Give Me Cabernet: Stephanie Gibbins, #PNV13 Social Media Crew

February is upon us, and everyone is thinking of red roses and conversation hearts.

Here in the Napa Valley, excitement is brewing as Premiere Napa Valley is upon us. Whether it’s your first time being a part of Premiere or this is yearly occurrence for you, everyone is looking forward to the more than 200 lots that will be presented at auction.

Wineries are busy thinking of Premiere Napa Valley months before the event. As for me, I’ve been busy making sure everything on the social media side is ready. In the past, I haven’t been a part of many Premiere Napa Valley events so this time I took it upon myself to make sure I did something worthwhile - I became part of the Vintner’s Premiere Napa Valley Social Media Crew to help share the excitement of Premiere Napa Valley (#PNV13) online.

One of the ways we are doing this is by focusing on some of the unique wine lots that are available at this year’s Premiere Napa Valley. The lots I choose to cover were Rombauer Vineyards (where I work), Duckhorn Vineyards and Silver Oak.

Rombauer Vineyards

I got to sit down during all this madness and pick Richie Allen - our winemaker’s - brain about our 2011 Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon. Atlas Peak has become a coveted appellation, the high altitude allowing the fruit to ripen quicker and the true characteristics of the fruit to show. This fruit is truly unique! Christmas spices along with currant caress your senses. The weight and intensity on the back pallet will keep you coming back for more. You won’t be disappointed with the high quality of this delicious and intense Cabernet Sauvignon.

Duckhorn Vineyards

It was only fitting to tell the story of Duckhorn’s lot as they are our neighbors just down the road. Duckhorn’s Premiere Napa Valley lot is a 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Three Palms Vineyard. The 2011 vintage was exciting for Duckhorn, they acquired the rights to the all the grapes from Three Palms Vineyard. Three Palms Vineyard is an iconic vineyard and this wine shows it off. Aromas of cinnamon and clove hit your senses followed up with the mouthwatering red-fruit flavors. Your pallet will enjoy the depth this wine gives. Make sure you taste this wine and see for yourself how this iconic vineyard’s wine stacks up.

Silver Oak

Silver Oak is known for their reds but this Cabernet Sauvignon really stands out. The 2011 Jumpin’ Jack Flash Cabernet Sauvignon is one that will wow you. The creation of Director of Winemaking Daniel Baron and CEO David Duncan, this lot was the obvious choice. Blending of Cabernet and Merlot makes this wine memorable. Grab a glass and taste it for yourself.

Hopefully your mouth is watering just like mine, and this is only just a taste of what Premiere Napa Valley has to offer! Now we sit and wait until the 23rd to see what other rare wines will be a part of this “must attend” event for the wine trade. See you at Premiere!

Cheers,

Stephanie Gibbins
#PNV13 Social Media Crew
@RombauerVino
Rombauer Vineyards

#PNV13 Social Media Crew Reporting: Alex Crown, Cornerstone Cellars

“What’s in a lot? It’s just wine...” I overheard her saying to a friend while I was enjoying a glass of Cabernet Franc. “It’s a bit more complicated than that,” I reply. “Premiere Napa Valley wines are one of a kind, sometimes only sixty bottles exist and then that's it! For a collector and connoisseur, the cellar isn’t complete without a Premiere wine. Rarely do wine shops, wine bars, and restaurants have the opportunity to carry wines as limited as these. If you come across one, you’ve truly found a gem.”

Here are four lots that I’m pretty excited about for #PNV13: Honig Vineyard & Winery, Cornerstone Cellars, Robert Mondavi Winery and Hill Wine Company.

Honig Vineyard & Winery

Honig is releasing their 2011 Westside Trio Cabernet Sauvignon. Good things come in threes - three vineyards and three on the winemaking team. With this wine, we have their three best vineyards from three AVA’s coming together to create a wine that is greater than the sum of its parts. All of the vineyards are west of highway 29. The majority comes from the Campbell Vineyard in Rutherford. Oh yes, there is some Rutherford dust in this glass. Add a splash of Bartolucci from St. Helena and a dash of Rafael from Oak Knoll, and let it mature in 100% new French oak barrels to have a wine that powerful, structured, drinkable while being cellar worthy for decades.

Cornerstone Cellars

Cornerstone Cellars is releasing the 2011 Premiere Cornerstone, a Bordeaux blend heralding from the Oakville Station. The Oakville Station is unique vineyard, 40 acres in size, carved out of the historic To Kalon vineyard in Oakville. This is a Cabernet Sauvignon based blend with some Merlot for a mid palate lift and a bit of Cabernet Franc for increased structure. The Oakville Station vineyard can do no wrong. This wine is rare with only 5 cases produced from this single vineyard site. Twenty-two months in new French oak integrate with the soft tannins resulting in incredible aromatics, a beautiful mouth feel, and a wine that while stunning now, will greatly reward the patient.

Robert Mondavi Winery

Robert Mondavi is providing a 20 case lot this year - a 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Monastery Block within their To Kalon vineyard. Tucked right up against the Mayacamas Mountains in Oakville, this block always makes it into the reserve program at Mondavi.

Hill Wine Company

For Premiere, Hill Wine Company is offering a hillside select blend of Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from the winery's newest property. The clusters and berries were hand sorted until they had the best of the best. Through this minimal intervention, winemaker Phillipe Langner was able to allow the grapes to speak for themselves through the wine, reflecting the special place they came from.

I’ll be there tasting these and many other wines from the 2011 vintage at the Barrel Tasting on Saturday February 23. The 2011 wines that I have had the fortune of trying so far have been spectacular. 2011 was a winemakers vintage, presenting them with a challenge that rewards us all.

Alex Crown
PNV Social Media Crew
Cornerstone Cellars
@CornerstoneNapa

Introducing the Premiere Napa Valley Social Media Crew

It's February in the Napa Valley, which means Premiere Napa Valley is right around the corner! For those who don't know, Premiere Napa Valley is a wine auction that raises funds for the NVV to promote, protect and enhance the Napa Valley - the NVV's annual 'bake sale' so-to-speak. With over 500 trade and media coming to Napa Valley for Premiere - both for the actual event on February 23 and for countless related events the week prior, including the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers - it has turned into an annual homecoming for those in the industry to spend quality time with winery owners and winemakers.

Of course, the wines of Premiere Napa Valley are what make this event so special. Crafted by winemakers at our member wineries throughout the Napa Valley, Premiere wines are one-of-a-kind lots are made specifically for this event, allowing winemakers to let their creative juices flow. Examples include a new single-vineyard wine, a blend of top barrel lots that is available only through Premiere, or a wine crafted by mutiple winemakers working together on a joint lot.

There are so many interesting stories to tell the week of Premiere Napa Valley, both about the wines and the events going on throughout the Valley, that this year we've engaged a Premiere Napa Valley Social Media Crew - a group of social-media savvy vintners to help us share the excitement of Premiere with our fans and followers. We extend a huge thank you to these crew members!

Michael Baldacci, Baldacci Vineyards (@BaldacciWinery)
Alex Crown, Cornerstone Cellars (@CornerstoneNapa)
J. Brewner, Judd’s Hill (@JuddsHill)
Stephanie Gibbons, Rombauer Vineyards (@RombauerVino)
Christophe Smith, Titus Vineyards (@TitusVyds)

This week and into next each crew member will be writing guest blog posts for UNFILTERED. On Twitter, along with following the #PNV13 twitter handle, keep an eye out for tweets from these wineries - and, of course, @NapaVintners - leading up to and during Premiere. These folks will be our eyes and ears throughout the Valley - and your back-stage pass into Premiere Napa Valley.

Cheers to Premiere and to our #PNV13 vintner social media mavens!

Auction Napa Valley tickets are on sale!

Tickets for Auction Napa Valley: The American Wine Classic, the country's first and most celebrated charity wine auction, are now available. 


2013 Auction Napa Valley invitation

 Taking place from May 30 to June 2, Auction Napa Valley 2013 offers a variety of options from "The Complete Auction Experience" to "A Perfect Day in Napa Valley" and "Friday at the Auction," providing a kaleidoscope of ways in which hopeful Auction-goers can be part of the party that transforms extraordinary wines, foods of the gods, and the panoramic beauty of Napa Valley into the well-being of the Napa Valley community.

Learn more.

Premiere Napa Valley - What's in a Signature?

Napa Valley Rocks: The Napa Valley Appellation Education Program

Diverse soils, climatic variations, ideal geography, people of passion, winemaking innovation, and groundbreaking land stewardship are just a few of the narratives that tell the unique story of what makes Napa Valley America's premier wine growing region. Now those stories are available in a series of short videos produced by the Napa Valley Vintners.

Narrated by "The Wine Bible" author and educator Karen MacNeil and set against the panorama of the Napa Valley landscape, the Napa Valley Rocks video series explores the confluence of factors that sets the wine region apart from any other in the world.

"Seeing is believing. Napa Valley Rocks takes viewers inside the valley in a way that mere words can't," explains Karen MacNeil. "Watching the videos, it's impossible not to be moved by the magical beauty of Napa Valley, and the passion of its vintners."

Based on three scientific studies, the Napa Valley Rocks videos piece together how Napa Valley's unique Mediterranean climate, extensive soil diversity, and innovative viticulture practices provide Napa Valley winemakers a unique spectrum of conditions to produce consistent quality wines. Through interviews with notable vintners and industry experts, the series brings to life the complex mosaic of elements that culminate in a bottle of Napa Valley wine.

Completing the Napa Rocks video series are segments on innovation and research, the fascinating history and evolution the Napa Valley as a great wine producing region, Napa's leadership, including the founding of the country's first Agricultural Preserve, and the unprecedented commitment by the vintners of Napa Valley to taking care of their community.

Learn more and watch the videos.

Napa Valley Vintners Invests $772,000 in Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment, and Issues Related to Aging

The Napa Valley Vintners today announced its investment of $772,000 in community services to help three populations: those at risk or affected by substance abuse, mental illness, and health issues related to aging. This is the fourth category of giving from the proceeds of the 2012 Auction Napa Valley fundraiser, and is part of its $7 million commitment to two strategic priorities: community health and children's education.

"While they are not necessarily directly related, these three populations have an increased risk of isolation preventing them from seeking help, or from being aware of the acuity of their needs," said NVV Executive Director Linda Reiff. "The NVV is investing in local programs that focus on reaching out to these populations with prevention resources and treatment; increasing community awareness of these issues and the resources available; and collaborating with other organizations to build a safety net to help some of the most vulnerable in our community."

Six organizations received funding to expand their programs and outreach: Aldea Children & Family Services; Area Agency on Aging; Family Service of Napa Valley; Gunilda Rianda Senior Center; Napa Valley Hospice & Adult Day Services; and Wolfe Center.

Learn more.

Napa Valley Vintners Invests $1.275 Million in Resources, Education and Services for School-Age Children

In keeping with the spirit of giving this holiday season, the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) announced its investment of $1.275 million in community services to help Napa County children--from preschool to college--succeed in school and beyond. This is the third category of giving announced from the proceeds of the 2012 Auction Napa Valley fundraiser, and is part of its $7 million commitment to two strategic priorities: community health and children's education.

Research shows that it is far more effective--in terms of outcomes, cost and benefit to the community--to ensure that children are prepared for entering school and have access to constructive after-school and mentoring programs to keep them in school, than it is to intervene after issues have arisen.

In Napa County, one of every five youth is considered to be socioeconomically disadvantaged, and research shows that youth from low-income communities are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to life success: economic self-sufficiency, full civic participation, and becoming leaders.

"Skills for success--in school and life--are accumulated over time and built on each other, and we want to ensure that all children, from toddlers to young adults, have the opportunities at each age to develop those skills," said NVV executive director Linda Reiff. "The NVV is investing in local programs that prepare students for entering school, empower parents to be involved in their children's education, help students develop critical thinking skills, and guide them in learning how to make good decisions as they grow."

Eight organizations received funding to expand their programs and outreach: Boys and Girls Clubs of Napa Valley in Napa and American Canyon; Boys and Girls Clubs of St. Helena and Calistoga; Big Brothers Big Sisters; Summer Search; On the Move; NapaLearns; Child Start Inc.; and Napa Valley Adult Education's First Step.

Read the full press release

View the list of eight beneficiaries

Economic Impact of Napa's Wine Industry more than $13 Billion to Napa County

The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) released today the updated and most comprehensive report to date on the value of the region's wine industry titled The Economic Impact of Napa County's Wine and Grapes by Barbara Insel, founder of Stonebridge Research.

Key Findings in Insel's report:

• The region's wine production has an annual economic impact on Napa County of $13.3 billion
• The wine industry, directly and indirectly provides 46,000 full-time equivalent jobs in Napa County
• Wine-related tourism generates more than $1 billion annually
• The wine industry generates nearly $1.3 billion annually in local, state and federal taxes
• The high value of the product speaks clearly to Napa's reputation for quality wine
• Napa's vintners generate $84 million annually in charitable contributions

"This is the most comprehensive examination of our wine industry's economic impact to date, giving us a more detailed look from a multitude of resources, from one-on-one interviews with wine and wine-related businesses to local, state and federal reporting agencies," said NVV Executive Director Linda Reiff. "The Napa wine industry is healthy and thriving, fueling our local and national economies even in these uncertain times."

Insel's report noted that along with the renown of the appellation and the cluster of industry expertise in Napa Valley, the region attracted even more vintners, winegrowers, and service providers, making Napa a hub of the California wine industry.

Learn more.

Napa Vintners Invest $1.14 Million to Resources, Education and Services for At-Risk Families

Today the NVV announced its second category of giving from the proceeds of the 2012 Auction Napa Valley fundraiser: $1.14 million for resources, education, and services for at-risk families, as part of its $7 million commitment to two strategic priorities--community health and children's education.

According to research conducted by Nobel Prize-winning University of Chicago Economic Professor James Heckman, a difficult family environment--especially adverse parenting--is a major predictor of cognitive and social issues with children. Many of the biggest socioeconomic problems--crime, obesity and chronic diseases, homelessness, teenage pregnancy, school dropout rates, and domestic violence, to name a few--can be traced back in large part to this one common denominator: the early family environment.

"Early intervention to prevent these issues produces great returns not only to individuals--in the form of better educational, health, economic and social outcomes," explained Linda Reiff, NVV executive director,"but to society, by saving taxpayers money and increasing economic productivity."

This second round of community investment by the NVV is designated for early-intervention programs that help families with income, education, health and other barriers become self-sufficient and provide safe environments for all family members.

A total of 11 local, community-based programs will receive grants: Children's Health Initiative; COPE Family Center; Family Centers of St. Helena, Calistoga and American Canyon; Healthy Moms & Babies; Napa Emergency Women's Services; Napa CASA; ParentsCAN; Planned Parenthood; and Puertas Abiertas Community Resource Center.

Click here to learn more.

Still Harvesting Above the Napa Valley

Look to the western hills and Spring Mountain, where we routinely pick into November. The vineyards lie above the valley floor fog and get sunshine beginning at dawn. 20% of our fruit, all cabernet, is still hanging, and I expect to have everything picked by the end of this week.

An outstanding vintage!

Jac Cole
Winemaker
Spring Mountain Vineyard

Napa Valley Harvest 2012 Finale

As it was with the San Francisco Giants, so it is with Harvest Napa Valley 2012: a winning season. Perfect ripeness and lots and lots of fruit are now in the cellars, about to undergo the alchemy of fermentation and the winemaker's art.

The last in our harvest video series answers monumental questions such as: "What is the first thing you do at the end of harvest?" (open a very cold beer, crash and sleep for 24 hours, throw a pig roast) and "If harvest were a holiday..." along with the crazy laughter that comes at the end of a very good year.

Thanks for taking the Harvest Napa Valley 2012 ride with us! Visit http://harvestnapavalley.com for more on Harvest Napa Valley 2012

The hairiest harvester is...

Congratulations to Matt Levy of Schramsberg Vineyards & J. Davies Estate on his win of the most hotly contested race in the Napa Valley - the Harvest Beard Competition! With an impressive 7,942 votes for his metamorphosis, Matt has won a $250 gift certificate to a Napa Valley restaurant recognized by our Wine List Program. Thank you to our hairy participants and all who voted!

Vintage of the Century!

Harvesting Oakville Station Cornerstone Cellars Merlot

It's the vintage of the century!

The hype machine is on for the West Coast. Unfortunately, the noisiest wine press is no longer the one that separates the juice from the skins. Hopefully someday we can get back to the fact that in agriculture there is no perfection, only personality.

Each vintage the weather and soil combine to create a once in a lifetime experience. As with people, the personality you prefer is, well, personal. In the Napa Valley, the weather could not have been kinder to grape growers. Mother Nature’s largess to grape growers and winemakers is not always equal. There’s not an empty fermenter or barrel to be found in the Napa Valley right now due to the bumper crop of grapes bestowed on the Valley this year. More is not necessarily better when it come to winemaking. The growers are already celebrating and headed for some sunny beach. Winemakers still have plenty of work to be done in the cellars with most of the red wine harvest still in fermenters.

It was a vintage Goldilocks would have loved. Not too hot and not too cold, just right. It started with a gentle spring that allowed for textbook flowering and fruit set. Then they just started to come, one after another. Warm sunny day after warm sunny day. Rarely did we hit 100° F for the high and just as rare was the day it did it not hit at least 85° F. The nights were cool dropping down to the low fifties, even nicking the forties. Up and down the temperatures swung wide each day in that dance that makes the Napa Valley such an exceptional place to grow wine grapes. 

September arrived and harvest began. First pinot gris and then we started picking sauvignon blanc, almost on the same date we’ve picked the last two years. Then they started to fall like dominos, coming in just the order you’d expect: first the merlot and then the syrah followed by cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. The even weather allowed us to pick at a deliberate pace able to wait until the flavors arrived at just the right point. By the middle of October we’d picked almost all of our vineyards. The first real forecast of rain arrived at the same time. On Sunday, October 21st we picked our last fruit. At midnight it started to rain.

By our standards at Cornerstone Cellars we’re very, very happy and optimistic about the wine that is fermenting as I write this article. What makes us happy? Wines with freshness, life, energy and, most of all, personality. We were able to pick truly ripe fruit at moderate sugar levels, which means moderate alcohol levels with crisp acidity that will make the wines sing. I love it.

So the journalists will want to know if this was a great vintage. Of course it was, just like it will be next year and was last year. It’s not a question that anyone who has grown anything would ask. It is the experience of growing the fruit and making it into wine each and every year that makes for greatness. Letting that individuality speak in the wine every year is what makes wine so fascinating. The greatness of wine is in how it speaks to you. Each of us can rate a wine or a vintage 100 points, but we can only do that for ourselves. No one can do it for us.

There is something to love in every vintage. Every vintage is the vintage of the century, even if just for a few minutes. Andy Warhol said everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. Each vintage should at least get that.

Craig Camp

The Natural Landscape of Harvest

Sunrise on Harvest Morning at Marston Family Vineyard

With all the pomp and circumstance of harvest related activities complete, and the majority of our neighboring vineyards finished, I’m thrilled to report that we have officially begun harvest at our estate on Spring Mountain. On a pristine Friday morning on October 19^th, the first blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon were picked at Marston Family Vineyard. 

Harvest Bins

In what has quickly become routine, or perhaps quirky superstition, I enjoy walking amongst the fruit at dusk the evening prior to harvest and reveling in the efforts of the past growing season. In this day in age it’s particularly rewarding to witness the fruits of our labor, and feel a strong sense of pride in the quality of our grapes. Make no mistake, as important, or critical, as we may think we are to the vines, our abilities are secondary to the mercy of Mother Nature and her natural landscape, and to that end we are extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to grow grapes in the beautiful Napa Valley.

Barrel Fermentation

Perhaps it’s become a common misnomer, but “harvest” by no means signals the end; rather, it marks the transition from grape grower to winemaker. Whereas our viticulturist has traded his weather reports from Saint Helena for Lake Tahoe, our winemaker has replaced his golf clubs with a clipboard and calculator. Led by the remarkable Marbue Marke, our cellar team is buckled down and full steam ahead. Our first fruit came from four different hillside terraces on the property, and each block will be fermented separately in oak barrel to complement its character. Each year we employ the use of both oak and stainless steel tanks for fermentation depending on the vineyard location, fruit quality and growing season. Fortunately, 2012 has been a relatively predictable year, and has allowed us to follow our winemaking program with only minor variation.

Cabernet Sauvignon

With roughly 50% of our grapes harvested and undergoing natural fermentation, the balance of our fruit is still hanging in the vineyard. The microclimates and location of the remaining vines combine to make them later ripening sites, and we made the decision to allow the mountain skins to continue to ripen ever so slightly to complete the ideal flavor profile. We did experience light rains that dropped roughly 1.22 inches over a 4 day period, and as expected the fruit held up remarkably well. In fact, walking the rows suggests that the rain actually cleaned up the clusters of any dust and made them shine with their beautiful purple hue. The forecast for the next few days is promising, and we anticipate finishing harvest just in time to don our Halloween costumes and trick or treat our way through the vines that provided us with yet another exceptional vintage.

Cheers,

James

Marston Family Vineyard

Finishing Strong at Raymond Vineyards

Winemaker Stephanie Putnam describes our efforts as harvest comes to a close and discusses dealing with these late October rains.

Harvest Napa Valley 2012 coming to a finish

A great finish to a fabulous season...now on to the work in the winery!

Merlot is in the tank!

We pressed out our 2012 Oakville merlot yesterday and I must say it was fantastic!  Beautiful color, big fruit, nice structure... and this is merlot!

Three generations of Spoto's were on hand for this task making this truly a family endeavor.

 

Henry, Stuart & Ari Spoto

Spring Mountain Vineyard’s Harvest Mantras

Before each harvest, I order t-shirts for my crew. For this harvest - my 10^th at Spring Mountain Vineyard (SMV) - the shirts read:

“VAMOS AVER” (We will see) and “SI SE PUEDE” (Yes, we can!)

In the world of winemaking, and as it applies to my great crew, both are appropriate.  We are always waiting, watching and evaluating a vintage, a vineyard block or a newly fermented wine.

To date, we have harvested all varieties except for some Cabernet Sauvignon, a late-ripening, sturdy variety that we often harvest after valley floor Cabernet is picked. I am not worried about the recent rain because our vineyards are located on steep slopes where the air can circulate freely to dry out clusters. 

As for the new wines in the cellar, they are gorgeous.

I couldn’t be happier with the 2012 vintage and harvest. Like other recent great Napa Valley vintages - 1997, 2005 and 2007 – this vintage is bountiful as well as beautiful.

Come see us on Spring Mountain.  There is still plenty of harvest activity here!

Cheers,

Jac Cole, Winemaker

Spring Mountain Vineyard

It's a Grind

Harvesting the Cornerstone Cellars Oakville Station Merlot during harvest 2012.

It's a grind. Another half ton bin of grapes is loaded onto the dumper on the sorting line. Another truck arrives and another twenty bins are added to the twenty or so already there. At our top speed it takes an hour to process four tons or eight bins. We rarely hit top speed. Best guess is another five hours to get through these bins. That's on top of the five hours already in.

Its like that every day. It's a grind. It's harvest. The term "romantic" does not enter your mind: at least until it's all over. The only times when the romance of it all fills your spirit are the first day, the last day and the rest of the year. The first day it’s all about the potential, the last day you are a bit awestruck by what you have accomplished. In between it's a blur as you grind through each day. It is very simply the next bin, the next fermenter and the next day.

In the picturesque harvest in the wine magazines it's all about bountiful lunches with happy workers eating hardy meals and quaffing wine from carafes. In a real world working winery its cold cuts, colds, cold wet clothes and hot, sweaty rubber boots. Most of all you are sticky. Head to toe splashed with super-sweet grape juice, which makes you a yellow jacket's dream lunch.

Then there is all that gleaming stainless steel equipment that looks so efficient and high tech. The reality is more like a Rube Goldberg invention as the whole process is a patchwork of things that don't play well with others. Something always seems to break at just the wrong moment, which makes winemakers the champions of jerry-rigging as equipment is forced to behave with beatings and duct tape. For a winemaker knowing how to convince everything to work in the winery is just as important as knowing when to pick. Let's just say that OSHA would not approve of many of these solutions.

The day comes to an end with the best beer (or two) you ever tasted in your life quickly followed by an all to short, but very sound sleep. Then you wake up and do it again, and again, and again until one day the last bin arrives.

Then, as the last bunch of grapes from the last bin drops into the last fermenter the romance hits you again. Instantly harvest is once again the best and most exciting thing that happens to you every year. It is the concentrated essence of everything you believe in and the fuel that fires your flame for the next vintage. It reminds you how lucky you are to be working as hard as you can to accomplish something you love.

We finished the last bin at about 5 p.m. last night. Winemaker Jeff Keene and I shook very sticky and very tired hands. Harvest 2012 was done at Cornerstone Cellars. 

What a grind. I can't wait until next year.

Craig Camp