Posts Written OnJune 05, 2006

Saturday morning, Nena and I battled the dreary weather on our way to Raphael to visit "my vines" for the first time, before sticking around for a barrel tasting of 2005 reds (more on that later this week). Winemaker and managing director, Richard Olsen-Harbich met us in the winery and took us over to the row of cabernet franc vines that will be used to make the first LENNDEVOURS-labeled wine. We also learned that Rich went to college at SUNY Cobleskill, just outside of Nena’s hometown. Small world when you consider the size of said hometown. The row is right…

Friday over at Wine Sediments, my tour of America’s wine regions continued with a visit to Gruet Winery in New Mexico. Well known for their bubbly, Gruet also makes several still wines — which are what I focused on. As with Arizona, I preferred the reds.

As you’ve no doubt already heard, many vineyards lost some their red wine crop last fall as the East End was pummeled with record rainfall. Unfortunately, Palmer Vineyards was one of the hardest hit, losing almost all of their reds — enough that their 2005 red wines were made using grapes from the Pacific Northwest. But, because most of our area’s white wine grapes were harvested before the deluge, the dry, warm growing season expresses it self quite well in many of the 2005 whites I’ve tasted. Bright fruit that tends more toward the tropical than usual is common and…