Orfila Vineyards Announces Plans for Special 'San Diego Press Club Syrah'
Press Clubbers to harvest grapes in September

By Barbara Metz

Get your wine cellar ready! San Diego Press Club Syrah is on the way.

Orfila Vineyards' winemaker and general manager Leon Santoro, a longtime Press Club supporter, has offered to produce a special bottling of Syrah for The San Diego Press Club and donate it to the club! The yet-unnamed barrel of wine (containing approximately 24 cases) will be bottled in the spring of 2008 and ready for enjoying around Labor Day.

Press Club members will have the opportunity to participate in every step of the wine-making process, starting this fall. The first step involves picking about two bins of grapes, which should take about two hours. The grape-picking event will take place early one Saturday in September. (The exact date will be determined, of course, by the weather.)

The grape-picking experience will be followed by a catered lunch under the grape arbor at Orfila Vineyards, and plenty of award-winning Orfila wines.

"The Press Club Wine Group includes a number of people who are very knowledgeable about wine," said Santoro. "This is a great opportunity to increase their hand-on experience. Wine novices, too, will gain a lot from following the process from vine to wine."

Orfila Vineyards & Winery has been awarded more than 1,000 medals in national and international wine competitions, since it was founded in 1994. Among the medals on display at the winery are 25 double gold medals, 130 gold medals, two platinum medals, several "Best of Class" medals, and the award for "Best U.S. Red Wine" given to the 1999 San Diego Syrah "Val de la Mer" by the 2002 Atlanta International Wine Summit.

Stand by for future announcements.

Posted August 2006