New Page 1

click image to enlarge

This is a fairly quiet time at Woodward Canyon. The vineyard needs little attention; the wines are working away without much interference from us, and the tasting room staff is looking for things to keep busy with.

The Walla Walla Valley is typically a gray, foggy place in the winter, and this year is no exception. During the last month, daytime temperatures have been just above freezing, with nights being a few degrees colder. There have been a few skiffs of snow, some freezing rain, plain old rain, and lots and lots of fog. Unlike coastal Washington, where the fog burns off by midday, the fog here lasts for days or weeks, making everyone a little cranky after awhile.

click image to enlarge

But when the sun does come out and you can see the snow covered Blue Mountains above the city, it is a very beautiful place, and everyone heads outdoors to putter in the yard, walk the trails or do whatever they can find to do.

The fourth annual Holiday Barrel Tasting was a great success this year. Sales increased from last year, although, the number of visitors remained about the same. We were very pleased to see how responsible this year’s tasters were and how many people traveled with designated drivers. The Holiday Barrel Tasting has become a great event for the whole Valley. Hotels and restaurants were full and downtown shopkeepers stayed busy. We would also like to thank this year’s visitors for not eating the decorations off of the food tables (we had a bit of problem with that last year)!

click image to enlarge

Vineyard

After a last irrigation cycle and weeding, the vineyard is resting and the plants are dormant. Our only concern (hope!) is that the weather stays consistent, with no abrupt ups or downs. Prolonged, unseasonably warm temperatures can cause the vines to think that it is spring and begin to grow. If this is followed by a sudden cold snap, vines are damaged, and the crop can be greatly reduced or lost. This last happened in 1996 when temperatures reached 21.1ْC on New Year’s Eve, stayed warm for several weeks and then fell to single digits in early February. Needless to say, there was a shortage of fruit that year. So, while most people in the Valley are very happy when the sun comes out, and the temperatures rise this time of year, the winemakers start getting nervous and begin watching the weather channel closely. All the while knowing however, that there is not a thing they can do to control the weather and that sooner or later we will get hit again. After all, it is still farming.

click image to enlarge

We are preparing additional land to put in vineyard posts in order to secure a water right that we purchased last year. Come spring the posts, irrigation system and cover crop will go in, with the vines following in 2002. This will increase the vineyard by six hectares of high-density plantings. The State of Washington controls water rights and is not now (and it is doubtful if they ever will be) issuing new water rights. The only way to acquire additional water is to purchase another water right and petition for its legal place of use to be moved. We were successful in doing this last year and have one year within which we must put the water to beneficial use – or lose it. This water rights issue will, in the long term, determine where and how many new vineyards can be planted in Washington State.

Winery

The entire 2000 vintage is being racked in the winery, with the wines still finishing primary or malolactic fermentation. The production staff has been conducting blending trials of wines that have until now been kept separate. This includes different vineyards or portions of vineyards, wines from the same vineyard fermented with different yeasts and different varieties. Some wines will be blended as a varietal; some will remain separate and be labeled as such, and some will be declassified and blended into a red table wine. We have also recently launched a second label, Nelms Road, under which we are offering a merlot and cabernet at a lesser price point. The Nelms wines come from young vines that may not yet have what we want to see in our Woodward cabs and merlots.

Something new in the blending trials this year is trying some of the blends with food. For instance, we are made both a dry and a residually sweet Riesling this year. One goal was to have a wine that would pair well with the great Asian food that is served in the Northwest. Since we all love to eat, it was a good excuse to prepare a Thai lunch of dishes with green curry and red chili sauce. We tried the dry Riesling as it was, the sweet as it was, a blend of sweet and dry, and a blend with Riesling and Muscat. After a good lunch and great discussion, it was unanimously decided to bottle both wines separately as they were and to market the dry Riesling to accompany Asian food. It was a great experience and something we intend to continue.

This is also the time of year for marketing trips, and since Rick cannot do all of it himself, the others in the production crew are increasingly traveling as well. In the next four months Rick will travel to Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and possibly Alaska (yes, they drink wine there).

click image to enlarge

Gilles, our co-winemaker, will travel to New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Vail, Colorado. Our cellar master, Rob, will be going to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Most of these trips are a part of the Washington Wine Commission’s Taste Washington tour, but others are to work with our distributors in those markets. The wines sell much better when the distributors, retailers and restaurants can attach a face and a story to the wines.