We finally got back to normal growing weather in 2012. Many have proclaimed it the vintage of the decade, even though we are only three years into the decade. In October, we got some fantastic news about our 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon. It received an honorary mention...
Our History
Paloma Milestones: 2010-2011
2010 was the first of two challenging years for farming and winemaking. It was unusually cool, which made getting the fruit as ripe as we like particularly difficult. The 2011 vintage was even more challenging; after a second cool season, starting in September, it...
Paloma Milestones: 2007-2009
For the third time in 6 years, the Paloma Merlot made the Wine Spectator's Top 100. Out of over 18,000 wines tasted in 2008, the 2006 vintage placed 65th. Aside from the usual farming and winemaking challenges that we face every year, Jim was diagnosed with cancer in...
Paloma Milestones: 2006
Sheldon finished building his home in late September, just in time to help with harvest. Finally, after two difficult years, we had a good crop; in fact, it was the best crop in term so of yield that we have ever had.
Paloma Milestones: 2005
Again, we lost half the crop to shatter — two years in a row! We had a PV (photovoltaic) solar system placed on the roof of the winery, which provides enough electricity to power the winery, our home, and the house our son, Sheldon, started constructing this year....
Paloma Milestones: 2004
The Wine Spectator placed our wine in the top 100 again; the 2002 Paloma Merlot was 54th of over 12,000 wines tasted this year. Another exceptional honor! This year, the Merlot blooms suffered severe damage from “shatter”, which resulted in half the normal crop....
Paloma Milestones: 2003
Our son Sheldon, who had been living in Canada for 35 years, joined our business in August, just in time for harvest. Fortunately, he was here when The Wine Spectator magazine named our 2001 Paloma Merlot their "Wine of the Year" for 2003. We were pleased with the...
Paloma Milestones: 2002
In December, we had the most snow we have ever seen on Spring Mountain. We got six-inches in a very short time. We had several days without power and the roads down the mountain were blocked with fallen trees. Our old dog is at an age where strange lights...
Paloma Milestones: 2001
Our Canadian grandchildren always visit in the summer and help around the vineyard, but this year our oldest grandson, Caston, 14 years old from Calgary, Alberta, joined us for a strenuous ten days at harvest. He was a lot of help, but I think we wore him out. He must...
Paloma Milestones: 2000
After a year and a half of filing forms and going to hearings, we finally started construction of our own winery at the vineyard. It was barely finished by harvest, but we got to do our own crush. It was a bit chaotic, using equipment that we had never used before,...