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

Wine and Farm Festival May 3

Plans are well under way for our second annual Canelo Hills Wine and Farm Festival. Last year's inaugural event was such a success that many participants assumed we would continue the tradition, and indeed we will host the 2008 festival on Saturday, May 3rd from 11:00-4:00. The festival will feature wine tastings with at least 3 Arizona winemakers, a farmer's market, local crafts and publications, winery tours, lunch from The Gathering Grounds Cafe, and back by popular demand, the alpacas from Square Top Ranch. See you May 3rd!

What the heck is that?

This one is for the wine geek in us all. Wine is spoiled grape juice. The initial spoilage is caused by yeasts that turn grape sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This vigorous and exciting process is called primary fermentation. Later secondary fermentation called malolactic fermentation, is caused by friendly wine bacteria. They convert malic acid (think sour green apples) to lactic acid (think the mouth experience of melted butter or milk) and carbon dioxide. It is usually encouraged in red wines and discouraged in whites. If it occurs after a wine is in a bottle the wine can get a little fizzy – generally considered a wine fault. In this picture I’ve used paper chromatography to figure out if a wine has gone through malolactic fermentation. Small drops of each wine are deposited at the bottom of the page. As the diluent travels up the fancy blotter paper, it takes with it the primary acids that are present in wine. The lowest yellow blotch is tartaric acid. The middle yellow blotch is malic acid and the upper most yellow blotch is lactic acid. The wines to the left of the paper have only tartaric and lactic acid blotches – voila, done! The wines toward the right have all three yellow spots. That would be five of the six barrels of Sangiovese clone 2. They are not done yet, but once the weather warms up those little bugs will get happy again and finish the job.

It's Pruning Time!

Tim and I are back in the vineyard. The winter pruning has begun. It feels good. As I work up and down the rows trying to pick the spurs that will produce the best fruit for the 2008 harvest I get very excited with visions of beautiful green shoots and big, thick clusters of grapes. I can't wait for the earth to warm up and the vines to start their swelling. This is the most hopeful time of year, before nature reminds me that she is the one who will be in control of the outcome of this year's harvest. Still, I can't wait!