July, 2011 Newsletter | New Releases and More!
The past few months have seen a flurry of activity from our cellar as we’ve released three new vintages of wine. You may have noticed that we release our wines somewhat later than some other wineries. The reason is that we choose to carefully monitor the maturing of our wines and to keep them perfectly cellared until ready to drink. We don't release our wines until they hit that magic moment of readiness.

First up, our 2007 Hughes Family Vineyards Syrah: We released this gem in April and it’s been a huge hit. Critics think so too, decorating it with a medal at the prestigious California State Fair and the Grand Harvest Awards where wines are judged by appellation.

Another medal winner is our recently released 2007 Hughes Family Vineyards Zinfandel. Proudly displaying its Gold Medal from the respected judges at the California State Fair, as well as medal from the Best of Bay Competition and the Grand Harvest Awards, this 94 point wine was just released this month and has been flying off the shelves.

Our very limited production 2010 Hughes Family Vineyards Rosé was released in May. With only 75 cases produced, there’s not much to go around! This wine pairs perfectly with summer’s lighter fair, or perhaps a picnic on the beach. Either way, you don’t want to miss out.

What's next? Watch for the upcoming release of our 2010 Chardonnay in September! Our 2009 Chardonnay sold out quickly so watch for your announcement about this release.

Remember, shipping to California is only $25 per case, and just $45 to the other available states. Shop online today to ensure that you’ll receive the best selection of these new releases.

A Look Back...
Notes from the 2007 Growing Season

Summer has finally arrived for us this year! We had rainy, cool weather through most of June but now everything is in high gear in the vineyards and the grapes are maturing as they should be at this point in the year. With the release of our 2007 Zin and Syrah, we thought it would be fun to look back on our notes from that growing season and harvest. Each year is different making it interesting to reflect on some of the variables that help make our wines so special. Who knew that a surprise rain shower and an early frost would help to make our 2007 Zin a gold medal winner!

Summer: The 2007 growing season started out fairly typical with warm days and cool nights. Forest fires burned for several weeks in northern California giving us several days of skies made overcast by smoke in the air. The 4th of July was the first 100 degree day. It stayed warm until the 10th and then there was a surprise rain shower on the night of the 10th. We always thought “It Never Rains in California” – at least in the summer. August was hot with many 100 degree days. We were able to harvest the lavender early on August 4th. We observed fewer hawks and owls during this summer, but the crows invaded! Fortunately, they did not show much interest in the grapes but they woke us up chattering every morning at dawn.

Harvest: What an exciting whirlwind harvest was in 2007! Rains came early . The viticulturists prefer no rain during harvest season but the thicker skinned Zin and Syrah grapes can handle some rain if the weather turns warm again (many varietals have to be harvested before the rains start). It rained steadily September 20th-22nd but warmth and breezes returned on the 23rd to dry things out. As a result, we experienced no major harm to the grapes. We did go in and drop some fruit that was not up to our standards and by the 25th the heat had returned (as a practice, we drop fruit all season to insure that the grapes we do harvest come fall are more intensely flavored and as close to perfect as we can manage). October 4th, we harvested the Zin just ahead of the freezing temperatures that hit on October 6th-7th. It was the earliest freeze ever recorded. This was followed by heavy rain on October 9th. Fortunately Syrah grapes have even thicker skins and can hang in there through some adverse weather but it was time to call it a day. On October 11th we brought in the upper blocks of the Syrah. The weather settled back into long warm days that allowed us to finish up harvest in the Syrah vineyard on October 25th. Whew!