Notes from the Winemaker
 

August 31 , 2008

Wow, here we are again looking face first at another harvest and the last days of summer. This has been a banner year for Woodinville Wine Cellars with the release in March of our 2005 Reserve Cabernet, and in May with our 2005 Ausonius. We also received “Outstanding Vintner” awards on four of our reds at the Seattle Wine Awards, and some great reviews from a mix of wine publications. A great outcome, especially when most of these are evaluated in “blind” tastings.

As we start to roll out the first of our 2006 vintage the excitement has never been higher for the quality of the wines. The weather in 2006 was nearly ideal. A mild but rainy spring helped produce tight bunches of small berries on the vines adding to the potential for well-structured, deeply flavored wines. We also began our first harvest with new equipment (basket press, crusher, and hopper) making it possible to make the wines from fermentation to bottling completely in our own facility.

Our first red wine release from the 2006 harvest will be the third vintage of the Little Bear Creek and the 2006 Syrah Columbia Valley.  This Syrah will be the first of two (yes two!) Syrahs to be released in 2008.  Later this year we will introduce, our first ever Reserve Syrah (only 140 cases) and the L.M.S. (Last Man Standing) our first 100% Malbec (only 75 cases)!

On Friday, September 12th and Saturday, September 13th, we will be hosting an open house to celebrate the release of these first two wines.  The second two wines will be released in November.

This holiday season, we will be featuring “The Man Box”, which will include one bottle of last year’s 2005 O.M.O. and one bottle of the 2006 L.M.S!  The wine will be displayed in a two bottle wooden box with our branded emblem as seen on our website.  And if that were not enough, we will also have a very limited amount of 2005 Reserve Cabernet Magnums in unique etched glass bottles. Very handsome!  As always these will be offered to wine club member first….don‘t delay!

Cheers,

Sean Boyd
Winemaker