Bud Break 2011.    February 25th, 2011



So begins the 2011 growing season.

This is our 5th leaf and will give us our fourth vintage of Herons' House Estate Brunello.  2008 and 2009 are in the bottle 2010 is in the barrel.

425 bottles of estate grown wine in 2008
400 bottles of estate grown wine in 2009
We estimate about 250 bottles in 2010.



2010 was a difficult year for the wine grower as the temps were very cold with constant cloud cover in the coastal area.  We made the decision to drop about 250lbs of fruit in August and to thin the canopy in order to concentrate the ripening process and sunshine on the remaining fruit.

This was successful and we harvested the last day of September at 25 brix. The grapes hung 14 extra days on the vine compared to the first two vintages so we are hoping for a very complex wine with lots of fruit and depth.

Time will tell :)



The highlights of the 2011 season will be the first harvest of a new vineyard I helped plant in Encinitas.  This Vineyard is growing the same Italian Brunello and also a Spanish Tempernillo.  It will be fun to harvest and make wine form this new estate vineyard.

Here's to a great 2011 season, I'll keep you posted on how it progresses.

Peder