Craig's Ramblings:

May 2009 - We survived the Jesusita fire which burned much of the foothill area above town. While it was not the worst fire in recent history, it was really bad and clearly the most threatening. Much of flatter, urban areas of town were evacuated. A bunch of really nice peole lost their homes. If you were not evacuated, odds were you had evacuees camping out in your living room. Lee, Patterson, the cats, and I were at her mom's home in Coast Village. Dave and Gina hosted about six refugees at their place. We returned to our house on Sunday the 9th. Everything was smoky, but otherwise OK. We had a small half acre spot fire around our mail boxes, but the fire crews and neighbors put it out (Thanks everyone, but especially Craig Addis from SB Winery). We are luck people to have such friends. Here is apicture of the fire on the first day as seen from the winery. Our home is where all the smoke is coming from on the other side of the ridge.

November 20, 2008. Harvest was all consuming. You don't think about anything other than grapes and wine. Occasionally, you get to see your family and maybe pay a few bills, but generally the focus is singularly on the task at hand – making wine. This year required particular focus because frost in April cut grape yields across the board and made for uneven ripening. While extremely low yields were beyond our control, we worked hard in the vineyards before harvest to even things up and we sorted every fruit lot to remove all the unwanted stems and whatnot. Our new sorting table saved the day, making sorting much easier and more effective. We did not make as much wine as we wanted to, but the wine we made should be terrific, even unique. Tell me in 2010 what you think of the 2008 wines!

Other News and Events:

Our Wine Futures offering of 2007 Jaffurs Designated Syrahs starts in March 2009. We'll be sending e-mail out to all our club members and to our general mailing list formally announcing this event. In this program, we offer our vineyard designated Syrahs (Ampelos, Thompson, Bien Nacido, and Verna's) for sale at one-time discounted prices. We'll be shipping your wines beginning October 1, 2009. If you are picking the wines up at the winery, they will be ready for you after that date. You can order these wines online.

Our 2007 white wines (Viognier and Roussanne) were bottled May 10, 2008 and released the following month. Our 2006 vineyard designated Syrahs and Petite Sirah were bottled March 22nd and released inOctober. Our 2007 Grenache, Larner Vineyard Syrah, Ampelos Syrah, and SB County Syrah were bottled during a marathon bottling session at the end of August. Because of increased demand for these wines, they were all released October 1st.

Wine Club Barrel Tasting March 1st, 2009 at our winery. We'll taste through selected 2007, unreleased wines, plus some other fun stuff to put the 2007 and 2008 harvests in context. Chef Michael Hutchins will prepare great after tasting treats. Two sessions are available: Session1 from 1-3 and Session 2 from 3-5. This eventis sold out.

Jaffurs Wine Maker Dinner April 17th 2009 at a location yet to be determined. Our Hope is to do it at Seagrass in downtown Santa Barbara, but we are not yet confirmed. Watch this spot for more information.

Santa Barbara County Vintner's Festival April 18th, 2009. This is a great event in Lompoc sponsored by the SBCVA. All the wineries in the county will be there pouring their great wines. The food is terriffic too. Go to SBCVA for information and tickets.

Wine Club Vineyard Visit and BBQ May 2nd 2009. Location and time are TBD. Watch this spot for details.

You can purchase wines directly from us - click here to find out how. Or, e-mail us with your home address and we will add you to our mailing list. Hurry, the vineyard designated syrahs are selling fast.  You may also press the Tasting button to find a retailer or restaurant near you that carries our wine. 

Our 8th Harvest in our New Home - In March 2000 we purchased a small industrial lot in the city of Santa Barbara.   Construction of our new winery began in March and completed in five short months - just in time for the 2001 harvest.  Among other things, the winery has a walk-in chiller, environmental control, and affords us the ability to work at a careful and natural pace.  In addition, it is only only 7 minutes from home.  This new facility helps us reach toward our full winemaking potential. It also preserves the quality of our home life. 

Jaffurs Winery Open for Tasting - Jaffurs Wine Cellars is now open for tasting on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 11:00 until 5:00 (or by appointment).  You get a nice tour of our winery and you'll try a couple wines.  If we are working on something, you can help.  Fee is $10.  To get here, exit highway 101 at Milpas Street in downtown Santa Barbara. At the bottom of the off ramp, turn north (away from the ocean) and go four blocks to Montecito Street. Turn left. Go 100 feet and turn right into our parking lot at 819 E. Montecito Street.

Other Events? - ask via e-mail