Rucksack Cellars

We can’t be too picky

When it comes to the weather, whether (see what I did there?) it is summer, spring, fall or winter, is it ever exactly what we want it to be? Probably not! However, this past harvest season was pretty close with the mild temperatures so that we could elongate the pick to give longer hang times for the clusters and be a little less crazy in the cellar. And the 2023 fruit came in beautiful! So thank you very much, Mother Nature!

This winter, as a whole, has been great so far. It has been relatively wet, so the underground water is being replenished and the plants are getting a good soak. Knock on wood, so far it has been a winter without too much water and wind, all at once, so that we have not had a lot of damage to our forests, farms and communities. However, if I can complain a little, it has been slightly on the warm side. The snow pack, which we depend on for water throughout the year, has remained mostly in the high, high elevations instead of blanketing the Sierras. 

So if I could make one request of Mother Nature, could February and March continue to bring the moisture with a little bit more of the white stuff lower in elevation and without the damaging winds or quantities? That way we can continue to get the water we so need, it will last longer into the year and the colder temperatures will keep our vines dreaming in their winter slumbers until we are ready for them to wake up deeper into the Spring.

Am I asking too much? Probably…I should just be grateful for what we have. That sounds better, right?

Monday, February 19 from 6pm to 8pm

A regular at our weekly community nights throughout the summer and a supporter of Rucksack wines, Richard Moore has opened the gluten-free bakery on Main Street in Placerville called, Flourless Patisserie. Even before he opened his brick and mortar location, at our community nights, we discussed our mutual desire to pair Rucksack wines with Flourless treats.

On Monday, February 19 from 6pm – 8pm, we will pair four Rucksack wines with four treats from Flourless Patisserie. We will feature two savory and two sweet with our wines at an evening event that showcases two local businesses.

Tickets are $40/person ($35/person for Rucksack Club members)

Tickets are already selling fast! To get yours, stay on this website and go to the “STORE” tab followed by the “EVENTS AND MERCHANDISE” tab.

Saturday, January 27 – 3pm to 5pm

Sunday, January 28 – 1pm to 3pm

Have you ever dreamed of being a winemaker? Or maybe just want to find out what goes into blending a wine? Learn from Paul Bush, wine maker for Madroña Vineyards and Rucksack Cellars. Taste each wine in its 100% varietal form, and then begin to play! Bottle your own GSM at the end of the event for an additional $24 (limit 1 per participant).

These are small classes, a great way to learn – only 24 people in each class.

Tickets are $45/person for the class portion ($35/person for club members). Limit of 4 tickets per membership. Additional $24 to take the bottle of your GSM home.

Sign up here under the “STORE” tab and then under the “EVENTS AND MERCHANDISE” tab.

Rucksack Christmas Trees

This past Saturday and Sunday we opened the Rucksack Christmas Tree lot for our annual/bi-annual Christmas tree sale.

It was such a wonderful and festive weekend! We saw friends and family members, enjoyed the magic that always comes along with choosing that perfect tree and capped it all off with some fabulous merriment over at the Rucksack Cellar enjoying charcuterie boards paired with our wine flights.

I thought I was in the Holiday Spirit before…now I know that I definitely am! Happy Holidays everyone and enjoy those trees!

Lights and Wine…Fa La La La La

Here at Rucksack we are certainly in the Holiday spirit. We have decked out our cellar with as many Christmas lights as we have fuses to hold. I never knew that a storage room, filled with boxes of wine could look so festive.

Come by and check out the glow for yourself and enjoy a wine flight and charcuterie board. Of course…if the weather is nice, we still love to be outside, and may even spark up the fire pit, but as the temperatures continue to drop, or it is wet, we are moving inside more and more.

Don’t forget…Rucksack will be closing for the season on December 17…so if you need those Holiday gifts and wines don’t wait too long, so you don’t miss out.

So…the last post that I put up mentions two of our three amazing Holiday offers, our four bottle Barbera Vertical (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017) for $85 and our six bottle Cabernet Franc special for $120. Well…we must be feeling the Holiday Spirit because, since that post, we have come up with a third special offer that absolutely can not be missed. We have just released a very limited amount of our 2012 Pinot Noir.

We are releasing full bottles for $48/bottle and half bottles for $24/bottle. This Pinot Noir, just like the Barbera and Cabernet Franc, will be a wonderful accompaniment to all your Holiday meals and the half bottles fit, oh so perfectly, into those stockings.

Hurry in to pick up one, or all three, of these incredibly special offers. We have limited supplies of all these wines and they are surely to go fast!

Perfect for the wine lovers in your family.

As we approach the holidays, and you are trying to figure out what to get for that special person, or just yourself…I get it, we have some great deals that you will not want to miss.

Rucksack Barbera Vertical:

For those who want to experience how a single variety ages and want to taste how a wine can grow and change over time, or simply compare the profiles of the different vintages…you can purchase a vertical of our 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 Barbera vintages all for $85, a savings of over 12%.

1/2 Case of 2018 Cabernet Franc:

For those who love our Cabernet Franc and just can not have enough to pair with every meal during the holidays, or you want to stuff those stockings for you and 5 of your closest friends and family, we are offering six bottles for $120, a savings of over 15%.

Stop by the Rucksack tasting room, Thursday thru Sunday from 12pm – 5pm, and pick yours up before we close for the season on December 17.

Now that harvest is done, there is still a lot happening in the vineyards and cellar at Rucksack and Madrona.

All the grapes have been harvested from our vineyards at Madrona, Rucksack and our two Pleasant Valley properties…so what happens now?

Well…there is still a ton going on behind the scenes in the cellar. We are working hard with the juice, that all those grapes provided, to insure that all the 2023 vintages have a strong start to their processes of becoming wines. Some of these tasks include: pressing the wines to make sure we are getting all the juice and flavor out of each grape, pumping over the juice onto their skins to make sure all the color is extracted, adding yeast to begin fermentation along with some organic additives which act as vitamins for the wines. (Don’t we all need our vitamins)

Out in the vineyards we are irrigating, adding natural nutrients to the soils and providing the vines any care that they might require as they soak up the last bits of energy to strengthen and prepare themselves for their long winter slumber. Our hope now is for a long, cold winter where the vines can have uninterrupted sleep and store up energy for the spring.

There is always something going on and it usually involves planning and preparation for the upcoming seasons. Happy Fall everyone and we hope that your upcoming Holiday Season is wonderful and we look forward to seeing you at your next visit to Rucksack Cellars.

Fun with our friends from the East!

This past weekend, across all of Apple Hill, was our annual community celebration of our neighbors to the east. We welcomed anyone and everyone who resides in the state of Nevada and treated them like; kings, queens, princes, princesses or maybe just club members for the day. (But isn’t that the same thing really???) As their closest “wine country,” we wanted them to know how much we appreciate their patronage.

As it is every year on the anniversary of the founding of the State of Nevada, it was so wonderful to welcome back old friends and catch up, in addition to all the new friends we made and can not wait to see throughout the year.

If you live in Nevada and missed this year’s festivities, keep an eye out for our Nevada Days Celebration 2024, which will always be toward the end of October, right around the foundation date of the state of Nevada.

…When you can be enjoying WINE, panini, sweet potato fries and charcuterie.

This is the last Saturday and Sunday (12-4pm) of October, and your last chance to come hang out at Rucksack and enjoy the quiet, relaxed atmosphere of our tasting area overlooking the incredible colors of our beautiful fall vineyard.

We certainly do not want you to miss out on those uniquely Apply Hill experiences. So in between those wonderful farms where you can pick up your locally grown apples, pumpkins, fruits and berries (Don’t forget the chocolates, pies, juices and other treats), stop by Rucksack to re-set, re-charge and relax. We just happen to be perfectly located in between all your favorite farms. If you are new coming up to the area, ask Douglas or anyone else working at Rucksack for our favorite farm recommendations…you might be pleasantly surprised by some hidden gems.

Below are our delicious food options that have been meticulously paired with our wine flight offerings. Oh, and by the way, they are perfectly sized to share amongst your table. (So don’t be afraid to try more than one)

Wine Flight – $15

Sweet Potato Fries and two aioli – $10

Wine and Fry combo – $20

Panini – $15

Charcuterie Board – 22.50 (small) 35.00 (large)

Halloween Candy – FREE