July 2011 | Newsletter

DEAR WINE AND VINEYARD FRIENDS,

Autumn this year came and went in the blink of an eye. We extended the harvest until the middle of April to get the very best from our Bonarda. Our timing was perfect as we picked the last of the grapes two days before the days turned cold and overnight frosts set in. The vines entered their dormant winter stage earlier this year than in previous years.

The leaves on the trees turned from green to yellow to brown and fell within a week. We are now enjoying the winter landscape of stark branches reaching up to clear blue skies and it is still a wonderful sight. The first snowfall is anticipated any day now.

News from the Winery:

Fermentation of the Bonarda 2011 is complete and the wine has been transferred to the barrels for aging. We have achieved an amazing 100% increase on the 2010 production. Alongside our own wine we are assisting one of our clients in making their own Bonarda under our “WINEMAKING PROGRAM” Program.

The 2010 vintage still has many more months to age in the barrels before being bottled and we do not expect this vintage to be released until 2012.

Oscar, our winemaker, and I have had the pleasure of doing some early tasting of the 2011 vintage and we are delighted with the results. We are confident that this will be a spectacular wine when it is fully matured.

News from the Vineyard:

This winter, we are changing 10 acres (4 hectares) of our 40-year old vineyards from the parral structure (high wire) to trellis and we will be grafting fine vines into the 40-year old roots.

We are removing the old structure now and have the two new structures separated. Work has begun at the grafting site in preparation for the process to take place in July.

We are going to try the reduced-pruning technique commonly used in Australia and will be monitoring and assessing the effectiveness on quality and quantity.

News from the Wine Estates:

The new entry portal to Gavilan is in place and we are waiting for the new rolling entry gate so that we can complete the construction. We have made an irrigation pond to supply the sprinkler system that will water the landscape feature planned for the Gavilan entrance.

The planned owner’s entry portal is taking shape very nicely. The design is complete and the materials needed to construct it have been delivered.

The irrigation department has completed the bridge over the canal but still need to finish the road to connect with the owner’s entrance. We are optimistic this will happen soon.

A new on-site office building will commence in July, scheduled to be completed by August. As soon as this is finished we will start constructing the sales and tasting room. The new tasting room and sales center will provide the Estate Owners a place to host clients and sell their wine and olive products.

We have already seen an increase in tourist traffic coming to the gates of Gavilan thanks to the efforts by the San Rafael tourist office in promoting the area and the new and existing tourist attractions.

Fun Facts:

At a recent visit to the bank I had to sign a paper in which I had to state that I was not a politician. No, they did not ask for a criminal background check (although that would not have been a problem). They were more concerned as to whether or not I was a politician and explained that if I was, they would have denied my request to have an account with them. I guess if you are a criminal you are regarded as a good person with no banking restrictions but if you are a politician…