Welcome New Member Cairdeas Winery

I am pleased to welcome our newest member, Cairdeas Winery, to the FWWS. Here is some information on them:
 

Cairdeas (Car-dess) is an ancient Gaelic word meaning friendship, goodwill or alliance. We believe in all three. Good wine should be shared with friends, goodwill spread at every opportunity, and alliances created with those who share our passion.

Our focus is to create small lots of fantastic wines made from Washington’s best fruit while practicing sustainable wine making and supporting our local businesses.

http://www.cairdeaswinery.com

Welcome to the org!

FWWS is pleased to announce the release of the official Family Wineries of Washington State iPhone and iPad application!

The application lists all current FWWS members and uses GPS to locate the user and display members on a map.

This version 1 application is live in the App Store and costs $0.99 with 10% of the proceeds directly funding the non-profit organization.

Please download and start using the app today! Also feel free to market this application to your winery customers. We welcome feedback and provide a mechanism within the app to do so. You can expect to see updated versions with new functionality in the near future.

Thanks!

App startup screen

Member list view

 

Member map view

Did you miss the WSU seminar “Gearing up for Harvest” held in the Tri-Cities earlier this month? Dr. Thomas Henick-Kling, Professor of Enology and Director of Viticulture and Enology at WSU, will recap the seminar on Friday, September 23 from 7:00-9:00 PM at the Wines of Washington Tasting Room at 1924 Post Alley in Pike Place Market. FWWS member wineries are invited to sign up now before the invitation is extended to other Washington wineries. Thomas will recap the following topics:

Acid Adjustment and Brix Issues - the use of cooler climate fruit ripening parameters, deacidification and avoiding the exclusive use of Brix, pH, and TA for grape ripeness

Fermentation Strategies: Less Ripe Fruit and MLF Issues

Tannin Management: Strategies for controlling tannin extraction with overly tannic fruit

Fining: Mildew Damage - how to deal with fruit infected with various molds and mildews (primarily white grapes)

Difficult Wines and Successes

Please respond by return e-mail if you would like to attend. Non-member wineries and friends are welcome as well. We look forward to seeing you there.

FWWS Board

Welcome New Associate Member, Castillo de Feliciana Vineyard and Winery

I am pleased to welcome our newest Associate member, Castillo de Feliciana Vineyard and Winery, to the FWWS. Here is some information on them:

Castillo de Feliciana Vineyard and Winery is located just south of Walla Walla on 66 acres.

Feliciana was the chosen name as it is also a blend: "Feliz" means happiness, and also memorializes Deborah's Aunt Feliciana, of whom she has many sweet and vivid childhood memories. The images of a Castillian dancer or Spanish Fado singer will be the centerpiece of the wine label, evoking the mystery, color and enchantment of Spain.

Our tasting room and processing facility will take you to the Southern region of Spain where white stucco building walls are contrasted with Terra cotta tile roofs. The structure will occupy a picture postcard setting with the picturesque Blue Mountains to the south and our estate vineyard surrounding the tasting room to the North.

Our tasting room captures the ambience of true Spanish architecture bringing into play the rich colors and textures of Southern Spain.

Our vineyard has been planted with cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, tempranillo, and alberino varietals. We have installed drip irrigation to water these new plants. The majority of the vineyard has been planted sloping to the south in a direction that will allow maximum exposure to the sun's rays. Grapes must obtain even sunshine throughout the day to ripen evenly.

http://www.castillodefeliciana.com

Welcome to the org!

Welcome New Member Pandora Cellars

I am pleased to welcome our newest member, Pandora Cellars, to the FWWS. Here is some information on them:
 

Owner and wine enthusiast Dan Williams founded Pandora Cellars in the Summer of 2010 with winemaker and viticulturist Landon (Sam) Keirsey with a vision of creating quality wines at an affordable price. Our Cellar Master, John Welch, makes sure everything runs smoothly and that we stay on task to get you our wines.

Focusing on Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec and other Bordeaux red varietals as well as Dry Riesling and the French Rhone varietal Marsanne for whites, Pandora Cellars aims to take the best of Washington vineyards fruit and make small quantities of palate pleasing wines.

http://www.pandoracellars.com

Welcome to the org!