Yeah! We lived through the H1n1 AND the Thanksgiving weekend all while enjoying some good times & good wines!  While many folks tour the Willamette Valley and get soaked in tasting fees and crowds- we are lucky enough to be off the beaten path.  Meaning fewer folks and more time to hobnob. The family ‘worked’ the tasting room this past weekend- as we always do.  And when I say ‘worked’ I mean its a privilege to be able to have an alternate lifestyle than what corporate America allows.  Here we are- chatting up visitors from all over the place while sampling our Estate grown wines and enjoying life.

Over the past year we have watched our small bottlings (most in the 100-300 case range) grow & develop into new wines.  The 2004 Kitara Syrah started out as a deep, tart, peppery wine.  Now it has matured and mellowed in the bottle creating a rustic, Rhone style wine with complex dark fruit & long tobacco finish.  A different wine from just a year ago- and it will grow to be a different wine next year.  Syrah is a fabulous grape and grows into a different character  based on the soils and climate.  Our cool climate here in the Willamette Valley is nicely suited to a more earthy version and does more than compliment it’s Syrah cousins grown in the hotter locals of Paso Robles or the Columbia Valley.  If you haven’t had a Willamette Valley Syrah yet- try one.  We aren’t the only ones that have planted some Syrah to take advantage of a great grape in a great growing region.  So try some - before they get too popular.