Yeast Whisperer of Newton Vineyard

The first days of the Newton Chardonnay harvest are stressful.

We pick it, we press it, we choose the best French barrels and… nothing happens. For days, the juice is quiet, viscous, cloyingly sweet.

Nothing… No matter how much I stare inside the barrels or glue my ear to the bung holes until the side of my face shows a ring of toasted oak smoke.

It’s only when I start getting that recurring dream of hot tubs filled with bubbling grape juice, around the 6^th or 7^th day, that our tricky indigenous yeasts deign offer some hope. Suddenly, the whole cellar is filled with the gurgling sound of the starting fermentation and I breathe a sigh of relief.

That makes Julian laugh.

Julian Cendejas (pictured at right) has worked at Newton since 1989. Over his more than 20 harvests, he’s learned to be patient and that the fermentation will start. Some years it’s fast -just a couple of days- some years it takes up to 10 or 12 days. Once a lot of Chardonnay is fermenting, the whole cellar follows.

Julian always knows when this will happen: I have a theory that he’s somehow communicating with the yeasts that come from our vineyard. He’ll say “Tomorrow, this lot will start”. I’ll look in the barrel he is showing me, shaking my head: “Naaah, there is not even any froth.” The next day, he’ll be right.

Now, all the 2011 Chardonnay is fermenting, some lots well on their way to dryness. It was a cool growing season and even if the sugars remained lower than in the past years, the flavors are exotic and complex. There are apricot and grilled pineapple notes but no hint of the quince paste that characterizes over-ripe vintages. The musqué lots are delicately floral without being too wisteria or lilac-like.

This should be a vintage for aging. But shhhh… Don’t tell our yeasts: they are not done with their job until Julian says so!

Cheers!

Frederique Perrin
Associate Winemaker, Newton Vineyard

A Bittersweet Time of Year..

Hello all from The Drudge at Chase Cellars in St Helena, offering a unique view of working at a winery from the bottom up! The grapes are changing from green to purple which only means one thing, harvest is near! At an instant I am both excited and anxious. I love Napa Valley during crush; you can feel the energy, smell the fermentation in the air and enjoy the sudden influx of interns from the southern hemisphere. Unfortunately that also means that I will soon be working a lot harder during some very long days.

The grand scheme of things it isn’t all that bad, and I really love the fact that I make something that people will treasure for years to come. To be a part of something that people open for a special occasion (like a bad day) is a very cool thing. So, okay I am excited for the upcoming harvest!

Chase Cellars is a pretty small place, only 1,800 cases, so it doesn’t take that much to get us ready. In the next few weeks we will begin pulling out all the equipment that has been stored for the winter, putting it back together and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

For now I am going to sit back, sip some beautiful rosé and appreciate the wonderful summer weather that is ripening our grapes.

Cheers!

Something Old, and Something Older

I don’t mean to brag but we have some pretty old Zinfandel vines, I mean really old, 108 years old, old. As far as I know these are some of the oldest vines in Napa Valley that are still in production. I say some of the oldest because the records aren’t that great from back then I and just don’t want to get in trouble!

What’s incredible about these vines, besides the fact that they have managed to stay in the ground for this long, is they are pretty much self sufficient (besides a nip here and a tuck there). Thanks to our incredibly alluvial soil the tap root has grown 35 feet down into the earth and found the water table. This is a huge plus for us because that means we don’t have to water them. Somehow they are able to pull water up 35 feet to ensure their survival.

What does this mean for the end result, the pretty little grapes? Well, just like in humans, all that hard work builds a whole lot of character! The old vines, compared the 25 year olds that we also have planted in the Hayne Vineyard, show a lot more complexity and depth in flavor. The next time you find yourself in St Helena during harvest stop in and try a grape from each, I dare you!

The Drudge

Chase Cellars

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