Perennial Vintners	In this issue:
		▪ Schedule note:  Great Zucchini race - BIFM
		▪ Harvest 2007 approaching - great time to visit!
		▪ In the Vineyard -- Weeding and waiting
Newsletter -- September-2007		▪ Website -- Trifold and updates
(Click here to view in HTML on website)		▪ New products -- gift bags and verjus
http://www.PerennialVintners.com/		▪ 2006 Müller Thurgau in the bottle

(Click on any image below to go to website with more information/larger image/etc.)

▪ Schedule note:  Great Zucchini race - BIFM
This weekend, Saturday 15-Sep, is the Great Zucchini Race at the Bainbridge Island Farmers Market.  Yes, it's for real -- people put wheels of all sorts onto a zucchini, sometimes as big as 10lbs, and compete for the fastest run down a wooden ramp set up next to the market.  It's great fun for the whole family, and not to be missed!  We will have a racer -- we have the zuch (7+1/2 lbs), we have the wheels -- we'll put it together Friday before the race (tomorrow).  Hope to see you there (don't forget to bring a camera)!  And bring a zuch racer of your own too!  There's a link to a YouTube video of last years event at the BIFM website.  (Registration starts at 10am, race begins at noon.)

▪ Harvest 2007 approaching - great time to visit!
By the time of the next newsletter, we shall almost certainly have completed harvest 2007.  Harvest and crushing is all done on Bainbridge Island in or near our home/winery.  Right now is a lovely time to visit; the weather is still warm, and you can taste grapes.  Please give us a call most any time -- there's almost always someone available to show you around right now.  Also, if you're interested in helping out with harvest, it's really quite fun -- we'd love to have you join us -- please subscribe to our "pv-helpers" email list.  We anticipate it being last weekend of Sep. or first weekend Oct., but of course the weather dictates the final date...

▪ In the vineyard -- Weeding and waiting
This time of year there's not much left to do in the vineyard.  All that's left is to maximize the heat and that's done by weeding.  We hand weed under the plants using a hoe, then use a tractor/rototiller to clear the rows.  The weeds have been a problem this year due to the unusual summer rains we've had.  Soon we will begin to test grapes for sugar and acid content which, in addition to taste and seed browning, will tell us when to harvest.

▪ Website -- Trifold & updates
One of those little tasks I've had on the back burner for about a year now was to put together a trifold leaflet for card racks.  I have finally gotten it together, yay!  It's available at the winery and the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce -- drop me an email if you would like one, or perhaps a whole stack for your business where you're selling our wines...  You could also print off your own copy, as it's also on the website...  I've also made quite a few other updates to the website in the last couple of months -- you may wish to drop in a browse a bit.

▪ New products - gift bags and verjus
  ▫ Beth is sewing special wine bottle gift bags -- each one is handmade and completely unique!  Available at Bainbridge Farmer's Market and the winery.  These are great for gifts, and can be very handy if you wish to do blind tastings of wines.

  ▫ This year we are making a tiny amount of verjus.  This is the juice squeezed from underripe grapes and can be used in cooking where you'd use lemon juice or balsamic vinegar (see the website for details).  We hope to have this approved for sale at the Bainbridge Farmers Market.

▪ 2006 Müller Thurgau in the bottle
We are very happy that we have gotten our 2006 wine bottled!  This means not only that we will have wine to sell when we run out of the 2005 (soon), but most importantly it means that we have the tank available for the 2007 harvest!  Thanks to our volunteers who came out and helped make this happen!