This is going to be a new segment on my blog. We have two outstanding wineries right in our back yard here in the San Juan Islands, and I feel a certain responsibility as a "wine guy" to keep all of you up-to-date on what is happening, new releases and upcoming events. I hope you find this a nice addition to Brazenly Lucid Wines.

I got a call from Yvonne Swanberg, owner of San Juan Vineyards a couple of weeks ago. She was excited about the first ever harvest of pinot noir at the vineyards. I was excited too since I have anticipated some results from their acre of planted pinot vines. Every year Chris Primus, wine maker at San Juan Vineyards has been pruning and nurturing the vines, hoping for some results. The weather has never been quite good enough to fully ripen the grapes. Pinot Noir is quite fickle and delicate. A couple of years ago they were able to use some of the pinot in their rose' but that was about it. The summer of 2009 started off cool, but we had a nice July and August and I had a feeling that this might be the year. Sadly, September started off a little iffy but a couple of nice weeks got the grapes to the ripeness that Chris was hoping for. Two and a half tons of estate fruit is now fermenting and Chris mentioned that it is a wonderful thing to have the smell of pinot noir at the winery. Chris had spent some time down in pinot land assisting in wine making at a couple of wineries in Oregon. It is his passion and I know that we will have some nice juice to look forward to. Look for the first ever San Juan Vineyards 2009 Estate Pinot Noir to hit the shelves in 2011 or 2012.