Our vineyard usually shows bud break around St. Patrick’s Day. This year, we were just a few days off. But the Pinot Grigio and the Moscato vineyard adjacent to ours was a little ahead of the reds. Every few years, the vineyard rows are planted with peas, then disked into the soil to fix nitrogen for vine nutrition. I love the flowers and took a few pictures before the rain came this week. 
Tag Archives: Zinfandel
May Warms Up the Local Events
It’s May! Lots of events and lots of vine growth. The blooms are being pollinated in the vineyard. It never ceases to amaze me how rapidly the vineyards change each week, no matter what the varietal is. Each varietal has a unique management style…they way they are trellised, thinned, how the canopy needs to be managed. We have warm but mild weather for this phase…good for the growers!
We’ve just had the Asparagus Festival in Stockton. This month, Zinfandel is celebrated with Zinfest. This three day festival begins with dinner with winemakers on Friday night, most of the day at Lodi Lake enjoying lots of wonderful food, tasting our local wines, especially Zinfandel, seminars on wine and food and live entertainment. And that’s just half of it! Sunday the local wineries host a wide variety of special events…food, comedy, music. It’s a wonderful weekend. This year our dates are May 18 and 19 and 20. Mother’s Day is another special weekend at the wineries.
You can tell it’s getting to be boating weather on the Delta. Passing through Rio Vista and Brentwood in the last few weeks, folks are prepping and launching their boats and the eateries along the Delta waterways are filling up their parking lots. Memorial Day weekend is a great time to be out on the water.
Congratulations to Steve and Bev Borra, and Markus Niggli, the winemaker at Borra Vineyards. Borra Vineyards received the Winery of the Year Award from our local Tourism Board. They received huge awards at the Wall Street Journal Wine competition, and just scored in the High 80’s in Wine Spectator for their 2009 Red Fusion. Did I mention that they are the nearest winery to the Cottages and they treat our guests exceptionally well!!
It’s a full house this month at the Cottages. We are looking forward to welcoming many returning guests, celebrating graduations, engagements, and wedding visitors. We’re especially looking forward to having Roby and Carolyn LaPorte stay this weekend to celebrate their daughter’s graduation from UOP. Roby and Carolyn are our web designers and owners of WowiZowi web design. They brought their daughter to UOP three and a half years ago to begin college, and after an amazing four years (one in Italy), Ariana graduates this weekend! They’ve been amazing people to work with and so supportive of our business and our area. 
May Warms Up the Local Events
It’s May! Lots of events and lots of vine growth. The blooms are being pollinated in the vineyard. It never ceases to amaze me how rapidly the vineyards change each week, no matter what the varietal is. Each varietal has a unique management style…they way they are trellised, thinned, how the canopy needs to be managed. We have warm but mild weather for this phase…good for the growers!
We’ve just had the Asparagus Festival in Stockton. This month, Zinfandel is celebrated with Zinfest. This three day festival begins with dinner with winemakers on Friday night, most of the day at Lodi Lake enjoying lots of wonderful food, tasting our local wines, especially Zinfandel, seminars on wine and food and live entertainment. And that’s just half of it! Sunday the local wineries host a wide variety of special events…food, comedy, music. It’s a wonderful weekend. This year our dates are May 18 and 19 and 20. Mother’s Day is another special weekend at the wineries.
You can tell it’s getting to be boating weather on the Delta. Passing through Rio Vista and Brentwood in the last few weeks, folks are prepping and launching their boats and the eateries along the Delta waterways are filling up their parking lots. Memorial Day weekend is a great time to be out on the water.
Congratulations to Steve and Bev Borra, and Markus Niggli, the winemaker at Borra Vineyards. Borra Vineyards received the Winery of the Year Award from our local Tourism Board. They received huge awards at the Wall Street Journal Wine competition, and just scored in the High 80’s in Wine Spectator for their 2009 Red Fusion. Did I mention that they are the nearest winery to the Cottages and they treat our guests exceptionally well!!
It’s a full house this month at the Cottages. We are looking forward to welcoming many returning guests, celebrating graduations, engagements, and wedding visitors. We’re especially looking forward to having Roby and Carolyn LaPorte stay this weekend to celebrate their daughter’s graduation from UOP. Roby and Carolyn are our web designers and owners of WowiZowi web design. They brought their daughter to UOP three and a half years ago to begin college, and after an amazing four years (one in Italy), Ariana graduates this weekend! They’ve been amazing people to work with and so supportive of our business and our area.
Springtime in the Vineyard
Lodi Grape Statue Downtown
We have the four “B’s” going on right now! Blooms, Birds and Bunnies! But most important, we have bud break in the vineyard. Discing has started this week between rain showers. Driving by the vineyards, you see a line of green about 4 feet high floating over the ground as the new shoots of lime green have quickly developed in the last week.
We have bottling scheduled with many friends next month for our 2010 Zinfandel and Carigagne. Time to set up the barn and equipment and tweak the wine a bit before then.
Spring brings many local events to Lodi. This Friday evening is the School Street Stroll in downtown Lodi. Congratulations to Borra Winery for its recognition as Winery of the Year by the VisitLodi Tourism Board. Later this month, the fabulous Asparagus Festival is in Stockton, and we look forward to the annual Zinfest next month at Lodi Lake.
Vineyard Harvest
Harvesting by Hand
Harvest of the Zinfandel Vineyard at the Cottages Sept, 2010
It’s harvest time in the vineyard! Harvesting equipment arrives the night before, and with the harvester pulled by the tractor, the gondolas, and the truck with the bins waiting to be filled with fruit, the equipment starts moving about 5 PM. Harvest is done in the evening, when the sugar levels are highest in the fruit. The cool evening temperatures keep the fruit cool while the trucks are waiting to unload the bins at the winery.
Cottages On Armstrong 