Here's to Health, Happiness, and All Things Screwy...

Morning Ya'll,

Well, things have been a bit SCREWY at the winery in the past week. The 2008 Riesling, Gewurtz, and Rose' have been bottled. The most exciting news of all for me was the fact that these wines went in under screw cap. I am very excited about these wines being released. We will be holding off on release of the Riesling and Gewurtz until mid-April. The rose' will be immediately available and you will see the new screw capped version soon. I welcome any questions about screw caps. I have written about this in past emails and I recommend re-reading some of these. Check out my blog on our website for more info. If you have any questions that I have not addressed PLEASE let me know! I want to provide as much information to all of you as we make this transition. I want us to be well prepared for all of the questions that you may receive in the tasting room as well at off-premise tasting's. I will prepare an informational sheet regarding screw caps.

Jim and the guys in the vineyard have been quite busy. As each day passes more brush is being pulled and chopped. The chopping of the brush allows nutrients to be returned to the soil. Jim has been looking quite intently at the soil at Martha Clara. Along with the help of a local soil guy Jim is developing a program that will get us on the road to healthy and happy vines. Healthy and Happy vines yield yummy fruit and yummy fruit yields awesome wine!

I received handful of medals for wines that were submitted to Appellation America. We received Double Gold for the following wines: 2007 Pinot Grigio, 2007 Riesling, 2007 Chardonnay, and 2007 Estate Reserve Chardonnay. We received gold for 2007 Viognier and 2007 Gewurtz. The best thing about the Chardonnay awards is that these were awarded for the Best of Appellation category. This means that these wines define the quality and character of the region. While some of these wines are sold out the 2008 vintage of these wines were made in similar to identical style. So I expect these wines to sell out even faster as the buzz gets around about the great things going on at Martha Clara Vineyards. Well that's it for now, but please email me any questions that you may have.

Cheers,
Juan.

It's Spring Again...

Well, it is now officially Spring and the signs of spring are all around us. In the vineyard the guys have been tying the pruned vines down on the fruiting wire. The chopper has been going up and down vineyard rows chopping the canes that were cut during pruning. These canes after being chopped will return to the earth providing nutrients back to the earth.

While walking the vineyard with Jim I noted that sap is beginning to flow through the vines. We can see this because of where we prune we see moisture. The vine will eventually heal itself and this sap will stop flowing. However, these are some of the first indicators that the growing season is on the horizon. Also, while walking you could see that the ground was cracking as the winter ground thaw goes away.

Earlier in the week Jim and I had a great conversation with a local soil guy. We are looking more intently at the soil and nutrients as we realize that these are the building blocks to fruit quality and vineyard health. With increased vigilance in the vineyard we will see increased fruit quality. Not that we are doing that bad at the moment, with the news that I received from Appellation America today.

I received an email from Appellation America this morning indicating that we received Double Gold for our 2007 Chardonnay and 2007 Estate Reserve Chardonnay. They were both awarded this in the Best of Appellation Category. This is great news as both of these wines in 2008 were made in the identical style to the 2007. I look forward to the 2008 Chardonnay going into bottle as I know many other people do. Talk with ya'll soon!!!

Cheers,
Juan