Muns
Vineyard
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Muns Vineyard on Facebook
Muns Vineyard Pinot Noirs win Best of Appellation Gold
Medals from AppellationAmerica.com.
Winter thus far has been atypically dry from October to January. Finally, a light rain is falling for a few days in the third week of January. We've already begun supplementing with drip irrigation which has the benefit of allowing nutrient feeding, such as phosphorus which is naturally low. For people, though, the weather has been gorgeous with sunny mid-60s daily. Budwood will soon be collected and stored in the refrigerator for grafting work next summer to repair errant plants. Then, pre-pruning will take place to remove the bulk of the canes. After that, just prior to bud-break, usually early March, the final pruning will be done to set the number of shoots, buds and clusters for next season. We have seen some initial bud swell, so we are stalling pruning as long as possible to, in turn, stall bud break a few days. Trellis repair, gopher eradication (Pinot the JRT helps a lot here!), weed abatement, mowing and equipment maintenance/repair keep us busy in this "off-season".
Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noirs:A
Special Mountain Vineyard,
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 | January 21: Passport Day at Vino Locale, Palo Alto. 12-5:00pm Join Ed and Mary at Vino Locale in Palo Alto for Passport Day, a celebration of Santa Cruz Mountains wineries and wines. Come and taste our high mountain estate Pinot Noirs and Syrah. We will pour a vertical of our Pinots, and our new 2009 Syrah. Bring your Passport if you have one - and if you don't have a Passport, don't worry - come in and join us regardless ($10 tasting fee). We would love to see you. Vino Locale is a European- inspired enoteca, wine shop and gallery in an historic old Victorian - very warm and inviting - and a huge supporter of local food, wine and art. Muns Vineyard Pinots are available for sale here. Come and meet the new owners, Debra and Jocelyn. Have a lovely lunch here. Passports ($40) are available from the SCMWA and can be used again for each of the quarterly Passport events. Vino Locale, 431 Kipling St., Palo Alto 650-328-0450 | ||||||
| Sunday, Jan. 22: Wine & Crab Taste-Off -
Ma Maison, Aptos Join us for this wine and food pairing hommage to the delectable crab. We
wanted to be at Ma Maison again this year, pairing our Pinot Noir and Syrah
with Chef Lionel's fabulous crab creations. Our 2006 Pinot especially has
proven to be a wonderful pairing with crab - and we'll see what the chef
comes up with this year! Be sure to select Ma Maison as one of your stops!Five coastal restaurants (Michael's on Main in Soquel; Ma Maison and Sanderlings in Aptos; Paradise Beach Grille and Cafe Cruz in Capitola) prepare a scrumptious crab dish paired with wines poured by several local wineries at each location. The $49 ticket gives you the opportunity to taste two crab selections at two restaurants, plus wine tasting at all locations. After tasting each crab dish, you vote for your favorite. You can add more crab for $16 per additional restaurant. This event sells out, so be sure to get your tickets! Muns Vineyard will pour at Ma Maison, 9051 Soquel Dr., Aptos. For more information and tickets, contact the SCMWA at 831-685-8463, or www.scmwa.com. | ||||||
| Sunday, April 1: Pinot Paradise! - at
Villa Ragusa, Campbell Ed and Mary will pour our Muns Vineyard Pinots at this annual celebration of
Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noirs. Over 30 local wineries participate, with
paired food from a dozen local restaurants. If you love Pinot, you won't
want to miss this event. It sells out, so be sure to get your tickets.
Tickets are available from the SCMWA.
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| Profile of Ed and Mary in Los Gatos Weekly Times,
11/21/11: When it
comes time to pour wine at a local charitable event, Muns' the word |
| A video interview with Ed & Mary in the vineyard on Patch.com:
Muns Vineyard is a Pinot lover's paradise! |
| "I was wild about the Muns Vineyard 2006 (Pinot Noir)..." -
Christina Waters, in Santa Cruz Weekly, March 23, 2011, in an article about
a pre-Pinot Paradise tasting. |
| Muns Vineyard's
2008 Syrah is the featured 'Sip
of the Week' in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, 2/23/11. |
| Muns Vineyard's 2007 Pinot Noir is the featured 'Sip
of the Week' in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, 10/6/10. "Because Pinot Noir and
fall go together. Think Thanksgiving! |
| Muns Vineyard's Rosé of Pinot
Noir is featured
in the Good Times Santa Cruz, March 3, 2010. Rosé
is becoming one of reviewer Josie Cowden's favorite wines, and she really likes the
Muns Vineyard: "(The Muns Vineyard) Rosé of Pinot Noir has everything going for it— it’s light and fresh and not overly sweet. Dry and crisp, this fragrant Rosé has gorgeous flavors of cherry, watermelon and cinnamon spice. As the warmer weather comes around, this would be a perfect wine to take on a picnic, or to have with your spring and summer greens." Try it! We think you will really like this delicious Rosé. |
| Muns Vineyard Pinots are featured in a
story in the Santa Cruz
Sentinel, with recipes from local vintners - including Mary's now famous
recipe for pan-roasted Brussels sprouts, that pairs deliciously with our 2004
and 2005 Pinot Noirs. |
| Ham Radio Creates a Vineyard! - Ed is quoted in the 17
October 2009 article in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times,
"Amateur Radio Operators on Front Lines During Loma Prieta Quake".
Although Ed wasn't one of the active hams helping with that local disaster,
the article notes that the property that eventually became the current Muns
Vineyard was selected for ham radio purposes by Ed. The first day of
land clearing for the home occurred on 17 October, 1989, the day of the
destructive Loma Prieta Earthquake, whose epicenter was just five miles south
of the property. |
| Read about
Muns Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Sentinel (September 12, 2009), in
an article about the 2009 harvest. It includes a number of photos of
harvest at Muns Vineyard. |
| Read about
Muns Vineyard in the San Jose Mercury News. Laurie Daniel,
about Pinot Paradise: "The 2006 Muns Vineyard Pinot Noir ($40) is dark and spicy, with black cherry,
clove, cola, a hint of sage and firm structure." |
| Read about
Muns Vineyard in
the March 15 issue of the Prince of Pinot's PinotFile newsletter.
The Prince reviews our 2004, 2005, 2006 and as yet unreleased 2007 Pinots.
About the 2007, the Prince says, "A consistent Muns Vineyard style is beginning to evolve with this wine which shows similarities in structure and character to the 2006 vintage. This wine exhibits admirable complexity with nicely spiced red and black fruits, herbs, forest floor and mocha. There are still tannins to shed, but these are ripe and fine and will integrate nicely with a little more bottle age. The acidity is spot on. This should prove to be a very stellar wine. |
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-------------- paintings by
W.M. Vinci,
inspired by Muns Vineyard --------------
Well-traveled Pinot ... enjoyed on a sailboat in Croatia!
(Thanks, Dave Aslin, for purchasing at Gene's Market
in Saratoga and taking to the Mediterranean for vacation.)
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Muns Vineyard awarded Best of Appellation Gold Medals for our
2004, 2005 and 2006 Pinot Noirs from
AppellationAmerica.com |
2004 120 cases produced.
Our first bottling, this wine shows fresh, bright
fruit, characteristic of the new vineyard. This wine continues to develop beautifully in the bottle,
flavors melding and deepening. Delicious! $40 SOLD OUT!
| Gold Medal, Appellation America 'Best of Appellation' Award |
2005 180 cases produced and released in March 2007. $40
| 91 Points, Wine Enthusiast |
| Gold Medal, Appellation America 'Best of Appellation' Award |
2006 360 cases produced and released in June 2008. $40
| Gold Medal, Appellation America 'Best of Appellation' Award |
| "I was wild about the Muns Vineyard 2006 (Pinot Noir)..." - Christina Waters, in Santa Cruz Weekly, March 23, 2011, in an article about a pre-Pinot Paradise tasting. |
2007 150 cases produced and released in Fall 2009. $40
2008 165 cases produced and released in May 2011. $40
2009 242 cases produced, not yet released. $40
2010
48 cases produced and released in May 2010. $18 SOLD OUT!
2008
79 cases produced and released in
August 2010. $25 SOLD OUT!
2009 66 cases produced, released October 2011. $25
We grow premium Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir with exquisite attention to quality so as to produce the very finest wine. The wines we produce reflect our high standards in the vineyard, as well as one of the best locations for growing Pinot Noir in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a prime growing region for this luscious winegrape. The first commercial vintage was in 2003 based on a half-ton harvest. Soquel Vineyards blended half of the wine into a Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir and the other half was bottled under the Muns Vineyard label. Grape tonnage increased rapidly in succeeding years:
2004: About four tons were harvested from four acres and again the wine was produced by Soquel Vineyards. 125 cases were produced as a Muns Vineyard designate under the Soquel Vineyards label and another 125 cases under the Muns Vineyard label.
2005: Almost twelve tons were harvested from six acres with five tons going into the Soquel Vineyards label as a Muns Vineyard designated wine. The other seven tons went into a Muns Vineyard designate wine on three labels produced by Silver Mountain Vineyards: Silver Mountain Vineyards, Sonnet Wine Cellars and Muns Vineyard. Tony Craig, of Dave Bruce fame, made these three wines.
2006: Nearly 24 tons were harvested from seven acres with 10 tons going to Soquel Vineyards and 14 tons crushed at Silver Mountain Vineyards for the same three labels as in 2005. This was an abnormally large yield, as it was for many California vineyards, due to abundant winter rains that produced record cluster sizes.
2007: Fruit set this season was been superb, but nature presented some challenges. Two nights in April produced 25 degree temperatures a large low area of the vineyard where over a acre of fruit and even some vines were lost. Later in the season, dehydration further reduced the crop. Over 16 tons were harvested on 4-6 September all going to Silver Mountain Vineyards for production under three labels: their own, Sonnet Wine Cellars and Muns Vineyard.
2008: This is the first year all vineyard blocks are producing--twelve acres of Pinot Noir and one acre of Syrah. Pinot Noir was harvested from 29 August to 2 September, our earliest. The yield is our lowest ever at around 1.5 ton/acre. Vineyards across the state are reporting much lower cluster weights, so while it looks like there is a lot of fruit, there really isn't. 3 tons of Syrah was harvested the third week of September.
2009: This vintage was like 2006 in terms of yield. With the entire vineyard now producing, we harvested 36+ tons of Pinot Noir and 2 tons of Syrah. We had lots of winter rain and a somewhat cooler growing season. This resulted in first irrigation in August, compared to April in 2008 following a drought winter. Harvest was the latest ever for this vineyard, during the third week of September for the Pinot Noir and the first week of October for the Syrah.
2010: The winter leading into this season was even wetter than 2009, but the rain came in measured amounts so there was minimal erosion and maximum absorption into the soil. Bud break was delayed due to consistently cool spring temperatures and no frost periods occurred after bud break, a first for this vineyard in ten years! The summer continued to be relatively cooler than normal, so the season extended to our longest yet. On 17 September we harvested 4 tons of clone 115 for sparkling Pinot Noir at 19 Brix. On 1 October we harvested 6 tons of all four clones for our estate Pinot Noir at 25 Brix. We felt the rest of the vineyard (30+ tons) could still use some more hang time to ripen the flavors even more, so we postponed harvest for another week or two.
2011: Yet another winter with lots of rain that has extended into early June. This cool spring has stalled growth with shoots just 12-18" and bloom not started. This is probably good because heavy rains can disturb bloom and reduce fruit set. The foilage is lime-green in color, indicating the inability of the vines to take up nutrients in cool temperatures (50-60 degrees F). At this point we are 2-3 weeks behind normal development and looking for warmer weather to allow the vines to take off for the season.
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