Vineyard and Winery News
It is now almost mid June and the vineyards are progressing beautifully. Bud break took place May 3, over a week earlier than last year. Warm weather throughout May with temperatures reaching 28 C gave the vines an excellent start. The beginning of June brought cooler temperatures and some rainfall but temperatures have been returning to seasonal norms during the past few days and the vines are now up to the top fruiting wire in the vineyard. If the weather continues to cooperate we should see flowering in the vineyard the last two weeks of June. This would be a welcome change from last year when we did not see flowering until the beginning of July.
With the rain this past week we have been spending our time in the cellar preparing the 2010 Pinot Noirs and 2011 Chardonnay and Viognier for bottling. The 2011 whites are showing great acidity and purity of fruit. The Foxtrot Vineyard and Erickson Vineyard Pinot Noirs are showing great flavours, depth and texture. After tasting through all the barrels we have decided to do a limited “Reserve” bottling of two barrels of the Foxtrot Vineyard Pinot Noir that were showing very “Burgundian” characteristics. This will be the first ever Reserve bottling by Foxtrot Vineyards.
2009 Foxtrot Vineyard Pinot Noir
The 2009 Foxtrot Vineyard Pinot Noir, released to the mailing list in May, is showing very well. Tasting notes for the wine can be found on the website under the heading Our Wines. We are very happy with how the wine turned out and it is receiving a great response from customers and sommeliers alike. If you have not already done so, you can place an order through our website or purchase the wine through select wine stores in BC. Shipping within BC is $20 with the wine priced at $54.95 per bottle. For customers outside BC please contact the winery for shipping details.
Taste Victoria 2012
We are very excited to be participating in Taste Victoria 2012. I will be pouring our 2009 Foxtrot Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2008 Erickson Vineyard Pinot Noir, and 2010 Coolshanagh Vineyard Chardonnay at both the Trade and Consumer tastings held on Thursday, July 19 at Crystal Garden in downtown Victoria. The Trade tasting runs from 1:30 to 4:00pm and the Consumer tasting from 6:30 to 9:00. I am very excited to be pouring at this great event and showcasing our wines. Ticket information for this event can be found at http://www.victoriataste.com .
On behalf of everyone at Foxtrot Vineyards I would like to wish everyone a great Summer.
Gustav Allander
Winemaker