Zinfandel - Yummy!

Arizona Zinfandel is fabulous, the problem is that it's a bugger to grow it in this state. Oddly for an arid part of the world, the summer rains (monsoons and hurricanes from Mexico) come at exactly the wrong time - harvest, when the thin skinned and tightly packed Zinfandel just plain old rots before it ripens. "Once in every 8 years", that's the local lore about Zinfandel Harvests. 2009 was a dry year and one of those once in 8 years. Peter Lechtenbohmer of what was then Sweet Sunrise Vineyards (now Sand Reckoner) delivered a load of Zinfandel that has become absolutely delicious. It got bottled this past weekend by one of our experienced bunch of volunteers.





Brian perfects the role of "Philip"- the bottle filler.




Laura and Amber are "Corkey" and "Topper" - operating the corking machine and the heat shrinker for the capsules respectively.



Amber steps in as "Topper" and Kaitlyn has mastered "Sticky" - applying labels at the new labeling machine.


Casey excels as "Crew Boss" and Joan loads the finished product.


It was a very successful day. A human bottling line rivaling the reputation of any respectable monoblock (the name of a fully automatic, industrial bottling line). The wine needs to rest for a bit and will ready around New Year 2012.

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!