Vineyard 511

Harvest Party 2019

Harvest 2019 was one to celebrate. Although we wouldn't bring in our grapes for another 2 weeks, harvest was happening throughout Napa Valley, and everyone was thankful for a wonderful year.

Vineyard {511} held its private harvest party for its wine club on September 28, blessed by great weather and great friends. Our vineyard peacock Cabernet was at our front gate welcoming everyone in.

                                                    

                                                    

Our winemaker Rob Lloyd was on hand to tell everyone about our latest release--2015 Vineyard {511} Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon. Everyone got along famously and made new friends, while enjoying some wonderful food catered by Oak Avenue Catering in St. Helena.                                    

                                                   

                                                    We also got the opportunity to re-connect with our friends Tom and Cathy Tardio.

                                                   

Tom, the new CEO of the Napa Valley Film Festival, of which Ed and I are founding patrons, spoke to our guests about the exciting Festival activities to look forward to this November. Kevin Covert and his wife Stephanie came up from Manhattan Beach, CA (close to where we live in Southern California). The couple that attended from the furthest distance were Ruth and John Eliason from Minnesota, who we met in Belize.                                            

We ended the afternoon by announcing the raffle winner of a magnum of our latest release--our 2015 Cab; the lucky winner was Tim Leahy, who we met on a Bordeaux river cruise in August. Our wine club members come from far and wide, but we love having them nearby.

 

                                                   

                                                   

                                                    

                                                    

 

 

 

                                                   

                                                   

                                                    

                                               

Vineyard {511} 2019 Harvest

The 2019 harvest of our Diamond Mountain District Cabernet grapes began at sunrise on October 9. We awoke that morning to see a beehive of activity in our 511 vineyard.

                                                  

Although we didn't have electrical power inside our house because of a shutdown by Pacific Gas and Electric, the workers outside were a powerhouse of energy, first carefully picking the grapes by hand

                                                  

and then carrying them away

                                                 

to be uploaded onto a truck.

                                                 

From there, the grapes were driven to Napa, where our winemaker Rob Lloyd works his magic on them. We'll have to be patient to get to drink the final product in 2023.