Processed our first grapes of the season Viognier went in the press first and was pressed off in a couple of hours.

We had the whole Apolloni family on the sourting table, sorting the Ciel de Cheval Sangiovese. We had a lot of leaves to pull out with quite a few very tiny berries and two full fermenters when we were all finished. The Sangiovese came in at 24.5 brix, .65 TA and 3.31 pH. Right on the numbers this should be another great one.

Out to Walla Walla and Red Mountain

The 2011 harvest has officially begun at Apolloni Vineyards! Laura and I had a great trip out east to collect the first of our warm weather varietals. It must not only be the grape harvest we saw truck after truck of onions and apples.

First stop Seven Hills vineyard in Walla Walla. We picked up our golden colored Viogner for our Dolce Vino ice wine. The grapes were beautiful with the flavor of honey. The Viognier came in heavier than we expected and we ended up with 6 bins; we were only expecting 3 or 4. I wouldn't be able to haul all of these and our Sangiovese from Ciel de Cheval. Panicked calls were made to anyone in Oregon we know who might be getting grapes today but no luck on sharing trucking. So we had to make an emergency detour to the fruit freezer in Richland. We left four of our six bins there to be frozen. We'll pick them up next week when our Merlot is ready and they should be perfect for our ice wine pressing after the 4 hour drive back.

Then we headed up towards Red Mountain. We made a quick stop along the way to drop bins and check in on the Sangiovese at Candy Mountain just south of Red Mountain. Laura did the sampling and was wondering where the mountain of candy was. I told her the grapes are as sweet as candy and she agreed. The sangio was at 22 brix so it'll be another 10-14 days before we pick.

We finally made it up to Ciel at 4pm to pickup our VCR 6 Brunello clone Sangiovese. It was still busy at there as they were furiously picking to get ahead of next week's rains. We left Red Mountain with 9 bins of beautiful small berry Sangiovese. The grapes reminded me of 2009; another vintage which generated low yields and small berries. That vintage made some of the most structured deeply flavored Sangiovese I've ever seen. I can't wait to see what these wines yield.

First grapes coming Sunday

The first grapes of 2011 are coming into the winery this weekend!!! Saturday we will be picking Sangiovese from Ciel de Cheval and Viognier at Seven Hills. First crush will be Sunday morning.

Pasta & Pinot Dinners - next up Lincoln

Pasta & Pinot - what a great combination! We have been busy working on a new dinner series featuring Apolloni wines! We are partnering with guest chefs and local restaurants for small, casual and affordable dinners. Here's the format - come to a dinner and have an appetizer, two pasta courses and dessert. Each course will be paired with one of our wines, which we will be pouring and telling you all about. In addition, we will offer special discounts on wines served a the dinner. You will be able to take home your favorites at great prices!

Our first dinner was at the end of January in our hometown of Forest Grove! It was a great evening, hosted by local coffee shop/caterer Maggie's Buns. Thanks for all the FG love, the dinner seats were sold out in 2 days!

NEXT UP: Lincoln Restaurant in Portland, Wednesday, February 24th @ 6:30 PM
Cost: $50 per person, plus gratuity. Chef Jenn Louis and her husband, David Welch, have a wonderful restaurant in N. Portland (just off the Fremont Bridge for you westside types. They are putting out fabulous food and we can't wait to see what's in store for the evening! We are working on the menu and will post it soon! Call Lincoln for reservations - 503.228.6200 now!

www.lincolnpdx.com

If you can't make it, there will be a dinner in March coming soon!

Welcome 2010

It has been a while since our last post and we have much to share, so here goes! January is a time of review and planning.

Looking Back - '09

2009 was challenging for everyone - regardless of where you were local or elsewhere. We want to give a big shout out to our loyal Apolloni customers. Our tasting room sales were way up and we have many new Cellar Club members in the fold! Thanks to you all for spreading the word about what we are doing! Small, family-owned, sustainably farmed hand-crafted Oregon wine is what we are all about! It is a pleasure to share it and drink it, of course! The growing season was a good one and our harvest yielded some of the most lovely, large clusters we have seen to date! There will be plenty to share when these wines are released (whites in the summer, Pinots and big Reds to come in '11).

Looking Ahead - '10

We are in the midst of planning everything from events to pruning schedules to bottling dates. This is an excellent time to work and plant in the vineyard. The ground is soft and, lately, the days have been warm enough to make it even pleasant for ourselves and our crew out on the hills. Our winery is full of fermenting barrels and we are excited about how the '08 Pinot, in particular, is progressing!

We are about to launch a brand new dinner series called "Pasta & Pinot." We will partner with local chefs and restaurants to offer casual, affordable and intimate dinners - appetizer, two pasta dishes and dessert - paired with Apolloni wines. When we are able, we will offer special discounting for purchase of wines at the events. Additionally, we will try to keep the price around $50 (including gratuity). We are very excited about planning these and will offer a schedule soon! Look for us at other events throughout the year. We were part of a great "Cooking for Kids" dinner last week at Commercial/Lincoln Restaurant. All the proceeds went to Morrison Family Services - a great local organization.

Our tasting room is open Friday - Sunday, Noon - 5 PM. Come out for a visit if you are local. We would love to see you!

More news about upcoming events, tasting room schedules and winemaking coming soon!

Harvest 09 - All good things must come to an end

It is that time of year. The birds are heading south, stopping on their way to snack on our grapes. Bring in the cannons (no shooting, just a loud bang to scare them away). The rainy week at the start of October gave way to lovely sunshine and cool nights. Fruit came in from Walla Walla (think big reds), as we crossed our fingers for a clear forecast. Then all (fill in the blank) broke loose! The full moon was followed by a predicted 6 days of sun, followed by showers, rain, rain showers with sunny breaks, you get the idea. Time to bring in the fruit!

Starting on Wednesday (10/7) through today (10/12), we have been working long, sticky days and have been pulling in some beautiful grapes! Our winery is full of fermenters, filled to the brim with grapes well on their way to becoming the 09 vintage. We have weighed, sorted, pressed, power washed and mostly avoided getting stung by bees. The clusters are large and tasty. The fruit came in looking good and yields are up!

Harvest is a time to celebrate the bounty of the valley and to appreciate the good fortune to be able to share it with those near and far. It is filled with anxiety and relief but mostly satisfaction at the end of each hard day of work. Now the fun begins!

Harvest 09 - let the craziness begin

Harvest is here! We have been working for weeks to get ready, including our littlest helper in the vineyard! It is a family affair indeed!

The fruit is looking great and the recent heat is helping to finish it off. We are hoping for warm days and cool nights to last into next week and then to start picking! We have already brought in fruit from some of our Columbia Valley growers. Beautiful Sangiovese from Ciel du Chaval and lots of Viognier for our dessert wine (and maybe a bit more dry too). More warm fruit expected this week!