The Blog

Winery News 

We had record attendance at our spring pick up party – thank you all for attending and bringing your friends and family!   We love the “word of mouth” exposure that our enthusiastic club members offer and hearing comments such as “I never knew there were wineries in San Diego” or “are you really producing these wines from your vineyard?”.  Feedback is very positive on our new releases, especially for our new “MSG” blend, “Fly a Kite”.  Way to go Mark!! 

Vineyard Happenings

The vineyard and vines are off to the races!  Shoot growth is now about 18”-24″ inches above the cordons and little clusters of future grapes are appearing (we encourage you to take a stroll).  With the heavy winter rains, we are spending time knocking down new shoot growth allowing the vines to focus their energy “above the cordon”.  Springtime is always a bit of a race as we don’t want the unwanted growth to “harden off” – it’s much easier to nip new growth in the bud.  The winter rains also provided us with an overflowing pond.  Our pond is now home to many tadpoles/frogs and is keeping our swallow colony, dragon flies, and our visiting duck family very happy!

Summer “Olive Branch” Dinners

We are partnering with Jack Ford (“What’s Up with Jack”) to curate monthly guest chef dinners in our olive grove from June – September.  These dinners will be on Sunday afternoons/early evenings as most chefs have Sundays off.  June 25th will be our first dinner with Chef Carlos Anthony who specializes in grilling with fire.  We are working on locking down dates with Chef Brian Radkowski (Kettner Exchange), Anthony Wells (Juniper & Ivy), Travis Swikard (Callie) and/or Vince Schofield (Catania) for the remaining dates.  Dinners will be limited to 70-80 guests and will be served family style on long, fancy picnic tables.

Fun fact – an orchard is planted with deciduous trees and a grove is planted with evergreen trees.

Transition News

Caleb is leaving us this month to focus on his cooking classes (which will continue at Domaine Artefact) and dedicate time to completing his cookbook.   We are fortunate that Caleb will remain a presence at the winery.  The great news is the universe provides!  We are pleased to announce that Stevie Himmelright will be assuming Caleb’s role and then some.  Stevie will be helping us with our wine club, music scheduling, event coordination and social media.  Good things come in small, energetic packages – on your next visit, please say “hello” to Stevie and meet her pup pup “Tank” who can be found lounging in the sun or not too far behind her.  Stevie can be reached on the winery main line – 760-432-8034 or by email at [email protected]