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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

August 2007
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Archive for August, 2007

Let the Crush Begin!

August 27, 2007 in Harvest Report. 0 Comments

Wow! It’s here! It’s early! We just crushed our first grapes of the year, 9 tons of Chenin Blanc! The Sauvignon Blanc is right on its heels, probably coming in, in the next couple of days.

Sauvignon Blanc Grapes

Early is beautiful, as long as the grapes get adequate “hangtime“, and after such a mild summer there’s little concern in that regard. In fact, if this gorgeous Chenin Blanc is any kind of bellwether, we’ll be seeing beautifully ripe flavors without accumulating too much sugar.

Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, was in his element sorting through the grapes with his indispensable assistant, Rosario, watching like a hawk as the grapes went into the crusher-stemmer and tasting the juice out of the press.

Rosario watching hopper

It was fresh press juice all around for our group on the Estate Winegrowing Tour. From year to year I always forget how amazingly sweet it is - major sugar rush! - and these grapes were only 22.8% sugar! Just wait until the Cab rolls in at around 25%! Soooooo good…

Chenin Blanc juice from press

Our group had just been out in the Cabernet checking the sugar - it’s hovering at just over 20%, so it’s going to be awhile. After veraison (the color change) is complete, we can figure that the sugar will go up 1-2 tenths of a percent a day depending on the weather.

visitors to Goosecross check Brix

And, the weather continues to be spectacular - just ridiculously pleasant. I doubt if it broke 80 degrees yesterday and today looks like a duplicate. As Geoff said earlier, in conditions like these the greatest risk is human error. If the mild conditions persist we’re going to have one killer vintage on our hands valley wide.

An early start can lead to an early finish and besides a greater chance of avoiding the rain, there’s an added benefit most of us don’t think about unless there’s a winemaker in our lives. Much better chance that he/she can actually sit down and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner a few months from now, rather than jump up in the middle and leave to go do a pump over!

It always seems that once those first few tons come in, it’s non stop. But there’s something about that first box. I’ve been through more harvests than I care to admit, but when those first pretty little clusters arrive it still makes my heart race and brings tears to my eyes. Kind of embarrassing in front of the guests…

Anyway, if you want to check up on our progress, just go to our Harvest Calendar to see what’s going on. As Geoff always says, here’s hoping Mother Nature smiles on us!

Q: Oak Chips in Place of Barrels?

August 23, 2007 in Answers. 1 Comment

Question from James: I heard someone talking about using oak chips to make wine instead of putting it in a barrel. Can that be true? Say it isn’t so!

Reply: Hi, James! Thanks for writing! I can offer you the comfort of knowing that top-flight producers still age their wine in oak barrels. We certainly do here at Goosecross. I can also say that nothing does for wine what barrels do. Otherwise we wouldn’t use them.

However, barrel aging is extremely costly so I’m afraid, in order to be honest, I’ll have to disillusion you. It’s increasingly common for wineries to use oak chips in place of barrel aging.

The big factors in barrel aging costs are:

1. The barrel itself is expensive, with French oak running between $800.00 and $1000.00 per 60-gallon barrel. American oak barrels are around $400.00.
2. Labor: It’s much more efficient to manage wine by the 5000-gallon tank than it is by the 60-gallon barrel (rack that 5000-gallon lot once, tank to tank, instead of 83 times, barrel to barrel).

3. Evaporation loss (as much as 5% annually, depending upon humidity in the cellar): the evaporation helps the wine to age, but a 5% “angel’s share” of a 60-gallon barrel is about 15 bottles a year. Those are some happy angels! The loss also increases labor costs because we have to replace it by using the wine in one barrel to “top up” all the others to protect the wine from spoilage.

There are numerous barrel alternatives, such as oak chips and other flavoring devices, plus there’s also the option of lining the large tank with oak staves, also for flavoring. These options give the winemaker the opportunity to introduce more flavor and complexity without incurring such a high cost. It used to be that only low-end wineries, selling wine for under $10.00/bottle, employed these techniques but, according to Wine Business Monthly, the use is creeping up into wines that sell for $25.00/bottle, sometimes even more!

The thing is, these alternatives only flavor the wine. They don’t help it to mature. When we put the wine into a barrel it changes everything: color, aroma, flavor, concentration, etc. The evaporation and consequent oxidation inside the barrel sets off a whole series of chemical reactions that mature, integrate and soften the wine.

Awhile back, the French came up with a technique called micro-oxygenation that helps to soften the wine. It’s simply a matter of introducing controlled amounts of oxygen into the wine before or after fermentation. It’s used on different wines for different reasons and is one way of mimicking barrel aging.

I think we all have mixed feelings about these things. On one hand, you tell yourself that if the chips make an inexpensive wine more enjoyable, then why not? On the other hand, it certainly takes away from the romantic vision we all have of the dark, silent, oak-scented aging cellar.

It all goes back to this question of manipulation: how to define it and how to feel about it.

So, how do you all feel about the use of oak chips? If you knew a winery had used them would it prevent you from buying the wine?

One more question: do you think this kind of thing should be disclosed on the label?

Q: Rosé, Blush, White Zin: What’s the Difference?

August 17, 2007 in Answers. 0 Comments

Question from Vic: What’s the difference between Rosé, Blush and White Zin?

Reply: Hi, Vic! Thank you for writing! It’s a good question because those terms are so common, yet it’s hard to see any difference.

Rose or Blush wine?

Rosé has been around for a very long time and is a generic term for pink wine. There are a few different ways to make it, but still rosé wines are usually made by taking just a little color from a dark-skinned grape (the juice of the dark grape is clear in most cases). After that it’s made as you might make a white wine (cold fermentation, usually no oak aging). The depth of color and hue will vary with the variety and with the length of time the juice is in contact with the skins. Any dark variety can make a rosé wine and if there is no varietal designation, along with the term rosé on the label, you can assume it’s a blend. It can be dry or slightly sweet.

“Blush wine” became trendy here in California starting in the 80s once White Zin became fashionable, as a variation on a theme. It was also a time when wines called rosé were decidedly not in vogue here. Blush wines are usually slightly sweet, light pink wines made from varieties other than Zinfandel. It can be varietal or a generic blend and is usually lighter in color than wine called rosé, but there really isn’t any other difference to speak of.

White Zinfandel is a blush wine made from the Zinfandel grape. The requirement here in the US to place a varietal designation on the label, such as Zinfandel, is a minimum of 75%.

White Zinandel

You’ve probably noticed that wines called rosé are more visible now, just as wines called blush have become less prevalent. Wine is a very trendy business. We suspect that rosé wine fell out of favor here because old-time California examples were often poorly made, overly sweet and insipid. Recently crisp, refreshing, dry rosé wines have made a real come back, both domestic and imported. It’s great because they’re really versatile with food and just the thing for a hot summer day!

I hope that answers your question! Cheers! Nancy

Lookin’ Good!

August 14, 2007 in Vineyard Update and Vintage Update. 0 Comments

Can’t get anyone to say anything bad about the 2007 vintage. The weather is just so darned agreeable! It’s doing it again today! When the human population is so blissfully comfortable, you can bet the vines are feeling good, too, so things are looking very rosy indeed!

Goosecross Estate vineyard lookin good

Be happy for the sparkling wine producers because many of them have begun harvest in the last few days, which means they’re getting the full benefit of the beautiful weather. The rest of us have to wait, which means that there’s the chance the Mother Nature can still turn on us, but we don’t like to think that way.

Here’s a description of an ideal growing season around here: warm, but not too-hot days; cool, foggy nights; no rain. That’s 2007 in a nutshell so far. And so we have high hopes. In fact Lee Hudson, a local grower, is so fair-weather besotted that he pronounced 2007 to be “…an exquisite season. I predict the best harvest in 100 years.” No, he doesn’t work in marketing.

You can see the grapes have made progress since the last time I was out with the camera. Lookin’ good!

veraison progress

OK, petty gripes:
1. Low rainfall last winter, about 2/3 of normal. This would be more of a problem if it was a hot summer, but it’s been so mild that the vines haven’t been as thirsty as we feared they might be and no one seems to be talking about water shortages. There’s actually a dry-conditions upside (provided it doesn’t continue) of small, non-watery grapes within the cluster. If we don’t have good rainfall in 2008 the gripe will no longer be petty.

2. A little “shatter” in some vineyards. That just means that pollination was impaired here and there, for some reason, and there was some crop loss. No one seems to be able to put their finger on the cause this year. The estimate for the valley is that the crop is down by about 10% of “normal”, whatever that means.;-) Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, thinks we’re just about normal, maybe slightly down.

Geoff just thinned the crop for the third time this year. It’s not unusual to thin a little before and after fruit set is complete. Over the last few weeks, as veraison (the color change) has been wrapping up, he’s thinned again in the sections where he’s noticed some reluctance to color up. The result? Bam! Instant, gorgeous color in the clusters that remain. It’s all about distribution of energy.

We’re running a little ahead of schedule. Early is a blessing because it gives us a better shot at getting the grapes in before the rains hit. The only time it’s a gripe is if the growing season is shortened and the fruit doesn’t get enough “hang time“. The whole season has been early from the get-go, and, in these mild temperatures, the grapes tend to ripen slowly, so they should have plenty of time to develop good flavor maturity and intensity. Geoff says it’s too soon to be sure.

He figures we’ll probably bring in our first grapes, usually Sauvignon Blanc, around Labor Day. With any luck we’ll wrap it up with Petit Verdot or Cab some time in October.

If we can find a way to prolong Mother Nature’s excellent mood, then maybe Mr. Hudson’s prediction will come true. Under these circumstances, Geoff’s biggest fear is human error. “When you’re handed a year like this, the best thing to do is just try not to screw it up!”

The Next Big Thing

August 9, 2007 in Rants and Wine News. 0 Comments

I don’t like to poke fun at the Wine Lover’s Page because it’s such an incredible resource (I especially love their wine quotes page), but I was kind of chuckling over their wine nutrition charts and thinking “Too much information!”

wine nutrition facts mock-up label

But, wait. I think I feel a little egg dripping down my face. I’d barely wiped that smirk off my face when I came across this report that the Treasury Department is considering requiring charts very much like what the Wine Lover’s Page had posted. Argh!!! Do you think anyone is primarily motivated by nutrition when they elect to drink a glass of wine??? I certainly hope not! Frevvin’s sake…

The good news: if you take a look at these charts, you’ll notice the glorious absence of fat and carbs (and low cholesterol, too!). Who knew? The ultimate diet drink!

The bad news: Unfortunately, those aren’t zeros by the calorie count. Please don’t remind me…

As you read on, you basically see a bunch of zeros, which implies that wine has no nutritional value. Fair enough. Nutritional charts tend to be generic and non-specific to the particular food, just as this chart isn’t wine-specific and doesn’t include the polyphenols that seem to be so good for us. Will the Treasury Department include the goodies along with the baddies? Do we really need this information? Just asking…

I know I’ve had my moments of obsession about wine’s influence on my ever-increasingly Rubenesque physique. So, I look at wine like I do any other food and have a vague idea about how much that glass of wine is ratcheting up my daily intake. Some calories are more fun than others and I’d much rather get my calories from wine than a Coke or even a piece of boysenberry pie (ouch!). But, do I need to know that the wine in my glass has trace amounts of thiamine, riboflavin and niacin? No, I do not.

On a sort-of-related note, Pinotblogger recently posted an amusing item about how California wine makes us eat more. Yikes, what a thought!! They served the same wine to a bunch of people and told half of them that it was from California and the other half that it was a North Dakota wine. The California half ate 12% more than the other half.

North Dakota wine license plate

Of course, what’s really interesting is the psychology of the whole thing. Why is a glass of, supposedly, California wine more of an appetite stimulant and more relaxing than a glass that we think is from North Dakota (it also mentioned that folks tend to stay at the table longer when they’re told it’s California wine)? Lord knows, the ingredient labeling would look about the same. As usual, it’s all upstairs. We’re hard-wired with the idea that the California wine is better, and therefore we’re having more fun and should eat more and stick around at the table awhile longer, too.

It may not be fair, but since North Dakota’s first winery was bonded in 2002, it just doesn’t seem to get a whole lot of attention from the media. But, think of the implications there. It looks like we taste what we expect to taste - big surprise, right? Keep that in mind next time you’re contemplating breaking the bank to track down a bottle of Petrus or Maya or some other cult wine. Ah - the eternal question: just how good can a bottle of wine get?

On the other hand, here’s the next big thing! It’s the great, new wine diet! If you want to lose a few pounds but you really don’t want to give up your wine, just convince yourself that the wine’s from North Dakota. You’ll eat 12% less, probably drink less, too, and the pounds will melt away! Bon appetit!

I Can’t Keep Up, Can You?

August 3, 2007 in Wine Business and Wine News. 0 Comments

So, I’m reading as I walk back into the house with my Wednesday morning SF Chronicle and is the headline about Iraq? Something about health care? Maybe the stock market? Nope. We bay-area folk certainly have our priorities straight. The blaring headline on the front-page article was, of course, about the acquisition of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars by St. Michelle and Antinori. The world and its problems be damned, this is important stuff. I’ll bet Jon Bonné, the Chron wine editor, never expected to see his byline on the front-page!

stags leap winery label

Read on to find out that Duckhorn, another icon, has sold controlling interest to GI Partners, a private equity firm whose investments include pubs and nursing homes (???).

duckhorn winery label

And with it came the gloom and doom predictions about the consolidation and corporatization of the romantic wine industry. Scroll down to the bottom of the article to see a list of recent transactions. I know if I try to explain any of this this to someone 6 months from now my memory will be completely garbled and I’ll get it all wrong (GI Partners??).

But, low and behold, William Hill and Canyon Road, which have been corporate owned, have also been sold - to family-owned and operated Gallo. Perhaps, correctly, you don’t think of Gallo as small family winery - well - the family is small. But they ain’t IBM either.

That’s my Wednesday story.

My Tuesday story is that yet another visitor asked me how to find some little winery I’d never heard of. A quick search reveals that it’s practically in my back yard in St. Helena. Happens all the time… I check out the wine selection at a local shop and there are Napa Valley brands that are complete strangers to me. I can’t keep up, and I live here. New wineries with great spirit and ambition, nearly always family run, continue to spring up like wildflowers in the spring around here and all over the state. Maybe this obscure little place will turn out to be the next Duckhorn!

Sure, some consolidation and changing of the guard happens. Sure, corporate ownership can spell the end of the artisan approach. But, it depends on the corporation. Coca Cola got in and out of the wine business in a flash, presumably because you can’t turn around a wine “product” like you can a bottle of coke. St. Michelle is a wine corporation that appears to be doing a bang-up job and has been a key player, if not THE key player in putting Washington wine on the map (2^nd biggest producer in the US!). Can’t vouch for GI partners…

So, who can keep up with all these acquisitions and new brands? I guess my point is that it’s hard for me to see the tragedy in Warren Winiarski making a decision to retire and selling his beloved winery to a responsible organization in the absence of an heir to carry the torch. To paraphrase him, it’s kind of like seeing your daughter get married. There are mixed emotions, but it’s inevitable.

Warren Winiarski

We’re a long way from becoming a buttoned-down bunch of suits here in the valley. So, happy retirement to Mr. Winiarski, and well deserved! And, for the rest of us - not to worry.