As we roll right into October like grape clusters into the press, harvest continues. On Friday, September 29, Dave and his twin grandsons, Mattias and Rowan, and their Mom and Dad, Marianne and Bill, harvested some absolutely perfect Cabernet Franc – and surprisingly, the Petit Verdot as well. Dave …
August heat is bringing veraison to all the red varieties in the vineyards at the Schoolhouse. This is the time when Chardonnay begins to turn from bright green to a muted shade of yellow, then gold, as it ripens in the California sunshine, and the reds begin to take on their violet grapeness. …
Celebrate the 4th of July In Style July 4th is the official birthday of the Burrell Schoolhouse which turns 127 this year. We celebrate with the annual flag raising ceremony and cake! The tasting room will be open June 30 through July 4th with a “Back to the Future” tasting and case sale special, in …
June is traditionally the month that brings us so many reasons to celebrate —graduations, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and Fathers Day. Speaking of graduations, congratulations to our long time tasting room manager, Katarina Simic, and her eldest son Luka, on his graduation from Sonoma State! Well done! We’re also kicking off “Summer School” for the …
Here at the schoolhouse, we’ve always looked forward to May, when Anne’s heritage rose garden bursts forth with fragrant, multi-hued blossoms. Each year, it gets more spectacular, and with the winter rains, we anticipate a glorious display all month long. Plus, with the warm weather, the vines will be fully in bloom. The gazebo garden …
Welcome to April, the month of exuberant spring growth in the vineyards, fields and everywhere you look. The vineyard floor is lush with green grass and yellow clover and the vines are literally exploding with new growth. It looks like all that rain has given the vines additional vigor. We celebrate “April in Paris” all …
Merlot always tastes great during the month of March, and lucky for us Merlot lovers, the 2012 vintage can be had for $27 per bottle, so come indulge in the madness. And this just in!! We discovered a secret stash of the 2008 when preparing for our Library Reserve Club tasting this weekend, March 4 …
On the heels of the wettest January in decades, comes February, packed with fun events for sports fans, romantics and history lovers. We’re welcoming the very beneficial rain and enjoying the beautiful green cover crop on the vineyard floor, which is very helpful for erosion control. The buzz going around the region is that …
Wishing You All A Bountiful New Year From Your Friends at Burrell School We ring in 2017 to the sounds of rain on the roof, and are thankful that the vines are getting a good soaking. Lack of water has been such a concern: it definitely impacted our yields over the last few years, so …
All of us at Burrell School Vineyards would like to wish you and yours a very happy holiday season. It’s certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you turn! As the hustle and bustle reaches a fever pitch, we remind ourselves that what is most important is not the presents, but the presence …
Happy Halloween! And praise the rain on the pumpkins: we’ll take it as Mother Nature’s very best treat. We’re on the cusp of November, which means we’re into the home stretch of the year. The vineyard began turning beautiful fall colors early in October, and the rains are giving the vines a much-needed drink after …
Many of you are asking about the impact of the #LomaFire on the wineries up here in the Summit area. Thankfully, our Summit wineries have had little or no impact: we at Burrell School are fine. Our neighbors at Loma Prieta Winery have had a scarily close bird’s eye view of the fire since it …
Our unusually moderate August weather has created perfect slow ripening conditions that we haven’t experienced in quite a few harvests now. Usually, we get a heat spike just in time for Labor Day, but this time, it looks like we’ll be in good shape. Last year, Pinot was brought in before the end of August, …
Summer accelerates into full swing as we head into August, the month of full veraison, pushed along by the intense stretch of heat we had the third week of July. Now is the time when the grapes flesh out, when Chardonnay becomes golden and the reds take on their darker hues. Thankfully, temperatures have moderated …
July is here and the heat is most definitely on. Our vines are directing their energy towards the ripening of the grape clusters – and the crop looks quite robust and healthy. Individual grape berries are plumping up rapidly, and the red varieties will soon take on color, aka veraison, where they will go from …
They say there’s nothing so rare as a day in June. Fortunately for us, we have 30 such days to look forward to in a month that brings us so many reasons to celebrate with Burrell School’s fine wines—graduations, class reunions, wedding anniversaries, Fathers Day and some fantastic wine events, too. Not to mention the …