The high quality was reflected across all grape varietals, but a few did stand out as being exceptional: Aglianico, Barbera, Petite Sirah, Primitivo and Tempranillo.  Look for the Barbera and Primitivo to be available in about a year, but don't expect to see the others anytime soon as they are all destined for our Reserve program, which requires a minimum of two years aging before release.

For those of you who enjoy our Reserve program wines, don't fret:  we still have a healthy line-up in the tasting room.  Prime among them is my personal favorite: 2004 Milagro.  The Milagro is a Rioja-style blend made according to the rules of the Rioja wine region of Spain for making a "Reserva" wine, which include:  a minimum of three combined years of barrel and bottle aging before release and the utilization of the permitted Rioja varietals, in particular Tempranillo and Graciano.

Also, for those who have enjoyed our Reserve or Vineyard Select Barbera in the past, we will be releasing a 2006 reserve Barbera sometime this winter.  The '06 Reserve was bottled in August and is still relaxing away the stress of bottling.  Once I taste it and decide that it is fully "relaxed" we'll be releasing it with a grand release party.  Stay tuned for details!

Bottling.  Bottling?  What the heck is so exciting about bottling?  Well, let me tell you.  But as in any good narrative, err, story, we have to go back to "Once upon time..."  For the ease of explanation, I'll start at the beginning, which for further ease we will set as the beginning of the calendar year.  I don't really do too much then.  I'm usually a little tired - after all, wine plays an integral role in my life (from the consuming perspective) from Thanksgiving through the New Year.  The previous year's wines are sleeping in barrels and there's not much going on in the vineyards except pruning.  So, we'll fast-forward a bit to spring and pretend I've been being very productive tasting wines eight hours a day in the meantime.  Clearheaded, despite my tasting job, I begin the real work.  With the first leaves coming out, we begin worrying about weather; frost, in particular, viticulturists' springtime nemesis.

Abridging now...

Oh, look!  It's harvest time!  I am the winemaker after all; I don't have anything to do until the grapes are ready...  So, the grapes come in, my father hands them over with the yearly reminder, "Now don't screw these up," and I get to get my hands dirty.  This is really my second-favorite time of year.  All year long I've been tracking the development of the fruit and the anticipation of turning them into wine is almost unbearable.  This exuberant sensation lasts exactly three days.  After that, I realize I really do have some work to do.  Like most agriculture, the fruit doesn't wait for us to be mature so we work long hours and many days in a row with little break (boo-hoo).  The important point is that once the fruit is turned into wine, it becomes my baby.  It needs constant care and attention.  It can get sick (tough fermentations, strange flavors, weird microbial growths - more than you wanted to know??), it needs rest (settling, barrel-aging), it has temper tantrums (bungs shooting out of barrels as pent up carbon dioxide is released during secondary-fermentations with a loud "POP!" and a little shower of wine), and it matures (turns into the lovely finished product that we all enjoy).  Well, this caring-for-the-wine process is what I really do all year, and depending on the particulars it can be very nerve-racking, stressful, joyful and exhilarating all at the same time.

Once the wine is all grown-up - well actually, it's more like it just turned eighteen and wants out of the house now - it is time to bottle.  And this is why bottling is my favorite part of the winemaking process.  I have done everything I could to shape the young wine into the "mature" entity it now is.  I have led my Cabernet-horse to water and can only hope it has learned to drink.  It is time to send it off into the world, sink or swim.  If I've done my job properly, that bottle of wine will continue to age gracefully until the end of its life, hopefully providing plenty of enjoyment to many people along the way.

So, let's talk about Chardonnay, and in the spirit of the divisiveness of our current politics, let's talk about it in extremes.

            There exist two basic approaches to making Chardonnay.  One results in a wine that some describe as having the taste of a buttered oak stump, and the other yields an austere semblance of white wine, sometimes described as slightly flavored water.  Now, as I said, we're talking extremes here.  And, as in most disagreements, the truth lies somewhere in between.  So, since I hate arguing, let's get down to the truth...

            In general, Chardonnay fans can be broken into two groups, those who prefer a creamy, oaky, rich, barrel-fermented Chardonnay, and those who like a crsip, clean fruity style.  Luckily, we have enough Chardonnay grapes at Boeger Winery that I can produce both styles!

            The Carson Peak Chardonnay is made in the crisp, fruity method.  Basically, I ferment it in stainless steel tanks, allow it to undergo a partial malo-lactic fermentation in order to increase complexity and add a little body, then filter and bottle it much like any other white wine.  The result is a nice, delicate white that goes with all sorts of food.

            The Boeger Estate Chardonnay, on the other hand, is made like a hearty soup: designed so you can stand a fork up in it!  Okay, well not quite that thick.  This Chardonnay is barrel fermented in new French and American oak barrels, undergoes malo-lactic fermentation, and is aged sur-lies for up to a year.  The end product being a rich, creamy, hearty complex white wine.

            The saying goes that if you try to please everybody, you'll end up pleasing no one, but I hope that by making two separate styles, rather than trying to take a middle road with one style, I can provide something for most of our consumers.