Grapes on 9-12

You can see much more color versus last week. This is a picture from the same block shown in the previous post.

Clusters are changing color . . . . finally

Slightly blurry picture that I took yesterday of some Pinot Noir clusters. We expect a late harvest, but it's too soon to tell if it will be later than 2008. We picked our last grapes on October 29 that year.

Multi-year blends? Good idea or bad?

Cleaning up in the tasting room last night I wound up pouring what was left of the 2005 Pinot Noir 144, the 2007 Pinot Noir 144, the 2008 Pinot Noir and the Second Floor Pinot Noir into a single bottle. It's more efficient than carrying four partially-filled bottles home.

Linda and I were looking forward to a rare home-cooked meal - the tasting room has taken up most of our free time over the last seven or wight weeks and we just don't have time to make nice dinners. I grilled a piece of Alaskan Chinook Salmon from Newman's Fish in Portland (and I am not 'fishing' for a discount with that plug :-). I just like that store. The smoked salmon is awesome too) and we had some couscous and a salad with some nicely ripe tomatoes from our friend Kelly's garden. The blended wine from the tasting room really went well with the food and it actually tasted quite good, so I spent a little more time sipping and tasting that wine.

Which led me to think - why aren't there many multi-year blends of wines outside of champagne? Do people immediately assume a label that says 'non-vintage' means less quality? Or does the market simply just expect single vintages for certain varietals like cabs or pinots? I believe Cameron has made pinot blends with multiple years, but I haven't seen many others around here.

I may try one this year. I have a little 2008 that I haven't bottled yet and I think combining it with some of the 2009 could create a really interesting wine (and, more importantly, provide another excuse to design a new label). Haven't decided yet. Anyone with an opinion please feel free to comment.