From: Paso Robles, “Queen City of the Central Coast”

It seems like everyone I meet asks me when our tasting room will be finished. It’s a hard question to answer because our new tasting room is still a work in progress. I’m hoping that the next newsletter announces its completion.

Our early bud break this year was not endangered by the late frost we had because of our elevation. On hilltops at 1,400 to 1,500 ft. above sea level that cold air just slid down into the valleys and allowed our vineyards to stay at almost 40 degrees. Other vineyards in the lower areas suffered a little.

The first week of April brought another ¾ inch of rain. This winter brought us a total of 27 inches, thank you very much. Now we can focus on training and growth.

We planted a very small block of Malbec 2 years ago and expect to get about a ton of fruit from it this year. One ton of grapes is equal to about 3 barrels (59 gallons each) of wine. If the quality of our other varietals is any indication we can expect great things from these grapes.

We are definitely winning the battle with the gophers this year thanks to our new “PERC” gopher control machine. I call it the “Gophernator”. It sends carbon monoxide into the burrow and puts them to sleep - forever. No poison pellets or gas, no trapping and no explosions in the hole. It’s a very “green” environmentally friendly method and it saves the vines from being mortally wounded.