10 years. 81 days.
81 days since the first day of harvest 2016! The madness of it! 81 days! So much has happened and so much has changed in just so short a period of time and such a long one. It’s funny how it can seem like forever ago and always seem like no time has passed at all.
A brief recap on harvest – Our 2016 Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Reserve Blanc are racked and topped. The Chardonnay is still very slowly percolating through secondary fermentation, and we are stirring it occasionally. The Beck Vineyard field-blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and our four lots of Pinot Noir – Napa, Sonoma, and two lots of Anderson Valley — are slowly completing malolactic fermentation as well, and the small lot of Harmony School Cabernet that fermented in bin and barrel is just starting.
And, we have just completed the tasting room renovation. The lights and ceiling were replaced and we will be open for tastings again following Thanksgiving break. It’s a project that we have been planning for a while … When we first bought our warehouse in 2014, it was a shell, just four concrete walls and a plywood roof: no insulation, no ceiling, no lighting or electricity and no plumbing. The first phase of renovation involved finishing the space and occupying it. During phase two we applied for, received and installed the winery permit and plumbing. Phase three, which we have just completed, involved renovating the tasting room, and it looks amazing. Please come see it – Schedule a winery tour and tasting here!
10 years.
It’s been ten years that we’ve been slowly building this thing called Crosby Roamann. Ten years! What more is there to say? It still feels as fresh and new, as exciting and different as it ever did, and yet it’s also starting to feel like something different, like something we have grown into, like something we have become: No longer a mask, but a reflection … And not a reflection, because this thing, this winery, these wines, this life, it isn’t a reflection at all, but a choice, a continuing affirmation, a continuing struggle, a cycle, an art. A portrait, and each time we return to it, each time we re-engage, we bring something new to the table, something from our other lives, something from our night-selves, something from our dreams.
We are not only the person we are, the child we were, the person we have become, but the person we desire to be. We are not only the reflection in the mirror, the physical, the actual, but also the potential, the imaginary. We must hold these two thoughts in our mind: Not only the possible, but also the impossible.
The castles of our future are paved with the bricks of our dreams.
The feast.
Join us for our Holiday Wine Celebration (and dance party for those who stay late) — Saturday, December 17, 2016. Details still to come, but we will have good food, great wines (as always) and dance music on the turntable. RSVP here and save the date!
For members.
We are closing out this year’s Inner Circle shipments with a blast-from-the-past: 2011 Crosby’s Reserve. This wine, a rich and succulent blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot aged in all new French oak for 22 months, has never tasted better. It has shed its youthful exuberance and grown into a sophisticated and stylish wine. Don’t miss it!
More news! Our Inner Circle membership shipping schedule will be changing in the new year. California residents and collectors (6-bottles+) can continue to receive wines upon release, every other month. Everyone else will receive two shipments per year, in the spring and the fall. Joining as a member now locks in your discounted pricing for the year. New pricing effective end of the year. Join now.
Happy Harvest and a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving to our friends and family.
With love from Napa Valley,
Juliana & Sean
