> Home
Volume #16: October 2006

Victories Bracelet
Our friend Marilyn Dorsa, who owns La Rusticana d’Orsa Vineyards with her husband Frank Dorsa, is a fellow breast cancer survivor. She has joined us in the fight against breast cancer by designing a beautiful Victories Bracelet. Like Victories Rosé, all the net profits after taxes of the sales of this bracelet will go to charities that support the cause. The bracelet is made of sterling silver, Venetian glass beads handmade in Murano, Italy and rock crystals. For more information on how to order your own Victories Bracelet, please click here.
Brief Shutdown
As we have grown, it is time for us to move into a new administrative office. We are excited to have found a great space right here in downtown Los Gatos, just minutes from our winery. In order to make sure our move goes smoothly and we are up and running as quickly as possible, we will be closed for the week of October 23rd. Of course, we will do our best to check messages and respond to urgent items as needed. Thank you in advance for your patience and support!
Tasting Room!
We are thrilled to announce plans for our new Tasting Room! We have teamed up with the fine folks at Clos LaChance Winery to open “Backyard Wineries” – a wine tasting room and retail shop. On Monday, October 16th, the Town Council of Los Gatos voted unanimously in favor of our application. While we still have a lot of work to do, we hope to open in mid-November. Backyard Wineries will be located at 45 West Main Street in downtown Los Gatos – close to both our winery and our new office. We will be sure to send out more information as soon as we are open and look forward to having a place where you can all come by to visit and taste our wines.
Wine Update
We are officially sold out of our 2004 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay. Due to the small size of our vineyard (less than 1 acre), this wine is sure to be one of the first to sell out during each vintage. We bottled the 2005 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay earlier this summer, and we hope that everyone will get a chance to come and taste it at our new Tasting Room once it is released. We will keep you posted on the official release date of this wine.
Harvest Update
Since the last issue of our newsletter, harvest has actually slowed down drastically. This seems to be the case with many wineries across California. We harvested the lower block of our Chardonnay vineyard on Friday, October 13th, and were able to get another ton off of the vineyard. That puts us at 3.4 tons for the year from our vineyard, over 50% more than in 2005.

At this point, we are now waiting on our fruit from Black Ridge Vineyards in Los Gatos and the Trio B and C Vineyards in Yountville to finish up their ripening phase to bring to the winery. The fruit is developing nicely, but by giving it a little bit more hang time we are hoping to enhance the overall flavor, bring the acidity into balance, while also eliminating any sense of “greenness” that the fruit may have. Nature lets us know each and every year that we are not in control, and the rains a few weeks back and the cooler temperatures as of late have slowed the final phase of ripening. Harvest is looking like it will stretch into early November this year for us, but that is part of the overall winemaking adventure!

Upcoming Events
October 21st – please join Greg and Peggy at BevMo! in Mountain View between noon and 3pm for a special opportunity to taste our Victories Rosé. Victories Rosé will be available for purchase and Greg and Peggy would be happy to sign a bottle for you. For directions, please click here.

November 6th – please join Greg and Peggy for an intimate winemaker dinner at Forbes Mill Steakhouse in Los Gatos. This will truly be a fabulous evening - we will be celebrating the release of Choreography, our 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet blend. Space is extremely limited and is sure to sell out quickly! To make your reservation, please call (408) 395-6434. For directions, click here.

November 28th – please join us as we return to the Tuesday “Dine With The Winemakers” series at Viva! in Los Gatos. Forget about all those Thanksgiving leftovers and come enjoy a fun and casual twist on the winemaker’s dinner. We will be pouring our wines from 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm. Click here for information on the restaurant.

Best Regards,
Greg & Peggy
and the Fleming Jenkins Team