CHINA’S CONSUL GENERAL TO VISIT LODI 
LODI – China’s Consul General ,Gao Zhansheng, will be visiting Lodi on Aug. 6, starting at 10 a.m. , at the Lodi Wine and Visitor’s Center 2454 West Turner Road. From there, Consul General Gao Zhansheng will take a brief tour of Lodi’s wine region and then return to the Wine and Visitor’s Center for an a 11 a.m. lunch at Wine and Roses before returning to San Francisco at noon.

With eight wineries scheduled to attend the Hong Kong International Wine Fair on Aug. 14, the Lodi Chamber of Commerce invited the consul general to visit Lodi and see firsthand the art and craft of wine making. The visit of the Lodi wine region will start at Abundance Vineyards, 21482 North Ray Road, and head to Van Ruiten’s Winery, 340 West Highway 12, before returning to the Wine and Visitor’s Center on West Turner Road.

The eight local wineries attending the wine fair in Hong Kong are:
Abundance Vineyards (Lodi)
Barsetti Vineyards (Lodi)
Benson Ferry (Lodi)
Irish Vineyards (Calaveras County)
Miramont Estate (Lodi)
Van Ruiten Family Winery (Lodi)
Watts Winery (Lodi)
Weibel Vineyards (Lodi)

Members of the media are invited to attend the Consul General’s visit at the Wine and Visitor’s Center and also be part of the tour of the Lodi wine region. Lunch will be for invited guests only.

June 2008

Click HERE to read the article (published in the June 4th edition of Ag Alert) regarding our recent shipment of Celestial wine to China.

February 2008

Dave: Holding the first bottle of our newest product, Eclipse, a blend of Cabernet, Old Vine Zinfandel, and Syrah. It is produced as both a dry and sweet wine, both have very soft tannins to entice new drinkers to red wine. It will be released in April 2008. Also, our new Tasting rooms opens at Tesla Vintners, on Tesla Road in Livermore, California on April 27, 2008, where you can taste all our available wines.

January 2008

Dave at our table at the Texas Winegrape Growers Conference in Houston, Texas. The weather was great and the trip was very good for us and we hope much more business will result from our trip. Thanks, Texas Growers!

January 2008

Dave Pechan and Roy Goslin, owner of Z Wines of Plymouth, Minnesota, are outside the Nicolete Island Inn, in Minneapolis. Dave poured Miramont Estate Wines at an event in early December celebrating Z wines second year in business. Minnesota is Daves home state and it was great to visit relatives while there pouring our wines. Thanks Minnesota and Z wines. 

December 2007

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year - 2007

October 2007

Ice Sculpture and Great Wine (Below): The concluding winemaker dinner in Oklahoma put on by Woodward Wines in late October, Left to right: Dave Pechan, Teressa Woodward, Trish Pechan, and James Woodward. On our sales trip we visited 48 stores, poured wine at tastings and were very gratified by the positive response from Oklahomans toward our wines. Thanks Oklahoma! 

August 2007

Harvest has completed August 27, 2007.

“This has been the earliest harvest ever for our vineyard. In fact, the vineyard was ready for harvest ahead of all varieties in our area, unheard of for Cabernet Sauvignon. I think it is in part occurring because of our control of excess canopy development, which provides excellent sun exposure to the grapes, as shown in the pictures.  To a grower this is art at its finest.”  Dave Pechan

Below are some of the images:

Miramont has signed new distributors for our products in the following states in the past month:

Minnesota ,  Wisconsin ,  Iowa , Oklahoma , Texas , Virginia , and Washington , DC with more coming in the next few months.

Miramont has signed a marketing deal with From the Farm, a new web-based marketing company to sell our wines on line. They will inaugurate service in late 2007. 

The harvest of 2007 will include new varietals that we are adding to our product line.  We are crushing both Old Vine Zinfandel, and Syrah from local vineyards that will bottle in 2008.

The Cabernet Sauvignon crop is nearing harvest for 2007,  It looks like we will harvest in the last week of August or the first week of September.  The crop looks as good or better than any past vintage, with sugars already at 19% Brix on August 7, 2007 .   With no major heat spells during July the crop seems to be ripening even faster than the vineyards historical norm.

Miramont Estate Vineyard is expanding the future Cabernet Sauvignon harvest with the additional planting this year:

Also exciting is the arrival of our new 3,000 gallon stainless tanks, custom made for us by Silver State Stainless of Moundhouse, Nevada.  This will increase the storage capacity of Miramont Estate's Winery.

February 2007
Celestial Wines has won a Silver Medal for its 2003 Celestial Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon in the Hilton Head North Carolina Wine Competition.

January 2007
Celestial Wines has won a Silver Medal for its 2003 Celestial Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The 2007 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, is the Largest American wine competition.

July 2006
Celestial Wines has won a Bronze Medal for its 2002 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon at the San Francisco International Wine Competition.

Celestial Wines has won a Bronze Medal for its 2003 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon at the Monterey Wine Competition.

Also, Celestial Wines has won the following 3 awards the the 2006 Los Angeles County Fair.

• Celestial 2005 Stardust Chardonnay won a Bronze Medal
• Celestial 2005 White Cabernet won a Silver Medal
• Celestial 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon won a Silver Medal

March 2006
Celestial Wines has won a Silver Medal for its 2005 White Cabernet Sauvignon at the Jerry D. Meads New World International Wine Competition, Ontario, CA.

March 2006
The Wine Enthusiast ratings and reviews are in and Miramont Estate's Celestial 2002 Vintners Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon have received very good ratings.

The April 2006 issue of Wine Enthusiast has given our 2002 Vintners Reserve Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon an 87. The Wine Enthusiast states the wine is "Deeper and slightly more tannic than the winery's regular Cab, this bottling is very dry. With soft acids, it shows well-developed flavors of blackberries and mocha and a deep, ripe black plum taste on the finish. It should hold and improve for several years. --S.H."

The 2002 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon received an 86 and the Wine Enthusiast states that this wine is "Dry and rich in blackberry, cocoa, coffee, herb, and oak flavors, this Cab has a finish of ripe raisins and cassis. It's a soft, full-bodied wine that will benefit from a year or so in bottle. --S.H."

We are very honored to be compared with such outstanding wineries as J. Lohr, Beringer, and Robert Mondavi.

January 2006
Celestial Wines has won 2 new medals at the San Francisco Chronicle wine competition: Silver for the 2002 Cabernet and a Bronze for the 2002 Cabernet Reserve.

December 2005
Celestial Wines has won 3 new medals: Silver for the 2002 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon, bronze for both the 2001 and the 2002 Reserve Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon

October 2005
Click Here to read News 10 ABC's "Tons of Central Valley Grapes Won't be Harvested" story by C. Johnson
View the report online by Clicking Here.

September 2005
Enjoy the recordnet.blogspot.com site detailing Dave's Angel Flight for those in hurricane relief areas.

June 2005
Celestial Wines has won 3 more Bronze and 1 more Silver Medals. Click here for more details.

Miramont's new tasting room will be open this coming fall or sooner. Keep checking back for more up to date information.

Also, under construction is a new wine storage facility. This construction should be complete in August.

March 2005
2002 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon wins Silver Medal in 2005 New World International Wine Competition in Ontario, Canada.

2001 and 2002 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon win silver medals at the Hilton Head Island Wine Festival.

January 2005
Miramont Estate Vineyards competes with 3,200 wines and wins three awards in San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

November 2004
Miramont Estate Vineyards releases award-winning 2002 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon.

September 2004
2002 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon scores 85 in California-Australia Shootout 2004 Wine Competition.

June 2004
2002 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon wins Bronze Medal in 2004 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition.

June 2004
Miramont Estate Vineyards releases award-winning 2001 Celestial Cabernet Sauvignon. Oenophiles rejoice!

Looking Ahead…

April 2005
Miramont Estate Vineyards plans to release 2002 Celestial Vintners Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

2004 HARVEST

How would I describe this grape growing season? Unseasonable. And that could be a very good thing.

The season began with unusually dry heat in April and early May of 2004. By June, the weather became unseasonably cool due to a large coastal inflow of air off the Pacific Ocean. Highs were in the low to mid 80s with nightly lows in the low 50s. The crop weight is difficult to judge because of tremendous variability in the berry clusters from vine to vine, which is a common challenge among many vineyards this year. This is the result of a cold spring in April 2003 – when the buds were formed that then developed into canes (slender woody stems) in 2004 – and the unseasonably cool weather in 2004 during bloom. 

With that said, a light crop usually means a more concentrated flavor and higher quality in the grapes. Some speculate that the consistent inland coastal breeze will further enhance flavor development this year. As the vineyard is now in its fifth producing year – with a history of ever-improving grape quality – we think this year’s grapes could be a blockbuster wine in a couple of years.