Sikes Vineyards: September 2009

Making Lemberger '09

Kenny got his van lettered. It looks great.

Using the crusher/de-stem-er, is quite the process. This equipment is so old and antiquated it makes it really hard to control what ends up in the wine.

Making Lemberger wine. This should be good.

The thickest trunk for a vine in Chelan. These vines have been in production for over 35 years.

Lemberger in bulk. We got a sugar of 23.5 on average when tested.

Grandpa testing sugar and leading the charge to pick the grapes.

SIKES Winery and Vineyard site

It looks like barren land, but this is the site of Sikes, Vineyard and Winery. There is a lot of rock and the soil is well drained but the views are great. This will make amazing grapes and my brother and I will craft those grapes into the nectar of the gods (wine). I will take one of these pictures and overlay the vision of the winery in phases in the future.

Tsilan Cellars

I picked up a cluster of grapes that were thinned earlier in the week. Cluster thinning helps the remaining clusters to produce better quality fruit.

Tsilan Cellars, this winery is moving towards all estate produced wines and is exceptional in quality and experience. I especially like the attention to the landscape, restaurant and having the wine staff and the ambition to do it right. Bob, the owner is the most genuine and nice guy that makes you feel right at home. My aunt loves to come to this winery, she has been there 10 or more times. I have eaten at the restaurant twice and it was really good but too expensive. For those kinds of prices I want top notch service with hand made salad dressings in front of me and banas foster flaming from the cart. You will enjoy this experience.