This is the wine that almost wasn’t. In 2009, the Petite Sirah and Syrah components were picked at optimum ripeness on October 8th. But when heavy rain hit on October 13th, the Mourvèdre, Alicante, and Carignane simply weren’t ready. Five humid days and another day of rain later, Botrytis reared its ugly head. It appeared that for the first time ever we would not be producing a “Two Acres”. But our vineyard manager, Chris Bowland, wouldn’t hear of it. He would not deny his wife her favorite wine! Hence, on October 27th and 28th, a crew of nine using needle nose clippers worked eight hours a day, picking each cluster and carefully, even surgically, removing any Botrytis-affected grapes. It was mind numbing, tedious work (not to mention expensive!) but the results were well worth it. Two thousand nine has produced one of our finest Two Acres to date, one in which I’ve already enjoyed numerous times. Thank you Chris (and Chris’ wife!) for ensuring this wine was produced!