Vineyard Visit

Exciting news. My liquor license arrived this week! I can now legally sell alcohol. All I need now is some wine to sell and that’s not too far off. If all goes well, I will be bottling the 2006 Syrah, Stagecoach Vineyard, Napa Valley towards the end of May. I’ll let it get some bottle age and then release it in the fall. However, keep your eyes peeled for a future post that will be offering the wine at a special pre-release price. If you want to see a copy of my liquor license then click here.




Last weekend I visited Paul and Vivian Furlong. They own Furlong Estates Vineyard in the Alexander Valley. They have 4 acres of vineyards, primarily Syrah. The vineyard has a wonderful location. It is a steep hillside and the vines produce very small grapes bursting with intense flavor. The vines have just started to bud out and you can already see the flower clusters forming. Last year I managed to get 1.5 tons from them. I went up there so that they could try a barrel sample and also to see how the vineyard is doing. The wine tastes great. It’s a very dark; almost black Syrah with a wonderful bouquet of black fruits and spice (with some ginger notes). Even at this young age, the wine is pretty smooth, with a nice balance between the fruit and the tannin. This is a big meaty/minerally Syrah. I only have 3 barrels of it (about 75 cases), but it will be worth waiting for. The Furlongs really liked it and I should be getting 2–3 tons this year.