Seasonal News
Summer Vineyard & Winery News
In The Vineyard
Eric and the vineyard team have finished suckering all of our vineyard blocks and now it's pretty much normal June farming activities around here as fruit set takes place. A little bit of fertilizing and leafing is what’s needed at this time of year to keep the vines in balance. Eric says the Cabernet clusters look big which could mean a heavy thinning year for us. By thinning out either whole or partial grape clusters (like the wings) Eric is able to keep the yields down and sun exposure just right for even ripening and optimal flavor compounds.At The Winery
Phillip and Eric are creating the blends for all of our 2008 wines at the moment. They’ve finalized the base blends for the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and LOT 1 so far. Two down, six to go. Phillip has a huge master spreadsheet with a bunch of different "recipes" and during the blending trial process they generally comparative taste around six different blends per session. All of Titus Vineyards' wines are varietal wines, for example a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot. This means that the wine must include at least 75% of that grape to be called a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot on the label. Eric and Phillip usually agree on the final blend in about 4 trials or sessions. First though, they taste each barrel lot individually to get an idea of what the main characteristics of each particular varietal expression so that they can determine how best to blend them ultimately. Blending trials are the main winery activity apart from harvest and bottling. This takes place for about 9-10 months of the year. They take into consideration not only their own palates, best expressing our vineyards and that specific growing season as well as keeping a consistent, recognizable wine style from year to year.
The Wines of 2006
Overall, the 2006 growing season was long and steady with the exception of a cool spring with late rains, approximately 2 times normal rainfall for this time of year, and a heat spike in July. This climate generated above average yields for the year. All the grapes were harvested in alignment with our predictions avoiding everything coming in at once. Interestingly, harvest at Titus Vineyards began ten days later than we would typically end allowing the grapes to benefit from the extended hang time resulting in optimum ripeness without the threat of bad weather. The lengthy and mild 2006 growing season gifted these wines with good color lively aromatics, well balanced flavor profiles with beautiful concentration, and solid structure that will benefit the wines long term.
The Wines of 2005
