'Exercise Your Taste Buds,' from Peju Province Winery

PEJU Winemaker Sara Fowler tasted through sixty different barrel lots of the 2009 and 2010 red wines in our cellar yesterday. She called it "checking in with the wine." What was she checking for?

"I'm checking to see how the wine is maturing, how it's progressing, and to see if any of the individual barrels need attention."

Sixty glasses of wine lined the Production office. Incredulous, I asked her how she could possibly maintain the ability to taste the subtleties in numbers fifty through sixty (or even after #20). She chuckled and said,

"Sixty is nothing! I used to have to taste hundreds of wines in a day at one of the other wineries where I've worked. I'll just take a break after the first thirty, do something else for a couple of hours, and then come back to the last thirty."

At Peju, we age our Napa Valley tier reds for 16-18 months, and our Reserve wines for 26 months, so at this time, Sara is tasting through the 2009 Reserves and 2010 Napa Valley tier reds.

"The 2009 Reserves are dee-licious!" She says with glee. Our Reserves are Cabernet Franc- and Cabernet Sauvignon-predominant Bordeaux blends made exclusively from fruit grown certified organically on our Rutherford Estate. "Though each barrel will impart slightly different flavor characteristics-- and we purchase barrels from several different cooperages for this reason-- all the 2009 reserve wines themselves are full of rich, ripe, dark fruit flavors. 2009 was the last great year before the trickier two to follow, but I've been pleasantly surprised at the way the 2010's are tasting today, as well."

"I have the best job in the world," Sara said, as I turned to leave. "It just doesn't get much better than making wine in the Napa Valley. I can't wait to play with these delicious [barrel] lots and start blending later this month!"

by Britt Starr for Peju Province Winery

view the full Blog here: Peju Crush Chronicles

2011 Harvest Complete at Vineyard 7 & 8!

Greetings from the top of Spring Mountain!

As we close yet another harvest from Vineyard 7 & 8, I look back on what was a true test of patience. A season filled with extra efforts in the vineyards working on crop and canpy management, a couple early October rain storms, but finished up with a period of beautiful weather.

Over the last couple of weeks the sun returned, and the dry northwest winds returned, allowing us the ability to harvest what looks to be another very successful vintage.

Cabernet from our Estate vineyards and the fruit we harvest from select neighboring vineyards on Spring Mountain came in with more moderate sugar levels, beautiful acids and wonderfully refined tannins.

Fermentation is just beginning to take shape in the tank room, and hats change from the management of the fruit in the vineyards to pumpovers and punchdowns, monitoring of tanks and prepping barrels for later in the month when the wines will go to rest.

Congrats to all fellow vintners for yet another wonderful harvest in the Napa Valley!

Cheers,

Wesley Steffens, Vineyard 7 & 8
Winery Manager & Assistant Winemaker
http://www.vineyard7and8.com/

Harvest Prep on Spring Mountain!

HARVEST PREP ON SPRING MOUNTAIN!

Greetings from the top of Spring Mountain!

With the month of September beginning tomorrow, and the first sparkling wine grapes making their way off the vines in and around Napa, the final preparations have begun at Vineyard 7&8 to get ready for the 2011 harvest.

As of this morning, our estate grown Chardonnay is finally nearing completion of veraison, while our estate grown Cabernet continues progressing nearing 75% veraison. Like many growers in California this year, harvest will be later, crops may tend to be slightly lower due the the late spring rains during flowering, but we are very enthusiastic about the fruit we have growing on the vines.

With maybe one month to go until harvest beings here at the winery, we have been working on getting geared up for our fall release of our two "Estate" only wines including the release of our 2008 "Estate" Cabernet Sauvignon and our 2009 "Estate" Chardonnay. Both wines that we are truly jazzed about sharing very soon!

This summer we readied the cellar by bottling our two 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon labels from Vineyard 7&8, and have sent them off to rest in the warehouse until they are ready for release in 2012. See below for some fun photos of the bottles traveling along the bottling line.

For now, its back to walking the vineyards, continuing to give them a drink of water as they need it, get ready to put up the bird netting on the chardonnay, and being cleaning and sanitizing the winery for the grapes to come.

Wishing the best of luck to everyone this harvest! Looking forward to another challenge for the harvest of 2011, and yet another great vintage of wines in the Napa Valley.

Cheers!

Wesley Steffens
Vineyard 7&8
http://www.vineyard7and8.com/

Harvest Preparations at Signorello Estate

Here at Signorello Estate we are watching Cabernet Sauvignon finish up its veraison period, which started a few weeks ago, so it looks like we will be picking them in mid to late October as we did last year.

The crop is fairly small due to heavy rains during the "bloom" period in the spring. Due to this, there was almost no cropping for us beside the "green" second crop as well as a little bit in our Syrah and Merlot vineyard blocks.

Currently, the cellar crew is checking, cleaning and sanitizing all crush machinery and fermentation tanks...and our vineyard repairman is servicing all tractors, forklifts and trailers to get ready for the upcoming harvest.

So far, this harvest looks like it is going to be a good one and we are all hoping for a nice warm end to the summer growing season.

Right now, we are enjoying the summer, relaxing on the patio, drinking some great wine and waiting for the HARVEST 2011 fun to begin! Won't you come join us?

Cheers!

Pierre Birebent, Winemaker
Signorello Estate

NASCAR's Kurt Busch Takes Martin Estate into the Winner's Circle

When Kurt Busch invited the Martin Estate team to join him in the pit during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, it not only included true front row exposure to the NASCAR action, but also the sweet taste of victory inside the Winner’s Circle, where Busch and his girlfriend Patricia Driscoll raised a Jeroboam of Martin Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon to celebrate his first place triumph.

Petra, Greta and Greg Martin greeted Busch with a three liter bottle of Martin Estate Reserve at Sonoma’s Infineon Raceway as a thank you for the amazing day ahead of them, and for sending a helicopter to pick them up. It was an action packed and thrilling day on the race course, as Busch walked Greg Martin through the pre-race check list and confided his plan of only making two pit stops in the 219 mile race. Later, during the race, the Martins watched the crew in awe as they changed the tires and refueled the car in less than 30 seconds. “We just knew that Kurt was going to win this year”, Petra Martin said, “ but we did not want to say anything in order not to jinx it. But when he took the lead in the beginning of the race, we had no doubt and kept our eyes glued to the leader board. We believe in excellence, and Kurt is a master of the race course.”

It's been a thrilling summer for Martin Estate off the race track, too. The Martin Estate team toasted a decade of growing and making wine on June 18, with a poolside release party. Petra and Greg pulled out all the stops for Martin Estate's 10th anniversary celebration. Renowned New York designer Erin Fetherston and bespoke Italian leather shoe designer Michael Toschi joined the Martins for the occasion, along with a host of the winery's friends and family and one of San Francisco's favorite food trucks, RoliRoti. The porchetta was mouthwatering, especially with a glass of 2009 Martin Estate Rose of Cabernet.

Au Natural: Going Wild at Martin Estate Vineyard

At first glance, Martin Estate's eight acre Puerta Dorada Vineyard appears to be lacking good house keeping this summer. The truth is, while we’ve taken our weed eaters to the perimeter of our 12-acre property, the vineyard itself still has a wild and unruly cover crop of what only looks like weeds growing vigorously between every other row. What appears to be neglect, however, is our natural approach to managing the unseasonably late rainfall this year. These grasses and grains are working hard to wick excess moisture out of the ground.

“This semi-permanent cover crop also creates competition with the vines, which reduces the vigor, keeping our quantity down but our quality high,” Martin Estate Winemaker Frederic Delivert says.

“Once we feel the soil has dried out to just the perfect point,” Martin Estate Proprietor Petra Martin says, “our Carraro tractor will finally make its way through the rows to make everything look tickety-boo.”

In the meantime, we welcome the weeds as a working cog in the Martin Estate Vineyard Management Team.

Meet the Winemaker: A Q&A with Martin Estate's Frederic Delivert

Martin Estate's eight acre Rutherford vineyard and the winery nestled among the vines have never looked better, and large amounts of credit are due to Martin Estate Winemaker Frederic Delivert (pictured at right, with Meadowood Resort's Master Sommelier Gilles de Chambure). The French born and trained enologist with a Masters in agricultural sciences has been slowly transforming the property since his arrival several years ago. It always amazes us that Frederic managed to improve upon wines that were already excellent to begin with. Of course, he credits Petra and Greg Martin with much of that success, saying "they have spared no expense in order to give me the tools to achieve such prestigious levels."

Frederic took some time away from the vines - where he and vineyard manager Josh Clark have been t-budding a few blocks with new Cabernet clones along with some Petit Verdot - in order to answer a few questions about his winemaking genesis and what makes the vineyard at Martin Estate so extraordinary. We invite you to pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass of wine, and get comfortable.

1. First, tell us about your winemaking background, both here and abroad.

I took extensive courses on winemaking and viticulture during my college years while completing my Masters in Agricultural Sciences. Each school year included an internship requirement, and I used them to immerse myself in the wine industry. I worked my first harvest in 1991; this year will be my 18^th. In France, I worked predominantly in the southwest regions and the Languedoc. When I relocated to Northern California, I knew that when it came to the best soils, climate and what we Frenchmen call terroir, the Napa Valley was the preeminent AVA (American Viticultural Area). Over the last two decades, I have worked for five different wineries in this valley.

2. Were you raised in a winemaking family? What was the genesis for your love of wine, and when did you decide to enter into the winemaking profession, which is not as luxurious as it is often portrayed.

I was not raised in a winegrowing or winemaking family. I grew up mostly in the countryside, where wine was always a part of our culture. My friends were from farming families; their parents had a block of vines from which they made their own wine. It is essential to realize that wine is an everyday drink in France. It is always around. Don’t ask me what is the legal age to drink over there…

Growing up surrounded by farmers, I fell in love with agriculture. And, the more I studied the wine industry, the more I realized it mixed a variety of intriguing aspects – farming, science, marketing, art; even the barrel programs and elements of packaging from the corks to the labels and glass. Of course, I always enjoyed drinking the final result, too.

3. How did you meet the Martin family? What drew you to them and to Martin Estate? Why did you decide to leave a more corporate winery atmosphere for a small estate winery?

I met the Martins through a common friend. A small estate affords you the opportunity to concentrate on the entire process, from vineyard to bottle. It was important for me to be able to put my feet back into the vineyard. The roots of a good wine are good grapes. In fact, 75% of winemaking happens in the vineyard, yet so many positions offered to me did not include any real vineyard work. In order to make world-class wine, the vineyard needs to be spectacular, and the perfect example is Martin Estate.

Managing a small single vineyard estate allows us to have complete control of our fruit. Because the vineyard is literally steps from the winery, we can intensely observe all facets of the growing season. We don’t have to rely upon someone else’s farming standards, which means we are never surprised by the condition of our fruit. The viticultural practices we perform – when and how we prune our vines, our irrigation methods, the decision to green harvest each year – in order to raise the quality of the grapes are crucial to the end result. Martin Estate’s size is ideal for this intensive style of winemaking; in many ways it is an extended garden. I can go from vineyard to winery in a couple of minutes.

Last but not least, Petra and Greg Martin are as committed as I am to making the highest quality wine, and have spared no expense in order to give me the tools to achieve such prestigious levels.

4. What is it that makes the Martin Estate vineyard so special?

First: the fact that we have only the first generation of vines on the property. I know of no other Napa Valley property that can make that claim. Second: the size, which makes it a true boutique winery. Third: the rich history of the property, that inspires me every day I drive through the gate. How many people can say they work in a 19^th century chateau where Georges de Latour made his first wine, on grounds that in the 1850s belonged to Captain George Yount.

5. What are the greatest joys in working for a small, family winery?

Human size, flexibility, tight relationships. The peace that comes with knowing I have everything under control.

6. What are the greatest challenges?

When something unexpected happens, things can get hectic very fast; we are a small team. That is when the tightly knit relationships and flexibility prove invaluable, as everyone is committed to staying after hours and helping each other, even if it is not in his or her official “field.”

7. What is your winemaking philosophy?

Getting the healthiest grapes to perfect maturity, and then using the tools that have proven their value to get the best expression possible from these grapes.

8. The French word “terroir” is so difficult for the layman wine drinker to define. How would you best explain “terroir?”

Let’s keep it simple and say that I consider it to be the combination of your site and its unique soils with the weather you get – but I would also like to add myself, as the human factor, to the package. Without the winemaker, terroir is just terroir. But what you taste in a Martin Estate wine is the terroir I bottled. Am I making sense or have I left you confused?

9. Just a little but I see your point. Since your arrival four years ago, Martin Estate has made some major changes in the way wine is produced – barrel fermentation, concrete tanks, state of the art sorting equipment for harvest. Can you tell us how these new pieces have affected the winemaking process?

While it is true that the only thing you really need to make a great wine is great fruit, I believe certain pieces of equipment and techniques can further enhance its quality. My main thought behind any change on the production end is that it has to benefit the wine’s quality. I also take into consideration the fact that we are a small company, so if it makes some tasks more efficient, that is a definite plus. Finally, the pieces have to be visually appealing, as preserving the aesthetic of this 19^th century property has always been essential to the Martin family.

Let’s look at some changes I made and how they affected the winemaking :

- We now use clippers for our hand harvest, instead of the usual picking knife. We pick the grapes into small bins (30 lbs each versus half a ton in the past). This means the grapes don’t get damaged by hasty pickers, or crushed by being piled on top of each other. They arrive on the crush pad in pristine shape, and we don’t have oxidation problems or juice running off and getting lost.

- The advantage of our new state-of-the-art sorting system is tha it allows us to only put berries in the fermentation vats; any piece of leaf, stem or raisin has been thoroughly removed. The table allows us to process the fruit faster, too, so we don’t have grapes sitting in the sun for hours. Because our equipment doesn’t require light to properly sort the fruit, we are able to start picking our grapes at night, so the grapes come into the winery cool and fresh.

- We custom designed French concrete tanks, and the insulation and micro-oxygenation they provide, gives us a softer and fruitier wine. Because they were custom made in France to my specifications, it gives me the tool I need to accomplish my goal of making Martin Estate the best new world wine, using old world techniques.

And these are just a few examples. Since my arrival, we have improved our barrel program, which is now 100% French oak, as well as the wine chilling capacity, which allows us to perform cold soaks. But you better stop me right here, before I become too technical. May I suggest we have a glass or our wine, and let it speak for itself?

I'm not dead yet! I feel happy...happy!

“What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”
--John Belushi as Bluto Blutarsky, Animal House

A few weeks ago, after some heavy rains, a few bloggers and the media started to declare the Harvest of 2010 over. Fortunately for all of us, they couldn’t have been more wrong. It is somewhat hard to believe, but here I am, almost mid-November, with Cabernet still hanging out in the vineyard. Grape growing, heck, farming in general, after all is much like gambling.

So I handed him my bottle
And he drank down my last swallow
Then he bummed a cigarette
And asked me for a light
And the night got deathly
quiet And his faced lost all expression
He said, "If you're gonna play
the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right

You've got to know
when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done

Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what
to throw away
And knowin' what to keep
'Cause every hand's a winner
And every hand's a loser
And the best that you can hope for
Is to die in your sleep"
--The Gambler, Kenny Rogers

The Cabernet we left for now was “ok” by most standards a few weeks ago, but it
still needed more time to develop the incomparably beautiful color and intensity
of flavor that is expected of a Spring Mountain District Cabernet. After that
first rain, it was tempting just to go out and bring it in. After all, we were
already sitting looking at a “good hand”. The quality of this vintage has been
great, with intense colors and aromas…why not wrap it up early. After looking
hard at the long range forecast, we chose to “double down” and let it hang. Our
canopy still had mostly green leaves to it, so, we “let it ride”.

“Reverend, you've got balls as big as church bells.”
--Dabney Coleman as Jerry Caesar, Dragnet

Well, patience is definitely paying off. With temperatures at the top of Spring Mounain District in the upper 70s off and on the past week, and going into this weekend, more of the same, we have been dealt that magical fifth Ace into our hands. Sunday, we’ll start and finish our Petite Sirah (in all of 20 minutes…this is goes into a small wine club exclusive blend) and then move onto our Cabernet Sauvignon. Dad and I have observed no mildew in the vineyard, the sugars and acids are nicely balanced, and the color…did I mention the color? It’s been a long, drawn out harvest that definitely required careful farming and patience, but I believe, once it’s all in…in its own time…it is going to be a vintage to remember.

Until next time...

Cheers!

Andy Schweiger, Winemaker, Schweiger Vineyards

Follow me on Twitter: SchweigerWine

'Sorting it Out' at Merryvale!

Today is the beginning of the Cabernet harvest for Merryvale. Although we have been harvesting our Pinot noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and some of our Chardonnay, today is the first pick of Cabernet Sauvignon!

We harvested three small sections of our St. Helena Estate vineyard, which is an early site for Cabernet and normally gets harvested shortly after Labor Day! We picked a tiny block of Cabernet Franc, and two lots of Cabernet Sauvignon.

All of our St. Helena Estate Cab gets picked into 25-pound boxes and transported down the hill in these boxes. Then the grapes go through a gentle but rigorous sorting process and are gravity fed into tiny 2 to 5 ton tanks that were designed for this vineyard.

Since Merryvale remodeled the cellar in 2006, we have the fortune to not only have beautiful tanks designed for the vineyard, but we also have the latest in sorting technology. The bins are gently unloaded onto a table conveyance, where we have four people to remove any leaves and any clusters with shrivel or other imperfections. Then we de-stem, but do not crush, most of our Cabernet.

After the destemmer, the grapes pass along the Le Trieur sorting table. This table removes raisins, shot berries, and pieces of stem by shaking the berries along the table over a screen that causes undesirable material to fall below and be removed from the process before the fruit gets to our third sorting device.

The final sorting device is called Le Mistral, named after the famous strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France, coming from the north or northwest, which accelerates when it passes through the valleys of the Rhone and influences the ultimate character of wines from this region. Le Mistral sorting device uses the force of air currents to separate the good grapes from material other than grapes (MOG) and imperfect berries. A stream of air, an air blade, blows away light debris including pieces of leaf and stem, and shot or raisined berries.

The outcome of such a slow and thorough process is pristine whole-berry fruit in the final bin that then gets gravity fed to tank in a very delicate manner. We believe that his helps deliver the purest expression of our vineyard. Cheers!

A view from the Mountain

I'm taking a break from my normal style of blog posting...no lyrics or movie quotes, no photos, no silly jokes. In fact, most of this post will have not been written by me (blogging made easy!). A few weeks back I participated in the authoring of a press release from the Spring Mountain District Association. Much of it was relevant to the Napa Valley Vintners blog, so, I present to you, with no further ado...

ST. HELENA, Calif.-- Despite concerns expressed by others in the wine industry, high above the fog line on the sunny slopes of the Mayacamas Mountain range, Spring Mountain winegrowers are excited about the prospects for the 2010 vintage. In late, cool growing seasons like this one, many growers fear under ripe grapes which offer green flavors or rain damage. But on the slopes of Spring Mountain on the northwestern border of the Napa Valley, winemakers welcome and celebrate the differences between vintages.

Winemaker Andy Schweiger of Schweiger Vineyards pointed out several reasons for this:

“Mountain grapes have more color and character, with less tendency toward green
characters in all types of growing conditions. Even in a cool late year, we
expect dark color and bright berry aromas in our wines. Mountain grapes have
smaller berries with tougher skins that stand up better to rain. Water drainage
and air circulation is different on the hillsides, and with sunny mornings,
mountain vineyards dry out quickly from a harvest storm. In the mountains,
problems caused by rain are extremely rare.”

Spring Mountain wines are not the only ones that might prosper in a cool year. There are growing regions in California that are often a bit warm for the grape variety that grows there. Warm years are not always their best years. But in unusually cool years, wine quality moves inland away from the fog or rises above it.

Viticulturist Ron Rosenbrand of Spring Mountain Vineyard explained the role altitude plays in his mountain vineyards:

“Whether it is foggy or clear at night, inversion conditions make the mountains
significantly warmer allowing mountain vines to continue to “work” at night. In
the morning, mountain vineyards above the fog line wake up to early sunshine and
continue the work of photosynthesis. Combine that with our warm, shallow soils
and eastern exposure; a cool and late season can work in our favor.”

Beyond obvious weather conditions, a vintage in California is often categorized by the performance of one grape variety, Cabernet Sauvignon. This ignores that California has diverse plantings. Beyond weather and different growing conditions, a vintage is not about a single varietal. Because of its complex terrain, soils, and microclimates, a number of grape varieties excel in the Spring Mountain District.

“We grow Merlot which ripens earlier than Cabernet,” points out Sheldon Richards of Paloma Vineyard. “On the steep slopes and in the stressful soils of Spring Mountain, Merlot welcomes a year that is a bit cooler and wetter. If we get a storm, the strong breezes we get afterwards on the mountain dry things out quickly.”

Steve Pride of Pride Mountain Vineyards echoed the sentiments of many Spring Mountain winegrowers:

“Although the year got off to a late start, up here at 2100’ we have been
enjoying nearly ideal growing and ripening conditions all summer. We managed to
get the shoot growth stopped weeks before veraison and the balance between fruit
and canopy has never looked better. Although the late spring start means our
harvest will be late, we have extremely high hopes of 2010 being an outstanding
vintage.”

Talking with the winemakers on Spring Mountain, it’s hard not to sense their excitement and enthusiasm for the approaching harvest. They know that no matter what Mother Nature brings during the next two months, it will be recorded and savored in their wines. And judging from the past, they expect this year to deliver well-balanced, age-worthy wines.

Spring Mountain, officially established as an American Viticulture Area in 1993, was described 25 years ago by a prominent wine writer as “probably more responsible than any other Napa hillside for creating the mystique of mountain grapes.” The appellation lies above the town of St. Helena on the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains that separate Napa Valley from Sonoma Valley. Encompassed within its bounds are about 8,600 acres, of which only 1,000 are planted to vineyards. Currently the region has just over 30 vineyard / wineries.

far too long

HI! Miss me?

We have neglected far too long
Assuming far too much
--"Far Too Long", Anacrusis

When I agreed to guest blog here, I said to myself, "twice a week? No problem."

HAH!

Even though this has been a fairly lengthy harvest, things came to a head a few weeks ago and I've been scrambling at full speed. So...what follows is a series of micro-blogs...thoughts I scribbled down but never typed up. The only common thread really...I thought of them.

Viticultural Insanity

When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again.
--"Helter Skelter", The Beatles

I can't seem to face up to the facts
I'm tense and nervous and I
Can't relax
I can't sleep 'cause my bed's on fire
Don't touch me I'm a real live wire.
--Psycho Killer", Talking Heads

The heat spell a few weeks ago pushed things along quickly. Or, shall I say, it pushed sugars up quickly. The acids stayed high, and the flavors did not develop. We chose to hold our cards and waited another ten days...during which time, sugars actually came down and the vine started to metabolize that acid downwards. Finally, time to pick!

Many wineries make a big deal about how many layers of sorting they perform. I say, it starts out in the vineyard. Here is a link to a quick video I took on our first big day of Cabernet harvest. One important thing you'll see is our method for getting rid of loose leaves...before they can fall into the picking box. We believe we pay our pickers well more than Napa Valley average. However, they are all trained in what is acceptable, what is not. If the fruit has any raisins or rot, they drop it. As they dump each box, they sort it out in the vineyard, right then and there. This time of year, our elevation gives us very cool mornings, often cooler than night time lows, and staying that way through mid day. One cool thing we observed during these pick days...moon set and sunrise at the same time!

We run a tight ship around here. On pick days, dad is out helping the guys sort the fruit while I get the morning punchdowns completed. Then dad and I take turns shuttling tractors from vineyard to winery...a great thing about our setup...the winery is in the middle of the vineyard...always a short drive to deliver. Between loads, I'm weighing and destemming the fruit. I have two helpers in the cellar, me and myself. We get along great. The three of us all have the same taste in music and almost never argue. With all the fruit coming in, the hours got longer...mornings filled with eight punch downs, tanks to drain and press, fruit to receive...it's no wonder we don't go a little insane this time of year.

Heavy clouds...

Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm free
Nothing's worrying me.
-"Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head", Burt
Bacharach

Yep, right there at the end of our big push...rain. Wait, I don't think I spelled that right. RAIN. In Islam, it's spelled, "the mother of all rainstorms'. 4.5 inches of rain to be exact. Last Sunday and Monday were crazy here in the valley with everyone trying to get ripe fruit in. At noon on Monday, our winery was filled to the gills with ripe fruit...but, everything that was ripe was in. Am I done? Nope. There's still about 20 ton of Cabernet out there, but it is nowhere near ripe. Even without the rain, it wouldn't have been ready for another few weeks. This rain could spell trouble for vineyards that were just about ripe and delayed for a few extra days...today would have been the first day to really be able to get out in the vineyard with tractors...but guess what...another quarter inch of rain yesterday! Thankfully, the thick skinned Cabernet is holding up well.

Break time

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
--typed by Jack Torrance, "The Shining" by Stephen King

Gotta get a break...Saturday I hit the wall. Came in, did my AM punchdowns, drove home, loaded the family in the car and went off to play with The California Repercussions for the day. Drove home, back to the winery for PM punchdowns. Some fun video of us playing located here and here.

As I write this, I'm finishing my last press load for a few days. I've got some barrel work ahead of me...and more fruit possibly coming in next week. Things look like they'll be calming down shortly...I've got more I want to talk about...of punchdowns, mountain fruit...or as the walrus said to the carpenter, of shoes and ships and sailing wax. But...that will come soon enough.

Cheers!
Andrew T. Schweiger, Winemaker, Schweiger Vineyards
Follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SchweigerWine
Learn more about us at: http://www.schweigervineyards.com

Well it’s really fall and really harvest now; almost on the dot the weather broke from excessive heat to beautiful autumn Napa Valley weather and all the grapes say thank heaven! We brought in the little bit of Pinot Noir we make, come by the winery and I’ll explain, and we started on Merlot and one small tank of Cabernet, but none the less we’re really into harvest. We were hopeful that our yields would be a bit up from last year, a dismal 1 ton an acre, though there is incredible concentration and intensity, we were hoping for a robust 1 ½ tons an acre which would be close to normal. The drought still is in effect and Mother Nature is still a bit tight with her water.

We’re all done with whites except for a late harvest Sauv. Blanc we’re doing this year and the reds in the tanks look great. Aside from a little rain coming next week we’re looking very good and hope to be all in by Nov. 1. We should see a landslide of Cab starting by the end of next week, so hold on to your hats and I’ll let you know how it’s going. If you’re in the neighborhood, come on by and I let you sort some grapes.

Ciao for now,

Jac Cole
Spring Mountain Vineyard

Cabernet Harvest at Quintessa 10-14 days Behind Normal

It's the first week in October and we have finally picked our early Cabernets - mostly from the estate's south and southwest facing hillsides - Dragon's Terrace, Riviera Sur, and South Terrace blocks. We started last week with the vineyard edges and have continued to pull in more this week. It's a bit of a late season, with Cabernet Sauvignon pick dates averaging a week or more later than last year and the gap between Merlot, which is always the first pick off of the property, and Cabernet 10-14 days later than normal. Merlot has been closer to two weeks later than last year, mainly the result of delayed budbreak this spring. Why the delayed budbreak on Merlot? Another one of nature's mysteries.

The quality of both the Merlot and Cabernet is excellent so far with small berries, even ripeness and minimal berry shrivel from the hot spells in September.

The moderate weather this week is a relief from the seesaw hot-cool-hot-cool weather we had a few weeks ago. Temperatures through the end of this week and weekend look mild and skies are clear.

Meanwhile, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon fementations for our Illumination Sauvignon Blanc are finishing as projected, with bright tropical and herb aromas coming out from behind the yeasty fermentation smells. We are beginning our second round of battonage on the early lots this week.

Come visit to see harvest in full swing, it's a sight to behold. If you can't make it to Quintessa, visit us on the web and check out our harvest video at http://www.quintessa.com/.

Cheers-

Charles Thomas, Quintessa

Parry Cellars

Different style, different content: Today I turn my blogger hat over to my close friends, Stephen and Sue Parry. Their winery is truly a quality micro-production...they start and finish in one day. Once everything is picked, I take over up at Schweiger Vineyards, working hard to create the best wine I can for Parry Cellars. I'll have more news from Schweiger soon!

Andrew Schweiger, Winemaker, Schweiger Vineyards
www.twitter.com/schweigerwine

So, with no further ado, take it away, Sue...


Parry Cellars, located on the Silverado Trail north of St. Helena, completed their harvest on Friday, October 2 - all 3.17 tons. Our harvest doesn’t take long since we only own a half-acre vineyard with some 1,200 cabernet sauvignon vines that we know up close and personal. It takes longer for Paul Saviez Vineyard Management’s crew to set up the previous day— hauling in the truck, fork lift, tractor, trailer and bins—than the two hours it takes for harvest! Picking began at first light when the temperature was a chilly 40° and was finished by 9:00 am. Stephen and I spent our time picking out leaves from the bins, plus a couple of comatose lizards. The grapes were then hauled up to Schweiger Vineyards and Winery on top of Spring Mountain where Andy makes our wine. After going through the destemmer—my favorite machine—they went into tank at a nice cool 42 ° . The grapes looked great and tasted wonderful with the potential of being one of our best cabernets yet!

Cheers, Sue and Stephen

Midway at Miner

Now that we are well into the 2009 harvest, here is a run down on grapes we've brought in thus far at Miner Family and a quick assessment.

Day 1 of harvest came after Labor Day (a rarity for us) with the arrival of just over 5 tons of Sauvignon Blanc from Oakville Crossroad Vineyard. We will produce 350 or so cases of SB, which is down from the 800 cases we made in 2008. Also during week one, we brought in some Tempranillo and Grenache from Mike Naggiar's Vineyard in the Sierra Foothills. Beautiful, ripe, and tasty, these two reds were pressed off skins and are now in barrel (See Miner's first post, our amateur video of Tempranillo going to barrel).

All of our Viognier from Simpson Vineyard has been brought in: 75 tons this year and down from the 100 tons in '08. Fueled by Rutherford Grill ribs and cornbread, our fierce night shift crew (Wes, Ben, and Gabrielle) pressed Viognier until the wee hours (think 3am) for six consecutive nights. We barreled down some of our Viognier but the majority is slowly fermenting in tanks. After being kept at finger-numbing temperatures, our Rosella's Vineyard “777” Pinot Noir has now started to ferment in half-ton bins in our warehouse. A whopping 325 cases worth of Carneros Pinot Noir from Sunset Vineyard came in this year - an indication that vineyard yields would be up,and indeed yields look like they are up across the board for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Case and point, our first block of Chardonnay to come in from Stagecoach Vineyard yielded 33% more than last year and Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay in Carneros also came in with yields above average. We will have plenty of top notch Chardonnay to go around this year and we're planning on doing 3 vineyard designated Chardonnays: Hudson, Hyde and Genny's Vineyard.

We brought in just over 5 tons of Marsanne from Stagecoach Vineyard last week for our La Diligence bottling (a partnership with Domaine Francois Villard/Rhone Valley, France). As for Napa Valley reds, it's looking like they will be ripe soon and we will be prepared for an onslaught in the next week as Cabernet Sauvignon yields are likely to be high.

The winery is starting to smell good as we approach the harvest '09 half-way mark with around 250 tons in so far. Until next time, when we come up for air... or beer

Gary Brookman
Winemaker, Miner Family Winery

The first grapes are in...now what?

Harvest 2009 officially kicked off for Paradigm Winery last Thursday, with just over two tons of Cabernet and a shy ton of Cab Franc taking the lead in the 2009 vintage. Though just a small percentage of what we’ll harvest this year, it’s enough to get us back into the familiar pattern of early mornings, rounds of punch downs and pumpovers, perennially sticky hands and soggy feet, and grape shrapnel turning up in every odd place.

The Zinfandel will be our next project, hopefully ready to harvest by the start of next week. Zinfandel can be infuriating – uneven ripening will have some berries puckering into raisins while others in the same cluster still taste tart and bland. We watch the canopy and sigh with forced patience as we wait for the slowpokes, worrying over dehydration and willing the vine to get its act together. It always does, eventually.

The mornings are growing progressively colder, there are more oak leaves in the driveway than there were last week, and the valley glows in that special way made possible only by slanted autumnal sunlight. The other morning I arrived at work just in time to watch the sunrise. The pale sky above me was dotted with hot air balloons at staggered altitudes, some close enough to see small faces peering over the edge of the baskets. Though I sometimes wonder if what I do for a living is the best or the worst way to enjoy my favorite season, at that moment the answer was unquestionably clear.

Molly Lippitt, Paradigm Winery

The People Who Pick

I was dreaming in Spanish, at least I was dreaming I was dreaming in Spanish. As I slowly woke and came back into reality it occured to me I could not be dreaming in Spanish for obvious reasons. Then the lyrical strains of the harmonious Spanish language again floated through my bedroom window. The vineyard outside my bedroom window was alive with pickers in the pre-dawn glow and their happy chatter filled the air. How anybody can be that happy before dawn and facing hours of backbreaking work always amazes me.

That was about ten days ago and those crews were the first wave, picking grapes bound for sparkling wine. However, now those first ripples are getting ready to turn into a tsunami of harvesting as the Napa Valley gets ready for the main event: the Cabernet Sauvignon harvest. There has been scattered activity around the valley as first the grapes for sparkling wine and then some of the white varieties were harvested. We picked the grapes for our Cornerstone Sauvignon Blanc early last week, in perfect conditions. This was our first harvest of Sauvignon Blanc from the Talcott Vineyard just outside of St. Helena (not too far from Taylor's Refresher), so I was out there at first light to watch the pick. It never ceases to stun me how hard the picking crews work. None of what we do could be possible without them. Every time I watch a harvest crew in action I realize that few of us could survive a half-hour, while these crews work at breakneck speed hour after hour until the mid-day sun forces the picking to a merciful end.

Tonight our new Sauvignon Blanc is slowly bubbling away in a cold stainless steel fermemter, while the pickers themselves sleep the sleep that only exhaustion can bring as they prepare to hit the vineyards tomorrow before the morning light illuminates the seemingly endless rows of vines waiting for them. Today we scheduled the pick of our Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon for this coming Tuesday and our Oakville blocks will be right behind. It's going to be a busy two weeks for us, but it's nothing compared to the ultra-marathon our pickers have already embarked on.

Craig Camp - Cornerstone Cellars

Harvest continues at Merryvale

Harvest is moving at full speed in Napa now. Due to hot weather all week, we have accelerated picking Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet. By the end of next week, we anticipate finishing our Chardonnay harvest. This week, we have really begun to harvest the Bordeaux varieties, particularly Merlot and early Cabernet blocks.

Fortunately, the heat was not as intense as originally forecasted, and the highs are only sustained for a short part of the afternoon. Forecasts are for a return to seasonable or below average temperatures beginning early next week. That will likely slow down the ripening in the remaining Cabernet blocks.

This morning we harvested small portions of two blocks of Cabernet from the Schlatter Family Estate in St. Helena. Attached is a pic of a few lug bins in the back of the truck.

Remi Cohen
Merryvale Vineyards

The Nighttime…Is The Right Time….

…For picking Chardonnay!

OK, I know it doesn’t rhyme and isn’t as much fun as what the blues standard refers to, but it sure makes good wine. Night harvesting the chardonnay ensures that we receive cool and plump fruit. The cool temperature is important for minimizing extraction of any bitter flavors, helps the settling process, and means that we use less energy chilling the juice. The more humid night air allows the grapes to recover from any dehydration the previous day, and the firm berries transport better than hot mushy ones – they don’t breakdown as much in the bins, which gets back to the extraction point above.

The other important and too often overlooked aspect of night harvesting is that the conditions are much better for the people doing the harvesting. I know that if I had to run up and down the rows 50 times in long sleeves and pants while carrying a 40 pound box of grapes on my head, I’d much rather do it in the cool morning air rather than the mid-day heat.

Now, I’ve been talking an awful lot about Chardonnay in these last few posts and I don’t want you to get the wrong impression, so you’ll be happy to know that in the last week we brought in the first Cabernet Sauvignon from here on the Estate. We’ve got three little tanks full of some of the blackest Cabernet I’ve ever gotten my hands into. Tremendous color and plenty of great ripe berry flavor to go with it. The first full crop of our Takahashi Ranch Merlot – a blending component for our Napa Valley Cabernet – also came in this week, and it also is showing fantastic color along with some of the best flavor that we’ve seen from Merlot here at CM. If these first few tanks are any indication, this will be a fantastic vintage.

This week we will continue bringing in Cabernet from our Estate vineyards as well as from our Napa Cab growers, and we should be finishing up the Chardonnay within the next 10 days. The first of the Estate Zinfandel is on deck today, so come on by and have a look!

Until next week – Cheers and may you “be with the one you love.”

Scroll down for our intern Daniel's latest post.

Cameron Parry - Winemaker

Chateau Montelena Winery

Harvest Simple Joy

By: Daniel Orrison

9/22/09

Legs, back, arms, mind… tired. Hands, shirts, shoes, socks… stained. Harvest is officially in full swing. Grapes are coming at a faster pace than ever expected while the room for storage is quickly running thin. But away from specifics and onto experience…

I meet a man on my day off (first in 7 days), who took one look at my hands and asked first, ‘how’s harvest going?’ and second, ‘dead yet?’. I laughed at the later part of the question and replied with a modest but accurate… ‘almost’. He then went on to tell a story from his first harvest (he has now worked over 20), and it went something like this: He was young, out of college, ready to take the wine world by storm (sound familiar?), and his boss at the time said “son… this line of work is not pretty, you won’t be tasting wine all day, meeting women or having fun. You will be working, on call, always. Every part of you will hurt at one point and you will wish you were dead, this I promise, especially here.”

Quite a first conversation with your boss if you ask me… Cameron’s first words were much more welcoming.

The boss then said: “Because son, I’ve seen kids like you come and go, and here’s how it’s going to work. After the first week you will think you are tired. After the second, exhausted. And by the third… dead.” I can now honestly say this is a very accurate description of the harvest lifestyle. Days run together, the workload seems impossible, and the word tired takes on new meaning.

However, I feel the old man’s boss forgot a few parts of this story. He forgot to say how much fun you will have along the way (the laughs and memories), how rewarding it is to look back on everything you accomplish each day, how special it is to be a part of a tradition much larger than yourself, and how educational the experience is for anyone who loves wine. Sure, at points we’re tired, but in my eye that’s what makes it so great! The understanding that everyone is tried, everyone’s hands hurt, everyone could use a day off… but still, day after day, year after year, people all over the world wake up to celebrate the ups and downs of harvest. For instance, he didn’t mention that at 10pm, while cleaning presses in the pouring rain, listening to your cellar master, Gilberto, sing ‘life is beautiful’ you will laugh harder than you ever have. He left out how wonderful a feeling it is to put your feet up on a couch after working an 18-hour harvest day (something you can only understand after doing). Or how calming the feeling that surrounds a winery at midnight can be. The small joys, the subtle moments, and the silent “thank you” wine constantly offers its maker that reminds us of how worthwhile what we are doing is. This area, he most certainly forgot to mention. Because harvest, simply and unexplained, is about truth, hard work, discipline and tradition. These words are not to be thrown around, but respected. And while some days may be hard, tough and stressful the final product is worth every scrape… this, exactly, is what makes it so great. It’s not easy and because of this its rewards are not plain -- but amazing, incredible, and transcending (think 1973 Montelena Chardonnay). Or, in my eyes, what makes the industry move round. What excites us each morning to wake up and work hard.

Tasting on my day off. Life is good. Respect the small stuff.

God bless from Napa.

Cheers,

Daniel

The Grapes Are Good

At Cakebread Cellars, we began our 2009 cabernet sauvignon harvest this morning with a load of night picked fruit from our Maple Lane Vineyards.

So far we are very happy with the condition of the fruit that has come in, especially with our whites (sauvignon blanc and chardonnay). The cool season has left the vines in prime condition and the fruit is in remarkable shape with very little disease pressure or sunburn. Overall, we are seeing good flavors at very desireable chemistry as we have been able to reach a high level at maturity at very modest brix levels.

Looking forward, we expect this trend to continue as the phenolic levels in the red grapes look very good as does the weather outlook. We have spent the last few days assessing our vineyards with regards to their ability to weather the upcoming heat and we are confident that we are well prepared and any impacts will be minor.

Toby Halkovich, Viticulturist
Cakebread Cellars