May 1
May is a beautiful month of dewy-eyed promise for the coming vintage. As this month begins, the shoots are bright green, about half a foot long and glowing with health and vitality. By the end of the month, the vine canopies will be well established and the delicate perfume of grape flowers will be evident. The 2009 season has seen a rapid start with a heat spell in mid April. There have been relatively few frost nights and we seem to be tracking about a week early.
Now that most of the 2008 vintage is in barrel, the Geyserville winery is filled with the rhythmic music of bottling. We will be running all month as we complete the production cycle of the 2006 Alexander Valley. We will just finish the installation of our new bottling line in Oakville early in the month and will start bottling the 2006 Napa Valley in the second week of the month. There is excited anticipation. Bottling is a time when attention to the finest details of sanitation, cork moisture, label placement, and a myriad of other measurements become almost an obsession for the production staff. Our cork quality standards are some of the toughest around and I think that we sometimes drive our suppliers to distraction. It is all worth it to know that we are providing the best finish possible to the years of work that go into each bottle that bears the Silver Oak name.