Winemakers Musings June 2018

Winemaker’s Musing 2018

Things are cooking along at Soaring Wings. The new Amphitheater is up and running and our first big concert with the Blues Festival June 2nd is looming ahead. As for the wine… We just pumped the last of the dry wines out of the barrels and placed them in stainless steel tanks for processing. Both of the Chambourcins, Red Phoenix and our Special Reserve Chambourcin show great promise. The Syrah is one of the more “tasty” Syrahs I have made. The are all great wines. The Dry whites, LaCrosse and Golden Eagle are ready to bottle and should be ready soon. Both these wines are already sold out. I apologize for the delay in getting them going, but we are reworking our label and things have been drawn out on that.

The vineyard is looking great except the Syrah and to a lesser degree the Chambourcin. Both were hit by the precipitous drop in temperatures in November. These caused “primary” bud damage and that is were we get most of the crop. I have estimated the Syrah will have about a 25% crop and the Chambourcin 75%. We still have to see how the fruit sets this spring. So, the jury is out on harvest estimates for everything else.

Oh, the Red Phoenix/Omaha Red just won a gold medal and a Double Gold medal. Chambourcin also won a gold. Drink up!

 

Cheers,

Jim