Date: Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:13:16 -0800
Subject: [PV-Friends] January newsletter (late)

	Perennial Vintners	In this issue:
		▪ Open for Valentine's Day
		▪ Release of 2009 Frambelle
		▪ In the vineyard - pruning
Newsletter -- December-2009		▪ Recipe - Grilled Frambelle Lamb Chops
(Click here to view in HTML on website)		▪ Old license plates wanted
http://www.PerennialVintners.com/		▪ Labeling help needed NOW

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

▪ Open for Valentine's Day
Perennial Vintners will be open along with all the other WABI wineries on the Valentine's Day weekend, 13,14,15-Feb 10am-5pm.  This will be a special WABI event as Fletcher Bay Winery will be opening it's doors to the public for the first time, plus, the Olympic Peninsula wineries are open that weekend, so it's worth your while to hop in the car and spend at least a day over here visiting wineries!  But most importantly, it will also be the...

▪ Release of 2009 Frambelle
The raspberry port-style dessert wine is in the bottle, and is fantastic!  I like it slightly better than the 2008, but it's a tough call.  The label company has promised the labels in time for that weekend, so don't be surprised if I am hand labeling your bottles when you buy them, sigh... (why does it always go like this?)  But don't worry about the labels, the wine is spectacular; Akio's fruit was fantastic this year (2009 was a wonderful growing year for all fruit in Puget Sound). and I made more wine than last year, so it should last more than 3 weeks this time!

▪ In the vineyard - pruning
This time of year is the toughest one in the vineyard.  Every plant must be pruned, severely.  It can easily take 5 minutes per plant, which doesn't sound bad until you realize we have to do it to almost 2,000 plants for a total of a solid month of full work days.  And of course the weather can be outright nasty in Jan-Feb!  I do hope to get some "before" and "after" pruning photos onto the website someday, but it won't be in time for this newsletter.  If you're interested in learning about growing grapes, this is an essential lesson, even if it's just a few plants in your backyard, reply to this email, then come on out and join the fun!  You may wish to consider joining our volunteers newsletter for news about when we're doing this and other events.

▪ Recipe - Grilled Frambelle Lamb Chops
I asked the PV consulting chef Andrew MacMillan to come up with another fantastic recipe, but this time I gave him quite a challenge -- I asked him to come up with a recipe for Frambelle.  Finding a food that can stand up to a slightly sweet, very strongly raspberry fruit wine can be a difficult task.  He has come up with a wonderful production, namely Grilled Frambelle Lamb Chops.  Best yet, it works best with PV Verjus (only a few bottles left, better show up on Valentine's Day weekend if you want to get one).

▪ Old license plates wanted
Our neighbor Akio has been using old license plates as weather-impervious numbers for his row end posts for 60+ years.  We're planning to do the same in our vineyards once we can get enough license plates.  So bring in your old license plates (doesn't matter what state) for a $0.50 discount on your next PV purchase.  $1.00 off for each "1" or "2".

▪ Labeling help needed NOW
Ever wanted to just hang out with a winemaker for an evening and chat over a glass (or three) of wine?  Here's your chance...  Before Valentine's Day weekend, I need to get about a hundred bottles labeled.  It's easy work, simply hand applying labels to bottles or moving cases of wine to and from me working the machine.  You'll come over to the winery some evening and hang out from about 7pm for 1-2 hours.  This is an ongoing invite -- although I'm desperate right now, I have two pallets to do, so I'll be doing this for the next several months whenever I can get a volunteer.  Simply reply to this email if you're interested.  And consider joining our volunteers newsletter for news about other events.