Wine and Farm Festival this Saturday!

Our second annual Wine and Farm Festival is this Saturday! May 3rd has crept up on us, but everything is in order. My parents need to spend Friday re-arranging the tasting room to make space for all our vendors (the indoor farmer's market will feature many new farmers and artists this year!) and then we'll be ready for everyone to arrive on Saturday morning.

The winemakers (Tim, along with Bob Johnson from Colibri and Rod Keeling from Keeling-Schaefer) will be outdoors under a big tent. Under the tent you'll also be able to buy delicious lunches from The Gathering Grounds Cafe in Patagonia. And you can meet Mike and Linda Woods's alpacas from Square Top Ranch. It will be a wonderful spring day in Sonoita, so bring your friends and family on down to the festival.

See you Saturday!


Emma and Cassie are ready to host the festival

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Wine making and grape farming are in large part a long series of repetitive tasks.

Preparing 3 acres for planting – move tractor, line up augur over mark for next plant, drop augur, dig hole, life augur, move tractor, line up augur over mark for next plant . . repeat 3000 times.





Final pruning and tying up of plants for new season – move to plant, make a final few pruning cuts, secure cordon to fruiting wire with a clip here, here, here, here . . ., move to next plant . . . . . 3000 times.





Racking wine, testing samples (including tasting samples), bottling, labeling, reshuffling and moving boxes of wine, cleaning the tasting room.

I guess it only appeals to a certain type of person. Winery friends listen to their latest music mixes to pass the time. Joan and I use the time to think, ponder, and generally let our minds drift and wander. If we are working together we use the time to solve our own and the world’s problems.

This year and next year and next year and . . . . .

Square Top Ranch Alpacas to Visit our May 3 Festival!

Mike and Linda Woods will be returning to our Wine and Farm Festival with their adorable alpacas for you to visit. Come talk to Mike outside about raising alpacas and visit with Linda inside the building where she will be selling fine alpaca products like hats and scarfs and sweaters.

Colibri Vineyards at Canelo Hills May 3 Wine and Farm Festival

We are pleased that Bob Johnson of Colibri Vineyards will be at our second annual Wine and Farm Festival. Colibri's vineyards are nestled in a valley in Cochise county surrounded by the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains. Bob makes award winning wines from Viognier, Syrah, Petite Verdot, and Grenache grapes. When you attend our festival you will be able to taste and purchase these great wines as well as wines from Canelo Hills Vineyard and Winery and Keeling-Schaefer Vineyards.

If You've Ever Been a Mother...

don't become a wine grape grower!

This picture shows what we call, "bud burst." It signals spring is here and these little babies want to start to boogie! The problem is that the last frost isn't usually until the end of the month so odds are that these beautiful buds will get crispy fried before they have a chance to fully grow into long beautiful shoots that will produce grapes.

This means that as their chief caretaker, I am going to spend the next several weeks watching the weather and hovering over the grape vines, trying to talk them into going back into dormancy. Of course, like children, they will not listen to me and will continue to venture further out into the world.

I guess there is one good thing that comes out of my hovering over my vines. My adult children must be overjoyed I now have something other than them to spend my worrying time on. How about it, Kathryn and Ian?

Maggie Presser, Jewelry Designer

This will be Maggie's first year at our Wine and Farm Festival. Maggie makes her home in Elgin where she creates jewelry and framed art. Her art is an exploration of colors and textures, through the use of beads, fabric, polymer clay and precious metal clay. She also uses fiber, threads and acrylic paint. Maggie says her greatest reward is sharing her art with others by creating pieces of art that they will also love.

Awesome

When the day winds down - a busy day in the tasting room or in the vineyard or both - Joan and I often sit on the front porch to watch the sun set. On occasion we also get to see the moon rise and such was the case toward the end of March. Still dusk, the full moon rose over the Mustang Mountains, casting what seemed to be almost as much light as what just departed. The night was so still we could hear that noise in the ears that only comes with complete silence, punctuated by the occasional night animal sound - a coyote howl, a bird hurrying to its' home, a cow bellowing in the distance. Priceless.

Today's Featured Vendor-- Emu Enterprises, LLC

Roger and Priscilla Tabar's Emu Ranch products are a new addition to our Wine and Farm Festival. Their ranch is in Huachuca City and they make skin care products from the Emu oil which is nutritious for the skin and promotes healing. If you come talk to them at the festival they will passionately tell you about the benefits of using the Emu products. Some of the products Roger and Priscilla will have on hand at Canelo Hills Winery's Wine and Farm Festival on May 3 are hand and body lotions, moisturizing cream, muscle rubs and shampoo and conditioner.