New Releases
2004 Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon
Our 2004 Finlay’s Vineyard Cabernet is produced from the grapes
grown in the red soils of the Eastern slope of Bradford Mountain,
overlooking Dry Creek Valley. The wine shows the characteristics of
a “serious Cab.” The vines are over 30 years old and the grapes
produce a wine with intense aromas and tastes of blueberry,
boysenberry, cassis and plum with spicy, cedar and clove overtones.
The wine consists of 95% Cabernet, 5% Merlot with a field blend of
Cabernet Franc. The wine was aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. The concentration and ample tannic structure should allow
for good bottle aging. Red meat dishes are the pairing of choice for
the 2004 Cabernet.
- Harvested September 2004
- 3.5 tons/acre
- Aged in French oak barrels for 18 months
- 390 cases produced
- $30.00/bottle (Cellar
Club Members $24.00)
Order now online or call 707-431-8243.
2005 Dry Creek Zinfandel
The 2005 Dry Creek Zinfandel is the eighth vintage for Christopher
Creek Winery. We produced the wine by fermenting the grapes in small,
open top tanks with 2 punch downs daily to every “pump over.” After
2 weeks, the wine was transferred to a mixture of 65% American oak
and 35% French oak barrels. Classical Dry Creek Zin in style, the
wine exhibits a medium-dark ruby hue, with forward strawberry and
raspberry jammy fruit, hints of vanilla, white pepper, spice and a
mouth feel that lingers. While still quite young, this intense,
perfectly balanced and bright wine is remarkably approachable with
medium tannins and an aging potential of about 3-4 years. This wine
pairs with risotto, pasta, turkey, duck, lamb and chicken.
- Harvested September 2005
- 3 tons/acre
- Aged in French and American oak barrels
- 457 cases produced
- Released January 2007
- $26.00 bottle price (Cellar
Club Members $20.80.
2006 Futures Available for Purchase
If you have never participated in our Futures program,
now is the time. Guarantee the availability of your favorite
Christopher Creek wine. Purchase Futures of the 2006 vintage now and
receive a 30% discount. You can taste the 2006 Estate Bottled
Reserve Petite Sirah, Estate Bottled Syrah and Dry Creek Zinfandel
at Barrel Tasting Weekends (March 2–4 or March 9–11). 2006
is another great year. Call us at 707 431-8243 for assistance with your order
or order online.
2005 Futures of Estate Bottled Petite Sirah, Estate Bottled Syrah
and Dry Creek Zinfandel will be available for pickup at the Barrel
Weekends event.
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Upcoming Events
Two Barrel Weekends for 2007
The Russian River Wineroad, sponsor of “Barrel
Weekend,” has expanded the event to two weekends to offer more
people the opportunity to enjoy tasting wines out of the barrel.
This year Christopher Creek will be open Friday, March 2 through
Sunday, March 4 and then again the next weekend starting on Friday,
March 9 and ending Sunday, March 11. The event starts each day at 10 am
and ends at 5 pm. Both weekends we will barrel sample the 2006
Estate Bottled Reserve Petite Sirah, 2006 Dry Creek Zinfandel and
2006 Estate Bottled Syrah. Futures of these wines will be available
for purchase. Food will be served on Saturday and Sunday of both
weekends.
This year the Russian River Wineroad is charging $10 per person
(which includes a Logo Glass) for weekend attendance. Over a 100
wineries will be participating. We recommend you visit our winery on
Friday, March 2 to avoid the crowd and pick up Futures of the 2005
wines that you may have ordered.
2006 Vintage Notes
The 2006 vintage should prove to be an exceptional
one. All of our wines have successfully finished primary and
secondary fermentation and are “resting” in barrels awaiting their
first “racking.”
During the growing season, we did experience a few stressful days. A late July heat spell (112° F)
caused a pre-verasion burn of the Petite Sirah. We lost over 15% of our crop, however
it did minimize the amount of fruit that needed to be dropped. A mid-harvest rain had the potential of
causing major disaster in the vineyards by promoting bunch rot. In several vineyards, instead of applying
a late season spray application, we were able to reduce the moisture on the grapes and canopies with an
innovative technique of using backpack blowers to dry out the clusters and canopies.
Finally, harvest began September 20 with the Estate Syrah which was followed by the Estate
Reserve Petite Sirah a week later. Our Estate vineyards produced a lighter crop than 2005,
resulting in a wine of greater intensity and forward fruit characteristics.
Fortunately for our cellar, vineyards and workers we did not experience any days over
97° F during harvest. Our harvest lasted just under two months with a finish date of
November 8 with the Catie’s Corner Late Harvest Viognier. We are looking forward to
exceptional wines from another stellar vintage at Christopher Creek.
Past Newsletters
Fall 2006 2004 Russian River Zinfandel, Deux
Barriques,
Christopher Creek Fan Mail
Summer 2006 2004 Estate Bottled
Russian River Reserve Syrah, 2005 Catie's Corner Russian River Viognier,
Christopher Creek in the News, Awards
Spring 2006 2004 Estate
Reserve Petite Sirah, 2004 Russian River Estate Syrah, Awards,
2005 Futures
Winter 2006
2003 Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004 Russian River Chardonnay, 2005 Vintage Notes,
Christopher Creek in The Wall Street Journal, Replanting
Fall 2005
Christopher Creek in The Wall Street Journal, 2003 Russian River Zinfandel, 2001 Deux Barriques
Summer 2005
Estate Bottled Russian River 2003 Reserve Syrah, Catie's Corner Russian River 2004
Viognier, Awards
Spring 2005
2003 Petite Sirah, 2003 Russian River Estate Bottled Syrah, Awards
Winter 2005
2002 Dry Creek Cabernet, 2003 Russian River Chardonnay
Fall 2004 2002 Russian River Zinfandel
Summer 2004 Estate Bottled
Russian River 2002 Reserve Syrah, Catie's Corner Russian River 2003 Viognier, Simple Steps to Decanting
Spring 2004 30th Anniversary of Christopher Creek Winery, 2002 Estate Bottled Syrah, 2002 Petite Sirah
Winter 2003 2001 Dry
Creek Cabernet, 2002 Russian River Chardonnay
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Winter
2007