December 2011
Where did the year go? It seems like only yesterday it was April. Harvest and crush 2011 have come and past. All of our new wines with the exception of Late Harvest Petit Manseng have completed fermentation and are resting comfortably in tank and barrel. Vintage 2011 was by all accounts an up and down year. Bud break was normal, mid to late April, followed by many spring rains. By the first of June it had turned dry and extremely hot, causing fruit set problems primarily with some young Merlot plantings. Off and on rains continued throughout most of the summer but by early August the rains had stopped, it was hot and we were poised for another great vintage. Then, the proverbial bottom fell out. In late August two tropical systems, Irene and Lee brought the first rains of the harvest season and a sign of what was still to come. Lee hovered over the region for about a week before slowly moving on north and then for the rest of September and into early October it either rained or was cloudy just about every day. Fortunately we were able to harvest ripe Sauvignon Blanc and Petit Manseng before the rains, but our reds were not ripe when the rains came and we decided to wait it out. Looking back now it was the right decision. We lost much of our crop to rot but what we did harvest in late October and early November had gained sufficient ripeness to make some very nice wines. Over this winter we will be bottling most of our 2011 white wines and also assembling the 2011 red wine blends.
April 2011
Our vineyards are now ready for the start of this year’s growing season. The buds are still tight and the spring weather has been more winter like with freezing temperatures and even snow. Right now it looks to be a normal to a late bud break date. Visit our Winery web page to learn about some changes to your visit here, including our new Glen Manor Vineyards Wine Club.
February 2011
2011 is well underway with winter dormant pruning, preparing some 2009 and 2010 wines for a March bottling and conducting blending trials of our massive 2010 red wines. In 2010 we had our first harvest of grapes from our vineyard plantings of 2008, increasing our red wine production, i.e. more Hodder Hill, and also from these young vineyards, we have created a new Glen Manor wine, our 2010 Late Harvest Petit Manseng.
2012 Barrel Tasting and Pre-Release Sale
Over the weekends of March 31-April 1 and April 14-15 we will once again open our cellar, by reservations only and exclusively for our case club members and their guests, to sample from barrel our 2011 red wines. Invitations with all the details will be sent out in January.
