El Nino Winter in Anderson Valley
Although we've been busy traveling on sales trips, rehabbing the tasting room for the New Year, and generally dealing with a business and a one-year-old, this is theoretically the quiet time at Foursight winery and Charles Vineyard. (I admit I'm beginning to think "slow time" or "quiet time" is a big joke!) Regardless, the vines are mostly pre-pruned, we just reopened in the tasting room after a three-week winter break (where we got snowed in on the East Coast by Jonas), and the wines are resting in barrel, with no imminently planned activity except topping.
This is our first El Nino winter in years, and, to be honest, we didn't start to feel like it until the new year. Our rain year, which starts October 1, was almost identical to 2015 -- a drought year -- until the beginning of January. The last few years we had what skiers called "June-uary," which were sunny, warm and more Margarita weather than skiing weather. January 2016 was decidedly not.
It was wet enough last month that we were starting to get a little weary of our soggy, muddy state of living. And then, in true Mother Nature fashion, it changed. This weekend has been sunny and warm and gorgeous, which is a wonderful break as long as it starts raining again at some point! Our rain total for the water year is more than 26" right now via our weather station (a hand count of our manual rain gauges usually shows a little more).
Today our capsules for 2016 summer bottling were delivered, which was a little reminder of the year, looking forward. We've had a busy tasting room, and we're starting to really plan our spring events. By April we won't take a breath until post-harvest, except to close one weekend in June when the enormous music festival comes to town.
We enjoyed our San Francisco Super Bowl 50 refugees this past weekend, and celebrated baby Evan's first birthday, so I guess he's toddler Evan now -- walking, talking and who-knows-what-else soon!
Until the next time!
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| New-release 2013 Pinot Noirs at our Boonville tasting room |
This is our first El Nino winter in years, and, to be honest, we didn't start to feel like it until the new year. Our rain year, which starts October 1, was almost identical to 2015 -- a drought year -- until the beginning of January. The last few years we had what skiers called "June-uary," which were sunny, warm and more Margarita weather than skiing weather. January 2016 was decidedly not.
It was wet enough last month that we were starting to get a little weary of our soggy, muddy state of living. And then, in true Mother Nature fashion, it changed. This weekend has been sunny and warm and gorgeous, which is a wonderful break as long as it starts raining again at some point! Our rain total for the water year is more than 26" right now via our weather station (a hand count of our manual rain gauges usually shows a little more).
 |
| Evan and his cupcake |
Today our capsules for 2016 summer bottling were delivered, which was a little reminder of the year, looking forward. We've had a busy tasting room, and we're starting to really plan our spring events. By April we won't take a breath until post-harvest, except to close one weekend in June when the enormous music festival comes to town.
We enjoyed our San Francisco Super Bowl 50 refugees this past weekend, and celebrated baby Evan's first birthday, so I guess he's toddler Evan now -- walking, talking and who-knows-what-else soon!
Until the next time!
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