It is St. Patrick’s Day and, appropriately, there is green everywhere. We had some rain this weekend and a cold front moved in behind it, so frost season is upon us as well, for as long as the next two months.

We have finished pruning and tying the vines, and this is the time of year when we can assess the potential of the vineyards. When the vines are tied, we truly feel that a new vintage has begun because we no longer see unpruned canes as evidence of 2007. Everything is in good order. The canes look very good, soils are nicely saturated and cover crops have prevented erosion.

We have bottled the 2006 Pinots as well as our 2007 Rosé, first wine of that vintage. The 2007 Pinots are almost all through with malolactic fermentations, and barrel orders have gone in for 2008.

Walking through the vineyard, we’ve seen lots of bud swelling in Chardonnay, which is typically ahead of Pinot Noir in activity. We have a couple of weeks to repair trellises or replant missing vines before suckering. After the vines push out at bud break, we cultivate and then we do early suckering when they reach two inches. Pinot Noir usually produces two shoots per bud and we bring that down to one. It’s a wonderful practice that sets up the canopy and determines the caliber of the canes.

At this time of year, we have a little time to do some interesting things. Recently we conducted a blind tasting of relatively high-end Chardonnays. The style seems to be shifting away from the heavily oaked, heavy handed wines of the 1990’s toward crisper, more food friendly offerings with lemony, minerally fruit.

This is also a time to travel. A week ago I poured at the World of Pinot Noir in Shell Beach, California. It was a wonderful tasting, right on the ocean and completely sold out. I poured 2004 and 2005, and there were quite a few 2006 wines there as well.

One attendee pointed out to me that when you taste so many Pinots, the 2005s, including ours, stick out as showy wines with big shoulders. That’s similar to what tends to happen in wine competitions or comparative tastings – the bigger statements capture the attention. I must say that I would probably choose our 2004 vintage to accompany dinner, however, because it is showing such elegance and finesse.

It was fun to see a number of excellent high-end producers like Martinelli pouring. I didn’t get out from behind our table much, but I saw Talisman showing four or five of their wines, and Kosta Brown offering several different vineyard designates for tasting.

At recent tastings, as the afternoon goes by, I have taken to putting my Pinot Noir on ice. Warm wine doesn’t show as well, and it’s not just that the alcohol is move evident. The wine becomes a little disconnected. As in restaurants, I’d rather have the wine a little too cool than too warm. Otherwise, it’s like drinking warm beer.

As for travel, I’m on my way to Germany to pour our wine at Prowein in Dusseldorf and to speak at a seminar before spending Easter with my mom.

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