NEWSLETTER

From Sour To Sweet

July 31, 2007

Color's breaking out all over. From Southern California to Eastern Washington we're seeing grapes turn from green to red - the sign of veraison and a warning that the picking dates are only 40-60 days away. Our earliest vineyards will actually come in ahead of that - we'll probably see Sauvignon Blanc by the end of August. I wish we could say we're 100% ready, but like every year we'll probably be 80% ready and improvise the rest! As I've said before, 2007 is shaping up to be the vintage of Crushpad's short lifetime... the weather could change and mess all that up, but we couldn't ask for a better year so far. Some updates...

Barrel Room Construction Has Started
We just took possession of the 7,000 sq ft room that will store up to 2,000 barrels. The problem was that there was a wall between the main winery space and the barrel room. So Ty put on a helmet and carefully went to work to join the rooms. Many of you know that Ty used to be in the military. With these driving skills, we all feel that our country is a lot safer with Ty working at Crushpad.

New Consulting Winemaker
Beginning in 2007 and hopefully for many years more, we have brought on a new consulting winemaker to help us with Bordeaux varietals. Her name is Camille Benitah and her "day job" is the assistant winemaker at Merus. We've been working together on vineyard management and winemaking protocols, and she'll spend a bit of time with us during harvest - especially at the beginning of the season before the Merus fruit comes in. In any case, we consider ourselves very lucky to be able to extend our already awesome cab winemaking talent with Camille's talents.

Documenting Harvest 2007
This year we are going to document harvest in two ways. (1) We are going to endeavor to collect video and photo content of clients making their wine at Crushpad. This content will be uploaded to Crushnet's new media section that we are launching in August. That way you can see and share this very cool part of the experience. (2) We are going to try to create a broadcast-suitable 15-20 minute video of a behind-the-scenes look at harvest 2007 with full grit. Do you have any ideas on how to best execute either of these? Please let our media guru Alan Baker (alan@crushpadwine.com) hear them!

Wine Plans - Get 'Em Going
I know I sound like a broken record, but time is starting run out for getting wine plans done. If you are making wine this year and you haven't started your wine plan, please get going and contact the winery folks (winery@crushpadwine.com). Even if you just want to spend a few minutes talking to us about the general style of wine, that'll get us started.

Harvest Volunteer Program
What other industry do you have people interested in donating their own hard labor just for the experience? We are only too happy to oblige. While you are always welcome to participate in making your own wine, we do have requests from folks interested in digging in a bit more. So this year we've got an organized volunteer program. If you or someone you know can commit to coming in on a regular basis or wants to come in for an extended period (several days or a week), please contact Stuart Ake (stu@crushpadwine.com). We will be mixing up light and heavy duty and this is a great opportunity to get a short-order blackbelt in winemaking.

New Vineyards & Harvest 2007
We have just added our first pinot gris (pinot grigio) from Hein Vineyard and a new syrah from Broken Leg Vineyard - both from the cool climate of Anderson Valley. We have also just added a new Mount Veeder cabernet source - a late season find from a great winery that found its plantings ahead of its production. The only problem is that we can't tell you the name of the vineyard, but if you like mountain fruit, then this vineyard crops at about 2 to 2.5 tons per acre and will produce some extremely dense wines - especially in 2007. Note that it's a one shot deal - contact Dave Gifford (dave@crushpadwine.com) if interested.

Media Update
Check out the current issue of Wine Spectator for a full page story on Crushpad. We actually have the biggest "pipeline" of media coverage that we've ever had. Like food? Wine? Like them together? Check out the October issue! ;-) Actually I wish I could tell you about it all right now, but the short version is that we're going to be seen by over 5 million people by the end of harvest.

Oh yeah, Buck Teal says come and get your wine! Access to stored wine is always a bit challenging during harvest so if you want to grab some wine to get you through September through November, please shoot a message to Buck (buck@crushpadwine.com).

...Michael