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Parsonage Archives
Harvest 2005
2005 was a very good growing year at the Parsonage, just like the rest of California. We had our largest harvest of 25 tons, easily beating the previous best of 18 tons in 2003... Read more>
Harvest 2004
We had planned a harvest party for the last weekend in October. We were preparing to start notifying all of you who had asked to participate when it started raining like cats and dogs on October 19th. We did an emergency harvest in the rain with a farm labor contractor on October 20th. It was our earliest harvest in four years.
We are sorry that we disappointed so many of you who had asked to participate in the harvest.
I was concerned at harvest that we may not have attained perfect ripeness, but I was quite wrong. As I write this on March 23, 2005, the deep complexity and intensity of the 2004 harvest is already manifesting after less than five months in barrel.
Vintage 2003
We will bottle the 2003 vintage (some 1,200 cases) during the first week of May. Today, after 16 ½ months in barrel the 2003s are tasting magnificent. I was worried that I might not ever be able to surpass this epic, benchmark year with its brilliant hedonism (think 2001) and its depth of nuanced complexities (think 2002)! But I am wrong again. It appears the 2004s are their equal, if not superior.
Vineyard Maturity
By all measures the Parsonage Vineyard is relatively immature. Vintage 2004 marks our fifth harvest. It was our seventh leaf in viticultural parlance, which is to say, our vines seventh year in the ground. Most experts on the topic assert that you cannot make a truly great wine until your vines are in their 12th to 15th year in the ground. The theory is that a vineyard cannot express the depth and breadth of its terroir until the root system has probed the depths of its soils. Great complexity is, thus, assured, if you have a great site. We do have a great site. That said, I submit that the best is yet to come!
Cuvee Rocco
 As I write this I am listening to our first grandchild, Rocco the Good, as we call him around here, giggling. It’s a great sound! Rocco’s first birthday is coming up on April 4th. To honor the future Parsonage winemaker, we are doing 75 cases of a super-reserve bottling called Cuvee Rocco. It is immensely powerful, complex and delicious. It will need to be laid down for a while. I have no doubts that it will still be in its prime when we open a few bottles to celebrate Rocco’s 21st birthday.
Vintage 2002
We are down to our last 240 cases of the 2002 vintage. We have about 130 cases of the Estate Syrah, 15 cases of the Estate Carmelstone Reserve Syrah, 80 cases of the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and 20 cases of the Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. We are long sold out o the Snosrap Cyrano Red Table Wine, Estate Merlot and Reserve Petit Applique. My congratulations to anyone who managed to talk me out of a whole case of Petit. It was great on the day I bottled it, but it is turning into something beyond description. And it’s still just a baby.
The most spectacular evolver of the 2002 vintage has turned out to be the Estate Syrah. It showed a lot promise at bottling then went into a modest degree of bottle-shock. It has slowly emerged from the shock state and is really starting to turn a lot of heads or noses. Initially, we were pouring it side by side with the super hedonistic 2001 Estate Syrah. Probably 4 out of every 5 tasters preferred the 2001. Then, during the last two months, as we sold the last 30 cases of the 2001, the tide of preference started turning toward the 2002 by about a three to two ratio.
 The noteworthy thing about the 2002 Estate Syrah is how fascinating and mysteriously complex it has become. It just keeps changing and changing, and all for the better. We have had several serious collectors of French North Rhones from appellations such as Cote Rotie, Hermitage and Cornas liken the 2002 to some the of the great vintages of those areas when they were actually able to attain ripeness. The 2002 Estate Syrah will turn out to be one of the great Parsonage wines.
Further, the 2002 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is finally waking up from its slumber of tightness. With its two and a half percent blend of Petit Verdot, the nose is presenting a floral blackberry and currant complex that is very beguiling. When this wine fully unfolds over the next three to eight years, it’s going to delight a lot of palates.
Harvest 2005
Harvest 2003
Harvest 2002
Newsletters
Vintage 2004
Vintage 2003
Vintage 2002
Vintage 2001
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