News from Vin du Lac Winery

Crush and harvest came early this year, thanks to a warmer than normal summer. The downside was that with a new production facility to move into, and a later than normal bottling run to deal with, September became a hazy blur of 14 hour days, and my winemaking staff degenerated into a glassy-eyed, unshaven, mumbling lot. We persevered however, and as the panic of September ebbed, we started to catch up. Soon enough, the new Winery facility was organized and spotless, and the end of crush was already in sight!

new facilty

Vin du Lac's Shiny, New Winery Production Facility

As warm as things were this summer, it did not forestall the arrival of cool fall weather, and soon we were bundling up our customers:

fans get cozy

Vin du Lac fans get cozy at the tasting Bar

Normally I don't get to goof off until sometime in November, but since things began to wind down early, and my winemaking staff under assistant winemaker Dreux Dillingham's able leadership had things well in hand, I took time out for some enjoyable activities. First, I took my nephews Tristan and Hunter hiking on the ridge north of the Lake near Navarre Campground. They quickly reminded me what it means to be a boy. We braved inclement weather to conquer numerous rock piles which we defended from enemy attack with cannon (tossed logs) and mortars (lobbed boulders).

Tristan and Hunter Capture High Ground

Then I decided that the Vin du Lac staff needed to live up to one of my favorite winemaking adages: "It takes a lot of beer to make wine." So we loaded up the winery and tasting room crew into a limo (Courtesy of Ron and Karrie Kehl's Lakeside Limousine service) and headed down to Leavenworth's Oktoberfest. After all the hard work of the summer season and the crush, it was time to let loose a little, and we had a great evening of German food, beer, music and dancing.

todds wife angie

Angie Bunker, wife of VdL Lab Technician Todd Bunker, shows fine Oktoberfest Form

Finally I headed over to Seattle for a fun winery release party at the Little Red Studio. Leroy Radford, who is "Captain Leroy" of the Zydeco Kings, and is the winemaker for Baer Winery in Woodinvlle, was hosting the opening of his own, new label "Flying Dreams" www.flyingdreamswine.com. There I ran into good friend and fellow winemaker Derek Desvoigne, of Cuillen Hills winery www.cuillenhills.com. Despite the turmoil in our economy, those of us in the wine business remain optimists, and so new ventures continue to be launched. Leroy's a great winemaker (as well as a hell of a squeezebox player) and so I have no doubt his dream will indeed be flying in no time.

larry leroy derek

Larry with two of his favorite winemakers: Leroy Radford (L) and Derek DesVoigne (R)

Before we could say "Halloween" along came old man winter. The second week of October brought record lowland low temperatures, and snow to the hilltops and highcountry around Chelan. We're gravely worried about potential damage to our vines that were still green and tender when the freeze hit. The vineyard turned brown overnight. Not good. We'll find out in spring how bad things are, and so will have do deal with a little nagging worry all winter. But remember, we're farmers and winemakers, so we are used to mother nature knocking us around from time to time, and as I said before, we're optimists! We'll get through it.

summer to winter

From summer to fall to winter: Early snow in the high country.

In the meantime, I'm already thinking about skiing, and other fun winter activities. We're planning our own fun events at VdL, including our upcoming (Nov. 7) Open House and Malbec release at the new VdL Chelan Falls Production Facility. The Little Red Studio party I went to in Seattle was so much fun we are also planning a Wine Club delivery party and Cabernet Franc release to be held there on January 10th. We're going to keep things hopping at the tasting room also. We'll be open all winter (Bistro hours: Thurs - Sun 12 - 5pm) with lots of new wines to try and new items on our winter bistro menu. So stay in touch, or better yet, come and see us!

Stacy's Spotlight: Open House and Malbec Release Party!

Join us Saturday, November 7th, as Vin du Lac celebrates the opening of its new Chelan Falls Production Facility with the release of the eagerly anticipated 2006 Barrel Select Malbec.

Larry's Malbec is probably one of his top requested wines. All through the year folks stop by to ask when the next one will be released. Larry's last Malbec release received numerous accolades, including multiple Gold and Double Gold medals. Larry is very picky about his Malbec supplies and so once again this year's release is less than 50 cases! This will probably be the only opportunity to try and purchase this wine until next year's release.

Celebrate with Tours, Food, and Special Wine!
November 7, 2009
2:30pm - 5:00pm

Open House Location:
410 Highway 150
Chelan, WA 98816

(Kelly Ironworks Industrial Park)
Located 1/8 mile west of junction of Highway 97 and Highway 150 (Near Beebe Bridge)

Katie's Corner:

Wine Placement News

Vin du Lac Winery is extremely honored to be the Feature Winery for the Month of October at the Space Needle Restaurant, Sky City. For the entire month Sky City will be pouring our Savvy Blanc and Cuvee Rouge by the Glass. Sky City was named one of the Top Restaurants of the Year for 2009 by the Washington Wine Commission. A large portion of traffic to the Space Needle draws a lot of tourism and we are excited to get some national exposure to Vin du Lac and the Lake Chelan AVA! Zydeco

If you are in Seattle and are looking for a romantic dinner or a elegant night on the town I would recommend you check out Sky City's menu. Larry thinks the Togarashi Crusted Ahi Tuna would pair well with a glass of Savvy Blanc!!!