Good Earth Weekend is almost here!

Every September at Silver Thread, we plan Good Earth Weekend! Named after our popular Good Earth wines, this weekend has three aspects.

First of all, September is the start of harvest. This means we are even more in-tune with the Silver Thread estate than usual. We’re closely monitoring the grapes: testing for brix, acidity, and pH. All of this is done so we can determine when each varietal is ready to be picked. And since we hand-pick everything at Silver Thread, it takes a lot of planning. Our schedules revolve around the grapes during harvest.

Bag of grapes for testing.

A bag of STV Merlot grapes for testing.

We also spend a fair amount of time making sure any hungry parties of wildlife aren’t doing too much damage in the vineyard. We use black nets to help keep deer and birds out of the grapes (particularly the varietals that significantly change color during veraison). We also set up small, solar-powered alarms that will emit a relatively loud and annoying noise when anything approaches it.

Gewurztraminer grapes on the vine covered with black netting.

Gewurztraminer vineyard with netting.

This will be the second year in a row that we’ve celebrated harvest and Good Earth weekend by offering a Wine & Grape Tasting! If you’ve ever had questions about why certain grapes are used in blends, or what different grapes bring to different wines, this is your chance to find out! Our Wine & Grape Tasting will be Saturday, September 7th between 12 and 3pm. Ticket-holders (reservations are required) will be able to stop in anytime between noon and 3pm to be guided through this casual, drop-in, VIP tasting. Tickets are $25 per person. Click here and scroll down the page to book your tickets!

The second part of Good Earth weekend, is to celebrate the Brocks’ ownership of Silver Thread! Shannon and Paul officially took over as the stewards of this beautiful estate on September 1st, 2011. Every September we honor their proprietorship by hosting folks for a special anniversary dinner at Dano’s Heuriger on Seneca, one of our favorite local spots just south of Silver Thread. Karen – Dano’s owner and manager – offers a delicious Chef’s Table menu, which we’ll be pairing with ten-year-old Silver Thread wines. That’s right: enjoy Dano’s most well-known menu alongside 2014 library wines!

Anniversary Dinner Menu

The 2024 dinner menu.

 

Back deck at Dano's Heuriger on Seneca.

The scenic back deck of Dano’s at sunset.

The dinner will be held Friday, September 6th, 2024 at 6:30pm. Tickets are $100 per person, and the event is for people aged 21+. Reserve your seats here!

The third – and most important (to us) – part of Good Earth Weekend is that it’s our annual fundraiser for the Lodi Food4All Community Pantry. This local food pantry is a vital part of the community and we’re committed to helping provide food security for our neighbors. $10 from every Good Earth Weekend ticket sold – for both the Anniversary Dinner AND Wine & Grape Tasting – will be donated to the Lodi food pantry.

We hope you’ll join us for one – or both! – of our Good Earth Weekend events! It’s a great opportunity to learn more about Silver Thread, to connect with Shannon and Paul, and to help support an important non-profit right up the road from us. Cheers!