On the Contrary

Vine: Summer has returned after a cool week in the mid to low 80’s and it will be in the 90’s today.  Yes we farmers are fixated on the weather but the vineyard is in the last stages of ripening (Mourvedre, Grenache, and Counoise) and I would prefer a little cooler weather to allow the tannins to catch up with the sugars.  I went out to do a tasting in the vineyard this morning and measure the brix.  Here is what I found:

GRAPE          BRIX    WA*    FLAVOR
Grenache    24-26    25     Skins and pips mellow, seeds mostly brown and nutty, no
bitterness
Mourvedre  22-26    23     Skins less bitter, pips browning with some bitterness in the
tannins
Counoise    22-26    24     Will be ready with the Grenache
*WA-Weighted Average

Taking sugar (brix) readings with a refractometer is somewhat of an art.

Late Fall Day in the Vineyard

You can get very different readings depending on where you select the berry to be tested so the idea is to get  a representative sample and kind of mentally average it out.  That is what my weighted average is.  I am getting pretty good at this and my numbers correlate very well with what comes back from the laboratory.

These grapes are developing much faster than I had anticipated and I would think that the Grenache will be ready in a week, no more than two weeks.  They are developing some very nice flavors.  Jared Brandt of A Donkey and Goat was up here early Wednesday morning to taste the Counoise and the Grenache and he thought two to three weeks, but I think they are moving faster than that. As it should be, he will make the final call.  The Mourvedre is still a minimum of three weeks away and I am concerned about some raisining on some of the bunches, but that, I think, is a result of the very stringent water rationing

Grenache with Good Deep Colors

I did this year and that is what you have to live with if you want a quality grape.  It is once again a reflection of pushing quality reduces production in tons and as our margins get smaller and smaller as a grower, there are few that are going to survive this way unless they are willing to take the hit like I do.  Eventually I would like to do what the do in some areas of the Russian River for pinot noir; that is to sell by the acre and not by the ton.  Then there is no friction between quality and quantity.  But I have to establish my track record first.

Wine: I will try to give you a short course on what happens to my beauties after they are picked for those of you that are interested in why wines can be so distinctly different even from the same vineyard.  I am focusing here on red wines and I will keep this short and cover different techniques in future postings.  Okay all grapes start out picked into bins, well maybe.  Some wine styles demand more gentle treatment of the grapes to protect the skins from breaking (sugar to the open air and alien yeasts) and pick into smaller containers.  There is also the thought that the gentler you are, the less bitter tannins you extract.  Many pick in the early morning when it is cool and ship directly to the “destemmer/crusher” or they refrigerate and cold soak before “crushing”.  Now the reason I keep putting crushing in quotes is because crushing itself is a whole art in itself.  Some (Narrow Gate for example) simply remove the stems and ferment as whole berries.  Others (A Donkey and Goat) use the age old foot stomping to crush their grapes as they feel that this tried and true process extracts the perfect balance of juices and tannins.  Others use the crusher but use different settings on the vigorousness of the crushing (Holly’s Hill) to extract what they have found to be the right balance for the type and style of their wines.  Remember that reds are fermented with their skins to extract color and flavors including tannins.  Another factor is when you crush and when you ferment.  Some cold soak their grapes before crushing to stabilize the grapes and others crush as they come into the winery.  Had enough yet?  Next week I will give you some specific examples and we will talk about yeast, natural or cultivated.  At least I have given you some ammunition when you visit a winery to start asking questions about wine making style.  And if you are talking to someone who really does this instead of a tasting room “personality”, they will love to discuss their style of wine making.

Bacon Roasted Chicken on Saturday Night

I want to leave you with a little taste of pleasure so here is what I fixed for dinner last Saturday at home.  We get the Williams-Sonoma catalogue and they include (pure genius) recipes that you can cook with the cookware they are selling.  This one was for bacon roasted chicken with bacon strips over the chicken, and then creating a wonderful sauce to serve with the mashed potatoes and chicken.  I whipped up some harcort verts to go with it and some nice bread and olive oil.  The wine was a Holly’s Hill Viognier.  Just a quite night, a great movie (Other Peoples Lives), and a nice meal at home.  Carpe Diem