Juice

Think Tank Pinot

One of our commerce customers, Michael Giarraputo, launched his wine brand think tank wines this evening for the Crushpad team.  Think Tank is play on his last name which in Italian literally means something close to "jar of thoughts."  The focus of the brand is high end organic vineyard sites with environmentally conscious packaging.  Light bottles, tree-less bamboo labels and low impact winemaking.  Michael was overly generous, giving everyone tshirts (organic american apparel of course), and wine. 
His 2007 "La Encantada Vineyard" Pinot is pretty rockin.  La Encantada is owned by Richard Sanford, one of the pioneers of both Pinot and organic viticulture in California.  It's a beautiful place that I visited in September 2007.  The wine is very young, packed with deep darkish flavors and some good verve on the finish.  Also a rich nose with a delicate touch of spice and earthy notes.  I sensed a slight bit of reduction but it was the type of thing likely to fade after a little more time in bottle.  Certainly not a negative thing.

First Grapes

Today at Crushpad we welcomed the arrival of the first grapes of 2008. A couple of tons each of chardonnay (from somewhere in Lodi) and Sauvignon Blanc from Grassini Vineyard down in Santa Ynez.

Mike Z kicked off the proceedings with a toast to the new harvest season and poured some ceremonial bubbles on the sorting line. Then we all slurped downed some flutes of J Cuvee 20. Then it was back to the coffee.

Just another day at the winery!