| Russian River Valley | Lennox Vineyards | Sonoma County, CA |
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Vintage 2009... was challenging. With a partial frost protection system functioning but based on a general area frost alarm, we were frosted pretty badly once again - we will have our own alarm / thermostate switch at the bottom of our vineyard for 2010. Since we pulled almost all of the Chardonnay in 2007 and 2008, 2/3 of the vineyard consisted of young plants that were not yet fruit-bearing. Together with the frost damage ... we kept our Bravo Toro grapes for our own 2009 vintage...
More Pinot Noir, please... As memtioned above, in 2009, we replaced most of the remaining Chardonnay (about 1/3 of the vineyard) with Pinot Noir. We are keeping 4 rows of Chardonnay (8% of total) for use under the home Lennox label. We replaced the Chardonnay with Pinot Noir partly due to the very good results we have had from the Pinot and partly due to the consistently (too) low yield from the Chardonnay.
The winery... Our first vintage 2008 is nearing time for bottling. We have a new label design approved by the ABC and will bottle in the new year (maybe January 2010!). 2009 is still in tank - we'll see...
The home vineyard... is looking strong. Most grafts took well. The extra fruiting wire in the front provided much better fruit/vine balance. The VCR 18 fruit (our new clone that we added when grafting) tastes great - bright red flavors - which we plan to blend with our predominant Burgundian dark chocolate and coffee profile. Some of the smaller trellis posts are failing - which will be replaced with bigger ones and the drip lines need to be adjusted, a few skips to replant, etc.... there are always things to be done...
The homemade wine... We bottled up the last of our homemade wine 07 Pinot and Chard - COME AND GET IT!!
The ski place... renovation went very well - new kitchen, baths, wood floor, windows, and more. By using our builder-friend, off the shelf supplies, and doing lots of the work ourselves, we kept a sensible budget. It was nice before; now it is just fantastic. Check it out and give us a call or drop us an Email if you are interested in renting.