Vintage 2026: February

Hello! I have been offline for a few weeks. The big thing about this vintage so far has been the snow that we have had. In my last blogpost I wrote that we had not seen such cold and snow since 2015. On January 26, we had between 10-12 inches of snow along the shoreline which has not melted due to the extremely cold weather that we have had.
As I write this, the weather forecasters are calling for a "bombogenesis" of snow and wind to arrive on Sunday into Monday bringing between 10-20 inches of snow and wind gusts of 50 mph! This is what the forecasrters predict:

I will remember the winter of the 2026 vintage as an uncharacteristically cold and snowy one!

Vintage 2026: January Weather

This has got to be the coldest winter that we have experienced in a long time. The winter weather reared it's head on December 14, 2025 when we had our harvest party. There was a mix of rain and snow and it put a slight damper on our party turnout.
In mid-January there was a slight uptick in temperatures that our weather forecasters called the January thaw. Even though the temperatures were around 40 degrees, the windchill brought the temperatures into the 20s. This warm spell was followed by a wintery mix of rain and snow on January 18 that brought more snow overnight into January 19, giving us snow that we had to shovel!
This week we are facing a huge snowstorm heading our way on Sunday and Monday. In talking to friends we think that we have not experienced this type of weather since 2015. I actually blogged about it in Vintage Notes 2015.
Let's hope that when February comes, Punxsutawney Phil will come out of his home at Gobbler's Knob and give us some good weather news!

Kizakura Junmai Daiginjo Sake

Last year we went to Hawaii to celebrate my mother's 96th birthday and at that time we went to some sake stores in search of sake to bring home with us and scored a few bottles.
A few nights ago, our friends invited us for dinner, which was a delicious harissa coated salmon that he paired with a Chateau Beaucastel. There was salmon leftover so he gave that to us.
How does sake and salmon come together? In the back of my mind, I recalled the stacked tuna dish that I had in Hawaii and wanted to recreate it with the salmon. I made sushi rice on the bottom, shredded the salmon, put avocado and green onions on top. Then I asked my husband if we had any sake to pair with my concoction and he thought that we did and retrieved this Kizakura Junmai Daiginjo sake and salmon.

The pairing was a good one. This sake is made from 100% Yamadanishiki rice at a polish ratio of 50% and is 16% alcohol! We drank the sake in mini glasses and savored it along with the sushi rice salmon stack. Maybe another trip to Hawaii to purchase more sake is warranted. Actually, this sake can be purchased online!

2023 Yi Yook-sa Wine

Last year (sounds so long ago!) our friend came back from Korea with a gift of wine. He is interested in growing grapes and making wine in Korea.
This wine came from a winery near where our friend intends to put in a vineyard. The winery is called Yi Yook-sa and also goes by the number 264. The two names are to celebrate the famous poet, Yi Yook-sa and the 264 is the poet's prison number.
The wine is made from the Cheongsoo grape, which was developed in Korea. The Cheongsoo grape is a cross between the 'Siebel 9110' and 'Himrod' varieties. The 'Siebel 9110' is a French-American hybrid grape variety and the 'Himrod' is an American grape variety, known for being seedless.
The wine was beautifully floral on the nose and it reminded me of the aroma of Gewurztraminer. The flavor was very tropical with a good balance between the fruit and acidity.
We hope our friend does realize his dream of planting a vineyard in Korea. We'll be rooting for him and hoping to taste some of his Cheongsoo wine!