2009 Harvest - Joseph Cellars

It’s Monday September 21st and 2009 harvest has begun! We picked our first grapes of the year today 7.2 ton of Cabernet Sauvignon, looks like the total harvest will be 30 ton plus which equals about 3 ton per acre.

Our winemaker states “Fruit looks and taste great and the quality is high”.

Yield looks good this year thanks to our winemaker and vineyard manager’s decision to revamp the trellis system after we experienced the extreme heat and frost last year, it tends to get that way at the North end of the valley.

For the remaining grapes we will continue to walking the vineyard, sampling and checking the sugar levels or “brix” count so we pick at just the right time.

Wine Tasting

 Our Cabernet Sauvignon wine tasting was quite the eye opener, everyone was ask to bring a modestly priced bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon for a brown bag blind tasting. Wines were purchased from grocery store, wine shops and private cellars. The tasting included ten Cabernets,

1) Whitehall Lane 2005 Napa Valley
2) Frank Family Vineyards 2005 Napa Valley
3) Forman Vineyard 2005 Napa Valley
4) Frei Brothers Winery Reserve Alexander Valley 2006
5) Cameron Hughes Wine Lot 36 2005 Rutherford District
6) Peju 2005 Napa Valley
7) 337 Wine Cellars 2007 Lodi
8) Barnett Vineyards Spring Mountain District 2005 Napa Valley
9) Napa Wine Co. 2005 Napa Valley
10) Chappellet Vineyard 2006 Napa Valley

Although there was no "wine critic" on site everyone had their own descriptions after smelling and swishing. Up to the nose and comments of raspberry, cherries, berries, leather, light, rich filled the room. The Cabernet Sauvignon tasting inspired many colorful opinions but the Chappellet Vineyard 2006 Napa Valley came out ahead as the crowd-pleaser followed by 337 Wine Cellars 2007 Lodi and Frei Brothers Winery Reserve Alexander Valley 2006.

Putting the polish on Tropical Paradise!

We just completed our annual maintenance and upgrades which included some new 36" flat screens in each of the Master bedrooms, we replaced the futons with new twin beds. New 700 count sheets, new beach towels and some new beach chairs.

On the second floor deck we added these big 13' umbrellas over top of the table for a little shade from the afternoon sun, we found they added comfort to our nightly sunset dinning. We also replaced the furniture on the second deck, all new love seats and cushion chairs. Check out the new hammock between the coconut palms.

Lastly a new grilling station, a nice big wood deck, new grill complete with a dock box to store the extra tank and grill cover and BBQ stuff, now you won’t have to get your feet sandy while grilling and if you do we installed a new foot washing station as well.

Ok... we're ready for your return this season!