Sierra Vista Winery

Two fortified wines/winter irrigation

2012-01-13T12:40:00.000-08:00

This photo shows all three of our desert wines, Our Viognier Doux and two new fortified wines similar to the wines of Banyuls in South western France.

Fortified wine from Syrah and Grenache

In 2010 Sierra Vista made its first fortified wine from Grenache and Syrah. The process was patterned after the wines of Banyuls, a town in the south west of France. The wine made there is a Grenache-based fortified wine that has been made since the thirteenth century. Banyuls, what the wine is called, is allowed to ferment until it has about six percent alcohol, then spirit is added, raising the alcohol level to about fifteen percent.

Sierra Vista Tawnie Grenache was allowed to ferment down to about 7% alcohol and 190 % spirits made from wine was added which brought the alcohol up to about 16%. The Rubie Syrah was made in the same style but came to 15.8% alcohol.

What this yields is a sweet wine that is a classic companion to semi-sweet or dark chocolate as well as other full bodied deserts. While rich and full-bodied, it is less sweet and syrupy than a typical dessert wine. It possesses a lovely garnet color and a good balanced acidity that makes it come off as more delicate than vintage port.

The names Rubie and Tawnie came about because when tasting the two barrels it was felt that the Syrah was more like a ruby port while the Grenache was more like a tawny port. The two are distinctly different. Come see and taste them at their grand debut at the Valentines desert celebration.

New topic/ Winter irrigation

On the 14th, Jan, we started watering the vineyard. The attached photos show where the dripline leaks are. They are quite easy to spot when it is so cold.

This shows a vine cane with two drops of water under a bud. The water is not blue but is reflecting the blue of the sky.

This one shows an emitter completely gone from the drip line. Don't know how that happens but it is cold to try to replace it withod turning of the water.

2011-11-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

This dish was called "seafood Ravioli" but it had a lot of lobster in it. If you use wine varietal labeling, 75% of the varietal as a guide the ravioli should have been called Lobster Ravioli. Whatever, it was the best ravioli I have ever had and would be in place at the best restaurants. Our caterer did herself proud.

Something else that was shown at the event was a proof copy of a cook book presently being published. The recipes are from the Barbara MacCready kitchen. Some of them have been included in the wine club shipments and some are new. The recipes are all for dishes that are delicious. The book will go to our wine club and will be on sale at the winery.

Three happy tasters

Mr. Bean was the hit of the party

Mr Bean keep these two guys in their place all afternoon

Two volunteers, Jackie on the right and Lynzee on the left, Lynzee is scheduled to start helping Barbara at the winery on November 29th. She will be doing a lot of everything including wine club, tasting room, event planning and organizing and even helping me with facebook and blogs.

Chardonnay development 9-27-11

2011-09-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here are two shots of Chardonnay, one of Cabernet and the flower garden in front of the winery. The Chardonnay is about a week of good weather away from harvest while the cab is a week and a half of good weather away, maybe two. However one block of Grenache the estate Rayas vineyard is almost there. Zin old clone is ready as far as the sugar goes but it is high acid. We may pick 2 or 3 blocks the end of this week or the beginning of next. What fun.

I am starting to name my blocks of grapes. We have the Rayas vineyard as Grenache block 1
the Castel vineyard is Grenache block 2, The Reeves Zinfandel is the first Zin we planted while the next zin is the old clone vineyard. We have an old clone Cab. I need some more names.

Chardonnay development 9-20-11

2011-09-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

Yes I know this is a day late but we received our Sauvignon Blanc Grapes yesterday so we crushed, repaired the press and had a very late day which we always do when we are not picking our own grapes. The reason is it takes a while to pick the grapes and then they have to trucked here so we don't get started when the first bins are picked as we do with ours.We also had a press malfunction so I had to repair that while our new celler person ran almost all the grapes by himself. That means he loaded each bin in the bin dumper, sorted the grapes by hand because there were a few very sour grapes in each bin, just enough to hurt the quality and pump the grapes into the press while I was repairing the press. The press was repaired just as he was finishing the last two bins.

This shot shows the Chardonnay out in the sun developing that nice yellow color one sees in our unoaked chardonnay. Barrel fermented Chardonnay wine picks up color from the oak as well as the grape.

The following photo shows some grapes not exposed to the sun directly and they are much greener but both may be about the same sweetness.

Several week ago I showed you some Mourvedre. The following photo shows the same grapes but very little green showing now compared to then.

This next shot shows some cab developing nicely. It looks like a good year if we can beat the rain. Cross your fingers for us.

Chardonnay on the 12th

2011-09-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Now days the progress is in the taste not the looks. I can tell it is sweeter than last week. Roses ad the wildflower aromas to the wine. Believe me? Last night we had a very localized thunderstorm with rain and lightening and wind. 0.4 inches should not do any damage and may even be good for the vines.

We sampled the Sauvignon blanc today in Amador county and it is about ready to pick. Just that the acid was too high. Maybe next Monday.

Following Chardonnay

2011-09-05T16:39:00.001-07:00

Notice how the bunches in the sun are becoming golden while the ones in the shade. I am tasting more sweetness in the berries than last week which is a good sign. Maybe we will have a harvest after all. This warm, not hot, weather we have been having here is really helping the ripening. We get up to near 90 during the day which is 8-10 degrees less than the hottr parts of El Dorado county and the Central Valley.

Don't they look good enough to eat?

Below is a photo of the flower gardens in the fore ground then the picnic area and the Viognier vineyard in the back ground.

Chardonnay development 8-29-11 3rd week of verasion

2011-08-29T14:29:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple clusters of Chardonnay. Notice that they are taking on a slight yellow hew. These grapes
give our unoaked wine the yellow tint in the bottle. If the grapes are exposed to sun as these are and the temperature does not get too high, which it seldom does here at 2800 ft, we get good color and not sunburn that comes with hotter temperatures.

In the photo below the grapes are still quite green although both these and the ones above have about the same sugar. These grapes are in the shade 100% of the time so will not change color much. They are beautiful looking grapes.

The grapes in this photo are Cabernet Sauvignon. You can see that some of the grapes are still green while some have started to turn purple. Still not half way through verasion which is when the grapes start turning from green to purple and the sugar starts increasing from none to some and eventually to 23 to 26% whatever the winemaker wants.

This is the third week of verasion

Chardonnay on 8-23-2011

2011-08-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was pouring wine in SF so no blog but here it is today. The clusters are getting as big as they ever will and are starting to develop a little sweetness, just a hint at this point. the roses are a lovely addition to the atmosphere of Sierra Vista.

Our flowers are beautiful at this time so come enjoy a picnic amidst the peace, quite and beauty.

A couple months ago I showed a photo of the fig tree with no or few canes and leaves. Now many new shoots have grown 5-6 feet and are covered with leaves and figs. They usually get ripe about the time of crush and they are good. Come taste them during harvest when you taste some wine.

Till next time,

John\

The Chardonnay Saga 8-15-11

2011-08-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

This should be called the Sierra Vista Vineyard saga to day because we have several comments. First the Chardonnay is plumping up nicely and appears close to verasion but I do not taste any sweetness yet. It is approaching translucence not quite there. You can notice that the plant is not putting on any additional growth again because the energy is all going into the grapes. The plants are trying to reproduce but little do they know that we have other intentions for the fruit of their labor.

Halelujah!! We do have the initial signs of verasion as shown on the photo of a mourvedre cluster. Sunday I found a few colored merlot berries and also some on the Syrah. The photo below shows the initial stages and we may be able to do some harvest around the first of Oct.

Verasion is when the red grapes start turning color and it is usually 6 +/- weeks till harvest.

Chardonnay developmwnt 8-1-11

2011-08-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

This photo shows how the bunches have grown in two weeks. Did not get to it last week because Barbara and I were on a little R&R down to Half Moon Bay, Pescadero and Pacific Grove.

Chardonnay Grapes are growing, 7-18-11

2011-07-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

You may compare this vine to the photo last week and see that the vine has not grown much. That is because the energy is going into growing the grapes.

This shows the grapes on the plant above and how they have increased in size over last week.

This is a photo of the flower garden with the picnic area in the back ground: beautiful now and for the summer. Come and enjoy it.

By the way we are participating in a 4 winery dinner at the Sienna Restaurant in El Dorado Hills on July 27. They have great food so go to our events page on the web site sierravistawinery.com for details and join us.

You will also see details for our Lobster feed which is delicious and fun as well.

Our continuing Chardonnay saga for 7-11-11, a day late

2011-07-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

If you look closely at the photo above you may see that the vine appears smaller than last week. If you look at the ground you will see some leaves and canes. We have leaf thinned and hedged to cut out leaves and and some cane growth to allow the sun to give its taste enhancing powers directly onto the clusters which are shown in the next photos. You can verify that I have been photographing the same plant by looking at the green tape on the end post shown every week.

Notice how much bigger the grapes are than last week. They are looking good.

Chardonnay development as of 7-4-11

2011-07-04T16:14:00.001-07:00

This week you can see the development of the plant over last week It did not grow as much as last week. As you may remember we were in bloom last week and must have just finished when the 1.1 inch rain hit this week. The next shot is a photo of a bunch of grapes that the grapes were the size of large pin head last week and are the size of a small pea this week. See the following photo. The grape development zaps some of the energy that goes into a developing plant prior to bloom.

The Chardonnay has grown 6-27 11

2011-06-27T08:39:00.001-07:00

The photos above show the original cane tagged with yellow tape. They also show the tremendous growth of the rest of the plant. You also see a little bit of my fingers.

We hope the rain does not do too much damage tomorrow.

Below we have the new bunches in bloom. Up until now they have just been little bunches of what looks like beads. After bloom they will start growing unless the rain tomorrow ruins the flowers and therefore the set

Till next week, John

Another weeks growth of Chardonnay Vines 6-20

2011-06-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

The photo on the left shows a white marker on the left and the one in the center shows a different white marker, both on the same cane about a foot apart. The photo to the right shows the two markers. If you look close the cane with the markers had grown last week to the about where the rectangular marker is ..now-------------------------------
-----The photo to the immediate right shows the whole plant and how much the plant has grown in the past week. Much more than the week before.

I saw a few blooms on the Chardonnay and Merlot. They should be in full bloom next week and I will show them next Monday.

Till next week bye

The continuing saga of Chardonnay development June 13

2011-06-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

This week we started having nice weather for people at Sierra Vista but still not warm enough for good vine growing until the middle of the week. and since then then the vines have been growing about an inch a day. These are photos of the same plant from different angles. Watch them grow. Still no sign of bloom.

Come by and see us Sunday for our 50th anniversary celebration when certain wines will be on sale for 50% off.

Chardonnay development 6-6-11

2011-06-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

Well we are still waiting for summer to come or at least March to be over with. My son in law living in the bay area answered the phone the other day with "Portland, California Carl speaking". I wonder why?

Here are two shots of the same cane we have been exanining . You will see that it has not grown much if any since last week. The longer this weather delays bloom the closer we get to having harvest start in October and continue into November. We will hope for good weather then.

Continuing saga 5-30-11

2011-05-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

If you look at last weeks post you will see that there has been a little growth but not as much as we would have wanted. However the grape clusters are developing and when we get some warm weather we will see the canes grow and the clusters will flower. Because these grapes are self pollinating we will not have bees. We just hope that we do not have rain during the flowering period. We will keep track of the coming events.

By the way the Rocks and Rhone event this year was a successfull event. Lots of good feedback from visitors.

The 2009 Fleur de Montagne was awarded a gold medal, best of class and the best Rhone wine at the El Dorado County Fair this year. The El Dorado Competition apparently allows wines from all appellations now, at least I saw some from Sonoma and Lodi.

Till next week

John

The continuing saga of the development of the Chardonnay.

2011-05-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

I was hoping that our assistant would sub for me last week so we would have an unbroken record by the week but she did not. The reason I did not do it is because Barbara and I took a vacation and rafted on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. What ball. 8 days on a raft, shooting rapids, sleeping under the stars, eating some great meals and gaining unwanted weight.

We did miss the unpleasant weather here and you will notice that the Chardonnay did not grow much this last couple week but just wait until the warm weather hits. Below are a couple photos of the the same canes we are showing. They have grown but not as much as we hoped.

Continuing continuing saga of bud break and development May 9

2011-05-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

From last Monday until Friday We had warm weather and the bud, which has now become a cane, has grown from just barely showing it's leaves to a cane 61/2 inches long. That's 51/2 inches in 5 days or about an inch a day. You can almost see it growing. The other buds did not do as well but they were not as far along as the tall one in the photo.

___________________________________________________________________

This shot shows a small cane on the left and a small cane on the right. If you look closely you can see two positions in between where a cane should be growing. These two positions were hit with frost so will probably not grow a cane and so we loose 4 bunches of grapes. That does not sound like much but if that happened to each of our 2000+ Chardonnay vines it would be quite a loss.

It will be interesting to see what next week brings. Cold weather little growth, warm weather significant growth?

Continuing continuing saga of bud break and development May 2

2011-05-02T10:03:00.001-07:00

This week the bud is swelling after getting some warm
weather. You can see the shot of the bud we have been
watching. It is growing on a spur where there are
two buds. Look at second photo on the right to see the two buds. The spur is attached to a cordon that is attached to the trunk of the vine. See photo on the left.
Typically there are two buds on a spur. From each of these buds comes a cane and each cane will grow two bunches of grapes. So by controlling the number of spurs and buds we can control the number of grape bunches and thus the vineyard yield.

By the way we are releasing our 2010 Grenache Rose. It is a great
summer wine so come taste it.

Chardonnay bud development 4-25-11 page 1

2011-04-25T10:05:00.001-07:00

Well here it is another week of cold rainy weather and not much to show except a little swelling of the first bud shown on the left. I changed the back ground for the bud shots so you can also see the development of our flower garden with part of the vineyard in the background behind the picnic area. The photo on the right shows one of the buds in the photo on the left.
______________________________________________________________________

Chardonnay fro bud break to harvest

2011-04-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Today I took a photo of the same two spurs showing a slight increase in the size of the buds. We have had lttle warm weather so there is not much activity in the plants.This is a photo of the buds as of 4-18-11

Chardonnay from bud break to harvest

2011-04-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

We Sierra Vista watch our vines grow yearly from the swelling of the bud on a cane to the bud turning to leaves and a new cane growing to flowering if the potential grape cluster to verasion, ripening, to harvest. This year I will try to document these events once a week on Monday morning. I will photograph the same buds weekly so you can watch them grow.

Attached is photo of how the buds looked last week 4-11 -11.

Syrah Days

2011-02-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 16 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Some local El Dorado, brazen Syrah producing wineries have banded together to help celebrate International Syrah Day.

Mountain grown syrah wines will be tasted at the new California Welcome Center in El Dorado Hills Town Center.
No cost to attend.
Oh, and bring your smart phones because you are going to want to let all your friends know what they
are missing.
The Taste and Tweet begins at 6:00

Can't make it in person.

Open your own Syrah, Preferably Sierra Vista Red Rock Ridge, at home and join in the discussion from home.

facebook.com/eldoradowinecountry

White Fog

2011-01-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

Today is Sunday the 9th. It is cold, 28 degrees when we went for a walk and foggy with a slight breeze from the north. Something that I have not seen previously in the 36 years we have been here. The fog particles collected on the north side of the grape canes and weeds that are not close to the ground. It then froze and more collected and froze to make a layer of white ice on the north side of the canes and the weeds. It made beautiful and unusual photos that I have included in this blog.

This will not harm the plants. The temperature has to get below 5 for damage to occur.

Harvest 2010

2011-01-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

Well I have been informed by Tara, our new internet whiz, that the blog is essential so I am starting it again. I am sure she will help also.

Wow was this harvest topsy turvy. First we had a very late spring and start of summer. Then we had a cooler than normal summer(inspite of global warming). The late spring caused our vines to bud out late and then bloom late. This caused verasion(the start of ripening) to be late. The cool fall caused the grapes to ripen slower than normal.

When something did get ripe it was not Chardonnay which is normally the first grape we pick. It was Roussanne that is normally the last grape we pick. The second grape to ripen was Mourvedre which is usually next to last. Some years are very hectic with all grapes harvested in three weeks and I expected that this year but we were pleasantly fooled. Some days we harvested nothing.

Somewhere in there we got a small rain that did nothing more than dampen the dust. But then the weather channel said we would get a large storm starting on a Saturday. Luckily the last of our grapes were ready to harvest. So Friday and Saturday we started picking. The last block we picked was Chardonnay(normally the first as mentioned above). We cleaned the press for the last time and just as we were getting the open topped fermenters covered the rain started: slowly at first. We had 6 inches of rain in that storm that would have been devastating.

Our yield was a little lower than normal but the quality is excellent.

So until next week signing off.

John

Lobster boil

2010-08-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

We had the second annual Lobster boil the 24th and it was a huge success. 75 lobsters, shrimp potatoes, Artichokes and sausage were eaten to the tune of a lovely jazz-swing band. After dinner a bunch of us danced to great swing music.

Better come next year.

Recently I got an email that said: Just wanted to let you know that we bought a bottle of your 2007 Fleur de Montagne at the Sunrise Farmer\'s Market and drank it tonight with pulled pork sandwiches, fresh potato and green bean salad and zucchini stew over garlic bread. The wine was incredible! Our family enjoyed it very much...smooth but complex, in a French tradition, but with greater complexity and less mid mouth flatness than many French reds I have tried. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. This is our first bottle of wine from your vineyard, but with such a wonderful entree, I am sure we will be coming up to visit and sample more of your offerings soon! Thank you so much for helping to make our evening so enjoyable, Steve

Have you seen our new sign? Stop by and see it as well as taste some great wine.

John

Lobster fest and great music

2010-07-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday July 24 is the day of second lobster dinner. We will serve fresh Maine lobster, shrimp, artichokes, corn on the cob and sausage. To accompany this feast we will pair a white wine and a red wine both of which will enhance your dining experience.

We will also have a band in the background for your listening enjoyment. It is a real bargain at $80.00 or $70.00 for club members. More on the band later.

Sign up at 800 946 3916

COMMENTS FROM CUSTOMER AND LOBSTER BOIL

2010-06-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

Recently we have had several nice comments from customers. I am repeating them here:

Richard Says: As a personal note, we really enjoyed our time at your winery on Saturday. We all agreed that you have a destination winery. Our feeling is that your picnic facilities and wines are both worth the trip to enjoy even without visiting other wineries in the area.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

Received 6-7-2010: Just wanted to let you know that we are enjoying a Sierra Vista Viognier Doux tonight. Wow, is it ever the perfect after dinner drink. Nice work!, Michelle, Spearfish, SD

Received 5-26-2010

Several years ago Bob and I bought a large ( x 4) bottle of your Syrah - Red Rock Ridge at auction. We put it down per the instructions written on the bottle waiting for the appropriate time to open it.
Since 2002 we get together with two couples twice a year and have an Italian Feast. Great fun! The event lasts for about three days and we make all of the food from scratch including whatever noodles are included in the menu. Needless to say, a lot of wine is consumed with different wines with each course.
We recently hosted the feast and chose to open your Syrah. We let it breath a bit, decanted it and served the wine in special Riedel glasses.

THE WINE WAS EXCELLENT. Thank you so much for producing an excellent wine and also making it available for the silent auction.

DON'T FORGET OUR LOBSTER BOIL July 24, 2010: GO TO our events page at www.sierravistawinery.com/pages/events.php FOR INFORMATION

five zero

2010-06-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Barbara and I celebrated our 49Th wedding anniversary at the Taste restaurant in Plymouth. We picked them because they just ordered some wine. We had a lovely dinner and a good time: champagne and foie gras before our entree. Next year is the great 50 that is five zero. Watch for a great celebration at Sierra Vista with entertainment and everything. We may even do some ballroom dancing. Our daughter, Lynette and her husband Carl make up a pro/am ball room dance team. I would like to have them come and entertain us with some "dancing with the stars" type ballroom dancing. Then we might have some regular ballroom dancing for the rest of us to enjoy.
So watch here, our facebook page and our emails for info on when and what time. It will be close to June 3rd. We may have a special wine bottled for the occasion.

Changes at Sierra Vista

2010-05-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

We have had a personel change at Sierra Vista. Yesterday we had a going away luncheon for Tyler Grace who is leaving SV to join with his father in a new venture called Grace Patriot Winery in Camino, Ca. We wish him all the best. To take his place, which will be difficult, we have invited a young man, Carter Coleman, to join us. He received his introduction to the wine world at Alderbrook Winery in Sonoma. Welcome Carter.

What people say

2010-05-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

Today I got an email from some people who won our wine at a silent auction. Here is what they said:
Several years ago Bob and I bought a large ( x 4) bottle of your Syrah - Red Rock Ridge at auction. We put it down per the instructions written on the bottle waiting for the appropriate time to open it.
Since 2002 we get together with two couples twice a year and have an Italian Feast. Great fun! The event lasts for about three days and we make all of the food from scratch including whatever noodles are included in the menu. Needless to say, a lot of wine is consumed with different wines with each course.
We recently hosted the feast and chose to open your Syrah. We let it breath a bit, decanted it and served the wine in special Riedel glasses.

THE WINE WAS EXCELLENT. Thank you so much for producing an excellent wine and also making it available for the silent auction.

All for now, John

What bloggers say

2010-05-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

Recently I sent some wines to Sue Straight for her evaluation. She used to run the San Diego Union Competition(I think) but now does wine evaluations. She assures me she is non partisan and that the tastings are not biased and are truly blind. The following are some evaluations. To see more go to:
http://wine-wench.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/. She gives a maximum of five stars.

Syrah (also called Shiraz in Australia) is originally from the Rhône Valley in France, but it is grown in many parts of the United States and is becoming one of Australia’s top wines. Syrah (and Shiraz) tends to be a big, full-bodied wine with flavors of blackberry, cherry, green herbs, leather and smoked meat.
There is no, I repeat NO relation between Syrah and Petite Sirah.
Try pairing Syrah with hearty dishes, such as roasted lamb, eggplant parmesan, grilled and smoked meats, stew, chili and robust cheeses.
My panel and I tasted 15 Syrahs from all over California. The following 9 were our favorites (There were lots of rockin’ good wines in this flight!):

Five Stars
Sierra Vista Syrah
2006 Reserve, El Dorado County $25
There is a French word, “garrique,” that one of my wine geek friends turned me on to – it means “hillside wildflowers.” One sniff of this lovely wine and you’re Julie Andrews, running down a wildflower covered hillside, singing “the hills are alive…” I love my job. Seriously, though – aromas of garrique, red cherry, red raspberry, vanilla and spice set the stage, both in the nose and in the mouth. Delicious!

Five Stars
Sierra Vista Syrah
2006 Red Rock Ridge, El Dorado County $32
Just be glad that I’m not Elmer Fudd reviewing this delightful wine – Wed Wock Widge fwom El Dowado. Sorry – couldn’t help myself! It really is a wonderful wine!Mouthwatering aromas of juicy red fruits (raspberry, strawberry, red cherry), baking spices and smoke delight the nose and continue as flavors in the seamless, silky mouth. Delicious! Serve with wabbit.

This post is all about great Cabs priced between $20 and $30.
Check this out ~ these wines come from Napa Valley, Sonoma County, El Dorado County, Paso Robles and Lodi. These appellations ALL produce rockin’ good Cabs! Neener, neener, neeener – good Cabs don’t come from Napa Valley exclusively!
Oh yeah – we bloggers now have to say this ~ all wine samples were provided complimentary by the participating wineries. Thanks wineries!

Five Stars
Sierra Vista Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Reserve, El Dorado County $26
Think about a big slab of warm cherry pie with vanilla ice cream and you’re halfway there! This Cab is absolutely delicious and balanced, with aromas and flavors of cherry, vanilla, cinnamon and toasty oak, all wrapped up in a velvety mouth feel.

These wines are still current so come taste them and you will like them.

John

Spring

2010-05-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

Wow! Has it been a month since the last post? Sorry! Looks like our effort to keep up this blog has gotten a little soft lately. Spring and Fall are always the busiest times for us. In the Spring we have pruning to get done, bud break, wine clubs and of course El Dorado's famous Passport weekends! After passport we always feel we can take a breath for a little bit. This year was a pretty good turn out. Better than expected since The Winery Assoc did not end up selling out on tickets. We got over 1000 people coming through on both weekends, rain & shine. The unique thing about this Spring is it seems it never wants to end. Today is May 12th and as I was driving to work yesterday morning I saw up to four inches of snow on the tops of cars! The ground at the Vineyard was white, but come 9am everything was melted and the day was heating up. Today is one of those dreamy Sierra foothills spring days. Maybe Summer now will start to show its beautiful face. At least we will have plenty of water this year for the vines!

history and own roots

2010-04-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

Recently I bought a little device that converts slides to digital. I can then transfer them to my computer. The other day I found a picture of our first winery building amongst the debris of clearing the land. I am including that here and as I find more "historical" Sierra Vista Winery photos I will show them here.

on another subject more than half of our vineyards are planted on their own roots, no foreign rootstock here. I know from our trial plot that rootstock changes the taste of the grape. I wondered if there were any trials done so I googled own Root grape vines and came up with this URL It is a nice short article that gives more pertinent information than I have. Read it and see why our cabs and Syrahs and even Zins have good ageing potential . Read it. It's not long. http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/grapevinerootstock_article.html

2010-04-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

I am posting this a little late and I apologize about that. A couple weeks ago Sierra Vista participated in a a wine makers dinner at La Provence Restaurant down in Roseville. Both John and Barbara thought it was a success and everyone seemed to have a great time. The food and wine pairing was splendid and I wanted to post the menu for all the foodies out there.

Appetizer-
Petit Pates Au Olives Et Chevre
Nicoise olive pastry with Fleur Vert goat cheese, wild arugula and arbequina olive oil. This was paired with the 2007 Fleur de Montagne, which is a Chatauneuf- Du -Pape style blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Cinsault.

Main Course-
Faux Entrecote De Sanglier Au Poivre
Seared wild boar strip loin, pommes Lyonnaise, brandy peppercorn sauce. This was paired with 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Dessert-
Gateau Crepes A L'Orange et Abricots
Crepe cake filled with orange cream, glazed with dried apricot confection. Served with the 2006 Viognier Doux, which is a late harvest viognier.

Still snowing

2010-04-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

Here it is April 5t and it is still snowing. We had a trace over night and it is snowing at 11:30 AM. I am glad it is cold because the Chardonnay is leafing out and we have not finished pruning it. This cold will keep it somewhat dormant so that the guys can finish pruning before it all buds out. That will set it back so maybe we can get past the frost problem this year.

We had successful Rhone Ranger tasting with a couple distributors expressing interest in hearing more about Sierra Vista and a restaurant in Walnut Creek will be putting us on their wine list.

Our new 2009 Chardonnay is just about ready to be released and the Fume also. Both are really nice, better than the 2008 maybe. You come taste and decide.

The next two weekends will be hectic with passport coming on.

By the way I am interested in finding a NCAL blogger who tastes and discusses wine on his blog. If you know of one let me know at syrah@sierravistawinery.com.

Thanks,

John

March snow

2010-03-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had another snow storm that appeared to be equal to the December storm So I sent Autumn home. Shortly after she left she came back. There was a propane truck stuck on our driveway so she couldn't get out. But we got her out through the Reeves place(where our Zinfandel comes from). Barbara was in town shopping and doing her pilates thing and had no clue we were getting dumped on. When she got almost home she found the drive way was still blocked by the propane truck. We had to carry the groceries up by hand. Quite a jaunt on a 18%grade driveway covered by snow and a propane truck. The snow stopped about 3 with about 6 inches fallen. Because it had been so warm it melted quite rapidly on the road and I was able to plow what was left after the stuck truck got out about 4 PM.

Today we tasted some zinfandels and decided to release the 2007 Reeves Vineyard Zin. We felt that the 2006 would benefit from a little maturing in the bottle. Look for it to be re-released in a couple years.

Till next time, John

2010-03-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

It is cold and rainy outside so of course my mind is wondering off to warmer climates. There are many grapes suited for warm climates but one of my all time favorites is Grenache. It just so happens that John and myself have been working on getting the blend down for our 2009 Grenache. I can't spoil the fun by telling you all what it will be, but it is looking good. Oh the anticipation of the wine world!

As some of you know, Grenache is one of the most widely planted red grape varieties in the world. It does ripen late, so it needs hot, dry conditions. Our little ridgeline up here in Pleasant Valley proves to be a perfect place for the spicy, berry-flavored grape. One would mostly find it in blends, since it tends to lack color. Syrah is a very common blending companion for Grenache. Grenache is the dominant variety in most Chateauneuf-du-Pape where there has to be a minimum of 30% but is typically over 80% of the famous blends. We tend to use around 40% of Grenache in our Chateauneuf-du-Pape style Fluer Du Montagne.

Grenache is a great wine for a warm day, for it brings out the wanderlust in a person with its spicy, dusty fruit basket up-set character. Just now I am dreaming of beaches and craggy windswept hillsides as I look out and see huge snowflakes streaming down. Hmmm, the thought of Grenache and what it brings to mind is warming my soul. I guess that makes it good for a cold day too!

Eden Vale Inn

2010-02-26T17:28:00.000-08:00

This week Barbara and I were treated to two nights at the Eden Vale Inn just off of Lotus Road near the town of Lotus, Ca. On the way there Tuesday night we went to the Thai restaurant now known as Thai Basil and had an excellent dinner with Sierra Vista Fume Blanc. They also carry the Syrah and pair it with their fixed price dinner. Wednesday morning we were treated to a great breakfast and some great company, Mark Hamlin the owner and Chris Kinsey who is establishing a new company called Custom wine Concierge ate with us. So Wed. when we weren't talking or reading we took a drive and saw some enormous beautiful homes in the area. Wednesday night we went to the Sierra Nevada House in Lotus and had a great dinner and may have sold the owner wine for their next wine list. Autumn was instrumental in reacquainting Howard, the owner to our wines also had dinner with us.

Thursday we had another great breakfast and came home after taking a short row on their little pond. I tried to upload some photos but they were taken in high resolution tiff mode and would not upload to this blog.There is one on our Sierra Vista Facebook page and you can go to http://www.edenvaleinn.com/ for a view of the whole B&B. The beds were great and there was no noise. How restful. Just received three photos from Chris Kinsey in jpg format so have added two of them

Old Clone Zinfandel--What Is It?

2010-02-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, around the turn of the century, 1900 that is, some early pioneer farmers planted a Zinfandel vineyard down near the D'Augustini pond in El Dorado Country. No one knows the source of their plants but they produced distinctly different grapes than many other Zinfandel vineyards in the area.

Several years ago a modern day wine making pioneer discovered this vineyard and approached the heirs of the original farmers to see if he could get some cuttings of this special Zin. They said emphatically "no". Being very disappointed he told his sister. Without telling him, his sister decided to go in person to talk to the heirs. When she arrived at the farm she found that the people were not at home. She decided to look at the vineyard in question and saw that it was dying with just a few live canes left. Being a good hearted woman, she pulled out her trusty pruners (she always carries them) and did a very good job of pruning some of the vines. It helps the vines grow better you know. Then not wanting to leave the mess she gathered up the clippings and brought them back to her farm for disposal. She told the wine making pioneer what she had done. In the dark of night he went over and salvaged about 20 buds and grafted them onto some existing Zinfandel plants. Ten of the grafts took and from those 10 plants enough buds had been obtained for 15 rows of that Old Clone planted over a hundred years ago. It turns out that the heirs of the Old Zinfandel let their whole vineyard dry up and die. Good thing the wine making pioneer's sister saved the strain with her good hearted ways!

Soups on coming up Valentines and Presidents day weekend.

2010-02-08T15:53:00.000-08:00

Sierra Vista is having a soup and wine pairing this weekend. Also a treat will be the Belgium Chocolate being served by Yours truly as a pairing with the Five Star Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Come by and try the Thai style and sausage soup au pisto prepared by Beth Sogard.

Today we are putting the 2009 Fleur de Montagne into new oak barrels for month just to give it a small amount of oak. It is delicious.

See you Sat or Sunday.

John

Happy Birthday John!

2010-01-26T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today we have reason to celebrate! Our long time leader and Winemaker John MacCready is blowing out the candles on his birthday ice cream pie! We had a nice little lunch down in the tasting room. Even the kitties were invited! I have to say John seems younger than ever. He seems to have more energy than I do and he is four decades older than I am. How does that happen? What is he eating? Must be the Wine!

Also, Tyler our trusty Wine maker's assistant is blending the 2007 Red Rock Ridged Syrah for the El Dorado Winery Association event "Bring Out The Barrel" this weekend. The Red Rock Ridge syrah is made up of mostly the Estrella Clone that was planted back in 1979. Remember folks we have the oldest Syrah vines of anyone in the Sierra Foothills! The Estrella Syrah has this beautiful oval shape and exudes with luscious juiciness. We also throw in some 174 and 383 clones for color. We are all excited for the turn out of this wine.

The only thing left to say is, stop in to taste it!

2010-01-17T10:34:00.000-08:00

Hello to all the Sierra Vista Winery fans!

Let me introduce myself, my name is Autumn Berry and I am the new Sierra Vista Winery Operations manager and Wine Club Coordinator. I am going to be jumping in on this Blogger bandwagon from time to time for John MacCready our fearless winemaker and proprietor here at Sierra Vista. I just want to warn all of you that I am not a writer by trade so I do apologize if I have any grammatical errors on this blog.

We want this blog to be a little insight to what goes on at a winery from day to day or week to week. Weather it is actual winemaking news, info on exciting happenings or random thoughts on wine; we want to communicate this wine life to you. Life is always changing and moving forward and it seems like that pace is sometimes accelerated in the wine business. There are however, those precious moments where the pace slows down enough for us to notice the little details and slow changes that occur up here on Red Rock Ridge. For instance, Lucy our new little kitten caught her first bird today and is well on her way to becoming a full-blown hunter. Now we just have to get her brother Rickie to catch up.

That said I do hope you enjoy our posts and my influence on them.
TTFN!!

A new blog

2010-01-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a long time since I wrote a new blog. The big occurrence here was the week without power at the winery after the big Dec snow storm and the two new kittens we have acquired.

Yesterday Autumn and I blended the new 2009 Fleur de Montagne. It is going to be a great vintage for the Fleur. She is a great help with her wonderful palate.

Last month she put on a wine and cheese 101 course where she opened some eyes to what wines pair best with different types of cheese.

Jan 16th she will present "A closer look at wine" which is all about how to taste and judge a wine.

In the future Autumn will be doing most of these blogs so look for more frequent postings.

New Family Member

2009-11-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

In the previous blog I mentioned the name Autumn with out saying what Autumn is. I know some if you were puzzeled. I will explain. At the beginning of summer 2009 some friends of ours, Chris and Robyn Parker were preparing their sailboat for a cruise from Seattle to Alaska. They stopped in one evening to have dinner at a restaurant in PortTownsend and started talking with the manager about wine. One thing led to another and they talked about Sierra Vista. I never felt my ears burning so it must have not to bad. Now fast forward to September when Clyda, a long time family member at Sierra Vista told us that she wanted to retire in 2010. A couple weeks later we received an email from Autumn Berry requesting a job interview. She listed her experience in her letter and resume. She was working for a Napa winery as the hospitality manager, sales rep and assisted withe the wine blending before bottling. She was graduated from the Cullinary Academy at Hyde Park NY and has passed the ecamt to be a certified sommelier. We asked her to come for an interview and Barbara and I were impressed. We asked her to come back for another and made her an offer which she wanted to think about. We went to Napa for lunch and had a third interview where she accepted our offer. After lunch we went to see our daughter and grandson. It was a great day!!!!!!!!!!

We are delighted to have Autumn as onw of our family at Sierra Vista. Come meet her.

I will have a picture one of these days.

John

Harvest is over

2009-11-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

It is a long time since I posted a blog but in the future Autumn and I will post blogs so they should come twice as often at least.

Harvest started with the picking of Sauvignon Blanc in late August. It was not ready when the owner called. After we destemmed it we pressed and then cleaned all equipment. After cleaning the destemmer we tested it and it was frozen. No go. Stopped. The next day I took it to Santa Rosa to be fixed. About a week later the repaair facility said they would deliver it. OK so I waited, waited, waited and then called the shop. They had delivered it to the wrong winery. What a pain. If I had a flatbed truck or trailer it would have been easy to get load it and bring it here. It was difficult to get it in the pickup and just as difficult to get it out. I managed, turned it on. It worked. The next morning we started harvest at Sierra Vista.

It was a great harvest with some big, full bodied, reds with alcohols less than 14% which is what we aim for. And of course our whites will be concentrated also because we dry farmed the whole vineyard except 1 watering to the Roussanne.

More tomorrow,

John

Harvest is here

2009-08-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

To day I received a call from the Sauvignon Blanc vineyard owner. He said the grapes are ready to pick. So Tyler and I went down to Amador to sample. Our sample showed that the sugar is perfect but the acid is too, too high and the ph is too, too low. We will not pick when he scheduled, next Tuesday. We will sample again Monday.

GENERAL HAPPENINGS

2009-06-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

On June 4th I left California for a week+ sales trip to NC and MD. I had a wine tasting with some of the staff of a new distributor we acquired in NC as a result of wine tasting with a bunch of sommeliers here in Pleasant Valley. It was on Friday the 5th that was supposed to be the conclusion of a vacation that Barbara and I were going to spend sailing on the Chesapeake with friends but we had to cancel at the last moment due to a sprained back Barbara suffered as a result of a tumble at her exercise class. She is getting better all the time.

After visiting with the new distributor I drove through some very heavy rain in NC to a small town just west of Raleigh to visit a cousin and her family. I stayed over night and then headed up to Md where I stayed with our MD broker. A lovely place right on the Chesapeake with 300 ft of water front. Sunday they arranged an outing with a business associate. His father took us on his 36 foot power yacht across the Chesapeake to have lunch at a waterfront restaurant. He ordered ahead of time 3 jumbo sized blue crabs for each of us plus a crab cake. The crab cake was the best I have ever had and the crabs were really sweet, caught that morning. A great experience.

Monday we started selling wine and covered much of MD and over 4 days visited more than twenty accounts and most of them bought something. A good sales trip.

Monday night my host invited several of her friends over for a salmon and halibut and wine tasting dinner. Had a good time with them. Then Tuesday night she bought 2 1 lb lobsters each that were just great. Fresh lobster and an ear of corn for dinner. Wednesday we had a wine pouring so ate dinner at the place we poured and Thursday our last stop of the day was at an account in Annapolis that had previously ordered quite a bit of wine. We did a short pouring there and then took with the wine buyer out to an Italian restaurant. The food was good but the thing I remember most was the fried mouzzarella he ordered. It was different than any he had had before and I had never ordered it. It was deep fried I think in 1" thick large triangular chunks and then covered with a most delicious mushroom sauce. I ate most of his second one. That was wednesday night so on the way back to Middle River where I had stayed we had to go right by BWI where I was to fly out of the next day. He just let me off at a motel near the airport and I flew home on Friday the 12th.

VINEYARD and WINE

All the vines are growing like weeds. We have had to thin the Viognier, Roussanne, and Mourvedre. We still have to thin some of the Syrah. We actually took off more grapes than we left on. I actually got out there and did some myself and as a result next year we will do our prunning differently. We have cordon trained and spur prunned everything but next year we will cane prune the three I just mentioned and maybe some others.

In 1974 we planted 5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon on their own roots, not grafted to root stalk that is the industry standard. That Vineyard is now 35 years old and qualifies for old vine status. There are not many Cab blocks that old in California because most vineyards are replaced after 25-30 years because of lower production. Its interesting what the old vine and own roots give to a vineyard, more intensity character, and depth. One Master of Wine who tasted our wine at a tasting in San Francisco asked if our cab was on its own roots. How did he know because not very many vines in the world are planted on their own roots. He said the wine had the character of French Bordeaux(Cab Sauv) prior to the French having to change their vineyards to rootstock plantings.

When in MD I found that many buyers expressed dis satisfaction with the high alcohol wines being promoted by the wine press and were interested that we have wines many of which ware less than 14% alc. A plus for us but still not able to get high ratings in the press because the high alc wines dominate any tasting.

That is all for now. Looks like I will be able to do a blog a month rather than one a week.

John

Vineyard happenings

2009-05-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

The vines are growing like weeds so that we are having to hand thin the Viognier, Roussanne, Mourvedre, Zinfandel and tuck the new canes of the syrah up under the catch wires all at the same time. It is a time consuming job and only so many hands to do it. I have been out there and found that I will change my pruning method next year.

This coming weekend is Rocks and Rhone, a celebration of Rhone style wines by Sierra Vista, Holly's Hill, Miraflores and NarroGate. Come join us for some good food and drink. We are releasing our first Reserve Syrah and our first ever Rhone white blend made with Grenache, Viognier, and Roussanne.

On the 27th Barbara and I will leave for a week of sailing on the Chesapeake bay in Maryland.
Then we will visit a new Distributor in North Carolina and our current distributor in Md. Some work and some pleasure.

We are looking forward to a little time away from the vineyard because it is the only time we are not working.

Come see us and try our 2 new wines.

John

kudos

2009-04-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

A couple weeks ago we received word that our 2007 Roussanne received a Double Gold medal at the San Diego Wine competition. It is a great wine and deserves the recognition.

I fully expect that our 2008 Viognier will be very well received because it is the best we have had since '98 when it received a 98 rating and called one of the top in Cal.

Yesterday Mike Dunne posted the following in the Sac Bee:

Mike Dunne's Wine of the Week pick - 04/22/09
By Mike Dunne
Published: April 22nd, 2009 12:00 AM
Sierra Vista Vineyards & Winery 2006 Reeves Vineyard Zinfandel ($18)
The view from aptly named Sierra Vista Vineyards & Winery is so sweeping it can be seen as either intimidating or inspiring. John and Barbara MacCready, who bought the ridge top property in 1972, have been far more inspired than intimidated by the grand landscape before them.
They arrived knowing that the hills were celebrated for zinfandel, but in looking around they saw in the mix of exposures and soils other possibilities. They planted cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, though the Mother Lode never has been recognized for doing well consistently by either. Not until the MacCreadys applied their scientific and artistic touches to the varieties, that is.
And while just about every winery in the region today produces wines based on varieties traditionally grown in France's Rhone Valley - syrah, mourvedre, viognier, among others - the MacCreadys were among the first, and possibly the very first, to see the gleam of gold in those unsuspected veins.
But doggone it, the Mother Lode is zinfandel country, and the MacCreadys didn't ignore the variety that continues to be most closely identified with the area.
They make a couple of zinfandels, and the one that most recently caught my attention was the meaty, firm and peppery Sierra Vista Vineyards & Winery 2006 Reeves Vineyard Zinfandel, which in equilibrium and resonance delivers more authority than many zinfandels at double or more its $18 suggested retail price.
The MacCreadys' fondness for grape growing and wine making in the foothills must be catching. The fruit that went into the Reeves zinfandel came from a neighboring vineyard just to the west owned by John MacCready's sister and brother-in-law, Enid and Doug Reeves.
They caught the MacCready infection early on, planting the vineyard in 1976. While the resulting wine consistently has been solid vintage to vintage, it looks to be getting even better, perhaps because the vineyard gradually is being replanted to another clone from a century-old plot that no longer exists. The 2006 Reeves is a mix of both the original clone and the new.
By the numbers: 14.1 percent alcohol, 359 cases, $18.
Context: John MacCready likes the Reeves zinfandel with just about anything dressed with a red Italian sauce - lasagna, spaghetti, ribs and so forth. He recommends drinking the wine over the next two years, but suspects it will continue to live and deliver six more years.
More information: Visit www.sacwineregion.com or Sierra Vista Vineyards & Winery, 4560 Cabernet Way, Placerville.

That is all till next time.

John

It's time to start writing again

2009-04-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was passport time with the El Dorado Winery Association wineries. Both weekends were blessed with great weather, especially compared to the snow sleet and rain we have had some other years. At Sierra Vista Winery we server salmon Provencale, rosmary pork medalions in a cream sauce and wild mushroom pasta. All prepared by Christian and Jennifer Masse of Allez. Several attendees said it was the best food they had had any where.

We paired the salmon with our 2006 Viognier which was a great hit.

The people in the distance are checking in and the gal in pink on the left is getting the salmon and Viognier.

The next pairing was the pork and pasta that went very well with the Fleur de Montagne, a Rhone blend. As shown here the pasta is being served by Enid Reeves, in the yellow, of the Reeves Vineyard Zinfandel fame.

The last station for tasting was manned by Keith Boston pouring our 2005 Five Star Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a highly concentrated 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is the first time we have bottled one since 1999 and our introductory tasting of the 2005.

Speaking of the 99, we had one last Sat night that was great. Opening an hour before dinner and aerating it by pouring from one decanter to another 5-6 times and then letting it sit for an hour gave us a real treat. One would be hard pressed to find afirst growth Bordeaux that would be better.

At Sierra Vista we grow figs for our pleasure. Following is a photo showing the tree after pruning. By this fall it will be almost doubled in size. I will try to remember to show it to you when fully grown and when the leaves are turning next fall.

Until next time, so long.

Current events

2008-11-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

Last night I poured at the Basic, discussed in the last post. It is a thin crust pizza restaurant in a revitalized portion of Roseville. We had fun and and people were interested and really liked the wine. We served many youngsters(by my definition) many who have been on this earth less time than the winery has been in existence. They tasted and then bought glasses of the wine. I took 2 whites and 4 reds. We sold multiple glasses of the all the reds and no glasses of the whites. The younger set seems to go for reds and no whites.

This week friends from my previous life, before the winery, flew in for the American Wine society from OHIO and spent a couple days with us. We toured part Amador county one day and saw that since Sutter Creek and adjacent are being bypassed they will eventually become ghost towns. It's too bad to loose some history due to "progress".
The next day we had a photo session at Tahoe. Emerald bay was gorgeous with some great photos and of course we had a little snow on the ground.
Then we had lunch at the Blue Water Bistro where they had the best clam chowder I have had on the west coast. While we were eating the clouds came in and we even saw a few snowflakes. We took some more photos and the sun peeking through the clouds gave some interesting shots from the Nevada side of the lake.

Many of you know that we make a dry rose called Belle Rose that has always had a large percentage of Grenache in it. This week we traded out some 2005 Belle Rose in one of the local Raley's for some Fume Blanc that will sell better. I am tasting the 2005 Belle Rose as I am writing this and it is quite good. Maybe even better than when it was young. Well made roses can improve with age so if you have an old bottle try it . It may be delicious.

Be sure and come to our Holiday Celebration described at http://www.sierravistawinery.com/pages/events.php

As I have said before:The following I will be including on every blog I post. This is because I hope you will forward our blog address to all your email friends and you never know who might be able to help Sierra Vista. One thing I would like to hear about is when you drink a bottle of Sierra Vista wine that you really enjoy and why you liked it. I would also like to hear about what food you had it with or if you drank it without eating.

Another thing is, as I mentioned in the previous post and will include in all future posts, is if any of you know a small wine distributor in any state, please let me know so I can contact them about carrying our wine. If you don't know any distributors you might ask at your favorite wine shop for the names of several small distributors and include them in your comment on this blog. I would appreciate it very much. If you do not want to comment on this blog you could email me at syrah@sierravistawinery.com Until next week that is all John MacCready, owner & winemaker, Sierra Vista Winery

Harvest is over.

2008-10-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

This week we pressed the last wine that we harvested, zinfandel. It's strange but the first grapes we picked this year were Zinfandel and the last grapes we picked were Zinfandel. We will have some nice 2008 Zinfandel.

Last weekend we had a great winemaker dinner at Zachary Jacques with most of the attendees were club members. Because we had a grand child due in the later part of July Barbara did not schedule a dinner on the lawn as we usually do but I think I enjoyed the one at Zachary Jacques as much if not more. It was more intimate and Barbara did not have to work as hard to make the event a success. The Food was great.

In the coming weeks we will have two events, one in Roseville and one at the winery. The first is
Wine tasting at the Basic Urban Kitchen
Come taste 5 Sierra Vista wines and try them with the best New Haven, Connecticut thin crust brick oven pizzas outside Connecticut. Sierra Vista will be pouring Chardonnay, Fume Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Zinfandel.

112 Pacific st, Roseville, CA 95678
November 5, 2008
6:00 to 8:00 PM916.749.4641

______________________________________________________________

The next is one that replaces the Chilli and chocolate because we have not been really pleased with the chilli we could get. see below for details:

Annual Holiday Event
November 22,23

11:00am to 4:pm

Featuring the release and tasting of our first Five Star Reserve Cabernet Sayuvignon since 1999

Come taste the 2005 Five Star Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

In addition we will have hor dourvres paired wih some of our other new and current releases with emphasis on Thanksgiving pairings
More details on offerings coming soon

Come see us.

__________________________________________________________________

As I have said before:The following I will be including on every blog I post. This is because I hope you will forward our blog address to all your email friends and you never know who might be able to help Sierra Vista. One thing I would like to hear about is when you drink a bottle of Sierra Vista wine that you really enjoy and why you liked it. I would also like to hear about what food you had it with or if you drank it without eating.

Another thing is, as I mentioned in the previous post and will include in all future posts, is if any of you know a small wine distributor in any state, please let me know so I can contact them about carrying our wine. If you don't know any distributors you might ask at your favorite wine shop for the names of several small distributors and include them in your comment on this blog. I would appreciate it very much. If you do not want to comment on this blog you could email me at syrah@sierravistawinery.com Until next week that is allJohn MacCreadyowner & winemakerSierra Vista Winery
Posted by John at 2:39 PM 0 comments

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Crush is almost over

2008-10-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

As I said last time it the weather forecasters were calling for rain on Oct. 3 and knowing that they are always right we started harvesting the last blocks on Sept. 29 and picked every day and got almost everything in and crushed by the 3rd. We finished up all except the Zin secondaries by about 3PM Friday and it started raining about 4 PM. We had to finish cleaning the equipment and cover the open top fermenters in the rain. A real fun week but everything looks great.

One of the last things we harvested was the Syrah block 1 that was planted in 1979, the oldest Syrah vineyard in the foothills and one of the oldest in California. The cuttings we used to plant were from the old Estrella River Winery which subsequently lost its Syrah vineyards to phyloxera. We could arguably call this Syrah "Old Vine Syrah" but maybe something else would be more catchy or elegant. Any suggestions? go to the comment page.

Another newbe will be a Fleur de Montagne Blanc that will be bottled in March I hope. It will be a blend of the Rhone varieties Grenache, Roussanne, and Vioignier. Although all the varieties in the Fleur de Montagne are from Chateauneuf-du-Pape the Fleur Blanc will not be. Viognier is not allowed in Chateauneuf-du-Pape but I never claimed that the Fleur is a CDP but a California blend using the same grapes so now the blanc will be a Calif. Rhone style blend.

Friday Oct. 10 we picked the Reeves Zinfandel secondaries. Since it was so cold 40 degrees when we started picking we let them cold soak over the weekend and added yeast today. We are completely finished with harvest and will finish pressing everything but the Zin tomorrow. It's great to be almost done even though it is the most exciting time of the year. We will have some great wines although the quantity is down so you will have to get your 2008 wines when they first come out.

On October 18 we are having a winemaker dinner at Zachary Jacques restaurant. An excellent food wine pairing is being prepared by Chef John Evans to go with Sierra Vista wines. be sure to check out the menu at http://www.sierravistawinery.com/pages/events.php

As I have said before:The following I will be including on every blog I post. This is because I hope you will forward our blog address to all your email friends and you never know who might be able to help Sierra Vista. One thing I would like to hear about is when you drink a bottle of Sierra Vista wine that you really enjoy and why you liked it. I would also like to hear about what food you had it with or if you drank it without eating.

Another thing is, as I mentioned in the previous post and will include in all future posts, is if any of you know a small wine distributor in any state, please let me know so I can contact them about carrying our wine. If you don't know any distributors you might ask at your favorite wine shop for the names of several small distributors and include them in your comment on this blog. I would appreciate it very much. If you do not want to comment on this blog you could email me at syrah@sierravistawinery.com Until next week that is all
John MacCready
owner & winemaker
Sierra Vista Winery

Harvest is almost over

2008-09-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

If you are not a blogger and want to comment on this just go to the comment link below and click on it.

Well, since my last post I have harvested all the Cab except the Old Clone(vine) and they have all finished fermenting. We pressed block 2 today because it was fermented in an open top fermenter. The other was fermented in a tank and we are going to do an extended maceration on it to give it more complexity and to smooth it out.

Next week it is supposed to get cooler and possibly shower toward the end of the week. I have left Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre on for extended hang time. The Roussanne just was not ripening up and will save it to pick last and may give it more time on the vines if it doesn't rain. Every thing else I may pick but I reserve the right to change my mind if it doesn't rain.

On October 18 we are having a winemaker dinner at Zachary Jacques restaurant. An excellent food wine pairing is being prepared by Chef John Evans to go with Sierra Vista wines. be sure to check out the menu at http://www.sierravistawinery.com/pages/events.php

As I have said before:The following I will be including on every blog I post. This is because I hope you will forward our blog address to all your email friends and you never know who might be able to help Sierra Vista. One thing I would like to hear about is when you drink a bottle of Sierra Vista wine that you really enjoy and why you liked it. I would also like to hear about what food you had it with or if you drank it without eating.

Another thing is, as I mentioned in the previous post and will include in all future posts, is if any of you know a small wine distributor in any state, please let me know so I can contact them about carrying our wine. If you don't know any distributors you might ask at your favorite wine shop for the names of several small distributors and include them in your comment on this blog. I would appreciate it very much. If you do not want to comment on this blog you could email me at syrah@sierravistawinery.com Until next week that is all
John MacCready
owner & winemaker
Sierra Vista Winery

Harvest is in full swing

2008-09-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

If you are not a blogger go and want to comment on this just go to the comment link below and click on it.

On Sept 6th we had a successful release party for our club members. Good food paired with our outstanding wines. A good time was had by all. Then on September 12 we harvested our Chardonnay. It came in perfect with ideal sugar-acid balance. We will have a little less than usual so you should watch for the 2008. The next day we harvested the Viognier and again it is perfect with a rich flowery nose and the juice is yummy. Again we got about half what we got in 2007.

Today we harvested the first of our four blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon. The block I call old clone or maybe old vine was planted in 1974 and is a little behind the rest. It is harder to pick than the others because the bunches and berries are so small. It is concentrated because the juice to seed ratio is also very small.

Tomorrow we will harvest our second block of Cabernet and then take a rest for a couple days.

Crush is always my favorite time of the year. The work is hard but exciting and you can see how well you have treated your grapes. It is true that in a winery where terroir is expressed in the wine the wine is made in the vineyard. That is why Sierra Vista wines differ from year to year because terroir, the essence of the climate, soil, exposure(N,S, E ,W) varies especially with climate so our grapes and wine are a result of that variance. And that is what makes our wines exciting and delicious.

As I have said before:The following I will be including on every blog I post. This is because I hope you will forward our blog address to all your email friends and you never know who might be able to help Sierra Vista. One thing I would like to hear about is when you drink a bottle of Sierra Vista wine that you really enjoy and why you liked it. I would also like to hear about what food you had it with or if you drank it without eating. Another thing is, as I mentioned in the previous post and will include in all future posts, is if any of you know a small wine distributor in any state, please let me know so I can contact them about carrying our wine. If you don't know any distributors you might ask at your favorite wine shop for the names of several small distributors and include them in your comment on this blog. I would appreciate it very much. If you do not want to comment on this blog you could email me at syrah@sierravistawinery.com

Current events at Sierra Vista

2008-09-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

Rocky is gone.

Well I know that some people are reading our blog because I got a couple comments. Great!! However, one was from one of Rocky's fans questioning what happened to him. I know that he died and is not wandering around. Our vineyard foreman actually saw him the next morning after the event just lying in the vineyard just as if he went to sleep. Juan was afraid to tell us right away. We all miss him and Barbara has not been able to discuss getting another cat but she may if you encourage her next time you come up.

SIERRA VISTA HARVEST HAS STARTED!!!! On Sept 3, 2008 we harvested the Reeves Zin, the Old Clone Zin and the Cinsault all of which grow over at the Reeves Vineyard. They were the best grapes from that vineyard in all the years it has been producing. That may be because it is the smallest crop we have ever had. Because it was so small and so good I don't expect we will have any regular Zin because all will go to Reeves and Old Clone. So when the 2008 Zin is released it may be allocated or limited.

On Sept 4th we harvested the Merlot. It was just really great and the tonnage was just down a little. Both these vineyards ripened very early, probably because the yield is down. Most of the rest of the vineyard is on schedule and won't be early. In fact, some looks very late. Maybe even into October. That makes life easier because when it all comes in at once it is really hectic around here.

Club release party

Tomorrow we have our club release party with great food and some wonderful wine pairings. We have been getting reservations way past the cutoff date and are trying to accommodate everyone although the caterer ordered food for all with reservations last Tuesday.

That's all till next week.

The following I will be including on every blog I post. This is because I hope you will forward our blog address to all your email friends and you never know who might be able to help Sierra Vista.One thing I would like to hear about is when you drink a bottle of Sierra Vista wine that you really enjoy and why you liked it. I would also like to hear about what food you had it with or if you drank it without eating.Another thing is, as I mentioned in the previous post and will include in all future posts, is if any of you know a small wine distributor in any state, please let me know so I can contact them about carrying our wine. If you don't know any distributors you might ask at your favorite wine shop for the names of several small distributors and include them in your comment on this blog. I would appreciate it very much. If you do not want to comment on this blog you could email me at syrah@sierravistawinery.com

Summer fall Sierra Vista Newsletter with events

2008-08-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

Blogs are not just a one way flow of information as web sites are. At the bottom of this post there is the word "comment" underlined. You just click on that and write anything you want in the space provided.

NEWSLETTER

Thirty-two years ago when we began making wine, the in style was big with high alcohol and even raisiny character. In 1978 we made a Zinfandel with close to 18% alcohol. Were we ever disappointed with how this wine aged and it did not compliment food either. Although the wine sold well, we were not happy about the wine or its quality. This experience initiated our balanced and dry fruity wine style. We found that dry, well structured wines compliment foods easily and also age well, especially the reds. Sierra Vista's wines all have good acidity and this helps with the aging and as food companions. So now 32 years later, we still produce consistent dry, balanced wines with good acidity and plenty of fruit, not overpowered by oak.

Our vineyards have consistently produced grapes with lots of fruit character. Our older vineyards are on their own roots and many feel that own-rooted vines have the most fruit character. (Remember that all the old Bordeaux and Burgundy wines that aged so well -20 plus years- were on their own roots until the European phlyoxera infestation arrived) .

Even though the current wine writer bias is for off- dry high alcohol wines with residual sugar, Sierra Vista has continued to produce wines with moderate alcohol and a dry finish. Many chefs are on our side for they find the sweet, high alcohol wines do not pair well with foods. If you read the wine and food magazines, you will notice more and more chefs complaining about the high alcohol wines.

New Releases:
2006 Roussanne
2006 Viognier
2006 Fleur de Montagne
2006 Zinfandel Reeves Vineyard

Enid Reeves in her vineyard

2006 Grenache
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
2005 Merlot Reserve

2005 Mourvedre

thinning Mourvedre grapes

New Faces at the Winery

Tyler Grace joined John in the cellar last August. Tyler had spent 6 years working at a Napa winery before joining us. His family has a vineyard in Apple Hill. Tyler is serious and meticulous in his cellar and winemaking work. It's great to have him here.

Charlene (Charli) Anderson works part-time in our tasting room and even handles outside sales to restaurants. Charli is from the pharmaceutical industry and an expert at getting products approved by the FDA. You will enjoy her energy and enthusiasm for wine.

I'm sure you have all noticed how "green" is in. At Sierra Vista John has been farming our vineyards with sustainable methods for the past 34 years. As early as 1977 John would buck the current trend and would not use seed suppressant since it leaves a residual in the soil, even though the farm advice at that time was for its use. Now John used an organic product for mildew, mite and leafhopper control called stylet oil which is not the current farm advice either.

Solar panels installed on the roof of the winery. We were one of the early wineries in El Dorado County to install solar panels. At first they were not very efficient until the inverters were moved inside the winery and out of the sun. Now the system is a constant help reducing our carbon footprint.

This past year we began using recyclable products for our events. These products cost more but Sierra Vista feels we all need to reduce negative impacts on the earth.

At the end of July a new software system was installed for retail and wholesale orders. You will see a computer in our tasting room instead of the old cash registers. Finally after many patches and modifications, Barbara convinced John that we needed to upgrade instead of buying more winemaking equipment. The old inventory and invoicing system was purchased in 1980 and we really did get our money's worth. The staff is looking forward to the new system and we are asking for your patience while we convert and get trained with the new one. The wine clubs will all be handled by the new software as well as inventory and invoicing.

Up coming events
32rd Harvest Celebration
We will have our 32nd harvest celebration and Wine Club pick-up barbecue on Saturday, September 6th, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Again this year Rick Custom Meats will bring out their grill and fire it up with lots of shrimp and tri-tip. As always they will serve plenty of beef, shrimp, pasta salad, Caesar salad, garlic bread and brownies. The price this year is $24 per person. We had to raise the price since everything has gone up. Wine club members get to come for $20 per person. Four reservations per wine club member at this price. Please email, call or fax the winery soon to save your place.

Saturday and Sunday, September 13th and 14th, Tour de Vine, El Dorado Wine Harvest Festival. At Sierra Vista we will “Sense the Harvest”. Demonstration of how to tell when the grapes are ready to harvest, hear the fermentation sounds, identify the smells for a particular grape variety fermenting and the aromas of the finished wine, experience the flavors for the same wine alone, and finally savor the wine with food.

Stars Wine Club Winemaker dinner at Zachary Jacques Restaurant
Saturday, October 18th, 6:00 PM
Since our new grandson’s arrival at the end of July prevented our usual dinner on the lawn at the winery, we asked John Evans if he would be willing to host a dinner for us in October. In October we cannot count on good weather for outside dinning and sunset is early so we felt we should plan on dinner inside.
We hope you will join us for this event. There is limited seating so reserve your space as soon as possible. You can see the menu at http://www.sierravistawinery.com/pages/events.php

Our beloved cat, Rocky, never showed up after the Sunday evening of Rocks and Rhones. Rocky had a wonderful last day with lots of attention and petting from the staff and guests. Late in the afternoon he amazed us all when he caught a gopher since Rocky was blind in both eyes at that time. He was very proud of this gopher and John caught this photo of him that evening.

Rockys last catch on his last day

By the way we did harvest our Sauvignon blanc on the 19th and as usual it is delicious even now. When it is fermenting it goes through various stages of taste. When first crushed and pressed it tastes like Sauvignon Blanc grapes, but now after a week it tastes like grapefruit juice (but sweeter). If you come and ask for a taste I will get you one if I am here and it has not finished fermenting. Just ask whoever is in the tasting room to get me. John

The following I will be including on every blog I post. This is because I hope you will forward our blog address to all your email friends and you never know who might be able to help Sierra Vista.

One thing I would like to hear about is when you drink a bottle of Sierra Vista wine that you really enjoy and why you liked it. I would also like to hear about what food you had it with or if you drank it without eating.

Another thing is, as I mentioned in the previous post and will include in all future posts, is if any of you know a small wine distributor in any state, please let me know so I can contact them about carrying our wine. If you don't know any distributors you might ask at your favorite wine shop for the names of several small distributors and include them in your comment on this blog. I would appreciate it very much. If you do not want to comment on this blog you could email me at syrah@sierravistawinery.com

Early harvest

2008-08-16T04:24:00.000-07:00

I am writing this from a friends house in Vancouver, Washington. This week I did ridewiths with sales representatives of my Oregon distributor. We worked in Eugene, Corvallis, and Portland. Successful I think!

On the way to wrapping up the week with a meeting of all the distributor's staff Friday morning I received a call from my assistant winemaker that our Sauvignon Blanc supplier called and wanted to pick Sunday. He told me last week that the grapes would not be ready to pick until the last week of August. Of course we can't pick Sunday the 17th because Barbara and I will be flying home Sunday. On the way home I will stop by the vineyard and sample to verify that the grapes are actually ready to harvest. If so it will be the earliest start of harvest ever. Why so early? I suspect it is because the vineyard got hit with frost and is not carrying as heavy a load as usual and therefore is ripening faster. Another factor is that Amador is much hotter than Sierra Vista. The earliest of our grapes look to be 2-3 weeks from harvest. This is a real pain because we are bottling Friday the 22nd and have scheduled filtering for this week.

Blogs are not just a one way flow of information as web sites are. At the bottom of this post there is the word "comment" underlined. You just click on that and write anything you want in the space provided.

One thing I would like to hear about is if you drink a bottle of Sierra Vista wine that you really enjoyed. I would also like to hear about what food you had it with or if you drank it without eating.

Another thing is as I mentioned in the previous post and will include in all future posts is if any of you know a small wine distributor in any state please let me know so I can contact them about carrying our wine. If you don't know any distributors you might ask at your favorite wine shop for the names of several small distributors and include them in your comment on this blog. I would appreciate it very much. If you do not want to comment on this blog you could email me at syrah@sierravistawinery.com

2008-08-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

I will not be able to post a message every day nor even every week but I will try to do one on Monday and Friday except next week I will be on a sales trip to Oregon. I am combining business with pleasure and staying with friends in Portland so will probably not do one next week. And this leads into a discussion of distributors who we would like more of. If you know any small distributors, preferably family owned who is looking for a premium winery from the Eastern Highlands of Californi please have them get in touch with me, either through this blog or at syrah@sierravistawinery.com.

As always Sierra Vista is looking for more sales so yesterday I had lunch at the Broiler in Sacramento with a prospective new sales person. The Broiler is a long time supporter of Sierra Vista. They have the steak sandwich to which we compare all others and their seafood choice is always tops.

Until next time have a good an profitable week.

John

2008-08-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

The overwhelming response from 3 people is that this is a good idea so I will continue. this is a light hearted start to a new post.

Now to a more somber and sad announcement. Last night Rick Quarry died in his sleep. We and many others will miss his good hearted and great food contribution to the world of catering and his contribution to the wine industry of El Dorado County.

Barbara has figured out how to use the new POS system in ways her instructor could not figure. It will help speed up service in the tasting room and help our staff be more accurate when dealing with customers.

In the vineyard the first of verasion started about a week earlier than I expected but it still puts us starting harvest Sept 6. At least I will have something to do at our release party.

Thats all for now.

John

2008-08-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

This is an attempt at starting a blog to let you know what is happening at Sierra Vista in a timely fashion.

The first thing is that our daughter had a baby boy on July 30. Lucky little guy, not close t0 Christmas on either side. 6lbs 12 oz. All three are doing great, baby, mother and father.

The next thing is that Barbara, Donna, and Clyda have been training on a new point of sale, inventory control and invoice generator system for the last two weeks. Lots of work and very costly but we hope it will help make the service we proivde you better and more timely.

So do you think a blog is a good idea or a waste of time. Let me know.

John