On the Contrary

Vine:   Another week of thinning, now mostly in the Grenache.  I finished these rows which is a relief because the Grenache is a very thick and hearty plant and you really have to dig your way in to see each spur and remove the unwanted shoots.  I am now in the final block of thinning, the Mourvedre, which is considerably easier because the plant is not as thick and it is easier to see what needs to be removed.  The picture above shows the lower vineyard before mowing and final thinning.  Once in a while you break off a keeper and it breaks your heart, but that is life.  I have also been back in the Syrah because it is growing so fast trying to push new growth up through the wires so you don’t end up with a jumbled mess or horizontal growth.  The lower vineyard is more challenging than the upper vineyard because you are always standing on a 45° slope and it just wears you out.  Some of my work was slowed down last week as I really started to feel punk.  I thought it was just old age and too much sun, which is always a possibility, but it turned out to be a tick bite or spider bite which my wife discovered (on my back) which was a little infected.  Once it was cleaned and treated with an antibiotic I started feeling much better. It just goes with the territory of working with nature.  At any rate, I will only have one more week of getting up at 5 am so I can be out by 9am and then it will be manageable.

The other major chore is to mow down the grass/clover in the vineyard and then do a massive weed-eating job to tidy up the vineyard.  The picture on the left shows the upper vineyard after I mowed it.  Most of the grasses and clovers have gown to seed and dried out so it is a good time to cut them down before I am dragging my spraying gear through the vineyard.  It is always a chore to drag out my tow behind deck mower and then get it running since I only use it once a year.  After much cussing and pouring gasoline directing into the air intake of the carburetor, I got it running although in fits and starts, and got the upper vineyard mowed.  This weekend I will tackle the lower vineyard in the evenings when it is not so hot.  Mowing the lower vineyard is a somewhat daunting task as the terraced lower vineyard is very steep so there is a distinct pattern to stay safe.  With 500 #s of mower behind you, you never turn downhill or you may see the mower go by you as you swing around and start down the hill backwards.  More than once, before I learned how to manage the turns and hills, I ended up tittering on the brink of disaster having to gingerly climb off the machine in a precarious position and then use the winch on my ATV to pull into a safe position.  This week, like every week, I think just one more week and then I will be able to relax.  The reality is about June 30 everything is really done and then you just coast to harvest, with some minor thinning and other maintenance.  The picture below shows my trusty ATV with tow behind mower.

Wine:   Last week was our Rock and Rhones event in which four of our wineries in Pleasant Valley (south of HW 50) that grow Rhone Varietals have a pairing of food and wine.  I have written about it in my last several Vine/Wines so I won’t bore you here except to say that the wines were excellent and I now have a good supply for the summer.  Believe it or not, one of my favorite pairings was an El Dorado honey, fennel, ginger & viognier marinated salmon cooked in parchment with a Roussanne/Viognier blend at Narrow Gate, and some goat cheese with a lemon olive oil paired with a Viognier at Miraflores.  I know, I know, whites.  What was I thinking?  There was also a Forest King Boletes Mushroom Tart with spring onions at Sierra Vista with their Mourvedre which was excellent (see a red).  If any of the wineries had live music I would have stayed all day.  The Grenache with a La Clarine Roussette cheese pizza at Holly’s Hill was also excellent.

Tomorrow night, my vineyard advisor and good friend Ron Mansfield is coming over to dinner and I am grilling a leg of lamb.  That will force him to bring over a good Rhone from his cellar and we shall sit on the patio and indulge in slow cooked leg of lamb, roasted potatoes, a nice garden salad with some fresh arugula out of my garden, some artisan bread and olive oil, and a nice southern Rhone, watch the stars come out, and talk vineyard stuff.  Could life be any better.  Carpe Diem.

Vine/Wine Friday

Fall Rain on Saturday

Vine:   Fall has arrived with some good soaking rains starting late this Friday afternoon.  The Grenache was harvested in the early morning Friday so no problem there.  The Mourvedre is still hanging, but this grape is fairly resistant to any damage by rain such as powdery mildew.  Last year it went through three rounds of rains before we harvested with no damage.  But every year brings new surprises so we will see.

Grenache: The're Gone

As I noted, I was in the Bay Area trying to make a few dollars to support my grape habit so I missed the harvest, but it was about a ton which is commensurate with what I harvested last year.  I measured the Brix Thursday morning before I left town and it was at about 26° which is about right.  I will be interested to see what the winery measures to see how close I am to predicting the delivered brix (it helps the wineries if I can give them a weekly update so they know when we are getting close).  I haven’t yet measured the Mourvedre brix yet but both the Mourvedre and Grenache, unlike last year, ripened much more quickly than I anticipated.  When the Grenache was picked, both the seeds and skins were quite tasty, crunchy, and no hint of bitter tannins.  I think this is going to be an exceptional year, but we will see what A Donkey and Goat think.

Wine:   Okay, I promised a little discussion of wine making styles and here is what my Syrah and Grenache at a Donkey and Goat are being subject to:

The key to Tracey and Jared’s approach is to treat the grapes as gently as possible, do as little as possible to them (let them reflect their terroir), and utilized practices of some of the great wine makers in France (and some in the U.S.) that have developed over hundreds of years.  They begin by a careful selection of the vineyards they want to utilize, vineyards that show distinctive flavors and reflect their terroir (I am quite happy to have them utilize my grapes).  Jared usually is the traveler that goes to each vineyard and samples the grapes till he feels they are ready.  When they are harvested (usually early in the morning when it is cool), they are harvested into small bins to minimize any damage or premature crushing of the grapes.  Since their processing facility (and tasting room) is in Berkeley they are immediately transport in an enclosed truck.  If the weather temperature is above 65° then they refrigerate in transit.  This prevents any wild yeasts from starting fermentation in any exposed juice until they can carefully control it.  Depending on the work schedule, grapes maybe refrigerated up to 24 hours before processing but are usually processed as soon as they arrive.

When the grapes arrive in the processing facility, they are sorted, removing any extraneous material, bird damaged grapes, or those showing signs of boytrytis (powdry mildew) or any other decease, and then destemmed without crushing.  They leave between 10% to 30% with stems on (depending on the type of grape) for fermentation. The normal process is to destem and crush in one operation, but the Brandt’s strongly believe that the age-old process of foot stomping (their sanitary procedures would shame the early French) extracts the juices without over extracting the tannins and some other unwanted flavoids.  After sorting and destemming the grapes are transferred to a wood 500 Liter puncheon (big wood barrel) for crushing (foot stomping).  The juices are tested to for Brix (sugar content), TA (Titratable Acids or Total Acid), PH, and the Malic and Tartaric content.  Acids in wine is a whole blog and I will save it for another time when you are so bored you might actually read it.  PH is usually the driver here and unless the juice is extremely out of balance, the Brandt’s prefer not to adjust acid.  At this point they make a decision based upon the quality of the grapes as to how much SO2 to add.  If they are in very good shape, they will add none.  If there is some damage or other conditions that could result in some unwanted yeast/bacteria’s they will add up to 10 PPM.  Note that most wineries add much more than this, up to a limit of about 100PPM).  PH also has an impact on the effectiveness of SO2 and again that is a subject for another day.  Then the grapes are then transferred to cold storage (to prevent fermentation) usually for 48 hours at 50° F.  This cold soaking allows the juices to gently absorb more of the flavoids from the skins, seeds, and remaining stems, and to allow the entire mix to stabilize prior to fermentation.  When this process is complete they record the final Brix, TA,  and PH.

The grapes/juice are removed from cold storage and allowed to naturally warm and at about 65° they start naturally fermenting.  Fermentation is carried out in the wood puncheons (to extract the delicate tannins of the wood, better control of cap formation and punch down, and permeability of oxygen).  Nothing is added to the juices and the grapes ferment on their own natural yeasts.  Fermentation usually starts after about 3 – 5 days after they are removed from cold storage and fermentation can take anywhere from 5 days to many, many weeks.  After fermentation is complete they lightly press the grapes to extract the juices and remove the skins, seeds, and stems, and add nothing so that malo-latic fermentation can take place over the winter or in the Spring depending on temperatures.  The new wine is transferred to either French oak barrels or French oak puncheons (they prefer Rousseau and Franciois Freres barrel makers) with an average age of 3 years to not over oak their wines.  In future Vine/Wine Fridays I will expand on what happens in the winery for the next two years as the wine ages and matures.

Okay so much for their wine making style.  To get the whole picture I strongly advise you to try the wines so you can appreciate what they creating with this sophisticated process.   I would suggest their classic Three-Thirteen. Three-Thirteen and a nice loin lamb chop.

Saturday Night's Fare - It's Not Hard to Cook Well

Speaking of food.  This was last Saturday’s dinner which was simple to prepare and far exceeds most restaurants at about one-third the cost.  This consisted of a mesquite grilled fillet mignon, sautéed mushrooms (olive oil and wine) garlic mashed potatoes, heirloom tomatoes and green peppers on a bed of argula Carpe Diem, a fresh loaf of fococcia with lemon olive oil, and a nice bottle of Miraflores Syrah.  At least once a week we all need to slow down, cook a wonderful meal, and enjoy it with the people you love.  It is what all the rest is about.  Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem

Vineyard in the Late Sun 9-12-2008

Vine: The weather has continued warm (low 90’s and cool (56°) nights so everything in the vineyard moved about 2° brix.  The Syrah will definitely be ready in another week.  I measured brix up to 28° in some bunches that got full sun (if you want to understand ripeness in grapes see Vine/Wine Friday 9/5/2008).   The weather is not predicted to moderate so I am expecting an early harvest for everything.  Is that good?  It just depends.  I think we have had some nice moderating weather this summer that could produce some exceptional quality grapes. The question is are we getting those flavoids developing that produce that wonderful complexity and mellow tannins in a fine wine.  I think so.  The Syrah pips are tasting nutty and the skins are delightful to eat.

Sadly my Viognier is struggling.  I have good clusters, but the plant is weak.  It is clear to me that they need more water than they are getting in the block of Syrah where they grow.

Syrah (Trellis) Soon To Be Delivered to the Crusher

True to traditional Northern Rhones, Viognier  is grown and harvested with the Syrah (also crushed and fermented).  So this winter when the soil is not like a rock I will isolate the Viognier from the Syrah irrigation and put it on its own system.  One other interesting (only to grower) observation is that my Counoise is a mixed bag.  I determined last year that because the small number of plants (about 16) which grow on the hillside near my lawn were getting too much water I decided to cut them back severely (irrigation).  What happened was the row nearest the watered lawn did wonderfully, and the row further down the hill produced a more anemic fruit, although tasty.  So I valved them off so that I could water each row as they showed signs of stress.

I have pushed my plants about as hard as I can this year on irrigation and I see some impacts to the plants.  All of the Syrah have developed some yellow leaf in the lower foliage showing the stress.

Head Trained Mourvedre Slowly Riping

But the production looks good, especially in the Grenache and Mourvedre so I think I am honing in on the right amount of watering.  There are a couple of places where they have been stressed too much and the plant has suffered, but the majority of the block looks good.  The proof will be in the quality of the flavors these grapes produce and I wait on my trusty wine makers to tell me what they think.  But here is what I want you to think about.  It has taken me almost eight years to figure our the irrigation on my little area.  It is a process of trial and error and every terroir is different.  What that tells me is look for the old guys who have been doing this a long time in one place. There is book learning and there is the experience that goes with your land.  And nothing tops that.

Wine:  I am writing this on Friday night on my front porch as the moon comes up over the Ponderosa Pines and I sip a nice red.  It is dead quiet up here and the serenity is delightful.  My friend Sophie (first-golden retriever) sits by my side and sometimes I have to just stop and realize how wonderful my life is.  My friends grow and produce wonderful products and some of the best, yet undiscovered wine in the country.  Whenever I invite people from other places to share this bounty with me they are awestruck at the quality not only of the wine, but the wonderful people I get to work with.

You know it is funny that in this political silly season we all get wrapped up in our politics of division, but in fine food and a great quality wine, we find community.  Up here most of the wineries are family owned and there is a fairly long tradition of hard work and an appreciation of what sweat and blood goes into both growing and producing fine wine.  You will not find anyone here disparaging the Mexican worker because they are our partners in this endeavor, and it is their skill, knowledge. and extremely hard work that we leverage in what we do.  When it all gets done and you are tasting a quality wine that just sparkles in your mouth, you know that a whole community of hard working people, from the grower and his philosophy in the vineyard, his labor, the Mexicans and their craftsmanship, and then the craftsmanship and style in the winery produced this thing of beauty.  It is labor from so many different and divergent people that results in this little drink of ecstasy.   Maybe we should remember that as we trudge through life.   It is the whole community that makes us special and we should celebrate every day.  Find what is beautiful in each and every one and build on that to weave a beautiful tapestry.  That’s what we do up here.  Tomorrow it is off to a full day of tasting, food, and music at the local wineries and then preparing a wonderful meal for visitors.  Life is a great gift.  Carpe Diem