I can’t believe it’s almost June!

So much is going on around the winery - it’s mind boggling.  Here’s a recap of what’s new, what’s going on, and what’s en route :)

1 - New Tasting Room!

That’s right - we’ve opened a second tasting room in Sebastopol! We’ve partnered with the cool cats over at Main Stage West theater to operate a tasting room in their lobby during the day.  This extra income will allow the theater to keep putting their shows on at night!

2 - Remodel at the winery

We’ve decided it’s time to up the ante at the winery.  We’ve gotten so busy, and have so many people picnicking, or wanting to host events at the winery, a remodel of the winery lawn was necessary.  Step 1? Bocce Ball Court! Oh yeah!  Lew’s done a phenomenal job getting the court ready for all our summer parties - and still to come: hardscaping, a brand new lawn, water features, pizza oven, horsehoe pit and more! 

3 - Wine!

What’s up with Jason & the cellar staff you ask?  Well, we’re currently bottling the 2011 Chard, 2011 Reserve Chard, and 2011 Gewz!  The bottling truck has been here all week - and will have done a few thousand cases when they leave.  Jason is really excited for the wines, and it’s so fun to watch him develop as a winemaker.

4 - Events

I mentioned events earlier - we’ve booked a bunch of events this summer! Wine Club Parties, Wine Club Lunches/Dinners, private parties, charity events and more! It’s exciting times at the winery, that’s for sure!

That’s just a small snapshot of what we’re up to!  We hope you stop by and see for yourselves!

Alicante watching the tasting room customers from the top of the barrel row

The beginning of the madness…what started as a simple way for Katy to have fun with tools..ended with the beginnings of an awesome project!

Looking at the vines is about the only way to know it’s winter!

Obviously - we’re Hook & Ladder Winery, but we’ve got a pretty awesome group of people here, faces you’ve seen heading in and out as you’ve visited the tasting room.  But who are those people going in and out of the tasting room?  Let’s get you up to speed!

Jason  - Winemaker. Pilot. The man behind the bottle.

Jon - Assistant Winemaker. Science Guy. Tasting Room DJ.

Michael De Loach - President. Sales Director. 2nd Generation.

Greg Francisco - Cellar Master. Animal Lover. Rock & Roll kinda guy.

Joshua De Loach - National Sales. Chef. Killer Rockband player.

Katy Mann - PR lady. Volleyball Coach. Vino taster.

Holy Cow! The end of 2011 got away from us a bit!  Can’t believe we’re only a couple of days away from 2012.  Where did the time go?  It was spent tending vines, suckering shoots, bottling wine, cleaning barrels, hosting events, doing lab work, mowing vine rows, harvesting grapes, sampling juice, crushing fruit, shoveling tanks, filling barrels, racking & topping…and more.

This harvest, we got all our fruit in, processed, and barreled down - easy? Nope. Did we mention both our Winemaker and Assistant Winemaker became brand new dads this harvest?  Yeah, it was that kind of Harvest.  We’re just that good - plus who needs sleep?  Apparently - not Jason or Jon!

But that’s the kind of harvest that makes memories, the kind that forces you to prove what you’re made of, the kind of harvest that’s fun.  Where we all get a little crazy waiting for that last press load to finish - and everything is funny.  It’s a constant circle of filling up 30 tanks, pressing and shoveling them out, and filling them up again.  The same thing over and over, but always different.

2011 brought many great things to Hook & Ladder - new family members, new staff members, the revitalization of the Olivet Road Wineries, more wine club members, and a busier tasting room, just to name a few.  We’re incredibly proud of what we accomplished in 2011, and can’t wait to build on it for 2012!

Thank you to all our family, friends, and fans for your support this year!

Cheers!

Scraggly facial hair, wild eyes, and crossed fingers.  I think that pretty much sums up our winemaking team’s current status.

Mother Nature is throwing everything she’s got at us, and while we’ve taken some knocks - we’re still on our feet!  We’ve got all of our Pinot Noir in, about 1/2 our Chardonnay, and a little zin.  Today and tomorrow we’re bringing in the rest of our Chard.  With the rains we’ve had over the past couple of days, there’s a fear of mold in the Chard, so we want to get it processed ASAP.

Regardless of how crazy it gets - harvest is FUN.  Cold, late nights, hanging out as we wait for the final pressload to finish…cracking jokes and eating leftover pizza :)

And there’s the first truck loaded with fruit - so I’ve got to grab my boots and get to processing.

Cheers to all!

Katy

We’re starting to see a little color change up on our Los Amigos Ranch!  The 2011 vintage is taking shape - and after a rocky start - things are really picking up!  Check out our youtube channel (HookandLadderWinery), as Vineyard Manager Lew Peterson walks you through some of our vineyards!

We’re going to get our first Red of 2010 in bottle this week!  We’ll be bottling our 2010 Pinot Noir, 2010 Chardonnay, 2009 Zinfandel, and 2009 Cabernet beginning this week!

When we do big runs like this, we bring in a mobile bottling truck - it’s literally the bottling line in the back of a semi!  The bottles go up one side of the truck, get filled, corked, foiled, labeled as they swing around.  Then packed into cases, and piled on pallets to be taken to the warehouse.

It’s a busy time - but loud music and a couple of practical jokes along the way keep everyone sane :)

This weather has us on edge…our vineyard manager Lew definitely has his work cut out for him.  By now we’re hoping for sunshine to help with the pollination process…rain can hinder this process which means less grapes.  Lucky for us, with 375 acres of vineyards, we’ve got lots of land to pull from!

Years like last year, and what’s starting so far this year, remind us that we are at the mercy of Mother Nature! 

Despite the weather, we’re busy in the tasting room and in the production facility!  Lots of filtering, blending, all gearing up for our next big bottling run in July. Jason and Jon are already looking ahead to the 2011 Crush - it feels like we just finished the 2010 harvest!  Last year we (read: our cellar crew of 5) crushed around 630 tons of fruit, not something that can be done on the fly.  It takes lots of planning by Jon and Jason to figure out a rough plan, and where everything is going to go.  As you know, we’re not a huge facility - so it’s an orchestrated chaos to get everything crushed and barreled down!

Cheers!