Tahoe TV has joined forces with Moonshine Ink to bring you a special series of in-depth videos tied to feature stories in each month's edition of Moonshine Ink. The following is an excerpt from a feature story in the Moonshine Ink. Read the full story here.

By Julie Brown. Excerpt courtesy of Moonshine Ink.

The first time I visited the Truckee River Winery it was snowing. A late-May storm had blown in as we walked up the brick path leading to the winery’s cherry-red barn, which was built in 1968 on South River Street in downtown Truckee. A few inches of snow cloaked the barn’s shoulders and dusted the naked apple and aspen trees out front. Young vines recently planted by the Truckee River Winery were still enduring the record snow and icy temperatures of one of the area’s longest winters. It’s no wonder they call themselves “the highest and coldest winery.”

In a few years, those hardy, high-altitude vines will hopefully produce enough fruit to make the first case of wine grown and bottled in Truckee. But until then, inside the shelter of the barn, the wine-making operations of Truckee River Winery continue to craft world-class wine with fruit sourced from regional vines, which grow in much more temperate climates.

The distinct aroma of oak, aging wine, and must hit me as soon as I stepped inside the barn. White boxes full of the 2009 Chardonnay Volo, a California red table wine, and Zanos, a red blend, were stacked to my right. Five-hundred-gallon oak barrels — mostly French, some American — filled the rest of the barn. Winemaker Russ Jones and Mike Kalan, assistant winemaker, were just putting labels on a few bottles of Chardonnay. Jones popped a bottle open and poured us a glass.

Read the complete story here.