Get Ready for Harvest, now thru October
With the weather providing the ideal climate so far, growers and winemakers are expecting this year to be a banner harvest. The first sparkling wine grapes have been harvested and Sauvignon Blanc is just around the corner. This is the most wonderful time to be in wine country. Wineries will be a working around the clock and the smell of fermenting grapes will permeate the air. You’ll spot harvest in the fields, and trucks full to the brim with grapes will be roaring along the backroads . You can follow us for harvest updates on Twitter or our Facebook Fan page.
Hendry Winery Harvest Tours
Whether you are a new or veteran visitor to wine country, the Hendry Winery offers the most amazing wine tour. Special harvest tours are scheduled for September and include a vineyard walk and tasting. The tours last two hours and I believe it is the most educational tour around. George Hendry or Mike Hendry, owners and winemakers, lead the tour. Best of all the tour is free. Call the winery for details of the scheduled tours. (707) 226-8320. Don’t forget when the tasting is over, buy a few bottles of wine to show your appreciation for the fantastic tour.
Watch for Wine Sales in Wine Country
The majority of wineries have just completed bottling to make room for the grapes that will soon be arriving at the crushpad. Inventories have been building and something has to give. Some wineries have cut back on the amount of grapes they plan to purchase because they still have wine from previous vintages. This is a win for the consumer and wine prices can go nowhere but down. See this story that was aired on NBC Bay Area News last week. Read what the Wine Spectator has to say about the woes of growers.
The best place to find wine sales is at the tasting room. On our recent visit to Healdsburg, we took a walk around the square and found three tasting rooms with wines on sale by the case for up to 50% off. The wineries need to clear inventory.
Family Winemakers Event at Fort Mason
The 19th Annual Family Winemakers of California Tasting is coming up on Aug. 23rd at Ft. Mason in San Francisco with over 350 wineries pouring their best wines. I really enjoy this tasting event because I always find a few small unknown wineries making some outstanding wines. Discover them yourself before the critics find them. The public tasting begins at 3 pm and goes to 6pm. Don’t forget to spit instead of swallowing the wine and this way you can judge 50 or more wines in three hours’ time. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to the Family Winemakers Website
