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Bressler Vineyards News, January 2007
This month marks the release of our 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon. Offer letters have gone out to those wonderful folks who have purchased all the previous vintages, and customers who have purchased any wine from us will receive their offer letters very shortly. Waiting list customers - don’t worry. You will also be receiving offer letters this month, too. So be on the look-out!
Our 2003 Bressler Cabernet represents an important milestone for us. For the first time, our wine will contain some juice from the young blending grapes we planted in 1999. The 2003 Bressler contains about 6% Cabernet Franc added to the 94% Cabernet Sauvignon. All of the grapes still come from our property. We are extremely pleased with the result: a wine with the power of the 2002 Bressler but with more levels of complexity and a little more concentration. We have approximately 360 cases and the cost will remain at $75 per bottle.
Tasting notes on the 2003 Bressler from our winemaker, Mia Klein: Aromatically we find raspberry, strawberry, plum, ripe sweet cherry, vanilla bean, cognac (a la cherries jubilee); bittersweet chocolate, cocoa, brown sugar (a la great brownies); hints of tobacco, exotic sandalwood, and white pepper. The wine has very good impact in the mouth with all of the aromatics showing nice intensity. Length of flavor is excellent and the texture is rich with just enough backbone to lend structure. This is a very sophisticated wine with many levels. It is approachable young, but should continue to develop over the next several years. Meanwhile, things are quiet in the vineyard. We’ve had some good rainfall, but remain about 25% below average for this point in the year. We’re not worried as a good soaking anytime in the next few months will eliminate this deficit. Our vineyard manager, David Abreu, has his team in the vineyard pruning the canes as I write this. It’s a beautiful, clear winter day and the vines are taking a well-deserved rest. Bressler Vineyards News, October 2006
The days are sunny, the nights are crisp and all of Bressler Vineyards has been picked! The Merlot came in first on September 19th . We picked just over 2 tons and the fruit was gorgeous. It’s now finished fermentation and is happily residing in French oak barrels. Winemaker Mia Klein is very enthusiastic about all of our 2006 grapes, but is truly ecstatic about the Merlot. Next came the Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, but picked on September 28th . These were smaller lots with the Cab Franc weighing about 1.5 tons and the PV at under one-half ton. Again, grapes looked really good and fermented very nicely. And then the wait began. The Cabernet Sauvignon took its sweet time in producing the lovely flavors that are characteristic of Bressler Vineyards. We had an unusually early rain on October 4th. Though the total was under a quarter of an inch, the downpour was heavy and it set the sugars back a bit. After that conditions became nearly perfect with sunny days and cool nights. The grapes matured slowly and finally hit stride by mid-October. Early on the morning of October 19th, we picked the Cabernet Sauvignon. And I do mean early. It was about 5:15 AM when David Abreu’s team turned on the bright lights in the vineyard just south of our bedroom window. It was almost surreal watching the picking crew outlined in harsh white light against the still black pre-dawn sky. By mid-morning the almost 8 tons of grapes were being crushed at Laird Family Vineyards. It’s too soon to say much, but we are very optimistic about this harvest. Both quality and quantity look to be excellent. After the terrific 2005 harvest we were thrilled to have another wonderful year. These grapes won’t become wine for a few years and will finally become available to you in 2010. We are confident that the Bressler Vineyards 2006 will be worth the wait. Bressler Vineyards News, July 2006 We made it through a very long winter and a most unusual spring. In early May we thought that spring had burst upon us. Vines that were running a month to six weeks behind last year began a monumental growth spurt. By May 17, we were almost caught up, being only a week or so behind last year. But then winter returned and from May 19 through May 21, we reverted back to winter temperatures and well over an inch of rain. Luckily, this late rain didn’t seem to do any damage to our vineyard. Only the Petite Verdot had been showing any signs of flowering prior to the downpour, and nothing was disturbed. June was warm – very warm by the end of the month – with several days near the one hundred degree mark. It’s now early July and things are looking good. Clusters are well-formed and seem to be of a good size. Our hope is for a nice long growing season with warm days and cool nights. Of course, after our crazy spring, we know that we will have to cope with whatever Mother Nature has in store for us. Bressler Vineyards News, February 2006 The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the vines are sleeping, and the Bressler Vineyards 2003 is now “in the bottle.” On January 27, 2006, we bottled our ’03 Cabernet. This wine will settle into its new home(s) awaiting release in January 2007. Our yield was 368 cases of 750 ml. bottles, up a little from the 2002 vintage. It’s going to be another beautiful wine thanks to the efforts of Mia Klein, David Abreu, Brad Grimes, and the rest of David’s team. We are now sold out of the 2002. Thank you to all of you who purchased the wine. That wine is drinking really well for such a youngster. We cracked a bottle last weekend and it was incredible. It’s a real crowd pleaser with full, forward fruit and a long finish. We will be shipping to most states in March when the weather is a bit more predictable. Bressler Vineyards News, January 2006 ...and the rains came |