Father’s Day is just around the corner and buying Dad a gift can be hard. Let’s face it, Dad’s tired of getting tools and ties for Father’s Day. We all know what he really wants… wine! But what kind of wine? Well we’ve created a foolproof guide to pairing your dad with his perfect wine!
Buying wine and drinking wine are the easiest components of experiencing wine, but what about the hard parts? What about proper aging, storage, decanting and serving? Understanding and practicing good wine keeping techniques can completely transform the way you enjoy fine wines and we’re here to help!
The first visible sign of life in the vine after winter dormancy is bud break. These tiny little fuzzy buds hold the future of the vine and the outcome of this next harvest within it’s tiny, beady cluster. Bud break within the vineyards is the second step towards Harvest 2017.
Ryan Carr of Carr Vineyard and Winery is indeed adventurous! His first job was making snowboards, then went to the University of Arizona for graphic design and worked for a landscape company. It was in college that he took a class on plant science, a seed was planted, and since 1999 he has been farming vineyards and making wine– what an adventure! When Ryan made his way to the Santa Ynez Valley he thought he would start a graphic design business. Little did he know he know the adventurous path that laid ahead…
While Harvest 2017 doesn’t officially start until the fall, the vines have already started preparing for the big day. Step one is Pruning, a process involving the trimming down of the old growth in preparation for new growth and fruit production.
“‘Twas the night before Christmas,
and all through the house,
Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul,
With a corn cob pipe and a button.. ”
Okay, well maybe that isn’t how it goes. But I guess that happens when you mix a little wine and old Christmas stories. You know what else happens when you mix wine and Christmas? The Twelve Wines of Carr Christmas, a collection of twelve wines and a snazzy twist on a true holiday Classic. Enjoy!
We’ve all been there: that last minute stop at the supermarket to grab the prettiest label on the cleanest bottle of wine, cut over a few aisles to grab the shiniest ribbon, and a bag (if time permits), check out, and show up to the party with the best gift ever. And while I will never doubt this foolproof system so many of us procrastinators have developed, there has to be a better way.
If you have been to our Santa Barbara location recently, you may have noticed there are some exciting changes going on in the tasting room. Your eyes have not deceived you – we are expanding! The winery is getting a makeover, and the list of all the things you love about Carr is about to get a little longer.
Many of us have never seen anything but beer on tap. It makes sense to us: kegs, CO2, beer, taps. We’ve become so familiar with it that as the public, we don’t even think twice. But what about wine? Wine on tap is such a strange concept to most that it’s asked about on a daily basis at our winery and warehouse locations. Well, fear no more! Wine on tap is here, and its going to change the world.
Summer is here and quickly on its way out! While we will be missing the Summer sun and gorgeous weather (…is the weather ever really anything but gorgeous in Santa Barbara?), we won’t be left empty handed! Starting at about the middle of the season, this lovely miracle of Veraison begins to happen in the vineyards and lets us know that it’s almost time for harvest.