New Sprout

Amber and Casey Polivchak are regulars - tasters, visitors, bottlers, friends. A little less then a year ago when bottling the 2008 Sangiovese, Amber was conspicuously not sampling the wine. "Pregnant," she announced. These photos of 3 week old Lucy mark her first big outing and her first introduction to Canelo Hills. She feigned interest, but I sure she had her mind on other beverages and important pursuits. She is a cutie. Joan and I look forward to many more of her visits.

Very Yummy Yummy Zin

What do you get when you blend together Arizona grown Zinfandel from three vintages (one of which was the 2007 late harvest crop)? You got it - very, very, yummy, Yummy Zin. We have been waiting a long time for this wine. The 2007 vintage dessert Zinfandel was tasty to the extreme and very popular. It was a small experimental batch that convinced me of the compelling power of Arizona fortified dessert wine. This past Saturday Mike and Stephanie (and their doggie Ella) and Matt and Nicole pitched in and bottled 140 cases of small bottles of this wine. Being a mixture of three vintages it is a "Non Vintage" wine and will be on the tasting room the first weekend in October.





Did I mention Adele? What a sweetie. The last time she helped bottle some wine it was the 2008 Sunrise and she was in utero. Matt and Nicole are understandably proud parents and Adele is about the most mellow, easy tempered and gentle soul I have met in the form of a 10 week old child.



Thanks Mike, Stephanie, Matt and Nicole!

ET - 08

The day before The Storm - Amber, Katelyn, Dave and Casey put in a full day's work bottling the 2008 Estate Tempranillo. Although Katelyn is new to the task, the others are old hands and within a case or two the group was humming like a well oiled 4-person powered machine. Seventy cases of absolutely scrumptious wine was bottled. As I was originally composing this blog the next night, The Storm blew in, the power went out and Joan and I were worried but (for the moment) oblivious to the vineyard damage that ensued. I haven't had the heart to get back to it until now, but thanks to the efforts and good wishes of these four and hundreds of other friends, fans and well-wishers, Joan and I are back on track. Another one of life's lessons learned. Mother Nature is has a mind and desire all of her own. The '08 Estate Tempranillo needs some serious bottle time - huge, dark, rich, oaky wine flavors of a classic Sonoita AVA wine. Look for it to be on the tasting table around New Year 2011. Amber by the way is working on a new member of the Polivchak family - due to arrive in 2011. There is always room for one more on the bottling line.

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.