Visitors and Friends

One of the joys of the tasting room is when friends pop in. It just helps keep the whole thing real. It's easy to get caught up in the mountain of work that goes with farming wine grapes and making wine and keeping the business running and serving customers and on and on and on. So when a friend appears as a "customer" it takes a moment or two to adjust to the context. Bob Westlake is a friend and mentor from our days in Rhode Island and when he appeared in the tasting room unannounced it took but a moment for Kathryn to figure it out and alert Joan and me. We had a great visit, caught up on his trek to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and our progress since his last visit about a year ago. Oh yes and we tasted some wine.

2008 Wine and Farm Featured Artist, Sylvia Saenz

Sylvia Saenz lives on a beautiful ranch in Patagonia which gives her much inspiration for her artwork. She is making her second appearance at our Wine and Farm Festival. Multi-talented, Sylvia works primarily in watercolor but also writes poetry, makes jewelry, and makes and binds books. She will have all these artworks available at the festival.

Today's 2008 Wine and Farm Festival Featured Vendor

Fiore di capra is a goat dairy and creamery in Pomerence, AZ. Canelo Hills Vineyard and Winery first served their goat cheeses this past Dec. during our wine and music event. I have never seen cheeses consumed so rapidly! So I was anxious to have them back for our festival.

I was very excited to hear a few weeks ago that the dairy will be able to participate in our May 3 event but it is going to be even better than expected as they are going to make a special cheese for our event. I don't know what it is going to be called but fiore di capra will make a cheese soaked in Canelo Hills Vineyard and Winery's 2006 Riesling wine! We'll all be looking to try that!

Keeling Schaefer Vineyards at Wine and Farm Festival

Jan and Rod are returning to our second annual wine and farm festival. Jan and Rod are growing grapes and producing wine at their winery which is located 12 miles south of the Chiricahua National Monument. They have made an award winning Syrah which will be available for tasting and purchase. Their "Three Sisters" Syrah got a Bronze medal at the 2007 Arizona Governor's Awards. They will also have the 2006 "Two Reds" Grenache available. All of Keeling Schaefer Vineyards' wines are estate grown and bottled. This is a rare opportunity to taste their wines.

Keri Jelks- Wine and Farm Festival Artist

Keri Jelks has been a rancher and active community member of Sonoita for over 30 Years. Keri enjoys painting in her studio and in nature where the wind, air and birds surround her. Having received her degree in creative writing Keri also loves to write.

A returning artist to Canelo Hills Vineyard and Winery 's Wine and Farm Festival, Keri will be selling her simply delicious cookbook, "Yum-Yum," which is chock full of her best recipes as well as her exquisite paintings. She will also have Giclee prints of her animal paintings, note cards portraying landscapes and animals, and an item hot off the press, her unique birthday calendar featuring domestic and wild animals.

2nd Annual Wine and Farm Festival

Plans are well underway for our May 3, 2008 Wine and Farm Festival. The response from past and new venders has been very enthusiastic. Our tasting room customers are interested in tasting local wines and very supportive about buying local farm goods.

I will be highlighting the winemakers and local farmers and artisans over the next several weeks. Check back frequently for the updates.

Zork Results

We had a great time with the Zork closure survey. The on-line vote was 78% for and 22% against. The tasting room survey customers voted 90% for the Zork and 10% against it. So, I guess it looks better when you can see it up close and play with it. Some of the "yes" voters had rave comments like, "It's awesome!" "It's easy to use!" "It's a great idea!" and "Why didn't someone think of it sooner?" Some people's yes's had qualifiers like, "but not in red, only black or maroon," and "for emergency use only." The no voters had comments like, "too much plastic" and "too hard to open." Great things for us to take into consideration. The plastic is recycle-able and a kind customer showed me how it can be opened easily.

Tim and I decided we will use the Zork for our spring bottling of our 2007 Chardonnay. We will survey the people who buy it and then consider where to go from there.

Thank you all for participating! Joan