Napa Valley Wine Radio

RSS Feed-Posts RSS Feed-Comments

Yountville, CA

Temperature: 68°F
Humidity: 49.1%
Wind: S at 15 mph
Clouds: Clear Skies
Sunrise: 6:02 am GMT-8
Sunset: 8:10 pm GMT-8
Updated: 1:54 pm GMT-8

March 2007
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Feb		Apr »
	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Archive for March, 2007

A Peek Inside ConeTech

March 28, 2007 in Wine, Wine Education and Winemaking. 1 Comment

I was just as excited about this visit as I was when I got the chance to visit Gallo– doesn’t take much for some of us, does it? A friend got me into ConeTech and I felt like I’d made a coup. And, once I was there, I felt even luckier because the place is shrouded in secrecy - no pictures allowed - they won’t risk doing anything that might leak who their clients are - and no recording. Darn! I don’t really care who their clients are - well, not too much. But I was hoping to get a podcast interview out of it! It felt like the closest thing in wine to going to the FBI, but it’s all to protect those who want the services offered by ConeTech, but don’t want anyone to know about it.

So, what is ConeTech? They’ve been de-alcoholizing wine since 1991, that’s right, 1991!!! When you go into the production area, it looks very much like the inside of a modern winery, with beautiful stainless-steel tanks and a lab, but they also have some equipment most of us wouldn’t recognize: the “spinning cone column”.

ConeTech

If you want the specs on how it works, take a look here, but the gist of it is that “Joe Winemaker” sends out a portion of the total blend to be de-alcoholized. The spinning cone first separates out the “essence” of the wine, which was described as all of the wine constituents other than alcohol and most of the water, and sets it aside. Next, the alcohol is removed from what’s left. The alcohol is sold off to Port producers, or whoever wants it, and has the appropriate license, and the low-alcohol “wine” is added back to the essence. This extremely low-alcohol wine will be blended back into the main blend at the winery.

Cone Diagram

The really cool part of the visit was we got to do what they call a “sweet spot” tasting with a control wine and then the same wine at various lower levels of alcohol. Fascinating! My knee-jerk reaction to stuff like this is that you always take your angels with your devils - I was skeptical. We tried a Zinfandel at 17% alcohol that actually carried the alcohol pretty well - just a little hot. Then at 16%, then at 15%– and wow! The fruit burst forward in a big way! Apparently, at 15%, the wine had hit its “sweet spot”. It was as if the alcohol had been masking or muffling the fruity fragrance. Very interesting. 14.5%, also very nice. At 14% it went flat. So, those are the choices a winemaker is faced with.

I asked about reverse osmosis, another way to de-alcoholize wine, but it’s not a service ConeTech chooses to provide. They firmly feel that they get superior results because they’re able to avoid subjecting the wine to high temperatures.

I have to say, I was truly impressed. Not won over, not that it matters, but impressed. The brochure says that the process has “zero effect on the wine’s integrity” but part of me still wonders what happens over the long haul and the romantic in me just plain balks at this kind of manipulation, just the way the thought of adding Mega-purple to wine made Alder “sick to his stomach.”

John Williams at Frog’s Leap very eloquently gets to the heart of the thing that bugs those of us who think of wine as a soulful product of the earth:

“Here is the major point: A healthy soil produces a healthy vine; a healthy vine produces healthy fruit; healthy fruit produces healthy wines: deep in color, deep in flavor and deep in their natural character.

Pick nearly any problem in winemaking today and you will find with a minimum of research a deep connection to farming practice… If you believe, as I do, that the essence of winemaking, the Holy Grail as it were, is to make wines that deeply reflect the soil and climate from which they emanate, it seems self-evident that you would want every molecule, every enzyme, every ester, every flavonoid, every protein, every essence, to be derived from the soil in which the grapevine is grown. And if you achieve that, the product of that vine will imbue the essential character of its place. Real quality wine.

Without soil-based flavors, we, as winemakers, are stuck with trying to manufacture those flavors on our own, Thus, ridiculously excessive overripe grapes, spinning cones, esterifying yeasts, reverse osmosis, super malo-lactic cultures, micro-oxygenization, mega-purple, flying winemakers and 200% new oak.”

Frogs Leap Label

I like the idea of getting it right in the first place, but from a practical standpoint, if the wine tastes better, then what difference does it make how you got there as long as it’s not harmful? When the practice of adding honey or sugar to the must to make better wine began in ancient times, was that considered a nauseating manipulation? What about sulfur? Is adding yeast or using barrels a manipulation?

Well, here’s something practical for you: According to Laurie Daniel of the San Jose Mercury News (sorry, they require that the article be purchased now), out of the approximately 2400 wineries in the state of California, 1650 of them at last count, that’s a whopping 68%, have sent their wine out to be de-alcoholized!

I don’t have any conclusions to draw for you, I can see both sides, but on an emotional level, I’m extremely wary. Which way will we head in the future? Science gives us more and more ways to manipulate but at the same time, the fact that biodynamic farming is going mainstream signals that we’re re-connecting with the earth. Hmmmm…

Q: Red Zin/White Zin?

March 22, 2007 in Answers. 0 Comments

Question from Emily: How come Zinfandel is sometimes red and sometimes pink? How do you know what you’re getting?

A: Thanks for writing, Emily! This is confusing to a lot of people.

The red and pink wine are both made of the same grape, Zinfandel. It’s a dark-skinned grape and the beauty of dark varieties is that their juice nearly always runs clear, making them very versatile. From white grapes we can only make white wine, but from dark varieties we can make red, white, rosé or blush (blush, by the way, seems to be sort of a trendy way to say rosé. Rosé got kind of a bad rap in the US, and is only now beginning to recover from it, so the term blush has been used to market light-colored rosé wine).

Zinfandel Grapes Cluster

The process is simple. Crush the Zinfandel, skins, seeds, juice and all, into a fermentation tank and wait a little - not too long! After awhile you can drain out some very pretty looking pink juice. For a light rosé, drain early, for a deeper color drain later. After that, it’s pretty much treated like a white wine which, these days, means fermenting it at a low temperature in a stainless steel tank. Rosé is almost never barrel-aged because it’s best when it’s at young and fresh. The younger the better, really.

For red Zinfandel, ferment the juice and skins together until the wine is dry. Barrel aging is an excellent idea to get this sometimes rambunctious red wine to settle down a little.

While there’s nothing new about making rosé, it seems that the White Zinfandel craze was born of a serendipitous problem at a tiny little winery called Sutter Home back in the 70s. At that time their specialty was full-bodied, red Zin. They used an ancient technique, called saignee, of draining off a little juice early on to increase the skin-to-juice contact for the wine left in the tank, thereby making it more concentrated in flavor. They sold off the small quantities of the pale pink “White Zinfandel” drain wine, just in their tasting room. One year the drain wine didn’t seem to want to ferment to dryness, so they bottled it a little sweet that year. Guess what - right wine at the right time - Sutter Home grew from being a little farmhouse of a winery, making 220 cases of White Zin in 1972, to producing over 3 million cases by 1990! And, they have been very generous in spreading the wealth to numerous charities throughout the Napa Valley community.

Sutter Home White Zinfandel

For those of you who turn up your nose at White Zinfandel, keep in mind that if it hadn’t become so popular when it did, there wouldn’t be much in the way of old-vine Zin around for us to enjoy these days. Red Zin fell out of favor in the 70s and if White Zin hadn’t been all the rage, acres and acres of Zinfandel vines would have been bulldozed.

Quel digression! Keyboard mania! Coming back to the wines, they don’t really resemble one another very much at all. White Zin is usually light in body, relatively low in alcohol, refreshing and often a little sweet. Red Zin is typically dry, and quite robust in color, flavor and alcohol - a wonderful tour-de-force of fruit and spice.

Goosecross Yountville Red Zinfandel

When you’re ordering wine, a good rule of thumb is that if the menu says “Zinfandel”, it’s probably a dry red wine. If it says “White Zinfandel” then you know to expect something that might taste pretty good by the pool. Incidentally, if the label simply says “blush” or “rosé” without stating a grape variety, it’s probably a blend of several varieties.

I hope that helps! Cheers! Nancy

2004 AEROS Cabernet Sauvignon

March 20, 2007 in Audio Winemaker Notes and Wine Releases. 0 Comments

Goosecross Cellars is pleased to release our artisan series 2004 ÆROS Cabernet Sauvignon (AEROS Cabernet Sauvignon and pronounced “Eros” for the winged god Cupid). You now have the opportunity to own one of the most limited-production and sought after wines produced by Goosecross Cellars. “This wine is made especially for our customers who demand the very best and have a passion for collecting and cellaring wine” states David Topper, Goosecross winery Owner and President.

AEROS Artisan Wine Label

This ÆROS blend is 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.5% Cabernet Franc and 2.5% Petit Verdot. Grapes were hand-selected from the finest lots grown in our Howell Mountain and Yountville Estate vineyards. This Cabernet exemplifies a sensual expression of purpose, form, and passion.

ÆROS 2004 is elegantly fragrant with aromas of black cherry, plum, cedar and spice. Generous layers of boysenberry, tobacco, anise and toasty oak linger on the palate. Absorbing and expressive now, but will continue to develop in the cellar for years to come.

It’s great to showcase a rare wine like this with simple, but elegant food. There’s something to be said for tradition, and pairing ÆROS with a good steak or prime rib of beef is excellent. Or try it with rack of lamb. The richness of the lamb makes a hedonistic partner for the rich complexity of ÆROS.

There are many more recipes to choose from in Colleen’s Kitchen recipe collection.

Listen to our audio winemaker note: mp3

Is This What George Jetson Will Drink?

March 16, 2007 in Observations and Winemaking. 0 Comments

Wow! This is pretty interesting stuff. A bunch of industry experts got together to collectively take a peek at what the winery of the future will look like and there’s good news and bad news as far as I can tell.

The good news is that they foresee sustainable agriculture across the board. Organic and sustainable farming are positively mainstream and where biodynamics used to be an “out there” concept, now it seems that hardly a week goes by without hearing about more wineries jumping on the band wagon. That’s a very good thing for our kids and grandkids.

They also predict that we’ll be using varieties that are unfamiliar to us now mainly for the purpose of avoiding pest and disease problems. Unless we’re projecting waaay forward, I think they misjudge human nature. One thing I know for sure is that we humans prefer what we’re accustomed to and we’ve been loving the same old grape varieties for centuries. It’s going to take generations to wean people off of their beloved Cabernet and Chardonnay in favor of new flavor profiles.

Oddly enough, they didn’t factor in global warming, or the topic didn’t make its way into this article. I keep wondering if Napa Valley is destined to be the next Fresno, the “raisin capital of the world” and if the Willamette Valley will be the next hotbed (so to speak) for Cabernet? Perhaps they see these new varieties as the way to adapt.

Barrels may go on the chopping block. One speaker commented that she sees “…many mid-sized wineries are already on the path away from oak barrels, and believes that many more will be soon.” Recently, I’ve spoken in depth with two of the barrel brokers we work with at Goosecross in preparation for a podcast and neither of them sees barrel alternatives as a threat to the barrel industry. Both of them believe that the best producers will always prefer the effect of actual barrel aging as opposed to micro-ox in combination with oak chips or some other alternative. Fooling themselves? Who can say? How far in the future are we looking?

The bad news, in my view, is that they also predict that something so primitive as walking the vineyard is likely to go by the wayside. A highly respected viticulturist predicted that “The main tasks will be mechanized and controlled via computer interface and global positioning systems (GPS). Growing conditions will be closely monitored by aerial and surface observation using geographic information systems (GIS).”

nitrate flux photo

The upside? When they refer to “greater precision” in cultural practices, I assume they mean things like monitoring irrigation and nutritional needs and making decisions on shoot, cluster or leaf thinning. It’s a comfort, at least, to know that they still plan to use grapes.

The downside? Maybe I’m just a sentimentalist but I can’t help wondering what else is lost when we lose the human element? Can read-outs on a monitor truly replace or even surpass the abilities of humans to observe and make judgments based on experience, instinct and a grower’s intimate knowledge of his own vineyard? I’m all for high-tech plus human observation, but I don’t know about trusting a bunch of monitors completely. More efficient? Yes. Better results? Doubt it.

And it appears that the future is now when you talk about using metrics to model your wine after another wine that got a 99 from Parker. Will that become routine in the future? And will all the wines kinda taste the same?

I’m just having a little trouble, here, imagining Chateau Margaux making wine out of some crazy hybrid and flavoring it with oak chips (or who knows what???).

Well, it could be that my reaction is the typically human fear of change. Maybe, but I think I’ll probably be 6 feet under by the time any of these predictions come to pass. I think I’m more protective of the basic thing that appeals to so many of us about wine. It’s a product of the earth and the human senses. If the sensuality of the process is removed will the charm of the beverage be lost too?

At a time when life is getting more and more impersonal, it seems to me that people are getting increasingly hungry for authenticity and the personal touch - that sense of warmth that can only come through human interaction as opposed to digital, hit-and-run communication. IM-ing your sweetheart a dozen times a day is fine, but it can’t begin to replace the feeling of contentment and pleasure you feel when you curl up on the couch together and share a little wine and conversation.

George Jetson

So, at the risk of coming off like a Luddite once again, I pose the question: If you digitize and analyze and take the humanity out of it will we still crave what remains? Will it still inspire poets to wax eloquent about it? Will George Jetson be reduced to drinking something that’s merely grape juice with a kick?

2006 Napa Valley Chenin Blanc

March 13, 2007 in Audio Winemaker Notes and Wine Releases. 0 Comments

Perfumed aromas with honesuckle, Asian pear and spice from Abruzzini Vineyards. Soft on the palate. Fresh flavors of apple, grapefuit, and melon, with a crisp finish. Residual sugar 3% by weight.

Listen to our audio winemaker note: mp3

What’s in a Name?

March 12, 2007 in Observations and Wine Business. 2 Comments

I caught myself being cynical/complacent when I read this article. It’s just the way of the world, right? Sigh…

But really, why is this necessary? It’s very sad that the tiny brand known as Inman Family Wines in the Russian River Valley has had to knuckle-under to power-house Grange without even putting up a fight. The bottom line is that it makes good business sense. Why throw away legal fees fighting against a titan who is destined to win through sheer force of dollars?

Fosters Logo

Grange is a limited-release wine, yes? Why such a Goliath? Because Grange is really Penfolds, which is really Foster’s (as in lager), one of the biggest beverage companies on the planet. How is the Inman family, which produces about 1,500 cases total of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris to even begin to combat such a giant? It’s pointless.

Inman Pinot Label

So, what’s the deal? The word “grange” is the issue. Penfolds has sued the Inmans to get them to stop using that word on their front label which, up to now, referred to the Olivet Grange Vineyard, their estate in Russian River. So, they’ve decided their best option is to simply use an acronym, OGV, and hope that their customers can figure it out.

Why am I making a stink? Penfolds Grange was there first, right? Well, it turns out that the term “grange” commonly refers to a farm in England and Australia. Kathleen Inman said “It means a small farm with out-buildings.” No surprise that the Inmans chose to call their new vineyard in Sonoma County a “grange” having relocated there from an 11-acre grange in England. And evidently Penfolds has strong-armed numerous Aussie producers away from using the term on their labels.

But, a trademark is a trademark. Penfolds has the right and they’re using it. We certainly don’t want to confuse people. So this tiny, virtually unknown California producer is trying to pass off their $42.00 Pinot Noir, called “Olivet Grange Vineyard”, for a world-renowned Shiraz that’s simply called “Grange” Yeah, that’s pretty hard to keep straight. I wonder if Fosters thinks that the folks in the northern Rhone should have taken issue in the old days when Grange was called Grange Hermitage? I wonder if they think that was confusing?

Penfolds Grange 1997

Fortunately, Foster’s cannot stop them from using the term grange on the back label or in their literature. This is one way the Inmans and their winery contractors can hope to assure their customers that the grapes are, indeed, coming from the same vineyard - only the name has changed.

Drat! Perhaps I was being provincial or rationalizing when I was in favor of the Napa Valley Vintners when they fought Fred Franzia over the use of the term “Napa” in the branding of the wine. But, in that case it seems to me there was a genuine risk of confusion, plus you had deep pockets fighting deep pockets. It was a fair fight.

I know, I know, all you lawyers are going to respond that Penfolds had to do this to send a message to anyone who might like to try to mislead. But it still looks like they’re doing this just because they can. I wish I could react more like Alder, and get all energized, but in truth, it makes me tired. All of this must be quite ironic for Simon Inman, who is a business attorney, Goosecross being among his many clients.

Inman Family

So, best of luck to the Inman family. Being another very small, virtually unknown fish in a big, increasingly competitive pond we completely empathize and hope that this bit of publicity from these various sources may result in some new friends and customers for Inman Family Wines.

Good-bye, Mr. Gallo

March 10, 2007 in Observations and Wine News. 0 Comments

It’s hard to believe he’s gone. He’s one of those people who appears to be indestructible. And yet, the services take place this very day.

Ernest Gallo Photo

As so many have said, regardless of what you might think of his business practices or the wines, you have to admire what he and his brother built from virtually nothing. I was very lucky to get a rare peek at Gallo headquarters in Modesto many years ago. One thing you can never forget is a tank (not in use at that time) that holds a million gallons! And when is the last time you toured a winery in a van? The compound is so massive that walking it is impractical. How many wineries are so large that they find it best to make their own bottles???? Part of the tour was a run through the dizzying blur of activity in their bottle factory. And now that behemoth is only one of a number of facilities around California and the globe.

Gallo Facility

With very little money or knowledge, using winemaking books they borrowed from the Modesto public library, they created what became the largest winery in the world. Constellation passed them up recently, but you can’t really compare the two companies. Gallo is a privately held, family company that built dozens of brands as opposed to a large, public company that became a colossus mainly by way of acquisition. We used to always say “If the label says Modesto, whether or not it says Gallo, it’s Gallo!”

Many view Ernest Gallo as the single most influential figure in California wine history. His good friend, Robert Mondavi, summed it up nicely: “Ernest was a visionary. He was committed to making America a wine-drinking country.” That’s reason enough to honor the passing of a perhaps controversial businessman, but ultimately, someone who contributed immeasurably to re-building the industry following prohibition and to the success we all enjoy today.

Q: What to serve with Viognier?

March 6, 2007 in Answers. 0 Comments

Question from Johanna: I’ve got a bottle of your 2005 Viognier and I was wondering what would be a good food pairing. What kind of menu or food items do your recommend to accompany it? Thanks!

Answer: Hi, Johanna! Thanks for writing! The beauty of the Viognier is that it’s absolutely delicious all by itself, but it’s also a great partner for a variety of foods.

The classic combination is to pair the lively fruitiness of the wine with spicy Asian and Indian cuisine as a refreshing counterpoint.

It’s wonderful with sweet proteins like pork, duck or shellfish–the fruit in the wine complements the sweetness of the meat and the crisp finish cleanses the palate for the next bite. If you use fruit in the preparation, like combining chicken with oranges or tropical fruit it makes a connection with the wine and, of course, the oldest trick in the book is to use the wine in the sauce to seal the match.

I know it’s great with sushi because we had a sushi party here at the winery and we had to keep opening more and more Viognier! Everyone loved it!

You might enjoy looking at Colleen’s recipe collection on our website. She tests all the recipes personally and you can search for recipes by wine-variety, so you can go straight to her recipes for Viognier!

I’m glad you’re making plans to drink it. It’s a lovely wine that’s at its most fruity and vibrant in its youth, so set a date and enjoy!!!

If any of you foodies out there have a good suggestion for Johanna, I’m sure she’d love to hear it!

Whatever it is, enjoy the meal! Cheers! Nancy

2006 Napa Valley Viognier

March 6, 2007 in Audio Winemaker Notes and Wine Releases. 0 Comments

Exotic flavors and fragrant aromas with honeysuckle, white peach, green apple, apricot and spice. Luscious, tropical flavors, honey, melon and ripe pear coat the palate followed by a crisp, citrusy finish.

Listen to our audio winemaker note: mp3

Batten Down The Hatches!

March 2, 2007 in Rants. 8 Comments

Quick! Lock the doors! This is a warning to our comrades-at-arms, our friends and fellow bloggers at Pinotblogger, Dover Canyon, Twisted Oak , especially to Wineries of Napa Valley and so many others: BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES! Spread the word! The threat of Spring Break is upon us and they’ve got plans. And if they don’t “got plans”, there are people out there with the unmitigated gall to give them ideas.

Spring Break

I’d actually thought we were maybe past this - that is, the throngs of liberated students rolling into wine country looking for a cheap drunk - because, frankly, wine-tasting isn’t as cheap as it used to be. But maybe these kids have more money. Here’s the carrot that’s been dangled: A student blog at Arizona State U. suggested that “If boozing is high on your list of priorities this spring break…” that they come see us and that “The people there (Napa) were very nice,” Thames says, “and they want to get you drunk.” I figure the average college student can extrapolate that these same enticements apply to Sonoma, the Sierra Foothills and Paso Robles or any other wine country that may fall victim.

It brings back haunting recollections of my early days in winery hospitality when everything was free. Huge bus-loads of college kids would pull into the parking lot of my former employer on weekends aiming to get as drunk as possible and doing unspeakable things on the beautiful winery lawn. Not to mention the humiliation to which they subjected that poor, lovely, very womanly nude statue - nuff said. And for Spring Break, just multiply this by, I don’t know, 100? Oy!!!

At the time I recognized the irony of our feelings toward the dreaded “college kids” because, like most of my colleagues, I was barely out of school myself and was, in fact, taking night classes in winemaking at Napa College. But we all agreed that no matter how much beer we drank on the bus, none of us would ever behave that way in public. Hmmmmm…

There’s one thing in the article that I can endorse: We are nice, this rant aside. And we love college kids. Maybe that’s because we can’t accommodate busses here at Goosecross. We tend to get our “kids” 2 or 4 at a time, and are nearly always glad they came. Besides - these folks are our future. And of course we still remember how much we looked forward to cutting loose a little for Spring Break.

So, just 2 points of etiquette for those who are, indeed, making Spring Break plans to go to wine country so you won’t feel like a schmuck when you get home (and bearing in mind that camera-phones proliferate):

1. If you want to get roaring drunk, we understand, please just do it in your room (don’t drink & drive!!).
2. Mind your manners on the lawn! Or whatever equivalent…

And for our winery brethren: You’ve been forewarned. Battle-ready positions!