News from the winery manager

Wow, what a day.

It started at 6:30 am meeting Mark at the truck to let him in to get power set up for the bottling rig. Had a little excitement in that I set off the alarm and had to talk with operator 57 of our alarm company to forestall the visit from the police! Was interesting way to begin.

The crew all showed up and we got to work. A great group of friends and family helped, some from as far away as California and Seattle! We all shared Grace's breakfast Burritos and Mary's donuts and other pastries. Promptly at or about 9 am we got started on the bottling and all went very smoothly. It was hot, brutally hot and humid but things went well. Both red wines went through quickly and relatively painlessly.

We broke for lunch and when we started up again with the Barrel Fermented and Aged Chardonnay the problems began. The labels would not stick to the bottles. We tried everything; we slowed down, we sped up, we hand pressed the labels, nothing worked. In the end, after a number of phone calls to Pat and to the label folks we just decided to bottle without the label and fix that problem when we can. We now have 100+ cases of beautiful Chardonnay without labels - oh well, stand by for a call for a labeling party at the winery.

Much thanks to all who came out to help us, I hope it was fun for you and that you will come back and enjoy the wines many times in the future.

Fall bottling day scheduled

We're bottling our Fall releases on Wednesday, August 11. We get started early in the morning and run the line all day, so be sure to stop by and see us in action.
Three new offerings will get bottled:
1634 - Our oak barrel fermented Chardonnay, and two dry reds: Quarterdeck and Captain's Table.

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Tasting Room, Day 1

Thank you to all of the folks who paid us a visit on this, the first day of business at the winery! Hope to see you again really soon!

2010 Spring Release preview

Members, family, and friends got together April 14 and 15 to help with bottling our first wines! Much of the 2009 vintage is now in bottle. It just has to rest for a few short weeks to get used to its new cozy glass quarters before we can starting pouring!
We're releasing six wines this Spring, and will release (at least) two more this fall.

Here's the Spring release lineup...

Vidal Blanc - dry white varietal

Chardonnay - mostly unoaked

McIntosh Run - semi-sweet apple wine

Breton Bay Breeze - semi-sweet white blend

Breton Bay Shoals - semi-sweet red blend

Autumn Frost - lusciously sweet dessert-style wine from Vidal Blanc grapes

Bottling Day RE-scheduled

Ok folks, forget the previous post mentioning bottling day. After coordinating with the label maker, the TTB for label approval, and the mobile bottler:

The NEW bottling date is APRIL 14!

We will bottle everything in one day, instead of two days as previously planned. The bottler will be on-site about 7 am. It will take a couple of hours to prep the line and get ready for production, so volunteers can start to show up before 9 am. It takes five people to run the line and we'll be running for about 11 hours with at least two shifts and extra people taking over during a shift so no one will have to stay on the line 5.5 hours straight.

Grand Opening scheduled for Friday, May 21!

Ribbon cutting ceremony with local, regional, state dignitaries and more! Stay tuned for details.

Keep in mind, the winery will be open for business starting Friday, May 7th. That's First Friday in Leonardtown. The tasting room will be open that day noon to 9 pm.

Business hours will be:
Wednesday through Sunday: Noon to 6 pm.
First Fridays: Noon to 9 pm.

Bottling Day scheduled

We're bottling our very first vintage and confirmed the date: Friday and Saturday March 26 and 27. We've hired a mobile bottler who works for several local and regional wineries. He supplied the equipment, and we supply the wine, bottles, labels, and hands to run the line. It takes five people to run the bottling line. I'm not sure, but I think it breaks out as one bottler and four "quality control" checkers.
Come by and see the bottling in action, and get a sneak preview of our 2009 wines.