What's more important?

Today is exciting because Steffan is working on our 2007 Barrel Select blend and our 2007 She-Devil Syrah. The barrels are all lined up and they are vying to make the cut for the Barrel Select Syrah. Some realize they have to be team players and are o.k. with becoming an integral part of our She-Devil Syrah.

Steffan is torn between blending and the soccer game, Chile versus Denmark! I asked him to tell me who he wants to win and he wants many goals and a tie! 4-4 would work for him. Who says big boys don't play dress up!?

Oh my goodness!

Has it really been almost a month and a half. Here's my excuse...now we are facebooking and twittering so it doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging. Didn't I say I was NOT going to twitter? Oh well, you have to make decisions either jump on board or get left behind. So we're now on multiple boards and trying to keep them all going in the same direction. I'll keep this post short and sweet. I know, unusual! It's August 11th and we're on the count down to harvest.

We shot some footage today in the vineyards however it's impossible to get loaded here so I'll be posting our vineyard videos to Facebook and see if goes faster. In a nutshell we visited two vineyards today here in the Walla Walla Valley, Lakeshore and Pepper Bridge. We're getting Cabernet Sauvignon from both vineyards and then some Merlot as well from Pepper Bridge. We're seeing veraison starting (grapes are turning purple) so we're on our way. We'll update more as we get closer to harvest!

Yum

Yesterday I was checking out the new July 31, 2009 Wine Spectator and NO we are not in it (this time unfortunately) however I found the most amazing recipes! I was looking to make something which includes fish and wa-lah..the front cover was talking to me! Chef Laurent Tourondel, who worked in France and now is in the states created these recipes. He says his heart belongs to Burgundy however I think we need him to come see us in Walla Walla!

The recipes I made were the "Grilled Striped Bass With Fennel Salad and Grapefruit Emulsion" and the "Barbecued Fingerling Potato and Bacon Salad". Both amazing and to die for. We enjoyed our meal with our 2007 Viognier. It was a wonderful match and paired perfectly with the dinner...there was nothing left in the bottle...or on our plates, if that tells you anything!

So, if you're feeling adventurous give this a try, From start to table it took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. There were even some jobs for Jaden, our daughter, who loves to act as my sous chef. We lit the candles set the table and it was pure joy!

Just Tied the Knot!

Our congratulations to friends and fellow Swirlies Lisa and George Jackson. They were here at the winery over Spring Release and they had asked me to send them a few wineries down in Sonoma to go visit. They were married on June 6th and they wanted to spend a day in wine country during their honeymoon. Yesterday I was plunking away at my keyboard and up pops a message from George and he was a happy camper! They were at Mazzocco winery and were picking up a little wine. He wanted to say hello, thanks for the recommendations and he had to give a shout out to his new bride, Lisa for sporting the Bergevin Lane Wine Diva gear! So, throughout the day I would get a fun quick note sometimes with a picture and was able to virtually wine explore with them!

George has such an infectious personality you can't help but get pumped up when he is excited about something. I was literally waiting for the little bing of my email to let me know his next note had arrived! They ended up visiting several folks and from the general direction of his comments I would say folks took really good care of them! They helped set up appointments and showed them a good time.

They also visited Unti, Mauriston, Passalacqua, and had lunch at Gustafson which is a newer winery, appointment only, recommended by our dear friend "E". She described this as a hidden gem.


George's last note was, "Whole Day was Lights Out!" How awesome is that!!! I hope someday we're described as a hidden gem. To our newlyweds the Jacksons...we LOVE you guys!!! Congratulations!

P.S. At the bottom of every email note George sends out is "Go Huskies!!!!" Well, I'm a Coug but it just goes to show that even Huskies can have fun wine tasting! (wink wink)

Why Blog?

Sometimes you just have to let someone else do the talking and about a year ago we sat down with Amy Rootvik in my office and did an interview. Amy has a great personality and makes a person feel at ease. Amber and I always second guess ourselves after an interview and ask the questions? Did we really say that? Or *$#% why didn't we say this? Or, I didn't know the answer to that question, good thing you did! Amy took the information and turned it into some fun reading. I was interested and it gave me some perspective. We're always looking forward, moving 900 mph and trying to figure out the next "move" and this gave me time to look back and reflect. It made me really appreciate Steffan and Julie, not that we don't already, but it was cool to read that Amy enjoys them too! So if you're interested take a look!

Amy's Introduction

Amy Rootvik's Interview



Cheers!!!

Spring Release

It was fun. We served great wine. We met fabulous people. Awesome!!!

Twittering

If I can't seem to keep our blog post updated my question is should I twitter? I tend to be long winded so that would keep it short. I just watched a cool 2 minute YouTube tutorial on it and it seems easy but do people want to know what people are doing all day long. I'm so busy I can barely keep track of my life how do I keep track of everyone's lives as well? Maybe it's worth a shot. Then when I forget to twitter that I'm running to the bathroom and don't update my blog site for several weeks and then am late in responding to some one's email and miss several phone calls I can REALLY feel bad! Maybe there is too much connection. Whatever happened to actually taking a moment for a coffee date with a friend and having a face-to-face conversation? I like a supermarket real time twitter...you run into your buddy in the aisle..."hey what's up?" the pertinent things come out and you're off to grab your next item on your list. Maybe I'm old fashioned.