We finished harvest by the end of October. Yields and quality were very good. It was our earliest harvest ever. We have been busy doing vineyard repairs, removing bird netting, and checking for anything broken in the vineyards, whether it be trellis systems or irrigation systems. We won’t start pruning until the second week of December. It’s a welcome break to reevaluate what we did and what we still need to do.

2022 Sparkling Wine: This Sparkling is 80% Pinot Noir from our Los Alamos Vineyard and 20% Chardonnay from our Goodchild Vineyard. It’s crisp and low in residual sugar. Should be great for the holidays. Serve with turkey this month and buy more for the New Year - make a reason to celebrate!

2021 Cabernet “Clone 6”: Always great. Always special. It’s the leading variety of Lucas & Lewellen reds. A little more difficult to grow. Yields are low but quality is exceptional. Smaller and looser clusters. Scored 90+ points at Wine Enthusiast. If you appreciate something special, this is the wine.

2020 “Cote del Sol” Cabernet Sauvignon: This was the first wine we ever did with co-fermentation where we ferment the grapes together instead of blending. It has not only worked well for this wine for 26 years, but for several other wines we make. I have never heard of anyone else picking only the sunny side of the vine like we do with this wine. We create a trellis with two sides of the vine by use of a three-foot crossarm. We put wires near the end of the crossarm and tie the fruiting canes to those wires leaving us two sides to the vine. The sunny side ripens sooner with more influence from the setting sun. In a normal year, we then pick the shady side 10-15 days later. Amazing what we can do to the vines to enhance what we want to do. The small amount of Syrah really works with the Cabernet, both in deepening the color and in softening the tannins. This vintage reminds me of the Cote del Sol that won the Double Gold Medal years ago at an international tasting in San Francisco.

These are challenging times both in the vineyard and with my health, yet I am so thankful for all of God’s gifts. We all have our challenges and we do our best to meet them. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who have been so supportive.