Greetings from Calluna Vineyards as we arrive at July of 2026!
This is a big year for us as we will be starting our 20th harvest this fall, and our son Peter gets married this month here at Calluna. We are getting everything set for the ceremony between two olive trees by the Raynaud Merlot vineyard block, followed by cocktails at the top of the property by the Colonel’s Vineyard, then a family style dinner with large tables positioned on our main lawn. The Winemaker (yours truly) is praying for good weather.
Then, just as we will be catching our breath after this coming harvest, our daughter Amy will get married in New York this fall. So much to look forward to!
While it is a big year for us, personally, it will be a smaller year for us in the vineyards, as we are on track to have roughly half of our crop size from the last couple of years. This is probably due to the near record rains in April, and even some rare rain in May. You may remember from my April journal entry, the growing season got started early due to high heat in March, and as the vines tried to pollinate (i.e., set fruit) in late April, the rains put a damper on that process. However, even if 2026 is small, we are excited about the quality we are seeing so far and anticipate a memorable vintage.
When I hit the road to promote our wines, one of my favorite ways to meet consumers is at a Winemaker Dinner. We just had a great one at Brasserie in St. Louis with the renowned, James Beard Award-winning, Chef Gerard Craft. Gerard is owner of the Niche Food Group of restaurants and is considered one of the top chefs in this food centric city. He did a wonderful job when we sat down in the side room of their restaurant Brasserie for the dinner with their guests, and was assisted by Brasserie’s chef, Andrew Hernandez.
My favorite dish was the Vol Au Vent Lamb Ragu, paired with our 2020 Merlot “Aux Raynauds”.
All our wines showed beautifully, as they always do when flattered by this high-quality fare.
We have another exciting dinner coming up on our home front here in Healdsburg, and this one has an interesting twist. It will be at Dry Creek Kitchen, the iconic restaurant founded by Charlie Palmer, on August 19. Chef Shane McAnelly will be cooking in collaboration with Taylor Montgomery of Montgomery Sky Farm, which is located outside Asheville, North Carolina. Taylor has just won a James Beard Award himself, for Best Chef Southeast – so we have another couple of spectacular chefs working their magic alongside our wines. We would love for you to join us at this dinner if you can! Tickets can be purchased here.
It is rare for us (more accurately, this is the first time!) for a critic from a significant publication to come to Calluna, heard our story, and taste through a range of wines, but a couple of weeks ago, Courtney Humiston, the Pacific Northwest writer for JamesSuckling.com visited us. We tasted through both library wines and current releases, and she then issued a beautiful set of scores for Calluna’s current release wines which you can see here if you scroll down to the bottom for the full recent report on Sonoma wines. We are especially proud of the 98 points awarded to our 2021 Skyward Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon!
We had Session 1 of Calluna Academy on June 18, and I think it went quite well! We presented two of our core wines: the 2023 Calluna Estate Blanc and the 2019 Calluna Vineyards Cuvée. The goal, as my wife put it, is to highlight the 3 “e’s” – Education, Experience and Enjoyment, and to be able to ask the Winemaker anything. We were pleased that the group had a lot of good questions.
If you missed that first session, you can watch the recording here, and consider buying the special Calluna Academy 6-Pack if you have not already – it is the best deal on our website for high quality aged wines.
I look forward to the next session on July 10, at 5 pm Pacific. We will be looking at the 2021 Merlot “Aux Raynauds” and the 2022 Colonel’s Vineyard Cabernet, two very different wines due to grape varietals and growing seasons. We hope you can join us.
Until next time…
Cheers,
David Jeffrey
Founder & Winemaker
