Wine Barrels

"How long do those barrels last? . . . . So what do you do with those barrels when you are done with them? . . . . Could I get one?" These, among others, are commonly asked questions in the tasting room. For me the most curious thought is what will you do with it when you are done? Flower pot? Fire wood? Special fuel for some smoke cured meat? Brew a lambic beer in it (yes a real possibility)? Damian Hattrup applied his creative talents to one of the exhausted French Oak barrels and came up with a glass topped table. Originally destined for the back patio, it turned out so nicely that it now has a favored spot in his living room. Naturally it works best as a staging area for Canelo Hills Wine. Great job Damian!

March is the cruelest month

Will the plants bud out? Will it frost? Will it warm up and stay warm? Will the rains ever come? Will Joan get the pruning done in time? How much should I irrigate? Will we get another hard freeze? Is the electric fence going to keep the deer out this year? Did I order enough replacement plants? How many plants survived this winter? And on and on and on. It's enough to drive you MAD. But wait. Who cares?

ARIZONA 93 - DUKE 77

Arizona advances to the Elite Eight!


Go CATS!!!

2000 bottles of wine on the wall . . . .

For all of you whose minds were teased by the Fun Wine Facts item, here is the official answer. The largest stainless steel tank in our winery holds 1500 liters. A mere pittance compared to the commercial winery giants whose tanks measure in the 10's of thousands of gallons. (How many liters in a gallon? Wait this is the answer not another quiz.) A standard bottle of table wine holds 750 milliliters or 0.75 liters. 1500 liters per tank divided by 0.75 liters per bottle equals 2000 bottles. Rick Tagg (aka Cellar Rat) ventured a guess down to two decimal points of accuracy - 1998.15 bottles. That's close enough for me and for his efforts he is the proud winner of a tasting flight at CHV&W.

Wine Fact of the Month

In each issue of our e-newsletter (to read this month's click here or to subscribe click here) we publish a Wine Fact so you can learn more about winemaking and about what we do at Canelo Hills.


This month's fact was about those steel tanks we use for aging our white wines. Do you know how much wine they hold?

The largest of those tanks holds 1500 Liters of wine. Can you do the math and figure out how many bottles that will fill?

Get out a calculator and leave us your answer here.