Beginnings - Fourth Anniversary Reflections

Join us October 1 & 2 as we celebrate the fourth anniversary of opening our tasting room.





Eight years ago we started. The landscape was different in many ways - wild, seemingly untamed, full of endless possibilities.






Our vineyard was grasslands. The landscape was breathtakingly awesome. Joan and I were enriched by our dreams of the future.

The Tempranillo is Harvested!

Yesterday we finished bringing in the Tempranillo with the help of some great volunteers.

This was Cheryl's first time picking grapes.  She was a trooper and seemed to enjoy herself.

 Therese is happy to think she found the biggest cluster.

 Wayne is an old pro at harvesting and is always great to have around.

  Nick and Sage are conducting quality control.

 The happy crew at the end of harvest.  It's always a great feeling to get the fruit off the vines!

Lizzie the Lizard Hunter

This is Lizzie, one of our tasting room greeters.  When she is not at work at the winery she is hard at work at home.

This is Lizzie's prey.  This little lizard has spent its summer traveling around from window to window attaching itself to the screen.

This drives Lizzie crazy.  She stalks, jumps and whines.  My question is; do you think the lizard knows Lizzie can't get at it and is purposefully taunting my poor little Lizzie?

Bottle <---> Harvest

Hand in hand they go. Wine from years past gets bottled to make room for the new wine that will result from the upcoming harvest. Today Eve, Juan, Mike, Stephanie and Ella helped bottle 2008 Sangiovese Select. These grapes (Brunello Clone of Sangiovese) were harvested from Sweet Sunrise Vineyard (now Sand Reckoner) in 2008 and have been resting for nearly three years in lovely French and American oak barrels. It is one of my favorites. Bottling that wine cleared out the barrels and the settling tanks it had been occupying so that those vessels can now accept the 2011 Tempranillo that we will harvest from our own vineyard this coming weekend. I love the cycles of wine making.

Vineyard Update

Canelo Hills has its vineyard back!  I am so excited and pleased with the health of the vines that survived last year's weather disasters.  Here are some photos so you can share in the joy.

 Even though there is no fruit on the Syrah, it is doing its usual unruly thing.

 Oh, those Tempranillo!  What a producer they have turned out to be.

 The Tempranillo we planted this year is doing fabulously!

If I look closely enough, I can even find the occasional cluster of Cabernet grapes.  I am looking forward to next year when we should have a good amount of vines fruiting again.

Harvest 2011

It has begun. This past Saturday Viognier arrived from Sierra Vista Vineyard in Sasabe, AZ. Melissa Owen is the grower for this unique plot of earth just adjacent to the Mexican Border. Harvest always fills the winery with excitement and promise. White grapes ripen before red grapes and lead the vintage - a harbinger of the year to come. The 2010 Viognier from this same vineyard is a lovely white wine and is currently on the tasting table. This 2011 fruit will certainly make a wine every bit as delightful.

Barrel Tasting 2011

Saturday night was our annual barrel tasting event.  Every year it is a much anticipated event where we all get a preview of the coming red wines with comments by winemaker Tim.  This year we made it even more exciting.  Lisa Schoneman volunteered to create an enchanting setting, John and Joy from Canela Bistro worked magic with their food pairings and Scott Schoneman assisted with the evening and contributed the photos in this blog.  The atmosphere, the wine, the food, the company of Canelo Hills friends all contributed to a night to be remembered.  We'll do it again next summer.