Hello Sokol Blosser wine drinkers,
April is the month of bud break, or bud burst, depending on your vernacular! This update will start in the vineyard, and end in our Tasting Room.
This year bud break started on Monday, April 8th in our Concert Block which is the “first out” block in our vineyard. The start of the 2024 vintage year has begun! My wife, Ginny, was taking Gus (our Golden who turns three this month) for a walk in the vineyard and spotted it! Gus prefers the ripe version of Pinot Noir but is excited that bud break means that ripe grapes are at least forthcoming. Bud break does not tell us when harvest will be, unlike bloom. What it does tell us is that when bud break happens on the early side of April that means it is “early,” and when it happens later in the month then it is “late.” April 8th is on the earlier side of bud break which means it’s time to farm!
Speaking of farming, we are planting an acre of Pinot Meunier at our Kalita vineyard this month and in 2026 should get our first crop for our sparkling wine program. Robin and the team are excited about finally getting their hands on some of this fruit which traditionally makes up a lot of the brut that comes out of Champagne.
Our 2023 white wines are coming! We recently bottled our 2023 Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Müller-Thurgau, and our new Lonestar Riesling. Most of these will be released this May just time for summer sipping season. And in big news, we are very excited to release our Sauvignon Blanc in to the national market this vintage, along with the return of our Pinot Gris. Our 2022 Sauvignon Blanc sold out in six months through our DTC program, which signaled to us that it was time to get this out to the world! Our other white wines are all sold from our Tasting Room and website, so make sure you sign up for emails for release dates.
Speaking of our Tasting Room, you all need to come out and visit us to experience our new “Wine Bar and Shop,” which we just opened the first weekend of this month and to our surprise was full and vibrant all weekend. Given the growth we continue to experience on site, we decided to completely remodel our old “Legacy Lounge,” and turned it into a cool space to get a glass of wine at the bar while enjoying delicious bites from our awarded culinary team. We also made a lot of space to showcase our wines for purchase, as well as all the expanded merchandise that we sell. To launch, we are opening the Wine Bar and Shop Friday/Saturday/Sunday from 11am-6pm which is an hour later than our seated wine tasting experiences are available. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. We hope to see you soon!
Cheers,
Alex
