The growing season is rapidly progressing as the heat slowly ramps up and the rains become less frequent.  At this moment, we are receiving what is supposed to be upwards of half an inch of rain–not bad for us in late April.  Since the last update in mid-March, we have received an additional 3+ inches of rain, rounding out what has been a solid spring for rainfall.  Overall, we would estimate that we have received upwards of 2/3rds of our normal annual rainfall, with much of that in February and March.  Though such late, warmer rain isn’t so helpful for the Sierra snowpack needed for river flow and downstream users, it does serve our local needs for agriculture, and the only question is how well our well water will hold up in late summer.  As such, we have decided to make available an additional 1.5 tons of barbera for sale, still holding one block’s production in reserve in case we need to ration water late in the season.

Budburst for our barbera occurred on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, and the rest of the vineyard (apart from late-pushing souzao) had followed suit within a couple weeks.  For us, this was only a week earlier than last year, though we are hearing reports in general of crops starting a couple weeks earlier across California.  In fact, our own blueberries are already producing, which is a full 2 weeks earlier than in an average year.

We held off spraying to prevent powdery mildew (a critical vineyard operation) as late as possible, but have now already completed two rounds of treatments.  This will continue at regular intervals into mid-summer when high heat and, eventually, veraison, make this unnecessary.  We are now in the midst of shoot thinning operations in the barbera vineyard, where shoot growth is progressing rapidly and ahead of the rest of the vineyard.  We have also done our first round of mowing of the cover crop to improve accessibility of the vines and hopefully spare some ground water for the grapevines.  So, all is green and on track so far this season.

We are pleased to announce our second annual competition to recognize home winemakers that compete successfully with wines made from our grapes.  We will offer as the single grand prize 250 lbs of free grapes from our “still available for sale” inventory, good for the 2014 or 2015 season, for the best homemade wine made from our grapes based on blinded competition results.  If the winner has already placed an order for the 2014 vintage, the prize can be used to offset the cost of 250 lbs (our standard minimal order) of the grapes. The rules are as follows:

• The wine must be made at least 85% from grapes from Shaker Ridge Vineyard vintage 2010, 2011, 2012, or 2013.
• You must contact us ahead of judging for a given competition to let us know that you have entered a wine of type X, vintage Y from our grapes.  We will confirm that your entry is or is not valid for our competition based on our sales records.  There is no cost to enter, and no obligation for future purchases.
• 2014 home winemaker competitions results considered:  El Dorado County Fair, Amador County Fair, Orange County Fair, California State Fair, and Sacramento Home Winemakers June Jubilee.  Additional 2014 public, blinded competitions will be considered with advance agreement from Shaker Ridge, provided that results will be known by August 1, 2013.  Unfortunately, for the purposes of this competition, we cannot consider past results with the above vintages, only upcoming (prospective) entries.
• Appreciating the subjectivity in wine judging, we will consider the best outcome for a  given wine unless two or more wines with the same best outcome have been entered multiple times.  In the latter case, we will consider the best average outcome.  Ranking of outcomes is: double gold>gold>silver>bronze>honorable mention.  Tie breakers would include additional distinctions, eg Best of Show, Best of Class.  If the above doesn’t yield a single winner, we may request a taste-off!
• Entrants agree that we can choose to post the results–good, bad, or indifferent–including winemaker, wine, competition, and result, on this website.  We will use your initials if you prefer relative anonymity and let us know this at the time you contact us with your entry.

Thank you, and good luck!

We still have available for sale small amounts of 2014 barbera, primitivo, and touriga nacional on a first come, first-served basis.  Please see our “Current Grape Availability”, which always represents our real-time availability for the current season.

The severe drought gripping California, including the Sierra Foothills, finally gave way to some substantial rain in the last 6 weeks.  Over 7 inches of rain fell gradually over a 4-day period from February 7-10, and this seemed to pave the way for a series of smaller storms, averaging one per week, that collectively have given us an additional 4-5 inches of rain.  Coupled with warmer days and nights, the hillsides have quickly greened to the sort of beautiful spring landscape that one would expect to see in the Sierras.  The sights and sounds of wild turkey performing their spring mating ritual is further proof of imminent spring.  Some red table grapes we grow have already budded, and budburst appears imminent in muscat blanc, our earliest-budding wine grape varietal.

Notwithstanding the recent rain, neither we nor the rest of California is out of the woods in terms of water, though the recent precipitation has certainly helped fill the soil profile and should assure a pretty normal (if early) start to the viticultural season, weeds and all.  The question remains how depleted the deeper water needed for irrigation later in the year– accessible by our well–is and whether we will run into shortages in late summer.  For that reason, we continue to hold back on production from a portion of our barbera vineyard, taking a wait-and-see attitude.  However, we are feeling more optimistic, and those wishing to secure small quantities of barbera from us for 2014 can contact us to be put on a waiting list.

In the vineyard, we are almost ready for the start of the growing season, with winter pruning complete, the prunings mechanically mulched, and weed control sprays complete.  We are in the process of supplementing individual vines throughout the vineyard with potassium, and then we will do routine maintenance of tying vines and digging out persistent in-row weeds that we can see best before the grapevines leaf out.  All-in-all, we are in great shape for the coming season.

Our 2014 primitivo production is almost sold out, and our Quinta field of mixed Portugese varietals is fully committed.  Still available for sale is the ~1.5-ton production of our non-Quinta field of touriga nacional.

On the commercial wine front, we are pleased to announce the release of the 2012 Due Vigne de Famiglia primitivo, a vineyard-designated wine made from our grapes.  Due Vigne produces many fine Italian varietal-based wines and has a tasting room in the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg, CA.  We look forward to great things from this wine.