On the Contrary

Vine: Okay so it is now Sunday.  It’s like life.  I keep falling further behind, and finally the crowd has lapped me.  Oh well. We had a cold snap two weeks ago and then last week it was 90°.  That got things going.  Now it is cooling down again with highs only around 65°.  Everything is leafing out except the Mourvedre which are always the last to show their little green leaves.  I have detected some damage from the freeze, but primarily in the Viogneir.  I would say about 5%, but the next couple of weeks will be critical as these young leaves are very susceptible to frost damage.  It is remarkable to think that from these little buds will come shoots that grow to 15’ – 20’.

It is absolutely a gorgeous time in the vineyard.  As evidenced by the picture, the grass is beautifully green, red clover heads are everywhere, and the air is crystal clear and fresh.  It is truly a beautiful time.  It is a habit of mine to take a walk with my trusty friend Sophie through the vineyard and just experience, usually with a nice glass of wine in my hand.  When I am old and pretty much worn out, these are days I want to savor in my memory.  My Dad died in the spring in the hill country of Texas and I remember thinking of the sadness of my life without him, and then I saw the beauty of the rebirth of nature all around me and some how it was a great comfort.  We are all part of this great cycle even if we rarely take time to stop and savior it.

This is do nothing time in the vineyard even though I am itching to mow between the rows.  But I must restrain myself to let the clover and grass go to seed and dry out some so I will have a good crop next year.   Luckily I only have some pruning debris which has been raked into piles to pick up and burn, and assuming and I can get a break from my consulting treadmill, I will have that done this week.  Then I just wait and watch.  Even though it drives my vineyard advisor crazy, I will do some early thinning of the shoots.  Remember the rule of two shoots to a spur.  Well the plant can’t remember that rule so it will push out all kinds of jumble.  In the best of all worlds you would wait long past frost season and pick the two best positioned shoots and remove the rest when you are sure they are no longer susceptible to damage or breakage.  But what normally happens to me is that I get some project away from the vineyard and by the time I get back it is a jumbled mess and makes both thinning and pushing the shoots up through the wines a very difficult job.  So about mid-May, I will begin that task.  Other than that, there is not much to report, just very tranquil walks among my rows with a glass of wine and my trusty friend.

Wine:  Last Saturday I went to a venison dinner at the Ward’s.  Mike Ward loves to hunt and I love to eat what he shoots.  In this case it was venison prepared by Christian Masse, my favorite French chef.  He had two versions of venison tenderloin, garlic and pepper and two wonderful sauces.  There were clams and muscles, great cheeses, artichokes, roasted potatoes, fruit, smoked salmon; oh I could go on and on.  But the wine was spectacular.  I may have had too much to drink, which is a lot of wine, but I just could not help myself.  There were three in particular that I want to note.  The first I brought and it was a 2006 Yangarra Cadenzia (Rhone blend Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre).  I had tasted their wines before (Australian) and they produce a very good and reasonably priced wine.  This one was excellent with very little oak letting the Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre display all their wonderful flavors and aromas.  They make wine very much in the style of the Rhone Valley with the complexity and flavor not being drowned out by jammy fruit.  The bottle did not last long.

Number 2 and a wonderful Syrah and that was a 2000 Madroña Reserve Syrah.  Paul Bush, the owner and wine maker has been making some wonderful wines and this one is of the better Syrahs I have had.  It had a flavor that I look for which is hard for me to describe, but a earthly kind of vegetative flavor that many good Syrahs exhibit.  As I noted earlier, I like a Syrah that is big, complex, with a long finish.  This means you have to be careful about too much oak and you can’t let your grapes hang too long (too jammy, too much sugar/alcohol).  But then I tasted my favorite of the night.

It was a 2006 Sonoma Coast Syrah from Lynmar Estate in the Russian River Valley.   Most have tasted their Pinot and Chardonnay and they are excellent.  But this Syrah was just exquisite.   And to my delight it had that wonderful earthly flavor I so love.  Two in one night!  This Syrah (and the Pinot and Chardonnay) was brought by Hugh Chappelle who is the wine maker there and to my great delight took the time to explained to me how that flavor comes about.  It is a special yeast (hope I got this right) that takes longer to act and is therefore a little more risky as you ferment longer.  I had met Hugh at several gatherings, but had never had a chance to really talk with him.  I strongly recommend that if you are out in the Russian River Valley you make Lynmar Estate a stop.  Hugh is a delight to talk with and his passion for his creation comes through.

Okay, I know.  It is tough duty, but somebody has to do it.  Besides, and trust me on this one, I have paid my dues.  Carpe Diem.