-- In which Wes discusses the end of the 2009 calendar year, discusses the coming growing season and waxes poetic on the number on a calendar changing.

I have this thing about New Years.  It's one of the holidays that I treasure, because it actually signifies something that hasn't been revised into meaninglessness.  Christmas is just the ancient pagan festival of Festivus respun by the Church to keep the peasants confused.  Easter?  Verunal equinox and ancient Spring Fertility rights.  Ever wonder what chocolate and rabbits have to do with Jesus?  But New Years is one of those ecstatic rituals that has not been co-opted or diluted by the morality police.  We won't let them.  MADD can remind us not to drink and drive, but if they tried to take our cocktails away, we would beat those nouveau-axe-wielders down like they owed us money.  Lots of money.  New Years' is ours and they SHOULD be afraid of millions of amateur drunks wearing stupid hats and singing an oddly Celtic-sounding  song that no one knows past the first five words.  It's ritual the way it was in the Old World, complete with mind-numbing beverages, societal permissiveness toward intoxication, and even the potential for having rushed and sloppy sex in a closet somewhere.  Ahhh..the Old Time Religion....

It also marks the moment, on NYE 1999-2000, when I asked Chanda to marry me.  So I have that going for me...which is nice.

Of course, New Years is also a time that we set aside to consider the dissolving calendar year, to assess our successes and failures and to plan a better future for ourselves, our careers and our relations.  When I consider the 'Year in the Vineyard' as a whole, I am quite pleased by the vintage and the wines in barrel.  The readership has followed this process from the beginning: from frost patrol at budbreak until we were in the frosty air night picking, and finally the quiet winery with barrels filled and maturing.  What a great year to encapsulate in a blog!   It was always a few more hours of work every Thursday, but now that its over and done, I'm quite happy to have the whole thing in ink and pictures.  Many of you suggested it be published in book form, and I'm feeling that may be a cool way to go with the 2009 'Year in the Vineyard' Blog as well.

So let's look at what we accomplished this year:

• Excellent crop of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
• Great, but small, harvest of Olive Oil.
• Winemaking went off without a hitch.
• Got a gig writing for the LA Times Magazine on Pinot Noir.
• Approval of my second petition for an American Viticultural Area:  Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara.
• Was offered the job of helping to write and publish a new AVA:  Ballard Canyon AVA in December (new News!)
• Some very nice reviews of our wine in Prince of Pinot, Burghound, L.A. International (Gold Medal for pinot).
• New lamb and puppy!
• Lots of articles, TV appearances, seminar speaking gigs.
• Grew our business and sales each quarter in a tough economy.

What I'd like to accomplish in 2010:

• Continue building Clos Pepe's reputation for world-class pinot noir and chardonnay grapes and wine, as well as offer a level of hospitality unmatched in the New World.
• Make it through another Spring without losing significant crop to frost.  (yes, I'm still kinda freaked out by the 2008 frosts).
• Work closer with my crew during pruning and all cultural practices to continue fine tuning quality in the vineyard.
• See my first by-line in a big, national newspaper.
• Try to get a book published.
• Get my first hole-in-one, loads of birdies and at least a few eagles.
• Expand the flock.
• Stay healthy, trim and try not to lose any more hair.
• Make some kickass pinot noir and chardonnay.
• Continue reading and learning about viticulture, winemaking, coffee, salt and food.
• Fire up 'Year in the Vineyard: 2010' blog at budbreak and do this whole blog thing all over again.  (I could use the discipline.)
• Get to Blue Belt in Shaolin Kung-Fu/Kempo.  (q.v. paranthetical)

Will anything change in 2010 as far as management of the vineyard?  I try to farm with my head and my heart, and I tend to farm reactively to the season.  I don't fill out an entire calendar with scheduled practices.  I observe, walk, talk to the crew (and Chanda), and make management decisions on a week-to-week basis.  More mildew pressure?  Make an extra spray.  Too many shoots?  Do a removal pass.  Growing pinot noir is like being in a jazz trio.  I listen to the riffs that the vines and the environment are putting out there and react with music and rhythms that both compliment and structure the harmony.  Like jazz, we take a few chances and may blow a few sour notes (even Miles did!).  But as long as the passion and the willingness to work harder is alive in me, I'm willing to learn from the struggles and produce something that could only emerge from a creative willingness and a desire for unconventional results.

So here's to the last Blog of 2009.  I'll give an end-of-the-month supplement for January and February, and then be back mid-March for the weekly 'Year in the Vineyard' installments as long as WineMaker wants to fire it up again and you're willing to read it!  Until then, have some great Blanc de Noir tonight and bring in the New Year with passion, intoxication and a wild abandon that may lead you to a steamy closet.  Because isn't that what pinot noir's all about?  Oh yeah, I guess you can match it with some food as well.