Visit to Napa Valley

This past week, before we visited my husband's sister in Grass Valley, we took a half day excursion to Napa Valley. It has really been a very long time since we went to Napa.

We came in from the south end of Napa and saw this iconic statue:

It was raining when we got there and where there is rain, there is a rainbow!

The rained pooled in the vineyards on the valley floor:

Our first and only destination for the day was the Robert Foley Winery located in Angwin on Howell Mountain. We wanted to go there because having tasted his 2003 Robert Foley Claret and learning that his mother lived in Milford, CT and he had a harpsichord that he took to Zuckerman's (right down the road from our home) for repairs, it seemed as if there was a cosmic connection. We made arrangements before hand and Kelly was nice enough to have Bob fly out of South Carolina the evening before so that we could meet him in the morning.
Did I say that it was raining in Napa? Driving up Howell Mountain was a little treacherous as the rain swelled the stream and some branches of trees seemed to have come down and in the process of being washed away.
As we let ourselves in past the open gate that led to the winery, Kelly pulled up in her car and we followed her the short distance. Bob came out to greet us and for the next hour, we had a great time talking about anything and everything, including Kelly and my husband's love of cooking.
At 10:30, we were joined by a couple, Mike and Anna from Maryland. We tasted 8 wines! The six shown below as well as a 2019 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon and their port, Conclusao. All of their wines were delicious! We really liked the Charbono. Bob told us the history of how he came to acquire a vineyard in Napa that was growing this unique grape.

All too soon, the time with Bob and Kelly came to an end. I took a photo of his crush pad:

Bob and Kelly were such gracious hosts! We enjoyed our time with them and hope that they will take us up on our offer to visit us when they come to the East Coast. Thank you so much Kelly and Bob!

Vintage 2025: February Notes

I can't believe that I missed writing a Vintage 2025: January Notes! It is already February in the new year and as Punxsutawney Phil's prediction for 2025, we are going to have 6 more weeks of cold weather. We recently had our first major snowfall along the coast and had another snowfall that began on Wednesday evening, February 12 and continued into Thursday morning.
This week continues with temperatures that hover in the high twenties to the high thirties. However, by next Monday we should see temperatures in the forties and that means it will be time to get back in the vineyard to begin pruning!

Tasting Our 2024 Late Harvest Chenin Blanc

Our 2024 late harvest Chenin blanc is coming along on it's tragectory to being bottled shown in the pictures below.
We tasted it and thought it was balanced with stone fruits like apricots, and honey with a long finish punctuated with acid. While we did do a taste test we still need to check the level of residual sugar that is left in the wine.
The color in the glass was a pale yellow (shown in the photo below).
The photo on the right shows the color of our 2023 late harvest Chenin blanc at the same time a year ago, February 2024 for comparison.
The color in the carboy is very similar to our 2024 late harvest seen in the photo below.
We will continue to monitor and taste the wine until the wine tells us that it's time for bottling.

Happy Valentines Day to You!

Happy Valentines Day from Passionfruit Estate to you!