Well, we knew it was coming but the early budbreak that we experienced still caught me a little bit by surprise! And now accelerated by the very warm weather which all of California has been experiencing at this time, ready or not, our 20th growing season at Calluna Vineyards has begun. (Here is a shot of budbreak and beyond for one of our Cabernet Franc vines on March 31, 2026.)
To the extent I am thinking about the big picture during Calluna’s 20th budbreak, I am feeling excited and optimistic. There is all kinds of advice out there on how to address the issues of today’s evolving market, but I still lean on the traditional history of winemaking as the key to success: Planting a vineyard on an excellent terroir, living on the vineyard to ensure proper management, and making wine from the same vineyards year-in and year-out, so that our wines are inexorably tied to this land. The vineyards are paramount; the winemaking is traditional and certainly important, but frankly secondary given high quality fruit; the wine bottles and labels are simple but classic; the prices are reasonable; and the wine is meant to be consumed at the table with friends and family. I still think this traditional approach is best.
February is one of the months when I can travel in support of our distributors’ wine sales efforts. We have good distributors in New York (which also covers New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut) and in Florida, so I was in those states in February, and we had many productive and memorable calls.
I started out in New Jersey, where some highlights of the trip were a winemaker dinner at Char restaurant in Raritan, a staff training for the CVC at Gary’s in Bernardsville, an in depth tasting of our lineup by Master of Wine Chris Cree and his staff at Cree Wine Company, who have been great Calluna supporters. I then went down to Philadelphia for some calls there, capped off with a presentation to the Wharton Wine Club, ie, graduate business school students who will hopefully be big buyers someday!
When I left the New York area early in the morning it was 7 degrees F, and when I arrived in Naples, Florida it was 77 degrees F. Wow, that was impactful! It was a great trip to Florida = our team has been able to place Calluna by the glass at icons Bern’s Steakhouse and the Breakers. These are really exciting venues to showcase our wines.
Here is another fun thing to highlight – Calluna just bottled its first Rosé this year, from the 2025 vintage!
Our Rosé is a saignée style from our two Cabernet Franc vineyards, and structurally as I like it: no residual sugar, bright acidity, and moderate alcohol of 12.5%. I’m pleased to report that it is already tasting great, and it will be a wonderful addition to our collection to enjoy as Spring turns to Summer.
Below are some pictures highlighting bottling day. Stay tuned for the release later this Spring – I can’t wait to share it with you.
Until next time…
Cheers,
David Jeffrey
Founder & Winemaker
