It's Budburst Time
March 31, 2009
A little bit of green in the vineyard, a little bit of green in the market... actually the Dow's up 1000 points since I wrote the last newsletter. If my thesis is correct, by the time the vines hit the top wire we'll be sitting very, very pretty (OTOH, that doesn't bode well for next winter). In any case, we've got another growing year and the race is on to see if we can finish all of our projects before harvest hits and we go into the season that makes all the craziness worthwhile. We've never had such a long list of major projects before - including launching a new location, a major new product line and a new online initiative. Stay tuned. Here's what's up...
Reminder: 2009 Vineyard List is Here The list has been generally available for about 5 weeks now. It's definitely our strongest start in our history (despite a languishing economy, people's passions don't get completely shut down) and we're not letting Dave Gifford out of his office until we're sold out. So if you want Mr. Gifford to see his daughter before she heads off to elementary school then drop him a message at dave@crushpadwine.com or 415-864-4232 x222. Oh, here's a link to the 2009 vineyard list.
Bordeaux - On Again! If you read the new year's newsletter, I let you know about our travails on the Bordeaux front and it ended with a wait until 2010 message. Well, disregard that because we are going to be launching Crushpad Bordeaux next week. The short version of the story is that thanks to the superheroic efforts of our man in Bordeaux (Stephen Bolger, stephen@crushpadwine.com) we found a way to accelerate everything by a year and I think you'll be pretty excited about the combination of winery space, winemakers and vineyards. We'll be doing a formal announcement next week. But if you want someone to reach out to you about making a barrel of Margaux or St. Emilion, then drop Dave Gifford or Stephen an email.
Vineyard Visit and BBQ on April 4th - Several Spaces Remain We still have several spaces for the event this Saturday to see how Dry Creek's best grape growers manage their old vine Zin vines (some up to 115 years old). Join us as we spend a day at Teldeschi and Grist Vineyards with Ray and Lori Teldeschi, and Warren Burton, Vineyard Manager for Grist. They'll explore the history of growing Zin in Dry Creek Valley and you'll get some first-hand exposure to post-budbreak viticulture. The day ends with a BBQ at Grist Vineyard at the top of Bradford Mountain. It's limited to 16 people so RSVP here.
Winemaking Question of the Day Widget Tired of getting bullied around by the big kids who seem to know more about winemaking than you? Want to put on 20 pounds of pure winemaking muscle? Then the Winemaking QOTD Widget is for you. Every day you get a new winemaking question delivered to your email. You can find it on the sidebar of our blog (www.crushpadwine.com/blog). If you want the question delivered to you, then enter your email address and subscribe. You'll also be notified of the first annual Winemaking Bee that will be held at Crushpad this summer. Also, if you operate a wine-oriented website and are looking for ways to drive people back to your site, add the widget and people who subscribe will be sent back to your site every day to find the answer.
Wine 2.0 Grape Nerds Invade Crushpad on Thursday, April 2nd Join us on Thursday for the biggest wine and technology event held anywhere in the world. Wine 2.0 is being held again at Crushpad this year. Expect hundreds of heavy-rimmed glass-wearing Web 2.0 types to spill out from Web 2.0 Expo mix it up with hundreds of heavy-drinking old school Crushpad types. Tweets will be tweeted and wines will be poured from 60 wineries, including a few Crushpad Commerce brands. Additionally, 15 wine related technology companies will be showing their wares. We'll be doing both!
Beta Testers Still Wanted We are developing a system that will allow organizations such as non-profits, schools, alumni associations, clubs and others to create high quality wines that can be sold into their member base within a matter of days or weeks and with no financial risk. We think it's a great way to raise money for groups. If you're involved with this type of entity with at least a few hundred members and would be willing to chat with us, please contact Noah Dorrance (noah@crushpadwine.com).
Welcome to Tyler Florence Wines
(Yeah, that Tyler Florence) Tyler has been making wine with us since 2006 (I just saw a tweet that says his 2006 Zin just got on the list at Michael Mina). In any case, he's a super-great guy and if you're in Mill Valley, stop by and buy a bunch of stuff. I just found out that his new site will be up in another day, so wait a little bit before clicking the link above!
Upcoming Events- Wine Blending Wednesday - Wednesday, April 1st
- Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Tasting - Wednesday, April 8th
- Pinot Noir Clones Tasting - Wednesday, April 15th
- Sizzle and Swirl - Thursday, April 23rd
