Winter has set in with definitive cold and frozen ground. Temperatures are in the 20s and the snow now predicted in a couple days may stay for months. But I am just now getting around to writing about some good times we had with family this year. It’s not like we don’t see a lot… (read more)
After you have washed out a carboy that was used for holding wine, it is still wet inside. Wet carboys are a magnet for unwanted microbes. Some people are alright with leaving some bisulfite solution in the bottle during storage. I am not. I don’t use sulfites. So I prefer to have the carboy completely… (read more)
Last Sunday (11/15/15) we tasted wine with local sommelier and cultural anthropologist, Danica Romeyn, and her husband Matt. Danica and Matt brought some fruits, cheeses, salami and crackers for pairings. Cheryl and I brought out 6 of the wines that we are now selling. This was a lot of fun and very educational. Danica brought… (read more)
So much has happened and is happening with the winery that it is hard to know where to start. I’m scheduled to give a talk on growing grapes organically at the Tilth Conference in Spokane this November. So I think about that while I am out picking grapes or some other task in the vineyard… (read more)
We knew it was hotter and drier than ever early in the Spring. Luckily our water never gave out – though it sputtered if we had 3 sprinklers going at once. I was watering the grapes every day and Cheryl was watering the house, yard and grounds most days. On July 3rd I was going… (read more)
Here we are on month three of the story and year three of the actual building of our underground house. With the tile and rocks in place at the end of 1992, I needed to get the rebar skeleton in position for shooting the concrete onto the forms. A lot of decisions had already been… (read more)
Starting this Wednesday, August 5th, we will be selling our wine at the Farmer’s Market in Colville from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. All of our wines are purely organic with no additives. Left to Right and in the Reds, sweetest to driest Golden Globe 2013: Okanogan Riesling 2013 blend – A white semi-sweet wine with… (read more)
When we left off on the epic tale of building our underground house, we had gotten the main forms covered just in time to shed the snows of winter and with just enough space to build the curved laminated beams that would support the center dome. As spring emerged into the summer of 1992, the… (read more)
I know, everyone wants to see the second installment of building the underground house. I’ll get to that. Meanwhile it has been a very hot month and there is a lot of buzz about that. I’m not going there either. The thing that struck me about June 2015 was the many encounters with critters that… (read more)
Pruning last year’s canes in the Spring is just the beginning of keeping up with the vineyard. I have almost finished the first round of leaf pruning which is actually more about cutting out unwanted canes from the bottom of the vine and small ones from the center than it is about picking off the… (read more)
