As the Holidays approach, harvest seems a distant memory, but for the cellar team, "harvest" is not complete until the fermentations are finished and the wines are aging in barrels. I have the long but fun job of monitoring each fermentation, taking the sugars daily and sampling the wines as they progress. I share my findings with our winemaker (and my husband), Parke Hafner, who makes suggestions about our next plans with each lot for the coming days. Follow along on my harvest journey through the blog. 

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As winemakers, tasting is our number 1 job and in these days of “shelter in place”, tastings are the perfect diversion. While technically we are “working” when we taste, we thought it would be fun to share a tasting game with you. We’ve named it the “Somm Game”. We don’t take it very seriously. It's a way to add a little lightheartedness to your evening and practice learning what you like in a wine. Essentially, it is a blind tasting where you try to guess the wine. Normally, we play the game with our adult children, but with the current situation of coronavirus, we are doing it virtually. 

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Walks through the vineyard with our yellow lab, Annie, have inspired many of my illustrations. Over the years, I have painted the flowers that grow here in the vineyard or on the hills. Some of them are native plants, like the blue Lupine, the California Poppies and the field Mustard. Others (like the Bachelor Buttons and Legion of Honor Poppies), we have sown in our “insectary rows” to provide habitat for beneficial insects. Here I share some techniques I used to create them. 

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Wine tasting can be intimidating, but with a few hints, tasting wine can be lot of fun. And remember, there isn’t a right or wrong answer…it’s your preference. All you need is a little knowledge to back up your opinion and you’ll wow your friends with your tasting skills. I share 3 steps on how to taste wine along with flavor and aroma descriptors plus a downloadable wine descriptions chart. We hope you have fun learning how to taste wine and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

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When we travel, we rely on recommendations of friends and family to send us to those out-of-the-way spots that make the trip more memorable. And when friends visit us, we love to send them to our favorite spots. Sarah Hafner wrote a blog about her favorite things to do in Healdsburg from the best place for a morning pastry to a must-see garden shop to her favorite Healdsburg restaurants. 

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