8 Days to Christmas

Holiday Barrel Tasting is over. Our mid-annual Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance meeting is over and I can probably recite verbatim, every one's pitch for all of our wine marketing, wine lobbying, wine advocate, and wine grower's groups. The wine industry has so much visibility now that it's creating great opportunities but also puts our industry on the radar. So, a good thing and a bad thing. People seek us out to try the wines and special programs for the wines and vines are being created however regulators start trying to do more regulating as well.

I just realized that I am very scattered today. I was reading the Mid Columbian Magazine and cut out an article on Backyard Birding for my "bonus dad", then set up an appointment to taste the Danish Embassy on our 2004 Oui Deux Syrah in January, saw that I need to complete my Nevada direct to consumer shipping report, realized I need to send a thank you to Duffy Waldorf for giving our 2005 Calico Red a shout in the January issue of Golf Magazine, checked email to discover we still haven't selected our wines for Taste Walla Walla New York in February and then somehow got on a blog site that made me realize I haven't updated ours in a week or so. Does anyone remember Family Circus and the circles Jeffrey would go in just to go get the paper? Well, that's is my life, today at least.

I hope everyone is ready for the holidays, or if you celebrate Hanukkah you had a nice holiday. Every year we make Prime Rib (Barefoot Contessa's version) and this year we have a non red meat eater. So, we're going to make guinnea hens. Moment of truth, totally had to google that word to figure out how to spell "guinnea" hen. Next moment of truth, I meant Cornish Game Hens. I want to roast them whole with killer glazed veggies around them. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Brussel sprouts for the big kids and I'll figure out the veggies for the little kids.

We've seen Santa in many places recently and Jaden (our daughter) is wondering how he physically gets to so many places and how his beard can look so different? We talked about it and figured because he has so many engagements that he most likely uses magic up until Christmas Eve for traveling. Then on Christmas Eve he hops on the sled and hooks up the reindeer. As to why his beard looks different? Well, he has different looks based on the location he is at and he can appear different to every child who meets him. The Seattle Santa at the top of the Space Needle can look very different from the Santa at the County Club or the Home Depot. Five year olds pay attention to detail!

Speaking of attention to detail, Steffan is tasting through our 2006/2007 wine in barrels and we will be bottling our 2007 Rose' and Viognier plus our 2006 - Syrah co-ferment, Francisca's Syrah and a special wine we will rave about later. It's tricky when tasting through young wines because they have not had aging time. He tastes for balance and wine composition. We're not yet tasting for flavor descriptors. They will come with a little more time in barrel.

Here's our suggested to do list for the end of the year. Take a moment to reflect on all the wonderful accomplishments you have achieved this past year, take a moment to be thankful for wonderful friends and family. Take a moment to congratulate yourself on surviving another year in this tumultuous fast paced world we all live in. Then pour yourself a glass of wine, cozy up on the couch, grab someone cuddly or a good friend or even sit by yourself and just live in the moment. That is a good present to give yourself!

Have a joyous holiday season!

Club Swirl HBT Poem

Dee,
Thanks for the thoughtfulness, your friendship and for sharing this poem with us. Icing on the cake after a very fun weekend!

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Club Swirl Soiree "2007"

A night of merriment and cheer
Friends together, old and new,
a night to remember and to hold dear.

Bergevin Lane
Family and Friends
All as one, we come to enjoy,
the fruits of their labor created with love and joy...

Syrahs were the stars tonight....
"05" Reserve and Francisca's Vineyard...
Subtle and sensuous...elegant and gallant all at one time...
The new stars of the show...
Magnificent ratings certain to bestow

Annette and Amber...
Hostesses of the evening, smiling and glowing
As they look upon the gala
Steffan...
Creator and designer...
Humbly pours the fruits of his labor
The glow in his eyes...that of a father as his child amazes the crowd
Julie and Jerry, smiles and laughter,
The love they share fills the air
Gary...the patriarch...
Beams as his family of many
share the joy and love of the season...

The Bergevin Lane Family...
a gathering of many...
From all walks of life...near and far, we come together for a night
Of enjoyment and cheer
We raise our glass to next year.

Holiday Barrel Tasting

Holiday Barrel Tasting is here! A fun weekend of festive lights, festive folks, and festive wine! Well, in our opinion wine is always festive. We'll be barrel tasting our upcoming 2006 Francisca's Syrah. This is a Walla Walla vineyard designated Syrah which comes from a boutique vineyard just south of Walla Walla. Here are Steffan's notes from our tasting this morning. "Smooth, very rich and succulent it offers notes of citrus, violet and perfume intertwined with blackberries, black cherry, wood smoke, vanilla, oak and notes of tar. A little meat and earthy undertones add to the complexity and brings out additional layers as it opens up in the glass."

Tim and Cisca (Francisca's Vineyard owners) add their thoughts as well, "Since we only have 4.3 acres in Syrah, we truly are a boutique vineyard. We do most of the work ourselves, so you can find us in the vineyard most everyday from February to October. Our philosophy on work is, “Everyday in the Vineyard is a Holiday”. All the work - pruning, thinning, pulling shoots and leaves for sun exposure and harvest - is done manually. Each of the 4400 Syrah vines have hands-on treatment 7 to 8 times a year.

We installed a wind machine for frost protection in early spring and early fall. We control moisture by reading the moisture levels in the soil with sensors and water through drip irrigation when needed.

We are happy that Bergevin Lane Vineyards is the exclusive recipient of our Syrah because one of our goals was to be working with a winery that we could connect with and develop a relationship of mutual trust and friendship. Our goal is to be recognized as a quality grower and hopefully have a vineyard designated Syrah."


We hope to see one and all this weekend! Tis the season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're thankful that it's time to spend a day with friends and family and eat our little hearts out! Not that we haven't done that all fall! The jeans are feeling a little snug. Here in Walla Walla we have to add an extra layer of fat to keep us warm because it gets pretty cold. Today is a perfect pre-Thanksgiving day. Overcast, with the temperatures in the mid 20's. Frost all around and a layer of fog that covers the valley. Perfect time to get that fire roaring, snuggle up with a loved one, a glass of wine and a good movie.

Steffan shared some Viognier with me yesterday and we tried two different samples. One from our Walla Walla Viognier site and one from our Sunnyside site. Both were very unique due to terrior differences. Last year our Walla Walla Viognier (still very young) gave off big honey notes in the mouth and this year we are tasting more varietal characteristics of tropical fruits, banana and pineapple. The Sunnyside Viognier grown in a cooler site gives off a very fresh flavor, with some citrus notes. The blend of the two should be fantastic. We all truly enjoyed the 2006 Viognier and look forward to our next release. Our 2007 Viognier will be hanging out with us in barrel until bottling some time in March with an anticipated release next May or June. It's always hard to wait because by nature we're not really patient people and this business requires LOTS of patience. So, guess I'll keep myself busy doing other things while the Viognier continues to spend quality time in the barrel room.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Gobble Gobble!

PDXposed

PDXposed came to Walla Walla to highlight some of our wineries, the Marcus Whitman and Hamley's of Pendleton. Sit back, grab a glass of wine and enjoy. I'll post both links. This is the full link and runs about 28 minutes - PDXposed or the shorter version: PDXposed - Bergevin Lane

Cheers!

Home for the Holidays

Amber and I spent last weekend at the Resort at Paws Up located outside of Missoula in Greenough, MT. What a great weekend! We saw friends from our last dinner in June and made many new friends. The Resort is fantastic and we can't recommend it enough for a fabulous retreat. We started Friday evening with a cocktail/wine reception and on Saturday enjoyed a wonderful five course meal paired with our wines. We decided to try a sport clay shooting course that was really fun. I'm pretty sure that had we been tasked with bringing home dinner, the food would have been scarce. The clay discs were safe and sound...other than the embarrassing thud as they shattered when they hit the ground, untouched and still in one piece. Now, the tiny pretend clay rabbit whizzing past us across the meadow, that was another story, BANG...the poor little thing would have been stew. (We're not hunters in real life so Amber and I pretended we were playing Wii.) Our thanks to all of the folks at the resort who made this event possible. In addition we were lucky to have my brother and sister-in-law join us for their sixth wedding anniversary. They made the weekend extra special. P.S. to all of you at the Resort who were celebrating events as well - Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary and Happy Honeymoon! You know who you are! To our Friday night posse, big shouts for making the evening so memorable! You all were so much fun!


And back to the winery....

Steffan has been crazy busy in the winery. We brought in our final fruit the last week in October. So now we finish primary fermentation on our remaining lots, press them into barrels and move into the holiday activities. We're getting ready for Winemakers’ Fête we're pouring as a reception winery that evening (Thursday, November 29th) then getting ready for a fun Holiday Barrel Tasting Weekend. Our Club Swirl event is Friday night and we'll have festive decor and as always our amazing fellow Swirlies in attendance. Saturday is great food and live music with Tom Simon and friends. Our preview barrel sample during HBT is guaranteed to give your eyes, nose and mouth happy feelings!

November 30th we'll be releasing our 2005 Intuition which is our Reserve Bordeaux Blend. We're very excited for this release and I want to give a few hints about what to expect from this wine. Your eyes will get lost in the deep dark color, moving towards your olfactory senses you'll experience hints of toast, spice and vanilla, as the wine flows into your mouth you will find a wonderful integration of fruit, tannins and oak, the finish lingers on and on with engulfing flavors of cassis and blackberry.
Intuition anyone?

Fun in Walla Walla

O.k....last weekend was a whirlwind. Started off Friday afternoon with a celebration of our great aunt's life. Margaret Bergevin passed away October 7th at the age of 93. Her funeral was mixed with sadness but an undercurrent of strength. She left quite a legacy. Her immediate family are made up of many farmers and cowboys. The younger folks and out of town folks felt a little out of place without their Wranglers. I saw a few new pairs of boots (current purchases) in the tasting room over the weekend! We saw relatives we have not seen in some time and met many new ones as well. So, our thoughts and prayers are with Great Aunt Margaret. Your presence made the world a happier place!

We had our first chance to meet our cousin Jake Bergevin, his wife Christina and their two boys. He is a fabulous Jazz musician as well as a really nice guy. He and his band ended up doing a little improv down at the Backstage Bistro on Friday night. You can check out Jake's website at www.jakebergevinmusic.com We have both of his CD's in the tasting room.

While that was going on I was attending the 5th annual Entwine auction. It was a really nice evening, great auction packages, really fun people and The Marc did a great job. I had to give a speech (which could be a whole story in itself) and it was in front of the whole group, approximately 405 folks including Governor Gregoire. Can you say nervous??? I'd tell you how it went but I can't remember...think I blocked it out. ;-)

Saturday the tasting room was busy and full of really cool people. We caught up on news about our good friend Bear (one of the owners of West Seattle Cellars) and he is doing much better so hugs and kisses Bear! We miss you.

Saturday evening was spent with friends. Without mentioning names I think I'm still laughing at our conversation. I'll be watching the mail to see if we get an evaluation on the evening. I hope we passed! I'd love at least 1 - 2 exceeds expectations. These folks just made it possible for 100 children in Laos to receive new uniforms compliments of Dennis Uniform and FedEx. You can check out the story (go to May 7th) at www.wegougo.blogspot.com We had dinner at Saffron, Island and the whole crew were amazing! We then went over to Backstage Bistro and listened to Gail Pettis. Her vocals are amazing and she sang the best rendition of Happy Birthday I think I've ever heard to our friend Julie. We shared a bottle of Jaden's Reserve 2003, had some 1994 Andrew Will Cabernet Sauvignon, a glass of champagne, decaf coffee and we were full. I mean stuffed...no more room!

Sunday I cooked most of the day and made the Cook's Illustrated, Nov/Dec 2007 Pot Roast using a bottle of our 2004 Merlot. The evening was spent with family, our dear friend "E", and an amazing 2002 Leonetti Reserve, thank you dad!

All in all...what a nice weekend. The sun was shining...Life is good.

Harvest A-B-C's

Harvest is about half to three quarters of the way complete. Here's the scoop on getting the fruit to the winery.

A) Go to each vineyard site often and randomly sample the clusters. Be sure to take your 4 and 3/4 year old daughter so that she can laugh because it's so much fun, then complain because her legs hurt from so much walking, then giggle because she gets a special treat for helping out in the vineyard, then cry because she got a sticker in her boot, then wonder where in the heck she can go to the bathroom almost before it's too late. Then jump back in the truck and drive fast, because it is a long way to the port-a-potty only to hear her yell, "I can't believe I'm going to the bathroom in the port-a-potty", and then hear her yell, "new rule, NO MORE port-a-potty's". Then get back in the truck haul yourself back to the last block you were sampling in and start again. Start randomly selecting your clusters until you have the correct amount needed for your lab analyst. If you are the owner of the winery be sure to calculate just how much wine could have been produced from all of the clusters you had to sample to see if the fruit is ready. Try to get the thoughts about shorting the amount of fruit you are picking for the lab person out of your mind so that you have a good sample.

B) Walk into the winery with your sample bags feeling quite accomplished because you've just walked about 15 miles, carried about 20 lbs in each arm and your daughter made it out on her own two legs. Hand the loot over to the winemaker, make sure to let him know how much you went through and hard hard you worked to get those samples!

C) Sample the vineyard over and over until you're sure there is no more fruit left in the vineyard to even sample! :-) Then wait for the call that the fruit if ready, now your excitement level starts to build. Call your dad who is now mad at you because he's driving truck (pretty much for free) and let him know the fruit is ready for pickup. Know he hasn't complained too much (in all seriousness he is the best and doesn't complain) but you randomly hear comments that his golf game is just awful. Inside realize, it's probably due to the fact he's been driving truck about every day. Hang out until you get the call...."I'm 15 minutes away with the fruit!" Get your crew ready and yell, "Game On!" ...more harvest notes to follow.

A quickie! Project Foodie!

O.k. we've been meaning to get this link on our blog site so here goes...as some of you know my passion is food and I've been addicted to cooking shows ever since I started watching the galloping gourmet waaaaaay back when. I think I was about 5 years old. I graduated to PBS Saturday when they started their cooking programs and now am a fan of Bravo and FoodTV network cooking shows. I'm always playing with recipes but am not a trained chef so for as many success stories that I have in the kitchen there are also many train wrecks! Thanks to my family for sticking with me!

We were approached by a woman named Pam and she said via email, "Project Foodie (http://www.projectfoodie.com) does spotlights on wineries in which we present a recipe and wine pairing to tantalize our readers with amazing wines."

Talk about perfect timing, I had just made a dish using our Calico White and had taken a picture...don't ask me why I take pictures of my food. I guess you could call me obsessed, or ask if I don't have anything better to do OR you could guess that I was thinking about making a personal cookbook for my family members. My recipes are totally raw stuff...meaning not professional, not specific ingredient amounts because I use a little of this, a little of that and I always have a glass of wine in hand when I'm cooking. So, back to the story...click on the link and you will see what I'm talking about. A huge thanks to Pam with projectfoodie.com. She was fantastic to work with! Check out their site.

Let the Merlot begin...

Friday we brought in our first Merlot. It smells fantastic in the winery. Our first punch down was over the weekend. It was very quiet in the production area as Steffan and I walked out to the 1.5 Ton stainless fermentation bins. I watched as he tried to get the punch down tool, a long stainless steel post with a big flat end on it, through the grapes. In the beginning the new fruit is very hard and not yet broken down. I watched him push, stir, then look at me and smile. He said, "tomorrow will be easier". It was exciting because another harvest is here. Our first punch down was really serene...a good kickoff to the upcoming harvest.

Notice Julie's little cluster...wanted to save all the fruit for the wine!

Our 2007 Harvest is here!

I'll be posting pictures soon but our 2007 harvest is officially here! We will be bringing in Merlot this week and are very excited. It's coming from Mattawa, known officially as the Wahluke Slope AVA.

It is extremely busy this time of year at the winery. Amber and I will both be doing some traveling to promote our wines, hitting Eastern Washington, Chicago, 3 cities in Ohio, Denver, New York and Missoula, MT in the next two months. Can you say frequent flyer/driver miles? You can check out our events section for tastings coming up in your area.

The tasting room has been really busy which is fun for us because we're located off the beaten winery path here in Walla Walla. Even though we're part of the downtown we're still not walking distance to other wineries. Many of the wineries are found in clusters (pun intended) and we're out here by our lonesome on Poplar Street. It's really exciting when folks make the drive to our facility.

We're extremely happy with the most recent reviews in Robert Parker's "The Wine Advocate". Jay Miller tasted through our wines and gave the following reviews: 04 HHH Cabernet Sauvigno - 90 pts, 2006 Calico White - 89 pts, 2004 Intuition - 92 pts, 2004 Syrah - 90 pts, and our 2004 Barrel Select Syrah - 92+ pts, in addition he gave a great mention about our 2006 wine in barrels plus a Petit Verdot we're considering doing a special bottling of he said it would be reviewed 95 - 98 pts if bottled separately. We may see a few cases bottled!

Hope your fall is off to a good start. Football is back, just let us say that our wines pair exceptionally well with Monday Night Football!

Bottling Day!

So, day 2 and we're almost done. This is the best day because the wine is now safely in bottle. The build up is crazy because we're ordering supplies, finishing the wine in barrel and then agonizing over what to feed our bottling crew! :-) We use a bottling line called Signature Bottling and they do a great job! Drew pulls up, backs up to the facility and we pump the wine onto the truck and it comes out in a finished product. It's a little like Laverne and Shirley for those of you old enough to remember that show. I used that analogy in the break room yesterday and half of our bottling crew just stared at me blankly...I think I'm totally aging myself. I must have been in diapers when I watched that show. So, I'll attach a few key photos and then get back to the truck!

P.S. if any of you are ordering capsules make sure to give yourself at least a 3 day window. We gave plenty of notice and ended up having my dad drive to Pasco yesterday to pick up capsules at the trucking company. Supposedly our capsule company is based in France and they take the month of August off. I truly think that should be published someone in their ordering guidelines. Oh well, the stories we wineries can tell about bottling troubles. Someone needs to write a blues song entitled, "I've got the bottling line blues." ....or not. :-)

Food and Wine Recipe

A club swirl member sent us a recipe and thought we may want to share. The only catch is that this person didn't want credit for the recipe. So, if you like it feel free to take it on as your own. Or, you could just send a note to the blog thanking this anonymous person. :-)

Here's the recipe!

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Halibut marinated with Bergevin Lane Calico White

Fresh Halibut
Calico white wine
fresh dill and thyme
little bit of butter
Mrs.Dash original blend
Fresh lemon

Marinate it for an hour or so and the then throw it on the grill to desired doneness. yummmm!!!!
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We're looking forward to trying this ourselves! Feel free to send in recipes that pair well with the wines. They are always a lot of fun to try.

Dee's Deep Thoughts!

We have many friends in the wine world and one is our local poet, Club Swirl member and wine diva, Dee. She sent in a poem she wrote and we thought we'd share.


Wine...
W...worldly, wicked, wise, wayward,
I... intuitive, intriguing, intellectual,
N...naughty, nice, needing, necessary,
E...exciting, erotic, enticing, evolving, ecstasy
Wine, they say is the nectar of Kings and Gods
Wine, like blood runs though our veins,
so does the holy nectar flow through our soul.
Wine, a rich mans pleasure,
yet a poor mans sustenance.
Wine, fruit from the earth,
fluids from the heavens.
From the earth below our feet arises the fruit of our souls.

2006 Calico Red...still going!

So...many trials later we're getting closer to finalizing our blend of our 2006 Calico Red wine. We've been agonizing over what juice to use and the final mouthfeel. Just this morning Steffan announced that we're 98% there! If any of you have EVER run across Steffan that last 2% can be HUGE! We tasted this morning 9am (spitting of course) and just retasted (afternoon) 2pm. The wine opens up beautifully, fills your mouth and gives you a sweet kiss before sliding gently down the hatch (that's the small ceremonial part we don't spit).

Steffan has been really focusing on getting the mouthfeel right. He wants the mouthfeel to be as full, smooth and round as possible...he adds that he's actually working on both the mid palate and the finish. We always have a great entry with our Calico Red, our 2006 base blend has a big entry and he's working to carry that through to the finish, so that it rolls over your tongue and continues down in as smooth of a manner possible which is what our Calico Red is all about.

I just made a new mix of music for the tasting room. It will put a little giddy-up in your step. I heard someone whistling to the music already!

P.S. the radio show I was scheduled to be on tomorrow has been rescheduled for next Wednesday, August the 8th. 8am. (did I mention that is early?!)

It's Getting Hot in Here!

So, today has been a very busy day. I'm pretty sure that by noon I should be able to leave and go home. To give you a little insider stuff, as well as co-running our winery I have taken on the position of the President of the Board for the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance in the future to be called simply the WWVWA. Today our grower representative, great guy, decided to hold a grower meeting. Well, most of you know we winery people typically get up a little later and then we socialize into the wee hours of every morning (o.k. not entirely true but let's keep the myth going...) so, the meeting was held at 7am! Ouch!!! actually after a cup of coffee and some really good dialogue it was well worthwhile. But, considering the hour I'm thinking I've almost put in a full day! The grower meeting was very insightful and again brought home what a fantastic area Walla Walla is to live in and source fruit from. Some really knowledgeable people who are willing to share ideas and things going on in the vineyards.

So, back to my day job. We (the Royal we) have been working on our final blend for the 2006 Calico Red. We are so excited about it! Steffan comes up with different options and then Amber, Julie and I blind taste through them. He's not necessarily putting us in the driver's seat but is looking for outside thoughts on the wines, their balance, and finish. We love the task because we are part of the effort and it's totally cool when we're all on the same page. This year we have decided that a little more Syrah (from our very coveted 2006 still in barrels, varietal program) will be used to add the fruit forwardness we are looking for and in addition completing the overall balance. When Steffan came up with his final blend that we all loved I recall saying it was like he just put the ribbon on it and it's a complete package. Yummy! We'll finish our bottling the end of August so Amber in the meantime has been ordering all of the supplies.

Amber and I are off to Seattle this weekend for a tasting at Esquin from 1 - 4 pm on Saturday. We are totally looking forward to that and then we may catch a Storm game on Sunday. We have not been to a game for years so sounds like fun.

Next Friday at 8am (why do people get up so early? ;-) I have been asked to participate on a radio show called, On the Grapevine, a local station KTEL 1490 AM. It's co-hosted by Mike Paul and Andrew Holt. Their spot is the first Friday of each month. They are great guys and I'm hoping not to embarrass myself too much. You never know what can come out of my mouth at 8am. If any of you are awake having coffee tune in so you can poke fun of me at a later date...seems to be a theme around here!

O.k. that's all for now. Have a great weekend and if you're over here on the east side, stay cool!

New to This!

O.k....sitting at my desk trying to figure out this blogging thing! Hopefully I'll get better at this as I go. Amber and I thought the first thing to get out there in public is that although we seem hip, cool and totally with it, (HA! - now you know we're kidding) our technological skills are lacking somewhat. The good news is that we have enough friends who will first, berate us for this blog attempt then offer to help us because they are embarrassed for us. So, just rest assured that we'll get the hang of it! I wish this was somewhat more like texting because then my typos wouldn't seem so obvious...who cares if you misspell a word when you're texting from your new iphone or in my case an old clunky pink cellphone I'm stuck with because Sprint won't let me out of my contract! So, as you read this if you see areas for improvement by all means (as long as they are constructive - or humorous) send them our way! P.S. had to spell humorous...took a second then discovered the spell check button at the top of the blog.

So, Steffan is out and about in Seattle this week. It's his first time doing a market visit and he has done a wonderful job! He's making new friends and proving that yes we do have an amazing winemaker on board. I have to say it's always a little more peaceful at the winery when he's out because we're not signing huge checks for the next great winemaking tool! But in all seriousness he does a fantastic job and we love working with Steffan. O.k. so back to his trip, he has done two winemaker dinners, one at Brix 25 in Gig Harbor and one at Sip in Issaquah. He's driving around the city now with a coffee in hand going from account to account showing them our wines and telling them about ours and his winemaking style. So many people find it hard to feel sorry for us when we're on the road because we truly are meeting fabulous folks, eating tons of great food and of course enjoying a glass of wine (or two) all in the name of business!

Amber and I have had to start working out just to keep up with the food intake. We've been all over the country since February including Texas, New Jersey, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Virginia to name a few (oops multiple trips across Washington) and have not traveled to a place yet we did not like. We have a blast eating seasonally across the country and learning about the various chef's interpretations of pairings for our wines. Our distributor teams are a blast, talk about a tough job....that's for another blog. So, with glass in hand and a smile on my face...cheers to you the brave reader and cheers to us for our first blog!