Friday, May 15, 2009

BAM!

Morning Ya'll,

       It has been another busy week both on the farm and off!  There have been lots of events going on different parts of the Island.  Many of us have been traveling to show off the great wines that we have to offer.  I attended Brooklyn Uncorked this week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).  This event showcases Long Islandwines to the folks in Brooklyn.  Long Island continues to peak interest for many Brooklyn-ites.  There is a great sense of awareness in regards to the importance of LOCAL wines, not to mention the importance of tattoos and piercings! ;-)      
       The 2008 Riesling and Gewurztraminer were huge hits.  People were really enjoying the intense flavors and aromas of these wines.  The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc has also been grabbing peoples attention.  This is not out yet in the tasting room, but will makes its appearance soon.  
      Once again our new screw caps did not receive a single negative comment.  In fact I had several positive comments regarding our conversion.  Additionally, I had multiple positive comments regarding our labels.  Our labels are eye catching and are loved by many!  
      Another webisode of the JuanMaker was filmed this week and is available for viewing at:   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnIlld4lU6o .  Please check it out!  I have been receiving lots of positive comments from people in the industry.  Please let people in the tasting room know to check us out on youtube.com as well as friending us on Facebook and MySpace! 
      Lastly, the vineyard has slowed down in pace a little bit as the temperatures have cooled.  It is very early in the season so this does not have any serious season long consequences.  Granted we would prefer more heat and more sun, but it is so early in the season.  Growth looks good in the vineyard and it seems that we have had a pretty good bud break.  The winter was a cold one and it appears that we were relatively unscathed by Old Man Winter.  The crew continues to peck away at various things. 
      In any event if you have questions...ask them, otherwise I shall talk with ya'll soon!

Friday, May 1, 2009

The Tide Has Turned

Morning Ya'll,

      Well, this week has just rocketed by!  Between bud break in the vineyard, tasting's/events in Manhattan, new labels for approval, meeting with miscellaneous sales people, etc. it has been busy!  Things are moving along well in the vineyard.  Bud break has happened earlier than it has ever happened before and just like I said last week the full dandelion bloom coincided with bud break.  Dandelions are the nemesis to many, but the vineyard does look beautiful when the dandelions are in flower!  
      I attended a trade tasting in Manhattan on Monday and it went very well.  The tasting was largely attended by trade and wine writers.  The reception to the wines was very favorable and the only comment that I heard about our screw caps were positive ones.  It is great to see the trade and wine writers embracing screw caps.  They are well aware of the benefits that these have for wine.  The folks that I encountered on Tuesday night at a tasting whom were largely Manhattan twenty and thirty-something's also embraced the screw caps.  It is wonderful to see that the tide has largely turned.
     This weekend I will be attending a gathering of wine bloggers at another winery on Saturday.  It will be interesting to meet many of these people that are blazing the way of the wine world.  While the old stand-by's in print media continue to chug along, it is the medium of the web that is reaching the most people.  We are making large attempts to get ourselves more viewable on the web.  Please let our customers in the tasting room know that they may follow us on MySpaceFacebook andTwitter.  
      During the course of the past week I received many comments on the JuanMaker.  It is was interesting to see the response.  We again are paving the way in a new quirky format of tasting notes via the web.  I really want to deconstruct what has been the tradition of the tasting notes and merge them with the odd-vertising has been all around us in the past couple of years.  It seems to have struck a chord with many and I look forward to creating more of these.  So, keep on passing the word about the JuanMaker (tell them to got to youtube.com and type in juanmaker as one word)!