Gwen Has Best Summer Ever!

"Golden years, gold, whop, whop, whop!"

            ---- Golden Years, David Bowie

Gwen reacts to the news her dad won two gold medals at the Michigan Competition last month while mom Amanda tries to contain Gwen's enthusiasm.  

Karma Vista won two more gold medals at the Michigan Wine Competition in Lansing this past August. Our 2013 Marquette, a great red wine made from the Marquette grape was awarded the first gold medal. Our wonderful 2013 Sauvignon Blanc won gold as well.  Not too shabby!  Gwen was equally excited that the Razz M'Tazz that she helped bottle won a silver medal.  "I want to leave some room for improvement," Gwen was heard to be thinking.  "Silver will do for now, but I've got a lot more tricks up my sleeve. Once I get some sleeves, that is!"  Gwen said this is far and away her best summer ever, and, always the optimist, she expects this fall to be an unprecedented harvest.  

"I'll stick with you baby for a thousand years.  Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years.  Golden years, gold, whop, whop, whop!"    D.Bowie

Summertime

"I can see clearly now, the rain is gone..."

                                                          Johnny Nash

Summer is finally, officially here.  Winter is now a distant memory and nature is trying to act like it never happened.  So are we.  We have been busy bottling the 2012 reds.  Trying to get caught up before we start cherry harvest and summer gets away from us.  Nice crop of cherries.  OK crop of peaches.  Half a crop of grapes; but not to worry.  We have a healthy supply in the bottle and several varieties are looking good. Like mom always said, "Watch the donut, not the hole."  That, followed by, "Clean up all those donut crumbs, Joe!  You're such a slob!"  But I digest.  The vineyard in the photo is our cabernet sauvignon on the home farm.  What you don't see is the other end of the vineyard which is froze to the ground. This will be one of those years when the farm will have a heck of a time staying out of the hole.  But the wildflowers are beautiful and the sun is shining and we do have at least a partial crop. Some vineyards won't even have that.  The new wines are tasting fantastic, and traffic at the tasting room is great and things can only get nicer from here on out.  We did win that gold medal in San Francisco this year.  Let's not forget about that!  And then there's grandbaby Gwen!  How could life get any better?  I think about mom and the donuts a lot.  I often close my eyes and meditate, "see the donut, be the donut, become one with the donut."  Mmmmmmm.  I feel better already.  

"It's gonna be a bright, bright sun-shiny day!"

Marquette Comeback

 "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now"

--My Back Pages,  Bob Dylan

For all you old Warriors out there, time to ring out a hoya!  We have officially released our 2013 Marquette. In fact, we received a silver medal for it at the International Taster's Guild Competition two weeks ago.  Pretty impressive for a dry red just harvested last fall and bottled a couple weeks prior to the competition.  Marquette is a great new grape variety just released seven years ago. Being an alumni (the untucked class of '77) I was compelled to plant a small block.  Keith has done a wonderful job in the cellar handling the mix of extremely high sugars and high acids in the grapes at harvest.  It has a little Pinot Noir in its DNA and we add a splash of our Pinot Noir to it for good measure.  It's a team of destiny. A dark, complex wine with a hint of Bing cherry in the finish.  Summa Cum Laude!  

Baby Bottles

““Some people like to go out dancing. Other people, like us, we’ve gotta work.”

— -Lou Reed

After less than three months on the job Gwen has been temporarily elevated to assistant winemaker. She has exhibited a wonderful (and very cute) nose, a very sensitive palate, and is certain to grow into the job.   "Some people wait their whole life for an opportunity like this," said Gwen's mother Amanda. "Well, technically, I guess she did too." Gwen obviously has her mother's smile, her father's eyes, and her grandfather's hair.  One can only imagine what a little bottle time will do!  

The new Razz M'Tazz is now available.  Comes in a small package.  

Devil Inside

“ A friend of the devil is a friend of mine. ”

— The Grateful Dead

The wait is finally over.  The Devil's Head Red has arrived!  After winning the trophy last summer for best semi-dry red in Michigan we quickly sold out.  Now our 2013 vintage is ready for tasting and it is better than ever.  It has the black pepper like our Syrah, but with a softer, low acid finish.  We think we will have enough on hand to get us through to the end of the year, but you never can tell. After all, it is one helluva wine!  

Peach Train & Muscat

"So tired, tired of waiting, tired of waiting for you."

             -The Kinks

Seems like it's been a long winter doesn't it?  Mid April.  Still cold.  May spit snow tonite.  How heartless can mother nature be?  On the other hand...We are finding many more live buds out there on the farm than we have a right to expect.  Winter low temps were somewhere in that 15 below zero range a couple of times.   Probably don't have the right to expect any live buds at this point, but we've got em.  We're kind of in uncharted territory here.   Just don't need to lose any more to spring frost.  Haven't got any buds to spare at this point.  What's the best way to avoid spring frost you ask?  Just so happens the best prevention is a late, late spring. The later the weather breaks, the less likely we are to have freezing early morning temps.  Once the plants finally come out, they are off to the races and can make up for lost time quite quickly.  So while everyone else is cursing mother nature right now, we are keeping our mouth shut and quietly slipping on heavier clothes.  Last average frost date is around May 10th.  That date looks pretty close right now, but let's not jinx it by talking about it.  Perhaps if we don't curse mother nature, she will return the favor.   

Instead, we are busy bottling.  We just released our 2013 vintages of Valvin Muscat and Peach Train.  Some fantastic stuff, if I do say so myself.  April is Michigan Wine Month and we hope to have many more new releases bottled before the month is done.  In order to accomplish that we need some cold weather so we are not distracted by all there is to do outside on the farm.  Fortunately, the forecast is in our favor.  At least for the next week.  Are we lucky to live in Michigan or what?   

Keith, the day after his 30th birthday, nose to the grindstone, or stainless steel as it were.  

Latest Vintage Arrives Early

“I ain’t got time to think about the weather, or how long it might last. ....Too busy thinking about my baby, and I ain’t got time for nothing else.”

— Marvin Gaye

Everyone wants to talk about this winter and how cold and nasty it was.  Was it?  We didn't notice.  We were a little preoccupied with the arrival of Gwen Renee Herman, Keith and Amanda's new baby and our first grandchild.  She arrived two weeks early on February 1st in order to  better enjoy Valentines Day, which was her original due date.  Our other nice surprise this winter was the gold medal we received at the San Francisco Chronicle wine competition in January for our Reserve Syrah.  We were the only gold medal winner in this Syrah category that wasn't from the west coast, so that's pretty cool.  Kind of the second big deal to happen this winter.  The tasting room opens March 1st, so spring must be just around the proverbial corner.  We have a lot of wines to bottle.  Still have a lot of snow to shovel.  Grapes to trim. But being around Gwen reminds us how important it is to get a good nap once in a while.  She puts everything in its proper perspective.  What an amazing winter!