Vista Del Rey Vineyards

Time for some hopefully uplifting news! During this restrictive pandemic period, pets are even more important in our daily lives. Over the years, we have been fortunate to share our lives with a countless number of dogs and cats, all rescue from myriad sources. Besides being ever loving pets, they have made great tasting room greeters. As most of our patrons know, we have never charged a tasting fee, but instead have asked our visitors to consider making a donation to our local humane society, a no kill facility with a new spay neuter facility. In 20 years, we have averaged $1,000/year in tasting room donations. We remain open by appointment with outside pouring in effect Salud! Dave and Carol.

Last Monday, we harvested 3.7 tons of Zinfandel from my across-the-road neighbor's vineyard. This is the same Zin source as last year. Besides red Zin, we are also producing our popular, dry, barrel fermented and aged Zin Rose. None of this would be possible without our hard working, under appreciated farmworkers. California employs an estimated 800,000 farmworkers, a majority of those work seasonal positions with an annual income of $18,000 a year. Nearly 90% of these workers were born in Mexico. They typically live in cramped quarters. During the pandemic, only marginal, inconsistent, virus protection has been provided in the field and their domiciles, resulting in high infection rates. Farmworkers are not disposable! They are the most important part of how we get the food we eat.

Last Tuesday marked the 75th anniversary of the official unconditional surrender of Japan onboard the USS Missouri (BB-63). Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost on both sides. The USS Clarion River (LSMR-409), which I served on during the Vietnam War, was on its way for the planned invasion of the Japanese mainland when the surrender was signed. Since then, the U.S. has been involved in many armed conflicts, many that remain highly classified that we have never heard of. ...Throughout these troubling times, our military forces have admirably responded to the call of duty. Unfortunately, our current commander and chief has denigrated our fallen, wounded or captured military personnel as "Losers and Suckers". Trump's understanding of heroism has not evolved in his term as president. As a 22-year Navy vet, I take umbrage with this President's outrageous and hurtful regard of our military services CDR John David King USN Ret.. See more

"Farming is fraught with risk and not for the faint of heart!" Last week's weather was a classic example of extended heat, coupled with four days of smoke filled skies reducing the visibility to as low as 1/2 mile. The average high temperature for eight days was 106F, with two days of record setting temperatures of 113F! Extended heat periods cause all crops to go into a survival mode, instead of devoting energy to ripening the fruit.. For grapes, lower acidity, and premature raisening and uneven ripening, is a strong possibility. This exceptional heat period, coupled with a spastic rain season discussed in a previous post, will make for an interesting and challenging harvest season! Stay tuned in! Salud! Dave & Carol.

Our spastic weather year may have been highlighted by a lighting storm during our outside pouring event Saturday! Fortunately, our wine club members were very excited about this strange event this time of year. Overall, our rainy season was weird in that we received 5 inches of rain in Nov/Dec, only 0,5 inches in Jan/Feb, followed by a March miracle of 3.3 inches and culminating with 1.6 inches in April. The total rainfall was okay, but the beneficial rainfall period is normally Jan-early March. I certainly have had more than a late bumper crop of weeds to deal with! With a long term continuing drought predicted for our area, who knows, who knows what this years rainfall will be? Salud! Dave and Carol.

One of the bonuses of visiting VDRV is to get the history of Pistachios in California. This year, 1 billion pounds of Pistachios will be harvested. from over 300,000 acres in production. Pistachios were first planted from seed in CA nearly 50 years ago. Mass production of Pistachios started during the Iran oil embargo in the late 1970s. UC Davis got involved by acquiring a few trees, leading to today, where CA is the leading world producer of this enticing nut. For the rest of the story, you must visit VDRV! We remain open by appointment only, for mandated outside pouring. Summer Wine Club pick-up continues. Salud! Dave & Carol.

Tasting Room update! We are now mandated to do wine pourings outside the tasting room No worries. We had a very successful weekend with our outside set-up. It is recommended that you come earlier in the day, as we are in our hottest time of the year. Customers can enter the tasting room to chose from our wonderful array of condiments, art items and other goodies. We are still open by appointment only. Also,Summer Wine Club pick-up continues. We now have seven wines available for even the most discerning taster to choose from. Salud! Dave and Carol.

We recently completed our bottling season with the bottling of our barrel fermented and aged, dry 2019 Zinfandel Rose and N/V Zin-bera. Additionally, our other wines available for tasting and sale include 2016 & 2017 Zinfandel, 2018 Lot 1 & Lot 2 2018 Barbera, 2017 Zin-bera and 2018 Barbera Dessert Wine-Port style.Summer Wine Club pick-up continues. We are open by appointment only, with groups restricted to 6 people, and please have face masks to enter the tasting room. Time to get your pandemic relief offerings! Salud! Dave and Carol.

YEAH! We can pour again-with COVID-19 restrictions of course. We are open by appointment only starting Saturday, and the wearing of face masks is required to enter the tasting room. Social distancing is required with groups restricted to six people. It's Wine Club pick up time with the winemakers choice being two bottles each of Lot 1&2 Barbera, one bottle of 2017 Zinfandel and one bottle of 2017 Zin-bera. Time to get your pandemic relief packages in person! Salud! Dave & Carol.

Last Friday, we bottled 93 cases of 2018 Barbera, Lo t 2. A 2019 barrel fermented and aged dry Rose and 2018 Zin-bera will be bottled end of June. I anticipate about 45 cases of Rose and 70 cases of Zin-bera. We are still in the throws of the COVID pandemic and climate change. Still no word on when we can pour, but we remain open for curbside pick up, can take and fill orders and ship. Hope to release Wine Club late this month. Meanwhile, it will be 102 degrees today and in the 70's this weekend! Stay safe, and allow us to ship you and others a pandemic relief package. Salud! Dave and Carol.

A Memorial Day Salute! Warfare losses within our borders: Civil war,620,000, 9/11/2001, 3,200 and COVID-19, approaching 100,000.To put this in perspective, American losses for all wars,1,264,000. On a personal note, I have lost at least 25 Vietnam shipmates do to the ravages of Agent Orange. My 22 year Navy career, including 5 ship tours and significant undersea research and development tours exposed me to many different experiences. All of this pales with the ongoing battle with COVID-19! Our new heroes are our front line medical personal who are daily risking their lives to save others. Tomorrow, please observe a moment of silence to honor those lost to keep America free and safe! CDR John David King USN RET.

In spite of COVID-!9, essential activities such as farming must continue. We survived another chaotic winter featuring spastic rain/non-rain events. November/December we experienced over 5 inches of rain, followed by only 0.5 inches for January/February. A mini March miracle of 3.25 inches was followed by an April surprise of 1.6 inches, bringing the seasonal total to 11.33 inches. The late rains brought on another bumper crop of weeds to deal with! This springs weather has brought wild swings in temperature as well, with some days in the mid 90's. Climate change believer-YES! We remain open for orders, shipping and curbside pickup. Think COVID-19 stress relief Packages! Salud!, Dave &Carol.

Mother's Day looms on the horizon. What better way to celebrate mothers in your extended family than a package of VDRV wine and condiments. As an example, how about pairing our Barbera Port with Raspberry Zinfandel & Pear William Dessert Topping or Old Fashion Cinnamon Chocolate Sauce? You can choose from five wines and an array of 15 condiments to assemble that special gift! We can ship most anywhere and are open for curbside pickup. Time is of the essence, so call or email us at [email protected]. Salud! Dave and Carol.