As a family business, I am pleased to announce that our younger daughter, Grace Hafner, is joining our winemaking team this August. She moved to Bordeaux in 2017 where she earned a Masters in Vineyard and Winery Management from Bordeaux Sciences Agro. Following internships at Château les Carmes Haut-Brion in Bordeaux and Château Marquis de Terme in Margaux, she worked for five years at Domaine de la Solitude and Château Lespault-Martillac in Martillac where she was the Maître de Chai. 

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We are always looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, so this year, we tried something new: we chipped the vines when removing a block of vineyard instead of burning them. The idea is simple: by chipping and incorporating the material back into the soil, we sequester the carbon in the ground instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.  We’re hoping it’ll have long-term benefits for the vineyard and for the climate.

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We recently had our annual Vertical Tasting of main and Reserve Chardonnays where we tasted eight vintages of each to see how they are aging. We were pleased with both flights. In this video, I share a few thoughts on the two tastings and explain how our Chardonnays age. Our goal is to make wines that age well and pair well with food. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on vintages you have in your cellar.

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As many of you know, we have a longstanding internship program which began in 1985 when a friend of a friend asked me if I would host a French enology student. As former interns in Burgundy, France, Sarah and I understood how impactful an internship could be…so we said “Yes” and hence our internship program was born. Now, 39 years later, we welcomed our 39th intern – Victor Le Grix de la Salle to the winery and into our home.

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Last month was bittersweet for us here at Hafner Vineyard. One of our longest tenured employees, José Luis Lopez, retired from Hafner Vineyard. We will miss his talents, his work ethic and his wonderful smile. I take great pride in the longevity of our employees, many of whom have worked with us for decades. As one of the owners of the business, I don’t think of them as someone who works for us, but rather someone who works with us. For me, it is all of us working together that makes Hafner Vineyard the family business that we are.

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