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| GlenLyon
Clan Notes - Summer 2001 |
Spring
definitely arrived with a vengeance here in Sonoma Valley. We scrambled
around in April to protect our new growth during a good solid week
of below freezing temperatures. Once we were through with that almost-crisis,
we found ourselves in pre-summer June with some close-to-a-hundred,
very hot days. And as I write this note, there is a light sprinkle
outside. Go figure…. All in all, we weathered the cold to hot
cycle pretty well and summer seems to be settling in. The summer days
are longer, the tomato plants are bearing fruit, the strawberries
are going crazy and the new canes in the vineyards are holding beautifully
formed clusters of Syrah grapes.
Some replacement planting was done this Spring/early Summer and the
upper vineyard has grown by a few hundred new vines. Spring projects
that weren't quite finished have now turned into Summer projects.
It seems like there's always something to do….
Our new spiffy Destemmer/Crusher (anyone still say "spiffy"?)
has finally arrived from Der Fatherland and a new Bin Dumper/sorting
chute is being built and will arrive before harvest, Dionysos willing.
The winery is now completed, tanks are in place, catwalks are built
and we're ready for harvest. I think…
For those of you on the Mailing List and/or in "The Clan",
you've received your order forms for the 1999 Syrah. The wine is breathtaking!
Trust me on this one. Bruce Cass, the editor/author of "The Oxford
Companion to the Wines of North America" wrote the following
about GlenLyon and the 1999 Sryah: "A tiny, artisan operation
near Glen Ellen, in Sonoma Valley, is producing what threatens to
become a cult favorite. If it does, you read about it here first.
This varietal, from a new five-acre hilltop vineyard is wonderfully
concentrated, with citrus-peel nuances and superb complexity. Getting
a few bottles of this wine will require a call to the winery before
the spring release. The '99 is an excellent vintage." Don Gillette
of the Napa Valley winery Exchange selected the 1999 GlenLyon Syrah
as his "Staff Pick" and wrote: "Deep, intense, tannic
and tight, in the classic "Hermitage" mold, but it finishes
with syrupy flavors of raspberry, cherry, red rose and white pepper.
A killer for 2004!"
That's it for now. Joy Sterling (Iron Horse Vineyards) gets credit
for this one:
It takes a Madman to grow the Vine,
A Wise Man to tend it,
A Lucid Poet to make Wine,
And a Lover to drink it.
Squire
Fridell
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