Crush is almost over

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