7th Grader Grapes

May 30, 2008

Do you ever look at a little kid and wonder if he/she is going to become a Nobel Prize winner or a modern day Homer Simpson? Well, that's kind of how we view each new growing year. You start off with budbreak (kindergarten) with only a bit of insight and then move on to flowering (elementary school) and then to fruit set (junior high) where you generally have an idea whether a kid is a disaster or has real potential (side note: this year has some serious potential!). In the summer as grapes change color with veraison (high school), you have a very good sense of quality and are just crossing your fingers that the trip to college (harvest) doesn't muck up all your hard work. Right now, most of the vines are in 7th grade; their voices are changing and they're talking back a bit. But we love them anyway and keep the irrigation on as long as they clean their rooms. Had enough of mixed metaphors? Here's what's going on...

San Francisco Open House - Saturday, June 21st Last year we had over 800 people at our Open House, so help us break the 1,000 mark this year by showing up hungry and thirsty on June 21st from 2PM to 6PM (change of time from last notice). We'll be tasting through the phenomenal 2007s and some earlier wines going back to 2004 when they used let me make wine! There should be tons of food including the taco truck loaded for (or with) bear. This year we're upscaling things a bit by inviting a few artisinal foodie companies (including some awesome chocolate and cheese). But most of all, you'll get to meet other people who are making wine and if you're a client, we'll pull a bottle sample for you. Oh, and Stu is setting up a deal with local restaurants to waive corkage if want to go to dinner after. RSVP here.

Wine Voyeurism with WineStream A key driver for our recent $9 million financing was to dramatically improve our online environment (Crushnet), which includes integrating with Facebook. Well, nobody knew how to build Facebook applications, so Noah came up with the idea for a little Facebook application and Will knocked it out in two weeks. It's called WineStream and it should be fun. The short version is that it's a free Facebook app that enables you to tell everybody what you're drinking and to see what everyone else is drinking - in realtime. You have to be a real wine nerd to care, but I reckon you have to be a wine nerd to be reading this, so go download WineStream now and start sharing!

The 1,000th Label and Vineyard Naming Our design team finished their 1,000th label last month and the winner is... drumroll... Chuck and Julie Atkins with their 2006 "5 Points" Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. Now let's see they pick to go out to dinner with. On the vineyard naming front, we got a whole lot of great names (and a few not-so-great names) and we're still working through them. Apologies for not getting back to each of you yet, we're still noodling. We have one winner so far in "Split Rock Vineyard." More ideas for vineyard names, send them to vineyards@crushpadwine.com.

2008 Wine Plans - Let's Get Going If you haven't started your wine plan for 2008, now's a great time to get started. The closer we get to harvest (starting in only three months!), the more rushed things get. You should be hearing from your winemaker or you can always send a message to winery@crushpadwine.com and we'll get back to you asap. We are doing both 1:1 and group planning sessions. We have two group sessions in June: Syrah/Zin Planning on June 5th and White Wine Planning on June 16th. Check out Crushnet's Media Section for the latest videos.

Buy a Barrel: Pre-Payment Discounts End June 30th Please note that the 5% pre-payment discount officially ends on June 30th. So if you're going to be making wine this year, you should definitely contact Dave Gifford (dave@crushpadwine.com) and get the latest vineyard list. We've added some new vineyards, including three new Pinot Noir vineyards from Santa Lucia Highlands. Also, we still have some great adoption barrels from 2007 if you want to get a headstart.

Check Out Fulcrum Wines David Rossi from Fulcrum Wines is tearing it up with his first release of Pinot Noir. Check out Fulcrum Wines.

Pinot Days in San Francisco What are doing on Sunday, June 29th? If you're in San Francisco and you like Pinot Noir, come to Pinot Days and taste through a couple hundred wines - not a bad way to spend a Sunday.