APRIL 2010the vineyard
Completely running out of wine last summer convinced us we needed to make a little more. The great majority will be from both our own grapes and the glorious grapes from neighbor Bob Schuster's vineyard, three miles down the canyon. Lately, the very nature of what a vineyard does, grow wine, not grapes (in the words of Philip de Rothschild) gets forgotten in the chemistry and manipulation which retains no connection with the land. In Europe more and more emphasis is placed on the farming, and just when all of us are trying to re- connect with the local, the real, the very earth itself, urban wineries bask in the success of wines solely dependent on the skills of their chemist winemakers. As my European friends say; "may Sutcliffe Vineyards never be tempted". the wines / events
Small reserves of the following: Rose' 07 at $195 a case, Chardonnay 06, very lightly oaked (we kept some back) $240 a case. Limited amounts of: Cabernet Franc 07, quite restrained and elegant, $300 a case, Chardonnay Signature 08, as full and rich a Chardonnay as you would ever want, $375 a case, Hafoty Fawr 07, 40% Syrah, 40% Mouvedre and 20% Cinsault... a great Rhone blend with a telling lightness from the Cinsault, $400 a case. Sufficient quantities for the time being: Sauvignon Blanc 09, just as fresh as one has learned to expect from this wine, but with a softness that mitigates the clean acidity, $225 a case, Chardonnay 08, fabulous fruit with a hint of oak $240 a case, Merlot 07, more refined than previous vintages, but still completely true to the varietal, $225 a case, Syrah 07, full round with cocoa on the nose, $300 a case. Cabernet Sauvignon 07, structured and firm, great now greater later, $300 a case. Please let us know the wines you would like... we are happy to mix cases.... or let us hold wines in our deep sandstone cave in the Porter's canyon wall. The web site: sutcliffewines.com is now current, listing all the restaurants serving our wines and the events we have planned. This year Brix from Flagstaff will be cooking the Harvest Dinner at the vineyard on September 13th. As much as we are able, we will only serve meat and
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Joe Buckel the wine maker, is in his 3rd year with us after working at Flowers, the celebrated Sonoma Vineyard and Jesus Castillo has farmed this beautiful place for over 12 years. We have shipped wine to every legal part of the country and lately began shipping abroad. Last month to the Amanyara Resort in the Turks and Caicos, and this spring to London and Dusseldorff. We are even addressing requests for our wine in South East Asia. Restaurants have begun awarding us a separate wine list : the Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, Jimmy's in Aspen, Black Cat in Boulder, Pesto Bros and Tinderbox in Flagstaff and Guidos in Durango. Black Cat in Boulder will carry verticals in 5 of our wines, a huge compliment from a restaurant so committed to local, sustainable farming. We have also developed a relationship with five exquisite resorts: Encantado in Santa Fe, Dunton Hot Springs, Amangiri near Lake Powell, Amangani in Jackson and Amanyara in the Islands. Retail stores remain a part of our business but we have chosen to limit the number we deal with. We plan to restrict it to stores that share our passion for wine. We now maintain a list of shops that still have wines that are sold-out at the Vineyard.
The harvests of '08 and '09 were beyond our wildest dreams, they have already generated 08 Cinsaults, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnays and Viogniers (all but the Chardonnay is sold out) and last week we released an extraordinary 09 Sauvignon Blanc.