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Yountville, CA

Temperature: 70°F
Humidity: 46.2%
Wind: SSW at 16 mph
Clouds: Clear Skies
Sunrise: 6:02 am GMT-8
Sunset: 8:10 pm GMT-8
Updated: 2:54 pm GMT-8

September 2006
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Archive for September, 2006

Just Another Day at the Office

September 28, 2006 in Harvest Report. 0 Comments

Prelude: No matter how carefully you plan, sometimes things just get messed up (there’s life in a nutshell for you). And, sometimes having to fall back and punt turns out to be serendipitous anyway…

11:00 AM: So, I go down to snap some photos for our Harvest Calendar and things have come to a standstill. Geoff, our Winemaker, and Erin, worthy new assistant, are pulling stems and grapes out of the crusher-stemmer because the thing has stopped working. Oh, my… The good news is that 5 out of 7 tons are already crushed. The bad news is the 4 boxes of uncrushed grapes sitting there waiting their turn. Geoff tries to fix it. Erin tries to fix it. Rosario, who’s worked here forever and knows this place inside and out, tries to fix it. All to no avail.

Geoff is being remarkably calm, cool, and philosophical about it. This is probably because he’s seen it all before, it’s a very cool day and this is Cabernet Sauvignon, which we’re going to ferment warm anyway. You don’t want to think about his mood if this was a hot day and white grapes (shriveled Chardonnay isn’t what we have in mind). Of course every repairman in the valley who knows how to deal with a crusher-stemmer is busy. Like the grapes, we have to wait our turn. A neighbor tries to fix it. Nope.

Geoff remembers that another neighbor has a small crusher-stemmer. If they’re not using it, maybe we can borrow it. Voila! This is one of the things I love about this industry and this valley - people are unstintingly generous and neighborly!

I think this crusher is smaller than Geoff remembered. I thought ours is small, but now there’s a truly tiny, very cute, red, Italian model sitting on our crushpad. And it works! But it works slowly. Very slowly. We’re not talking about tons per hour; we’re talking pounds per hour.

As the crushing goes on, Geoff becomes concerned that the 2 tons will overwhelm it and we won’t be the only ones with a broken crusher. OK, that’s it. We’re going to have to wait until ours is fixed. Maybe by this evening. So, on day 18 of crush, with no time off for good behavior, Geoff is looking at crushing by moonlight.

Consensus is that it’s an electrical problem. Maybe an electrician can get here sooner. Worth a shot.

Sometimes people wonder about the difference between making wine at a small winery vs. a large one, and this is one of the times that it becomes glaringly obvious. At a large winery, you may well have more than one crusher-stemmer and, if not, you call the maintenance department, stat. At a large winery, when it’s time to drain the wine and shovel the pomace (skins and seeds) out of the tank so it can be pressed, a work order is sent from the winemaking staff to the cellar crew. At a small winery, you flip a coin with your brethren (if they exist) for the privilege of crawling in there and getting the job done. There are lots of ways to get to a similar end.

Geoff clearly loves being a hands-on winemaker and being in touch (literally) with the wines every step of the way, even if it means getting those hands dirty, shoveling pomace. But, he probably wouldn’t object to having a maintenance department at the moment.

8:00 PM: As the moon rises, the crusher’s repaired and ready to go!

Coda: That was some of the sweetest smelling Cabernet ever coming out of the crusher and into the fermentation tank. We figure it kinda liked all that fretting and special attention, not to mention keeping the boss up late. Look for a very expressive Estate Cabernet Sauvignon indeed from Goosecross in 2006

“Great Wine” by the Numbers?

September 24, 2006 in Observations, Wine, Wine Blogs, Wine Business, Wine Education, Wine News and Winemaking. 21 Comments

I was thinking about an interview I did with my friend Jeff Booth, of Pepi-Booth Consulting (they consult for Goosecross and have clients as far away as China!). It was for an upcoming episode on our podcast, Napa Valley Wine Radio, and one of the questions I asked him was if he thought the day would ever come when great wine could be made in a lab. He didn’t exactly answer my question; he just replied with “That would be a drag” and went on to talk about the joys of working with nature and how formulaic winemaking would take all the fun and surprise out of it.

I suspect he was probably sidestepping the issue because he didn’t want to get into talking about things like the techniques used by a company called Enologix - that’s fodder for a whole episode of its own! I read about them awhile back, and it’s pretty interesting stuff. They use software developed in-house to measure things far beyond the usual sugar, acid, pH and alcohol in a quest to match the profile of wines that get 100 point scores from Parker or the Wine Spectator. And tasting? How quaint. Why bother? It appears to be all about the numbers. The owner of Enologix, Leo McCloskey, says he’s identified about 100 chemical compounds that can affect our perception and uses them to compute a “quality index” for the wine. It kind of boils down to analyzing wines that have received the high scores for their chemical breakdown and then advising winemakers regarding when to pick, when to press, etc, based upon his analysis in order to create a wine of similar structure. He claims that winemakers can improve their scores by 5-6 points in one year by using his system. Evidently, he can even take a vineyard that’s naturally disposed to produce a restrained style and can time the pressing and blend in order to produce that unctuous, 99-point style that’s currently in vogue. His market is mainly high-end Cabs.

Who wouldn’t want 99 points? You can’t blame a businessman for trying to make a product that sells. As long as there’s been commercial winemaking there’s been that push and pull between the drive to bottle a unique artistic expression and keeping food on the table. But you’ve got to have a killer vineyard to even begin approaching these scores (I don’t think they’ve figured out a way to fake the fruit yet - stay tuned). It may be an antiquated concept, but would that vineyard make more interesting wine if the winemaker simply attuned himself to it by walking it frequently and making harvest decisions by tasting as well as testing? And used the same approach to winemaking? One of McCloskey’s clients referred to “babysitting the fermentation tank”. Well, conscientious winemakers should be doing that anyway.

And how does that producer feel if he’s made a wine of distinction that languishes on the shelf because it got an 87 from the Wine Spectator? Wine as art/wine as business. What a dilemma!

Critics of McCloskey and proponents of terroir say his methods erase the sense of place and the charming quirkiness that has been inherent to wine. The objection is that they offer us only one style: the highly extracted, so-called fruit-bombs and that we may as well make a box of Cheerios if we’re going to go by the numbers. I think McCloskey would probably say that he’s giving his clients and their customers what they want.

I just keep wondering if the industry and we, as consumers, are going through a phase. Last night I had a glass of Dolcetto with my pasta and it was 14% alcohol (no, it wasn’t a 2003). That can’t be the historic norm for Dolcetto. Sure, I enjoyed it, and it still had that nice little zing of acid you expect, but it’s kind of too bad when a producer in Piemonte feels he has to mimic the California style in order to survive. I’m waiting for the backlash when we all get tired of the huge reds just the way we got tired of fat, over-oaked, overwrought Chardonnays.

If we do, operations like McCloskey’s can simply adjust their parameters. Science marches on. And science has done a whole lot to improve wine over the years. But I think I agree with my buddy, Jeff. If I want a glass of white Burgundy, I want that unmistakable minerality, bright acidity and hint of soy you don’t find in most Napa Valley Chardonnays. If I’m in the mood for a glass of Napa Valley Cab, I want the ripe, luscious black fruit that isn’t (or wasn’t) so evident in a typical Bordeaux equivalent. It would truly be a drag if science and globalization blur the lines beyond recognition.

To read about a great man who was diametrically opposed to Enologix in his approach to winemaking, and still managed to make rich, satisfying wine that also reflects the local terroir, read about Henri Jayer, may he rest in peace.

Dumbing down of wine labels and wine?

September 18, 2006 in Observations, Rants, Selling Wine, Wine, Wine Blogs, Wine Business and Wine Education. 0 Comments

I’ve been (casually) following the discussion on blogspot.com regarding new-world vs. old world, and something Trish said in New World vs. Old World Part Deux caught my attention. She was troubled by her own observation: “People want at-a-glance labels, suggested pairings, critters, playful names and specified grapes. They don’t want micro-appellations, regular-size appellations or any appellation, for that matter. They want wine. Just wine. So many people don’t really care where it comes from or about the traditions and geography behind it.”

I think it depends upon the consumer. Representing a high-end producer here in the Napa Valley, I find that our customers care very much where the grapes came from, want to understand viticultural practices and are fascinated to know what part of Europe the variety hails from so they can draw the comparison.

The folks who want and need simplified labels are entry level consumers and I don’t blame them. This is a complicated subject, even for those of us who like to think we know something about it - just think of the first time you tried to decipher the label on a German wine or a bottle of Burgundy! Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to simplify the label and make it kind of fun by way of using critter labels or whimsical names for wines under $15.00 or so.

My opinion has always been that all roads lead to Napa Valley Cabernet (my own personal bias - you could just as well say all roads lead to fine Bordeaux). I’ve heard people make fun of White Zin drinkers, but not me. I say “Go for it!” I figure they’ll get bored eventually and maybe try a glass of Pinot Grigio and begin to move on.

Recently, I hosted a delightful young couple from Scottsdale who said they didn’t know much about wine, and yet they’re interested enough to have watched all 2 hours of Mondovino (oy!). We spent probably a good 10 minutes talking about the threat of winemaking becoming globalized and wine character homogenized. We came to the conclusion that while there’s some evidence of it in the low end, and there are even fine wine producers who care more about getting a 96 from Parker or the Wine Spectator than they do about producing a style that’s uniquely their own, there will always be small, artisan producers who try to capture that wonderful and mysterious sense of place.

And the really encouraging thing is to read about the Millenials, who are characterized as a generation that wants to know where its food and wine comes from and doesn’t mind spending a bit more for quality. That can only be good for the future of small producers with high standards and fortunately, while we may not produce much volume, we proliferate all over the world.

Another Year, Another Harvest…

September 14, 2006 in Harvest Report, Living in Napa Valley, Vineyard Update, Wine, Wine Blogs, Wine Education and Wine News. 0 Comments

The feeling is anything but that. No matter how many harvests I witness, there’s nothing like the feeling when that first box of jewel-like grape clusters arrives at the winery. It still makes my heart race and tears spring to my eyes. Don’t know why. But I’d venture to guess that most true, hands-on winemakers feel the same way (actually, maybe they’re crying in anticipation of all the weeks of 24/7 work ahead rather than out of sentiment!). The vintage doesn’t start with the crush. A whole lot of their time and effort over most of the past year has been toward the goal of producing a great next vintage. Of course, they’ve got to take care of the wines they made last crush, but the next vintage starts calling pretty soon after the last one was put to bed in barrels.

At least for a small producer like Goosecross, the Winemaker is also the Vineyard Manager, and he gets really up-close and personal with the crop. He’s been walking the vine rows repeatedly, starting last winter with pruning, and then on to cultivating, shoot thinning, cluster thinning, checking for nutrient deficiencies and pest problems, more thinning, and he’s still walking now, checking the sugar and acid, tasting. He has a relationship with those vines.

And harvest is his one chance the whole year to get it right. You know if you make beer, or almost anything else, you can order the ingredients and get into production when it’s convenient. Not wine. When the grapes are ready, you’d better be in the mood! He needs to make the right decisions every step of the way from fresh grapes to wine and it all happens rather quickly. Once the wine is made, its basic character is pretty much formed and the goal is to sculpt and hone - not to do damage control.

We’ve started with a bang this year! 71/2 tons of Sauvignon Blanc Tuesday the 12th, 8 tons more on Wednesday, Chenin Blanc on Thursday and Cabernet from Howell Mountain on Friday! Literally, tons of work! We’ve got a play-by-play of the Goosecross crush if you check our Harvest Calendar, which is updated regularly. I think you’ll be surprised to see how quickly grape juice converts to wine, which is why it’s 24/7, and leads to the key phrase for surviving the crush: “Stock up. It takes a whole lot of beer to make good wine!”

What Was Your Transcendent Moment With Wine?

September 7, 2006 in Living in Napa Valley and Wine. 3 Comments

Weird question? I think we can all (those of us who bother to read wine blogs) remember a situation or a particular wine that changed everything. Somehow wine morphed from being a mere pleasure into a passion.

So, here’s mine:

I had a moderate interest in wine when I took my first job at a winery. I thought it would be fun to work there until I found a “real job.” I was 23, fresh out of school, and had no idea I was about to be thrown into the deep end with a bunch of wine geeks. These guys (yes, they were mostly guys - it’s a very traditional business and this was a long time ago) would rather discuss the merits of white Burgundy vs. Napa Valley Chardonnay than last night’s A’s game or the movie they went to Saturday. Sheesh!

But it got to me. I was intrigued. Started buying those Burgundies and Chablis and tuning in to the conversation.

Then the moment came: went to a send-off party for a beloved employee at a local restaurant and the first thing to come was Champagne. I didn’t like sparkling wine, in fact I thought it was awful.

I had this very wrong idea in my head.

My exposure to sparkling wine had been the cheap stuff they serve at weddings and the Cold Duck I’d downed at my grandparents. Yuk! So, I was going to skip it, but thought maybe I should be polite and took a sip.

What???? This was really good stuff! Nothing like fizzy Kool-Aid! More, please…

1973 Veuve Clicquot from magnum. Bone dry, biscuit-like, toasty, yeasty nose backed by some beautiful green apple and a hint of truffle. Like cream on the palate, but ethereal and crisp - the mysterious thing that makes the best of them unforgettable. Made my mouth water. Could have spent the rest of my life with my nose in the glass. That was it. And my love affair with Champagne lead me to cherish the endless complexities in the broader world of wine too. That was my transcendent moment.

For sure, there are bottles of bubbly that are supposed to be greater, after all this wasn’t La Grande Dame or Cristal, but not for me. That magnum was the beginning of the end of my search for that “real job”, thrilled to say.

Telling a story like this makes me feel a bit exposed, but since I told you mine I’m hoping it will prompt you to tell me yours. These are some of the great moments and stories in life, so bring ‘em on!

Culinary Getaways a la Provencal

September 4, 2006 in Food & Wine, Wine and Wine Blogs. 0 Comments

Since wine and food are inseparable (or should be) it’s an incredible delight to be invited on a Culinary Getaway with Sherry Page! Sherry is the exceptionally gracious hostess-with-the-mostest for folks who want an inside look at the food, wine and culture of places like the Napa Valley, Sausalito, Paris and Provence.

If you know our website at all, you know that we love to eat around here and that Colleen Topper, our proprietor, is our tireless in-house chef. She’s got over 100 recipes paired with wine at “Colleen’s Kitchen” for you to choose from on our website. She and David Topper (my boss) have been friends with Sherry for years, and I’ve gotten to know her by interviewing her on topics like cooking, gardening, why to buy organic and so forth for our podcasts on Napa Valley Wine Radio.

Anyway, through Sherry’s remarkable generosity, and that of my very-indulgent boss, Colleen and I will be immersed in the wonderful world of wine and food in Provence this October. You’ve heard the phrase travel is broadening, and if you look at our itinerary, that may prove to be literal and I’m leaving my scale at home! Cooking classes, winery visits and lavish lunches in Chateau Neuf du Pape, mushroom hunts, lovely dinners at the farmhouse we’ll call home for the week… What a way to make a living.

I already know that I love the wines of the area and now have the anticipation of enjoying the regional cuisine along with those bright rosés, fragrant whites and deep, spicy reds. My part of the bargain and Colleen’s is to report back to you via blogs, podcasts, and photographs.

It’s not quite a month before we go, so please write back with your own not-to-be-missed Provencal things to do, eat and drink! Cheers!