Monthly Archives: January 2014

Vineyard Diary-Jan 31, 2014

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Shaker Ridge Vineyard is pleased to post its grape availability and pricing for 2014 (see separate post).  Serious drought conditions prevail in the Sierra Foothills, as in most of California, so we may need to idle a portion of our vineyard to conserve water.  At this time, we are only committing to about half of our typical annual barbera production.  However, some time remains for Mother Nature to come through.  We recently received a little over 5/8th’s inch of rain–a small start and the first precipitation since a little snow in early December–which at least provided a drink for the parched landscape.

This season, we will once again be offering fixed-price shares in our “Quinta” field of Portugese varietals.  See elsewhere on this website for details.  The goal is to provide, in one location, a high quality field blend of sometimes hard-to-find Portugese varietals in proportions suitable to make an outstanding port-style wine or, potentially, a dry red blend.

Shaker Ridge Vineyard was honored to receive, on January 15, the first-ever Community Partner Service Award from the Sacramento Home Winemakers (SHW) in recognition for service, including educational outreach, to the SHW in 2013.  The SHW are one of the premier home winemaking clubs in California.

Current Grape Availability as of 1-31-14

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Varietal

Amount Still Available for Sale

Expected Optimal Harvest Time

Price ($)/lb

(>1000 lb/ < 1000 lb)

Barbera*

1.0   tons

Mid-Late   September

0.725/0.80

 Primitivo

6.0   tons

Early-Mid   September

0.725/0.80

Touriga   Nacional**

1.5 tons

Early-Mid   October

0.70/0.80

Tempranillo***

SOLD   OUT

Mid   September

0.75

Quinta   Portugese Varietals****

12   shares

Early-Mid   October

N/A

*Additional tonnage may be made available depending on rainfall.   Prevailing drought conditions may necessitate that we idle a portion of our barbera vineyard in 2014.

**Non-Quinta field

***Duero clone

****A share entitles owner to 1/12 the output of our Quinta field of Portugese varietal grapes, targeting 250 lb/share but potentially ranging from 200-300 lb/share.  A shareholder would receive a proportionate amount of the total production of each of the 5 Portugese varietals grown in our Quinta field.  In expected order of decreasing abundance, these are touriga nacional, tempranillo, tinta cao, souzao, & tinta amarela. See “Pricing and Services” tab for more details.