Purple Cow Vineyards

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from all of us here at Purple Cow Vineyards.  Even thought the tasting room has been closed for almost a month we are sill keeping busy working in the winery and getting ready for an exciting year to come. Yesterday saw us filtering the 2008 Estate Tempranillo and the 2009 Marechal Foch in preparation for bottling in January. Have a safe holiday and a wonderful new year.

More exciting products coming soon

I'm excited for our winter bottling day. One might think we're ready to bottle the 2008 Pinot Noirs or Estate Tempranillo, but we're going to hold onto those in barrel longer. We selected the 2008 Marechal Foch, 2007 Durif, 2007 {censored secret}, and 2007 Tempranillo Reserve.

2009 Harvest Complete

We had 3 wonderful days of picking that spanned 3 weeks.  The weather cooperated better than usual.  Here's an inventory of what we collected:

Kelsey Pinot - 6 barrels
Sophie Pinot - 6 barrels
Estate Tempranillo - 2 barrels (yeah!)
Marechal Foch - 1 barrel (hooray!)
Pinot Port-style - 2 barrels (ooooohhhhh)
Muscat - 300 gallons - ~130 cases

I am really excited about the future of trying these out as they mature.  Now for a round of thanks.

Doug & Cheryl Barlow, Ardna, & Basil
Rob & Renee Herb
Dave Sandage
Navindra Gunawardena
Lin Silver
Willie & Sari Ashe
David & Carol Kaysen
Don & Carol Stearns
Matt Talley
Briana Rogers
Marc & Kari Inness
Wendy Armstrong
Dave & Jolyn Rasmussen
Cathy Riecke
Elena Galindez
Jose & Milagros
Graham Keavney
Wilmer Morales
Neil Frederickson
Bob Jones
Brent & Katie Hudgins

These stalwart bee swatting, heat ignoring troopers picked the ripest and cleanest fruit to bring you a fabulous 2009 vintage.

Growing Season Begins

Today is the day that the first bud broke out at the Cow.  Marechal Foch has decided to peek out and start working on another wonderful vintage.  Some of the Pinot Noir is wooly, as is the Tempranillo.  Muscat always likes to sleep-in, don't worry. 

On a down note, looks like we lost the majority of the Tempranillo we planted last year.  The weight of all that snow and ice seemed to be too much for baby plants.  We're working to get it replaced as soon as possible.

Here's to the hope of a fabulous 2009 vintage.

Open March 8th

The wine club is getting fairly big so we feel it's best if you have 2 days available to grab your club packages.  Also, the SIP 47 association is doing a promo event this same weekend so it could be very busy.  If you're in the club, please note that you can pick up either Saturday or Sunday this weekend.  I'm looking forward to cracking open some Foch to share.

Wine Club shipment ready March 7th

Hi folks.  I've put some thought into the Wine Club offering for this quarter.  I think the first weekend of March is a great way to ring in the new season.  We've also been considering the right pair of wines to share and we're leaning heavily on the following:

2006 Marechal Foch.  People keep asking for this wine.  I think it's time to share it before it gets chipped away to the point where we don't have enough for the club.

2007 Sophie's Edition Pinot Noir.  This is going to surprise you, even for a young wine.  We bottled it in early January, but it already has a wonderfully soft palate courtesy of the extra oak.  The nose will be back in a couple weeks and we'll all see what we got to together.

I'll get an email out to mark you calendars shortly.  Looking forward to it. -Jon-

When are we going to pick? - part 4

Weather forecast changed again.  Now the next system starts a little later and extends much longer.  No nice weather forecasted on the back side of the rain.  So it's probably going to play out that we pick the Pinot Noir in the Bowl on Friday, the Tempranillo and the Pinot Noir across from the winery on Saturday, finishing up with the Muscat on Sunday. -Jon-

Memorial Weekend Tasting

Celebrate Memorial Day with a wine tasting at Purple Cow Vineyards. We're open Saturday, Sunday, AND Monday 12-5pm.

Come taste our limited edition 2006 Marechal Foch, previously available only to our wine club. With only 18 cases left, this unique, light bodied, low-tannin, smooth red wont last long. Our 2005 Foch won best of show at the Washington County Fair and sold out quickly. Note: there is no 2007 Foch in the works and it's unclear if there will be enough in 2008 for a commercial harvest. So if you're a Foch fan, this may be it until our plants mature and the yield increases. We can fill you in more when you come by to visit!

We'll also be serving our Award winning 2007 Muscat, 2005 Chardonnay, 2006 Pinot Noir (Sophie's Edition), and the Elena's edition 2005 Tempranillo. We'll have some food and cheese pairings as well. Tasting fee $5.

Vineyard FAQ: late spring

I know I'm getting older (or killing some brain cells) because I thought I wrote a post last year about the effects of late budbreak.  Couldn't find it in the archives.  Then I remembered that I had started a separate blog about the life of a Tempranillo vine (which I discontinued because I didn't keep it up).  All I have to do is change the date, and the post is correct, check it out:

"April 14, 2007: Some years bud break starts on April 15th, but that's not going to happen this year.  It's been cold and rainy so far this spring.  While it might seem intuitive to hope for an early start, at Purple Cow Vineyards we are happy with the delay.  We'd rather lose a few days at the start than risk the frost.  No worries, April does not determine the day we pick.  There is so little heat to be had in April that we can be a week late at the start and end up ripening on the same day.  Regarding pests, there are no threats at this time.  Rust mites are a common pest this time of year, but we have not seen any.  There is some powdery mildew on the canes retained from last year that we'll watch closely."

Pretty much works still.  However, we're later than last year, and last year was rough.  We'll be fine if we avoid the horrible August/September of 2007.  I hold to the belief that a late budbreak is a blessing in disguise because it reduces frost risk.

I looked at our vines again today.  Anything in a grow tube is opening.  Tempranillo is next in line and only a few days away.  Pinot Noir and Muscat aren't showing much interest in budbreak yet.  It's supposed to be nice this weekend so come check it out, the Tempranillo might open before your eyes.

Tasting Room Re-Opens for 2008 season

We're open Saturday, March 1st from 11am-5pm.  We're going to get the season started off with a bang as the wine club first shipment will be available for pickup and we'll put a couple nice dishes together.  If you haven't been out for a while, we'll be pouring the '07 Muscat in addition to the previously released wines.  Also, we'll pour the '06 Marechal Foch for the club members coming to pickup up wines.