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12/20/2009
Well, a very challenging harvest is over. With a 2009 growing season in which started off hot in early spring, cool for the remainder of spring, really hot approaching harvest, and then to add to weather confusion this was followed by an early fall freeze. Scientists are trying to figure out what happened this year with premature shrivel and uneven ripening occurring in nearly every vineyard (this was apparent at bud break). My take on the season is that if you didn’t get up on the water when it was really hot, then shrivel was soon to follow. Crop loads for our winery, in general, were fantastic at around the 3.5 tons/acre mark. There are, of course, lots of other parameters that determine overall quality, but this is a good year with Mother Nature setting a smaller than normal cluster/berry size. Surprisingly, Kana’s growers either picked before the freeze or they were in an area or an elevation to avoid the freeze and as a result of that, despite all of the above weather fluctuations, we were able to get much more concentration of flavor and color for our wines. In general, it is my belief that spending extra time in the vineyards has really paid off as flavors didn’t really develop until later, after the sugars were higher and acids were lower than normal.
I took some time to make some foot stomped wine meaning, yes, we stomped grapes on the stems with our washed and sanitized feet! This was our second year of trying this traditional French method of making wine. The results of such treatment results in more concentrated wine which is something I have been trying to achieve since the beginning of my time here at Kana. Please be looking forward to next year when I will again call on our wine club to help in another foot numbing experience! Other than that, we are all through ML fermentation and getting wines adjusted so that they are stable in the barrel for the next 22 months. In addition I wanted to remind wine club members of our July wine club party where we will have a chance to showcase some of the gems from the 2008 vintage. Make sure to put it on your calendar when we send you a “Save the Date” notice!
We continue to have good times with events such as First Friday where we have live music in the Tasting Room and Thanksgiving in Wine Country which this year was a bit down on visitors, but those visitors got great deals and helped us sell more wine than previous years. A big thank-you to all the loyal customers of Kana. I’m looking forward to getting some time off and enjoying White Pass as well as doing some traveling to help Kana sell wine in Colorado (my home state), Arizona, and Illinois. If anyone can help with leads in these states, I am open to any suggestions and comments. Happy Holidays and I look forward to hearing and or seeing you all in the near future. If you find yourself in a place where you would like to have some Kana, but don’t know where/how to find it, please just keep ordering from our newly redesigned web site that has all the needed tools and a shopping cart for you to order on-line.
Thank you for your patronage!
Ben Grossman
Winemaker
Kana Winery |
