Bottling Day @ Beaumont Cellars

Each spring Pete Beaumont brings in a mobile bottler to bottle his wines, including our Cab Franc. The two tons of grapes we sold him in 2016 produced just under 120 cases of wine. (Pete bottled around 4,000 cases overall this year.)

It's a fun operation, everything clicking along at 60 bottles a minute, about as fast as a person (or at least an amateur) can be expected to keep up without pulling a "Lucille Ball."

Our 2016 vintage, I'm told, has developed nicely. Haven't tasted it yet; I'm looking forward to getting a case as soon as it's over bottle shock.

Pruning 2018

It's not even February yet and the vineyard is pruned. A new record I think. I let Panchito do most of it. It's the first time I haven't done it myself. Pruning is always the first opportunity to get your hands on the vines after winter dormancy, and you get to shape the vineyard for the season. You also get a good sense of what went well and what needs improvement in terms of nutrition, water, pest control,etc.

But honestly Panchito is a better pruner than me, and much faster. He did a beautiful job. So I just walked through and tried to inspect every plant. There'll be plenty of work left this year anyway, most of it in the hot sun!

Harvest 2017

Whether due to the long cold winter, the cool wet spring, or just nature's whims, the yield this year was dramatically lower than past harvests.

Beautiful fruit though. Numbers on the Cab Franc: 24.9 brix, 3.9 TA (acids), 3.74 pH. Should make great wine, just wish we had more of it.

Thanks Camas Cove Cellars and Beaumont Cellars for your support.

Veraison 2107

About three weeks later than last year. It will be an interesting season. Wet and cool spring, perfect weather since then. Will they get ripe?

The robins have arrived already. Netting goes up this week
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By the way, whoever is spraying 2-4D or dicamba, kindly knock it off, or at least do it when the wind is blowing the other way. You're frying my vines.

New Rail Project Expected to Generate 13,000 New Jobs In Moses Lake Area

August 07, 2017| By Charles H. Featherstone, Staff Writer Columbia Basin Herald

MOSES LAKE — The Port of Moses Lake was awarded a $9.9 million federal grant allowing the port to complete a railroad project that will increase the ability to ship freight into and out of the port.

The plan would construct 5 miles of track at a cost of about $30 million from Wheeler to the Port of Moses Lake, bypassing the rail line that passes through Moses Lake, allowing manufacturers based in the port to ship by rail instead of shipping by truck.

 “The new and improved rail lines will help retain local manufacturers, provide opportunities for business expansion, and attract new industries,” read a press release from U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office. Cantwell estimated the completed project will generate around 13,000 new jobs in the region.

The grant comes from a special $9.8 billion federal Department of Transportation fund to help state and local governments pay for infrastructure projects. Other projects in the region include street improvement projects in the Seattle area and an I-90 project in Northern Idaho, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s web site.

Jeffey Bishop, the executive director of the Port of Moses Lake, told the Columbia Basin Herald that the grant also gives the port enough funding to construct a rail loop connecting all of the port’s major manufacturers.

“Theoretically, we have enough money to do everything,” Bishop told the Columbia Basin Herald.

While the port has done survey work on the proposed route from Wheeler to the existing line in Moses Lake, work is now being done to validate that route.

“We have found little things that need to be worked out, and appraisers are out, and we’re getting ready to make offers to buy land,” Bishop said.

According to a statement from the Port of Moses Lake, the project will “extend rail service to 1,500 acres of industrial lands along the Wheeler Industrial Corridor” and will increase shipping and transport opportunities not just for port tenants, but farmers, manufacturers and other industries in the region currently solely reliant on trucks.

In addition to the $9.9 million federal grant, the Port of Moses Lake has also received $21.9 in state funding for the railroad project as well. That funding, part of the state’s transportation budget, is not affected by the current inability of the state legislature to pas a capital budget.

Captain Cabernet Franc

Our friends at Camas Cove Cellars just released their version of our first vintage 2014  Cabernet Franc, called "Capt'n Cabernet Franc" in keeping with their pirate/nautical theme. (Camas Cove is one of the few wineries in the country you can boat up to.)

Thanks Dennis & Nancy! Great work.

Budbreak 2017 - Belated & Reluctantly

Last week of April. It has been a very cool and wet spring and everything is running about three weeks later than normal. (I'm told these weather conditions were the norm back in the 1980s & 90s.)

What it means for eventual harvest and vintage? We'll see.