For other farmers I’m sure there was some memorable weather characteristic of 2006, but for us the regular visitation by deer was the threat that dominated all growing considerations. We thought the crop for our first harvest of half an acre of Syrah was a total loss, but miraculously the deer were stopped, either by our hastily erected fence or because they finally found enough food in their natural habitat after the rains started. Grape vines are surprisingly resilient and want to make fruit in the worst way, and so they did. Harvest began on September 4, 2006. The harvest was interrupted by a terrible rain and driving hailstorm, but somehow we managed to collect 1000 pounds of fruit. The remainder of our grapes came from friends and growers in Cochise County, Arizona, and some cabernet grapes from Eldorado County, California. All our 2006 wines are now for sale in our tasting room, which is open Fridays and Saturdays.

Harvest 2007

Whereas the rest of the world struggled with hail or cold weather or rain, in Arizona we were fortunate to have very mild weather during the harvest of 2007. The heavy monsoons let up around mid-August, and although there were a few scattered storms, it was just enough to continue to stimulate the vines and did not interfere with the harvest schedule. We were not troubled until the threat of hurricane Henriette down in Baja Mexico. Although it never materialized as a major storm, our worry about it hitting our just ripe fruit with what was described as “major rainfall” prompted us to harvest the Tempranillo and Syrah in our vineyard. The fruit as it turned out were in perfect balance and are becoming splendid wines.

As accommodating as the end of the growing season was, it made up for a difficult beginning. A violent hailstorm in June that blew in from the Northwest damaged a lot of the just developing fruit clusters. Fortunately the clusters on the eastern side of the vines were relatively spared and the damaged berries either dropped off or turned into raisins that then added an interesting complexity to the must. We were visited by deer, ravens,