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December 19, 2009
Our 2007 vintage wines have been bottled...hooray! Members of our mailing list can expect to see an offer for our 2007 wines in February 2010. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at Ricochet Cellars!
November 15, 2009
After several days of barrel tasting, blending, and discussion, the final blends for the 2007 wines were determined. We are extremely happy with the final blends for our 2007 Amethyst syrah and 2007 Obsidian cabernet. We decided to leave one barrel of the 2007 Indigo petite sirah as a 100% varietal. For more info, click on our 2007 wines.
September 28, 2009
Ricochet Cellars Special Case Offer on our 2006 vintage wines went out to all members of our mailing list. We had an incredible response and are very grateful for your continued support!
July 11, 2009
Dandridge visited the winery to top off all the '07 juice and had time to taste the 07 Indigo petitie sirah, WOW, this wine is coming along great, big, bold, and tasty. We are all looking forward to the finished product later this year.
June 15, 2009
Phil visited the Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido, one of San Diego's larget wine retailers. In short, look for 2006 Ricochet Amethyst syrah on the shelves!
April 25, 2009
Ricochet Cellars teamed up with m2 vintners for a tasting/pouring event located at the m2 winery in Lodi, California. Dandridge poured and introduced Ricochet Wines to all the patrons of the event. Even a rare hand painted magnum of Obsidian cabernet found itself a new owner. What a great event. Ricochet made a lot of new friends on this day. Thanks to all!
March 23, 2009
Ricochet Cellars enters the retail market for the first time. Ricochet Cellars Obsidian Cabernet and Amethyst Syrah are now on the shelves at Winestyles in Encinitas, California.
March 01, 2009
Ricochet enters the retail market! Ricochet Cellars enters the retail market for the first time. Ricochet Cellars Obsidian Cabernet and Amethyst Syrah are now on the shelves at Winestyles in Encinitas, California.
February 14, 2008
March 1st 2008 is the date! We are excited about our very first commercial wines in final form. Currently working on graphics, label designs, logos, bottles, corks, capsules, etc. We want to put as much heart into every detail of the presentation as we did to the contents inside. Based on the barrel samples of the wines at this stage, 2006 was a GREAT year for us to start.
February 14, 2008
2007 Planning. We are in the midst of the 2007 vintage planning. We have decided to up production by about 50 cases and check out a few other fruit sources. Still only picking up between .5 and 1.5 tons per source. We have some beautiful new Seguin Moreau barrels headed our way as well. I will be heading out to Cali for a while in October to help with harvest/crush. It is going to be an early and compact harvest this year. Looking forward to reporting back on the 2007 stats and an update on the soon to be bottled 2006 vintage.
October 26, 2007
2007 Harvest/Crush Trip! Dandridge was fortunate enough to spend 9 days out in CA working at the winery. Seeing all of our 2007 fruit at different stages was facinating. When I arrived, our Cabernet was in barrels, Syrah was in barrels, but the Petite Sirah and Merlot were fermenting in open top bins. The Cabernet is seeing new French oak as well as a French oak barrel that was interstaved a year ago. The Syrah is being treated to a mixture of new and used French and American oak. Just before the Petite went dry, we pressed. The color extraction was amazing and the bouquet filled the air. We got about 900 liters in the tank and let the Petite finish fermentation there before we pumped it into a nice new U-stave American Oak barrel and the rest into some more neutral barrels. A very pleasant surprise was our Merlot, from the same vineyard as the Petite Sirah. We originally purchased it to blend, but if the pressed juice is any indication, it will be rocking on it’s own. Steady fermentation with D80, pressed it after dry and got almost an entire barrel of free run juice. I had a glass straight off the first press and it was gorgeous. It will see a mixture of new French and neutral oak. For much of California, I am hearing it was a tough year and in some cases, quality may be lacking due to late season, heavy rains bringing the sugar levels down. We are very fortunate that most all of our vineyard sources reached the numbers we were looking for prior to the rains coming. The only fruit that did not was the Petite Sirah and Merlot in Calistoga, however we avoided any major rainfall prior to picking. The vineyard owner said that when the heavy showers came through the valley, he got just enough rain to wash the dust off the grapes. I tasted through all the 2006 wines to see how they are evolving and I couldn’t be happier. They are all spectacular. I tried the Syrah blind out of 3 different types of barrels (which will be blended before bottling) and was able to enjoy the unique characteristics that each type of barrel brings to the wine. Then, pouring them all into one glass gave a glimpse of what is to come. Can’t wait to try the 2007’s in March when we are bottling the 2006 wines. Should be quite impressive!
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