Afternoon in the Vineyards: 2013.

Today was the 13th annual Afternoon in the Vineyards, a casual meet-and-greet event sponsored by the Napa Valley Vintners that allows Napa Valley residents to get up close and personal with their friendly, neighbourhood viticulturist/vintner.
Vinomaker and I decided to pop over to Ackerman Family Vineyards which is a stone's throw, well, maybe two stones and two throws, from Vinoland.  The past couple of days I have been busy suckering vines, so this was to be a pleasant diversion.  It was a glorious day, maybe perhaps a little too warm to be stomping around a dusty vineyard other than my own little corner of Eden, but I always enjoy visiting new vineyards...besides there are usually wines to be sampled.
The Ackerman family have a very nice vineyard which is planted to modified-lyre, head trained, cane pruned (the tour guide's description, not mine) Cabernet Sauvignon vines and is certified organic (don't get me started).  A lot of rescue horses (the horse-stall barn was very fancy).  And a nice location with extensive Coombsville vistas.  Unfortunately, the two vintages of their Cabernet Sauvignon that I tried, the 2007 and 2008, both wonderful vintages for Napa in general, were not to my liking.  Both wines displayed stewed-fruit characteristics which, given the relatively cool climate in Coombsville, I can only attribute to something amiss in the winemaking department, perhaps.  But then, what do I know?  I just know they weren't to my taste...beautiful property though.