A speech done by our fearless leader Bill Murphy a few weeks back at the Los Gatos Rotary Club. About 10 minutes long, but interesting background on Clos LaChance. And a very good example of how to effectively use your hands while speaking in public.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7jB5tL49jI

A quick harvest update from Stephen:

"As of today, 28% of Clos LaChance's 2007 harvest is complete. We have brought in around 218 tons of grapes. Estimates for 2007 are 755 tons.

Harvest this year started quickly, but has slowed down considerably considering the cooler weather. I expect the month of October to be very busy. So far, quality looks outstanding. Nice structure. The clusters have smaller berries and yields are coming in right at projection.

The fruit coming in has lower sugar levels, which will lead to less alcohol. Also seeing naturally high acids due to the cool evenings this growing season. As a winemaker....this is great news regarding lower alcohols and higher acids. Means less hands-on winemaking. The wine is perfectly balanced naturally.

All of our Estate whites have been brought in (Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Blanc, Viognier and Semillon). We have brought in about 13 tons of 90 tons of Santa Cruz Mountains fruit (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir). Have broght in 66 of 337 tons of our Estate Bordeaux varietals The Estate Rhone varietals is only 8 tons so far of 123 projected.

I am looking for some nice warm weather to ripen up the remainder of the Estate Rhone and Bordeaux varietals. Think sunny thoughts!"

It’s a typical beautiful day here in Southern California, where my office is, which is great considering the heat we experienced last weekend, but as Bill Murphy said, “it’s a good opportunity to go inside and work!” J

I am currently reviewing the sales results from our Blitz in California. For those who do not know what a Sales Blitz is I’ll explain. It’s similar to the Military blitz tactic, we get as many people from Clos LaChance to “blitz” the market with our excellent wholesaler/distributor, Regal Wine Company, sales representatives. This year we did 2 days in Northern California and 2 days in Southern California. We had great CLC staff, including Stephen, the winemaker and Bill, Founder and CEO, lot’s of star power there! Dominic Tufo from Hospitality, Kristin Murphy, daughter and Director of CK Vines/Events, and Colleen Mahoney from sales and marketing rounded out the teams . We ended up selling 166 cases in 4 days. Not bad! It’s a grueling 4 days involving lots of travel, sitting in traffic and it’s usually 12 hour days, but all in all very successful. We always have a contest between us as to who can sell the most…this year the teams were all close, but the big award went to Bill! Congrats!

Now for me it’s off to the airport. I’m responsible for sales in the Western United States so I cover about 12 states. I’m on the road at least 1 week a month but usually not a consecutive week. Today’s trip is to San Francisco. Tonight I have a sales presentation to the Food and Beverage Director at the Hyatt and a tasting presentation to one of the hipper SF restaurants….hopefully both will like the wines and add us to their lists! Tomorrow will be a meeting with the San Francisco Sales team of Regal Wine CO, our excellent wholesaler, and a tasting presentation to them of our highly anticipated Estate Cabernet, Syrah Rhone Blend and Meritage. They are a really good team with a difficult but fun area to sell wine. San Francisco is tough because they are so close to the wine country and there are a lot of restaurants where every winery wants to be on the list, but they do a good job for us. After we go through the new wines and other priorities I’ll make a few sales calls on restaurants, hotels and retail stores in the area. I’ll finish the day with a dinner meeting with an account and hopefully have an opportunity to visit with my daughter, Kiersten, who is a student at SFU. What a great way to make a living huh?!!

I love naming a new wine and figuring out what category it fits into.  We have a new one coming out next year.....a Sauvignon Blanc in the Hummingbird Series....and are starting the label development process this week. Since we name each wine in the Hummingbird Series after a species of hummer that represents the varietal, I get the job of weeding out some names from a large list (if you are interested in a list of all the hummingbird species around the word...check this out: http://www.hummingbirds.net/worldhummers.html). I never like making decisions in a vacuum, so I send them out to the Clos LaChance team via email and ask for feedback.

Had to post this response from Matt Read, Vineyard Manager from CK Vines and future stand-up comedian. Keep in mind the time of year--its harvest, and the flying grape eaters are destroying his crop. However, it made us all laugh...and that's a good thing on this foggy hump day morning.

"Sunbeam sounds nice.  But in the future maybe we should look into names that really capture the actual vineyard experience.  I’m no marketing expert, but I think G*d D**N Little Finches or Stupid #^@&*! Starling really work for me.  It really captures a time and place and it is an element of terroir that isn’t discussed very often."

September is here, and 75 more days till the end of the wedding season. Having witnessed nearly 350 blessed unions here at Clos LaChance has certainly given me some insight into the wedding survival business.  Here is a list of Kristin’s top 5 things to remember when getting married at Clos LaChance:

            5. Hire a veil tamer (or recruit a bridesmaid). Weddings usually start at 6pm, right when  the cooling ocean breeze kicks up. Some bride pictures look like stills from an episode of the  Flying Nun.

            4. No hard alcohol at a wedding. We don’t allow it anyways, but there is a reason why. Heed my advice—unless you want your 14 year old cousin passed out from taking shots of left-over 40 year old malt whisky (which you paid $18 a glass for). Hard alcohol makes people crazy. And destructive (porta-potty tipping anyone?) And stupid….we love charging couples for stolen merchandise after weddings. One shot induced guest stole 15 baseball caps from our tasting room. At $15 a pop…well that’s an extra couple hundy that could have gone to more fun on the honeymoon. Beer and wine is enough.

            3. Get a shuttle. The local police have “heard” that weddings let out at 11 from our winery. Watsonville Road is dark and dangerous. Who wants their wedding to be remembered as the party that Uncle Al got a DUI at—or worse, hurt himself or someone else. It may seem like an unnecessary expense, but trust me….its worth it.

            2. Use and abuse your photographer and extend the cocktail hour. We have so many gorgeous views at this winery—take your photographer for a little hike. Get some vineyard shots. Don’t forget the courtyard, filled with summer flowers. And the view from the Grand Lawn. There are some pretty interesting trees on property as well that make great pose-worthy photos. Make cocktail hour more like 75 minutes and take advantage of all this location has to offer.

            1. Listen to me. I have done over 350 weddings at Clos LaChance. I know how to make things perfect. I know the best vendors too. That’s why they are on my list. Nine times out of ten, when something goes wrong at a wedding it is because the happy couple wanted to do something different and outside of my recommendations. Like when the caterer broke the oven and had to cook all the food on a grill outside. Or when the DJ shorted out the electrical system during the bride and grooms first dance. I have a list of people for a reason—they do the best job here at this site. And I promise you that I am trying to make your day perfect. Not allowing certain things to happen, even if the bride and groom promises everything will be fine, is my job….to protect this facility for years to come and to make your day perfect.

I will do another top 5 list at the beginning of the season….my perspectives of dealing with weddings tends to be a little lighter. J

I do a lot more than weddings….CK Vines and our new bottling business. But this is my focus for the next two months. Happy wedding season everyone!