Apr 14, 2024 | Hydeout Sonoma, Sagrantino, Sonocaia Estate, Sonocaia Estate Vineyard, Sonocaia grand opening, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma, Sonoma Farming, Sonoma International Film Festival, Sonoma lifestyle, Sonoma Valley
You need to know what’s happening at Sonocaia Estate Winery – follow us on Instagram
@sonocaia
At Sonocaia Estate Winery, our primary focus is growing grapes and making wine, specifically our estate reserve Sagrantino, a deep dark yet incredibly drinkable red wine.
Find our winery here: Sonocaia home page
Learn about Sagrantino here: All about Sagrantino
View a brief summary of our farming projects here: Farm projects
But Sonoma is also a place with so much going on, it’s hard to keep up. Here is a quick photo journey from the past few weeks…
Bud Break @Sonocaia
You’re probably seeing photos of vineyard bud break all over social media. It’s an invigorating time for everyone involved in growing grapes and making wine. Sagrantino is a late-ripening variety. So we are just about last in line for bud break. It’s kind of like watching everyone else have their babies and wondering will ours every be born! And then boom, you’re suddenly a parent. Now begins the journey through 7 months of judicious farming…
Trashion Fashion – clothing from recycled materials
Hosted by the Sonoma Community Center, building community by offering opportunities to connect, learn, and grow, “Trashion Fashion” celebrates the intersection of fashion, art, and sustainability. There were over creative 45 entries.
This is the first time I have ever designed or made a garment of any kind. Luckily, Cynthia was a willing model. The dress, head band, train, and shopping bag are made entirely from used plastic chicken feed bags (and some trimmed pieces from potting soil bags and salt crystal bags). That’s it. We had a great time. Didn’t win any awards. But we had a good laugh! (And the boots are Cynthia’s actual chicken boots for when she actually feeds the chickens and collects eggs).
Springtime on the farm
Blooms are going crazy around the 11-acre Hydeout farm and the Sonocaia winery building. Some of these images are from our fruit trees, others from various ornamental and native plants around the farm:
Go-Kart Racing at Sears Point Sonoma Raceway
A very good friend invited me and some pals to learn how to race High Speed Go-Karts at Sears Point Sonoma Raceway. The carts sit just a few inches off the ground and fly at 60 mph. We had some great classroom time, some track sessions, more class instruction, then off to the races. The Sear Point Sonoma Raceway is just a few miles south of the town of Sonoma.
Spring vegetable garden
Nothing like growing your own food. You can do it too. Even just one tomato plant in a pot. Give it a try. I seeded our raised bed vegetable gardens in the dead of winter, and covered them with frost cloth until the last frost passed. We’re now harvesting lots of lettuce and arugula, with cabbage and onions and radishes and artichokes close behind:
Sonoma International Film Festival
The Sonoma International Film Festival just wrapped. It was a record-breaking event in terms of attendance, quality of over 100 films from around the world, and sponsorships. Sonocaia donated many of cases of wine which were poured around the various venues.
Hydeout chickens
As the weather warmed, egg production took off. In the winter they put their energy into growing down feathers and staying warm. In spring, they produce eggs like machines. And like most living things, chickens too have personalities. Some are shy and some are friendly. We have two roosters right now that guard the hen house from airborne predators, mainly hawks. Rocky (the old fella with wicked claws), and Harvey (the young buck who is very aggressive with the hens, we’ll leave it you to guess where he got his name). One day soon, Harvey will pick a fight with Rocky and they’ll fight it out for dominance.
The pretty winter weather coming into Sonoma from Petaluma
San Francisco, still worthy of a visit
I shot this photo on the side of the road last week. It was such a pretty moment. The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. It was constructed from concrete and steel, ahead of its time. Our public works projects don’t look like this anymore.
After your visit to the Sonoma Valley, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, and stop here for a photo before you head south for the SFO airport!
Keep up with the news and photos from Sonocaia on Instagram.
Just point your camera at this QR code:
Thanks for being a subscriber to this blog. See you next time!
Ken
Ken Wornick
Owner/winemaker
SONOCAIA estate winery
Insta – @Sonocaia
Blog – https://www.sonocaia.com/blog/
20656 Hyde Road
Sonoma, Ca 95476
Feb 23, 2024 | Sonocaia, Sonocaia Estate, Sonocaia Estate Vineyard, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma lifestyle, Sonoma Valley, Uncategorized
Thinking about booking a corporate event or a private family function? Our winery and farm might be just the right place…
Sonocaia is more than just a warm and inviting estate vineyard and boutique winery.
We’re also eleven acres of compelling ecological and agricultural projects.
Venues
We offer corporate team building functions and private family events, all mixed with learning about sustainable and eco-friendly practices. Explore the symbiotic relationship between nature and viticulture. Savor serious wines and farm-to-table produce while fostering a commitment to ecological and agricultural values. Schedule an educational seminar on a variety of grape, wine, and farming topics.
The winery and farm has a continuous and evolving set of projects underway at all times. Visitors are encouraged to inquire in advance about topics of interest.
Click here to inquire about booking your customized event
Catering
We partner with great chef-caterers offering delicious food options as part of your event plan.
Add an ecological or agricultural topic to your visit
Begin with a farm tour of bee hives, fruit orchards, and olive trees. Meet in the elevated pool house for a customized educational seminar. Take a stroll through the vineyard. Learn about composting, creek restoration, and surface water recovery. Or head straight to the winery to taste wine and enjoy a carefully curated chef’s meal.
In addition to grapes and wine, here are a few examples of the potential topics for your corporate or family visit:
Learn about estate Sagrantino, our special Umbrian red wine
Our estate grown Sagrantino is a boutique-scale effort; it is a traditionally-made deep red wine that transports tasters to the hills of Montefalco, Umbia, Italy. A rare find in California, this varietal is relatively unknown in the new world and is sparking curiosity from both the casual traveller and the serious wine critic. We have painstakingly cultivated our highly regarded Sagrantino vineyard over the years with careful sustainable farming practices. The resulting rich wine makes a bold but approachable statement.
Learn more about our estate Sagrantino here: information about Sagrantino
Shop for our Sonocaia estate reserve Sagrantino and other wines here: shop for wine now
Or leave a message of inquiry for winery: 415-793-7985
Jan 9, 2024 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Sagrantino, Sonocaia, Sonocaia Estate, Sonocaia grand opening, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma, Sonoma Farming, Sonoma International Film Festival, Sonoma lifestyle, Sonoma Valley, things to do in Sonoma
In case you missed this post, it is a fun review of the holiday season in Sonoma Valley and the Sonocaia winery. Give yourself 10 minutes to catch up with wine country. Warmly, Ken Wornick
Join us for a year-end wine country photo journey in our final Sonocaia blog post of 2023:
Locals tasting event
With the help of some very wonderful friends, we sold out another ‘grand opening’ winery event – mainly for locals that missed the initial launch of Sonocaia estate winery.
I presented a story of ‘wine in context’ – when tasting wine it is important to know “why” this wine was produced. In our case, we started almost twenty five years ago in the Santa Cruz Mountains developing vineyards for private clients. A decade later we had more than 40 vineyards built and were making a lot of personalized wine for those clients in our urban winery in Redwood City. Some of those wines won Gold and Double-Gold from the SF Chronicle wine competition. We sold the vineyard development and winery businesses to an investor. See this link for more. Over the next ten years, we built a second client-based vineyard development and wine making business, this time in Sonoma Valley. And sold that business in 2023. See this link for more.
Our newest project is the Sonocaia estate winery – focussed exclusively on Sagrantino, a rare red variety of very high repute from Montefalco Umbria Italy. Meanwhile, our second brand, Dysfunctional Family Winery, still lives on with the motto “serious wine, irreverent style” offering fun blends for all taste preferences and budgets. See link here.
A sold-out crowd enjoyed the stories, wines, food, and conversation…
Working our way through the wine lineup
Answering a question about the unique clonal history of the Sonocaia Sagrantino grapevines
New friends being made all around the table
The tasting continues deep into the library wines
At the end of the tasting, a couple of wild local yahoos in their ridiculous jacked-up sport cars hit the gas and ripped up our nice new parking lot! Nah, not really, just kidding NF and GM.
But wait, there’s more…
A large, warm, and wonderful family from all over the U.S. (and three generations!) spent an afternoon with us the day after Thanksgiving ’23. We had a ball tasting through many wines, having lots of technical questions and answers about growing grapes and making wine, and generally having some great laughs. The toddler played with my guitar and beat a wine barrel with the drum sticks. Thank you Ginny and Larry.
Sonocaia in the Sonoma Index-Tribune newspaper
Our local Sonoma newspaper took an interest in our new Sonocaia winery project. Find the full article here.The author, Emma Malloy, did a great job detailing the history of our winery project. They lead with this headline: More than a winery: Sonocaia, and agricultural gem.
KSVY 91.3FM Community radio
Our local radio station KSVY 91.3FM has great wall-to-wall programming including talk, music, news, food, politics, and so much more. Not everyone is aware of the quality of the programming, yet. I’ve been a frequent guest on station manager and KSVY Exec Director Bob Taylor’s “Morning Show” many times. If you are a Sonoma local, it is well worth tuning in and supporting. They recently launched a new transmission antenna and expanded their reach from Sonoma, now reaching into Petaluma, Novato, and Napa. And last month, KSVY held a very unusual fund raiser. At the vaunted and historic Sebastiani Theatre, built in 1933, five great bands played country and western music all afternoon to the hoots and hollers of a large crowd. Learn more about KSVY here.
The crowd begins to gather at the Sebastiani Theatre
Bob Taylor, Executive Director of Sonoma community radio KSVY 91.3 (and lead guitarist of ACDC cover band “Illegitimate AC/DC”)
Patrons Diana Bugg and Leslie Carlson; and Roger Rhoten, widely beloved manager for over 30 years of the Sebastiani Theatre
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
SVMA, our treasured Sonoma art museum, situated on Broadway very close to the Sonoma Plaza, held a very fun ‘poetry, food, and wine’ event in the museum’s gallery. Sold out weeks in advance, the poetry was provocative, warm, and hilarious. A far cry from the sleepy prose that I recall from English class in 7th grade. I poured Sonocaia and Dysfunctional Family wines at the event. See more here. Carole Copelan poured her Owl’s Perch and Harpsichord wines. And Chef Kyle Kuklewski served some delicious bites which paired beautifully with the wines and the poetry. The art in the background in some of the images below are from Richard Mayhew and the exhibition is called Inner Terrain.
Sonoma International Film Festival
Named “One of the 25 Coolest Festivals” by MovieMaker Magazine and one of “America’s Top Ten Destination Film Festivals” by USA Today, and coming up on March 20th – 24th, 2024; all passes to the Sonoma International Film Festival are on sale right now. It is a fully park-and-walk festival with great venues, truly excellent films, delicious food, and first class wine. You don’t want to miss it!
The staff and board of the film festival gathered for our holiday party. Many of Sonoma’s non-profits were also represented. And as always, the event was hosted by Kevin and Rosemary McKneely, our most important and generous patrons.
In the center, film festival board members Lisa Mango and Patty Elkus
Film festival patrons
Kevin McNeely, Executive Director Emeritus of the Sonoma Valley International Film Festival, hoists a giant Methuselah of 2018 Dysfunctional Family Winery ‘Red Blend’, equal to 6 liters or 8 bottles. The SIFF film festival and Dysfunctional have teamed up several times for outdoor movie nights on the lawn, and we’ll return to that program someday soon.
Sonoma International Film Festival – Kevin McNeely (Emeritus Creative Director), Bob Berg (Board Chair), John Curry (Emeritus Board Chair), and me, Ken Wornick (Board Vice-Chair)
Community Hanukkah
Supporting the Jewish community in their time of extreme stress, and for the right of Israel to exist, we attended a Hanukkah holiday event at the local Shir Shalom temple, then we cooked traditional potato latkes (don’t tell the cardiologists) and joined the larger Sonoma community for a public inter-faith community-wide menorah lighting and some street dancing too, on the last day of Hanukkah. The local Sonoma police and the County Sheriff’s offices blocked off a portion of Spain Street near the Plaza and provided a watchful vigil during the ceremonies, for which all attendees were quite grateful.
Below, winery client Patty Elkus submitted this beautiful image she titled “Lil Vignette of Santa and his Rosé” for the holidays. Seemed like just the right image for us to include with the Hanukkah story!
Bees and wax candle making
We put our Hydeout farm bee hives to bed for the winter, allowing the bees to build a seal around every crack and crevice of their hives, thus sheltering themselves from wind and rain and cold during the winter. Before that, we did the necessary hive work and collected some of the extra wax for various projects, seen here. I want to particularly thank Nic Freedman of Bees Rock Ranch and Chere Pafford, a renowned holistic bee keeper, both of whom acted as my mentors during this entire season.
Olives and oil
We harvested over a ton of Hydeout olives this year. Like everything on the farm, our approach is 100% organic. Due to last winters excellent rain, and the light crop in 2022, the 2023 crop was not only large, but nearly completely free of olive fruit flies. All in all a great olive harvest yielding deeply unctuous green oil.
Fall harvest – our final harvest of fruits and veggies from mid-December here at the farm
The very last of the tomatoes, persimmons, and figs picked just before the first rain (with a few peppers and some fresh eggs too).
What’s next for 2024?
The 2022 and 2023 vintages of Sagrantino are resting in barrels for the winter. The wild grasses and mustard are pushing up through the wet dirt from the recent three inches of rain. The winter solstice arrived on December 21st. Now the days get longer once again. We’ll prune the grape vines, mow the cover crop, and start in on another vintage. The 2024 vintage will be my 25th vintage.
Wishing all of you a wonderful New Year.
And when the holidays are done and things have returned to normal, we’ll still be here – ready to supply you with delicious wine. You can always order wine and pick it up at the winery. And we can ship too. Just click on this link! https://www.sonocaia.com
Happy new year everyone! – Ken
Jul 8, 2023 | Sagrantino, Sonocaia, Sonocaia Estate, Sonocaia Estate Vineyard, Sonocaia Winery, Sonoma Farming, Sonoma Valley
Coming soon – your invitation to the newest boutique winery in the Sonoma Valley
You are currently a subscriber to our about-to-launch Sonocaia Winery (you’ve known us for years as Hydeout Sonoma and Dysfunctional Family)
And you are first in line for an invitation! Keep an eye out for subsequent emails like this for your invitation.
If you are seeing this in an email directly from Ken or in social media, you are likely NOT on our list. Please click this link: Sonocaia and scroll to the bottom of that page and provide your email address. You’ll be added automatically to the invitation list.
Seven years in the making – the Sagrantino estate vineyard and the Sonocaia Winery:
Do you love a dark red wine that you can enjoy all the way through an entire meal, from the cheese plate to burgers to tiramisu?
If yes, then our Sonocaia Estate Reserve Sagrantino is for you. Our Sagrantino targets the middle of the famed enticing wine triangle:
- Pinot Noir (smooth and easy to drink but often without much body or length)
- Cabernet (jammy and full bodied, but often hot and tiresome after a glass or two)
- Petite Sirah (inky dark and spicy, but often rough and tannic).
We’re one of just a few Sagrantino growers in the entire country, and our rare Estate Reserve Sagrantino sits squarely in the middle of the triangle – offering great juiciness and body and tannins, and yet is somehow easy to enjoy over the course of an entire meal. Especially when cellar-aged for a few years!
How do you pronounce Sonocaia Sagrantino?
Say it out loud: So-No-Kai-Yah Sag-Ran-Teen-Oh
Sagrantino is capable of producing wines of awesome power and grace, yet was on the verge of extinction just 30 years ago. Even now, less than 2500 acres of Sagrantino exist worldwide!
A small group of elite growers in Montefalco, Umbria, Italy realized what they had and brought Sagrantino forward to the modern wine world. And the world took notice. In 2018, Worth Magazine noted that Sagrantino was poised for “a huge breakout in the wine world.” Last October, the “World of Fine Wine” wrote about the miracle of Montefalco Sagrantino. Wine Spectator raved about Sagrantiono saying this: Wine Spectator. And SF Chronicle Wine Competition issued eight medals to Sagrantino in 2022.
What started the Sonocaia project? Our fascination with Sagrantino began twenty years ago. Like so many great wine memories, ours began over a spectacular Italian dinner in San Francisco in 2003 where this famed Paolo Bea Sagrantino Pagliaro was served.
The wine was dark and juicy and bold, and yet fit beautifully with food and was easy to drink glass after glass. We committed to someday grow this variety and build a following around it. Thus began our very passionate inquiry into Sagrantino and what ultimately lead us to dedicate ourselves to this extraordinary variety in Sonoma!
- Sonocaia planted 2 acres of estate Sagrantino vines in 2016. The vines travelled from Italy to UC Davis to the nursery and finally to us. We also inter-planted tiny fractions of Cabernet, Petite Sarah, Primitivo, and Tannat in order to lengthen and smooth Sagrantino’s famed bold tannins.
- The vineyard has been farmed by hand, 100% organically, with year-long careful attention to detail.
- During the first two years of purposefully light yields in 2018 and 2019, we harvested some small amounts of the Sagrantino fruit and blended it with other red varieties from neighboring vineyards under the Dysfunctional Family Winery ‘black label’ brand. Want to be an early adopter of these wines? For sale now on the website, 85 cases of the 2019, and 38 cases of the 2018 remain, click here to shop for the 2018 and 2019 Dysfunctional Family Estate Reserve ‘black label’ wines. We can ship to you. Or you can pick up at the winery. Use this code at checkout for an instant 20% discount: FF20
- 2020 was a wildfire year, no Estate Reserve Sagrantino was produced. Instead we harvested early and produced 28 cases of saignee’ rose’ (also under the Dysfunctional label). Click here to shop for the rose’. We can ship to you. Or you can pick up at the winery. Use this code at checkout for an instant 20% discount: FF20
- The Sonocaia Estate Reserve Sagrantino yielded spectacular fruit in 2021 and 2022. Those first two full vintages of Estate Reserve Sagrantino are now aging beautifully in barrels in the new winery. Vintage 2021 to be released next year to mailing list members and wine club members only.
- With the return of winter rains, the 2023 crop is also looking over-the-top exciting (see photo below)..
- And after four years, winery construction is now complete and we are very close to opening!
We’ll be holding a series of small tasting visits soon for you, our subscribers. Come be a part of the fun. You get the first shot at reservations. Keep an eye out for subsequent emails for your invitation:
We like to call it the “Far East” of Sonoma town. We’re a few minutes east of the Sonoma Plaza, and less than a minute east of the Vineburg Deli (which is at the corner 8th Street East and Napa Road). We’re in the Hyde-Burndale neighborhood just south across Napa Road from Gundlach-Bundshu and Scribe wineries:
This week at Sonocaia. The summer flowers are hitting their peak. Please enjoy:
Final note – new chicks arriving in the hen house
Even in a protected setting like our hen house, apex predators manage to eat a chicken on occasion. So they must be replaced. A wonderful neighborhood kid is hatching her own chicks and selling them to neighbors. We picked up 10 new chicks last week and have them growing in their separate screened cattle trough – until they are big enough to introduce to the main population.
Ten baby chicks under the warmth of the heat lamp
Our adorable neighborhood chicken whisperer
Jun 7, 2023 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Hydeout Sonoma, Sagrantino, Sonoma, Sonoma Farming, Sonoma lifestyle, Sonoma Valley, Vineyard, Wine
Part 2 of farming and wine life in the Sonoma Valley…
Honey Bees and a National Park Ranger Talk on the Light Spectrum
Honey bees being a constant topic here at the Hydeout, what a great surprise to find a recent national park ranger talk on the color perception of bees! Turns out, honey bees see further out than humans on the light spectrum – which is why they can more easily find nectar in flowers. And why they don’t really like the color black.
Honey bees (cont’d)
Here are some more images of our work last week in the honey bees hives:
American Graffiti in Petaluma
This year marked the 50th year since George Lucas’ coming-of-age movie American Graffiti was released on the silver screen. Cruisin’ the Boulevard showcased hundreds of American model cars 1972 or older who joined in the annual parade of classic American cars cruising through the streets of downtown Petaluma where most of the movie was filmed in the summer of 1972. The best place to watch was along Petaluma Boulevard, south of B Street to D Street.
Fire
Sad to say we’ve had two fires already in our lovely Hyde-Burndale neighborhood. The first was a grass fire from some untimely afternoon high grass mowing. Our local neighbors with a water truck beat the firefighters to the scene (due to a faulty address) and had the fire out quickly.
The second, was a structure fire right across the street from us. The awesome and very local Schell-Vista Fire Dept arrived, followed closely by Cal-Fire, and that fire was also put out quickly. Hopefully the last of this fire business for the year.
Meal Fit for a King
Hosted by noted Napa vintner John Boich of Boich Cellars, we enjoyed an incredible food and wine event at their Wall Road vineyard (where we are farming Cabernet and Syrah for Boich). Check out the menu below for each of these incredible dishes:
Yours truly, Ken Wornick, with chef extraordinaire Landon Schoenfeld of Oak and Acorn Luxury In-home Dining
The Boich Cellars menu from Oak and Acorn Luxury In-Home Dining. Find them at 612-618-5909, oakandacorndining@gmail.com
Wildlife
After a very wet winter, wildlife activity is booming around Sonoma and at the Hydeout. These images, shot by professional photographer Michael Hodgson, Sony Pro photographer & travel journalist, at www.michaelhodgsonphoto.com and michael@hitraveltales.com
Snake!
This is first time ever finding a snake at the Hydeout. Snakes, especially rattle snakes are super common up in the hills around Sonoma. Down here in the almost-flats, we have very few to zero rattlers. This snake however is actually a common gopher snake that was leisurely crossing the driveway. I grabbed it, put it in a bucket, and took it straight out the vineyard where it very quickly disappeared down a gopher hole – to my very great delight!
Cork from Ganau, it’s Italian for cork
Our primary supplier of cork is Ganau, a local Sonoma company run by terrific people. In this video, you can see a natural product, cork, being naturally branded by fire. Click here to watch a 30-second video of cork being fire-branded at the Ganau plant
Fire branded and ink branded corks
Final thought…
Fun night at the Big Easy in Petaluma seeing Illegitimate AC/DC. Fronted by my buddies Bob Taylor (as Angus, center, guitar) and James Marshall Berry (right, on bass). They rocked hard all night long. Bob and James are also an integral part of KSVY Sonoma, our local radio station. I was a guest on Bob’s The Morning Show last week – check it out here: listen to Ken Wornick on the KSVY Morning Show
Next up – watch for a big announcement!
My trusty 2007 BMW R1200RT gets me around to all the vineyard sites we farm.
May 14, 2023 | Dysfunctional Family Winery, Hydeout Sonoma, Sonoma, Sonoma Farming, Sonoma lifestyle, Sonoma Valley, Vineyard, Wine
Olives, honey bees, chickens, bats, owls, farmer’s market, and wine…the list of farm projects at Hydeout Sonoma is growing every day. I think you’ll enjoy following along:
Olives and the dreaded fruit fly
The olive fruit fly is ubiquitous now in wine country. Perhaps due to the sheer number of olive trees, or the years of drought, and/or so many olive trees in residential yards that receive zero pest management. But there are several 100% organic and cost effective methods to control the olive fruit fly. See the photo captions:
-
as seen here
Honey bee project
We currently have three honey bee hives here at the Hydeout – one hive from a captured wild swarm, one hive from Bee Kind bees in Sebastopol, and one hive from Mann Lake bees.
-
Shipped bees come in a container like this with thousands of bees inside...
-
and the queen isolated in this screened holder
Here, some hive comb that the bees were building in the ‘wrong place’ in the hive. Had to remove it before they got to far. It is important to guide them to build comb only in the frames – where we can later expand or contract the hive as needed when food becomes short and cold weather sets in.
The miracle of perfect geometry in the world of honey bees.
Chickens
The Hydeout Sonoma chickens are shifting their energy to egg production as the summer sun warms their environment. Contact Cynthia if you’re interested in eggs.
…and this fresh egg frittata is the result!
Tuesday Farmer’s Market on Sonoma Plaza
Neighbor and friend Lori Murray of Lola Sonoma Farms is an expert in pasture-raised 100% organic heritage “Kune Kune” pork resulting in very clean healthy meat. And a great sense of humor too.
Bats
Bats are one of the most important and totally misunderstood animals. We are crazy for bats and are encouraging their place here at the Hydeout. Bats are a critical interstitial species (see this link: more about bats). And are a crucial and fully organic living tool in wine country integrated pest management. Bats can eat 1,000 or more mosquitos and insects per night! It is so great that we finally had a very wet winter. But pools of standing of water have created a haven for insects of all kinds. And bats help keep things under control.
-
Narrow and tall, this bat box house is carefully designed...
Placing the bat boxes in just the right location will assure it’s success.
This paddle cactus is providing an incredible place for birds to find water, but is also growing mosquito larvae.
Grape Vines
Weather, gophers, rabbits, water – the pressure on vineyards and grapevines is painfully constant. Even in a small vineyard of just a few acres, it is not unusual to lose 30 or 40 vines per year. Like everything else in farming, it is important to constantly replace the losses with new vines, so that the vineyard is always maintained at peek performance.
New grapevines from the nursery which have been fully acclimated and are ready to be planted.
Sonocaia – our new winery here at Hydeout Sonoma
Many of you are aware of our multi-year project to launch our “estate reserve” Sagrantino wine. The new name associated with our Sagrantino based wine is “Sonocaia” (pronounced So-No-Kaī-Yah).
Coming this spring with the first invitations going to our blog post readers like you – the grand release of our first Sonocaia (So-No-Kī-Yah) Estate Reserve Sagrantino. Never heard of the Sagrantino grape? It produces a deep dark delicious red wine, originally from Monte Falco, Umbria…and now from the Sonoma Valley c/o Hydeout Sonoma. More on this soon with a new winery, label, website, and more.
See this chart for some astounding information on this little-known grape variety:
Wine tasting with clients
Faith Armstrong and I routinely meet with our Forward Vines and Wines clients – to taste wine from barrels and bottle samples. We taste not only the wine we’ve made for our clients, but often many other local wines – as a guide to client preferences, i.e. color, acidity, tannin, alcohol, blending, etc. Here we are in the Sonoma Mountain AVA tasting several local Chardonnays.
Mowing the fence line
What could be better than a Sunday afternoon on the tractor mowing the fence line? For a walking path, a dog run, and especially access and fire prevention, mowing the fence line should be done early and often.
Moonrise at the Hydeout
A rising full moon at the Hydeout, or anywhere in Sonoma Valley, the “Valley of the Moon,” is a wonderful and heartwarming event.
