is best skipped over, as it never did stop raining.  But this summer, 2016, we have new vines that will start producing grapes and so expect somewhere around 4 tons.  That means we need more room to make and age the wine.

Here is the first step – creating a building pad on top of the stone.

Once that was done, the site was prepared for concrete.

The concrete has been poured, but that was not without issues – the first pump they brought out clogged. This is what they tried to clear it – raise the boom and let gravity do the job.

Eventually a different pump truck was brought in and we now have a beautiful pad on which to construct the new building. More later.

Saturday, from noon on into the wee hours of Sunday morning, we got 5.75″ of rain.  The pond was already full, so all the water curved around the overflow outlet.

Some of the vines are standing in water – not good – but we’re hopeful that there will be no more today. Thirteen plus inches so far in May.

We’ve been busy updating the existing building that will become the tasting room. The bathroom has been completely remodeled and now there are 2 new beautiful doors installed.

Sorry for the rainy day picture quality. The week has been a mess. Pruning has started with the block 2 cabernet sauvignon but it is not a good idea to prune when it is foggy and rainy and cold, so we are not working quite as fast as wished.

Still to be done before opening this fall is the seating area – we envision a deck overlooking the 2 vineyards, the horse paddock, and the ‘tank’ (what the rest of the country calls a pond).

We’re very pleased with the results of our first bottling.  We did the 2013 cabernet sauvignon first, followed by the cab franc.  Both labels show scenes from the ranch, as all of our labels do.  We look forward to offering these wines to you in the fall of 2015.

The 2014 harvest was excellent – 1.75 tons overall and the quality is very promising.  Thanks to our pickers!

In 2011 the vines began to mature a bit and we even took a small crop and vinified it. Here is syrah early in the year:

And here it is later on:

Nets of course to protect the grapes from the birds. Not much fun to install or remove.

Block 2 is shown here in June; second leaf grapes (as two-year old grape vines are known) developing trunks and in many cases, cordons.

During the winter of 2009-2010 we cleared rocks, dug holes, set poles, pulled wire, trenched, and on and on it went.

Bringing water in from the new well:

By the spring of 2010 we were ready to plant.  Part of block 1 in the distance on the other side of the dam.

April 11, 2010 was not precisely sunny, but it is frequently misty up here in the hills.

By early June, 2010, the vines were well on their way.