PV newsletter July 2014

	Perennial Vintners	In this issue:
		▪ Schedule - open Labor Day weekend (+ Mon)
		▪ Library wines
		▪ New Recipes on website
Newsletter -- Aug-2014		▪ New outlets - got some great places this month!
(Click here to view in HTML on website)		▪ Vineyard - quiet time and approaching harvest
http://www.PerennialVintners.com/		▪ Last chance wines

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

▪ Schedule - open Labor Day weekend (+ Mon)
The WABI member wineries (all BI wineries) are all open this weekend, Sat-Mon (30,31-Aug,01-Sep), and we'll all be featuring a pre-harvest special. PV will be releasing our 2013 Lemberger, and Dianna Gardner, the artist who designed our estate labels will be at the winery on Sat on Mon, and will have some of her work for sale. This will be the last WABI weekend before harvest - come see the vineyard while there's still grape clusters to see.

▪ Library wines

Last week I opened a bottle of my 2006 Mueller Thurgau - this was purely by chance - it surfaced from the back of a friends fridge one evening. I had the highest hopes that it would still be good, but was prepared for anything. I didn't expect it to be awful, but wouldn't have been surprised if it was well past it's prime. I was amazed - it was still showing wonderfully! In the nose it was a bit tight, but opened up nicely over about 20 minutes. It had taken on a slightly woody/grassy taste, a bit like a Sauvignon Blanc - this took me completely by surprise. Overall it was fantastic! This is the sort of moment a winemaker lives for - it was all worth it - I done good! If you have one of these older bottles buried in a corner, try it now, you won't be disappointed.

This gives me the opportunity to bring up our "library" collection. Every year we try to hold back just one or two cases of every wine we make. This pile of boxes is called "the library". Right now we have a handful of Mueller Thurgau from these earlier vintages that we'd be willing to sell. Come on in and ask about our library selections.

▪ New Recipes on website

It's been a busy month for Executive Chef Andrew MacMillen. We had a WABI theme weekend, followed up with a bottling party. For the WABI weekend, Andrew provided Caprese on Stick with Chive oil and Roasted New Potatoes, and for the bottling we feasted on Pasta Provencale with Saffron Cream Sauce, French Lentil Salad, and Braised Cucumbers, most ingredients from local farms. As always, Andrew did great; every guest loved the caprese, good thing we had lots, and all the bottling help was enthusiastic about the lunch. Please visit our Recipes page for the details!

▪ New outlets - got some great places this month!

We are very pleased to announce our latest new outlets - PV wines are now at McCarthy and Schiering on Queen Anne Hill. Long time wine aficionados in the Seattle area will recognize this name as possibly Seattle's most respected wine shop. Dan McCarthy has written a book on wines and wine tasting, Pick The Right Wine (available at Powell's and others) - although currently out of print, a quick web search shows many available. Having Dan's approval of my wines is a truly great honor. If you're in the area, find (make!) an excuse to visit the lovely top of the hill Queen Anne neighborhood and visit Dan's shop!

Another serious coup is that we're now at DeLaurenti in Pike Place Market! Being just a few paces from the famous Pike Place market bronze pig and the flying fish stand is just too cool! This shop has been around as long as I can remember and has always been a destination for serious "foodies".

We're also happy to finally have our wines available somewhere to the south of Seattle. Mike poured several wines for customers at a winemakers evening this week at All Things Wine in Renton. I was really impressed spending several hours in this shop and seeing Wayne, the proprietor working. Wayne knows his customers, and he knows what they like. He was able to make excellent recommendations for everyone who came into the shop that evening.

Another interesting shop we've started up at is Full Throttle Bottles in Georgetown. The neighborhood is an eclectic mix of working class, artist, industrial - very unique. This shop specializes in unusual beers, but also has a carefully chosen wine selection. The proprietor, Erika has built a shop that fits the neighborhood perfectly, with interesting selections everywhere you look.

▪ Vineyard - quiet time and approaching harvest

At this point in the year, the vineyard is pretty quiet. We really should do some weeding, but that's always true. The spraying schedule is finally easing up - once the grapes have passed veraison, they are much less susceptible to powdery mildew, thank heavens - we made it! We are doing a little more hedging, then will be putting up the bird netting, but mostly we're just waiting for the sun to do it's thing!

As mentioned in previous newsletters, this year has been warm early, it has the highest GDDs we've seen (click here for PV live GDD chart). At this writing we have already surpassed the accumulated temps for 2008, 2010 and 2011, and there's still all of Sep and Oct yet to go! This means we have had to be diligent on the sprays for Powdery Mildew and Botrytis, but everything is coming on superbly! We have more grape clusters on all plants than I've ever seen before. They're all rapidly approaching ripeness, a month early! Siegerrebe may be ready to harvest in 1-2 weeks. If you'd like to have the fun of helping out with harvest, you may wish to consider joining our helpers email list.

▪ Last chance wines