Pruning vs Pre-pruning

Last year we decided to change things up in the vineyard. Sure the vines have been around for a hundred plus years, but it just felt right.  In effort to bring the viticulture into the 21st century we hired Jim Munk of A Cut Above Viticulture Services, he has been working with zinfandel for years so it is a great fit for our historic vines.  He came on board with us last year in September and was a great asset for the 2011 harvest. 

An un-pruned vine

    This winter he did something that  has never been done in the Hayne Vineyard, he pre- pruned which means instead of pruning the canes all the way down to the one or two buds you cut the cane back to about 12 inches.  Later in the season the crew will come back and prune the cane all the way down to the one or two buds before bud break to finish the job.  Basically you take two passes through the vineyard instead of one.  I know that seems a bit nutty, but it is done for a few good reasons.

  

   Most importantly pre-pruning helps prevent the spread of disease.  Cutting any part of the vine leaves and open wound that is very susceptible to disease especially Eutypa and Bot Canker which eventually lead to stunted growth and lower yields.  If you leave a few extra inches of cane that creates a buffer zone so even if the vine becomes infected the diseased part of the cane will be cut off before it reaches the vine.  We have a pretty healthy vineyard, especially when you consider the age, and we would like to keep it that way so pre-pruning is a great option for us.

A Pre-pruned vine

   Another factor in pre-pruning is labor.  During the winter months there isn't that much to do in the vineyard and most managers prefer to keep their crews busy so they don't loose anyone.  Pre-pruning adds a few more weeks onto the schedule (sometimes months) so you don't loose the crew that you have trained and would like to keep around.  In a larger operation pre-pruning can actually save you money because it doesn't require as much as an exact cut as pruning so the men can go much faster and they don't have to be as skilled.

A pruned vine

     By now you may be asking yourself, pre-pruning, it sounds so wonderful, why would you do anything else?  Backup the trolly, there are a few drawbacks.  Because you are cutting the majority of the cane off in the first shot it becomes difficult to gauge the health of the vine.  The pruner may leave too few or too many buds per shoot causing the overall balance of the vine to shift.  Balance in a vine is one of the most important factors to producing amazing wine grapes. If they are vigorous and not allowed to produce a larger amount of fruit they will go crazy with green growth taking the focus away from ripening grapes, and on the other side if the vine is allowed to produce more then it should the vine will not be able to ripen the fruit properly.

  

Overall we have faith in Mr. Munk and I can't wait to see what our little guys will produce in the future.

Rebecca Martin

Chase Cellars

EGVM moth quarantine ending in four California counties

Quarantine to be lifted March 8

California Department of Food and Agriculture

 

• California and federal agricultural officials will lift lifting the European grapevine moth quarantine March 8 in Fresno, Mendocino, Merced, and San Joaquin counties.
• U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $8 million in federal funding to continue the program’s progress.
• “The announcement of funding from our federal partners at USDA is welcome news for California grape growers and their consumers,” said Karen Ross, Secretary, CDFA.
• The pest primarily damages grapes, but has also been known to feed on other crops and plants.

For full release:

http://westernfarmpress.com/grapes/egvm-moth-quarantine-ending-four-california-counties

 

European Grapevine Moth Update Information

We are still in the final phase of solidifying our agreements for the disbursement of the EGVM pheromones for mating disruption for all growers in the treatment area in Napa County.  In the meantime you can pre-order your material from your dealer so they can be ready to deliver these to you as soon as they are released.  Growers with one acre or less should contact me or the Agricultural Commissioners office directly so we can make arrangements to get the material to you. 

Due to their remote location and lack of moth finds last season, there is a possibility that growers in Pope Valley and Chiles Valley may be deregulated at the end of this season.  If this is approved, it will mean that growers in those areas will not be able to use Isomate pheromones for mating disruption this season and the trapping density will be increased to 100 traps per sq. mile in those areas.  So if you are a grower in those areas please hold off putting up the pheromones until further notice.

Martin Mochizuki

Napa County EGVM Grower Liaison

707-975-2133

707-252-9218 fax

martinmoch@sbcglobal.net

Cool Reflections

Foggy mornings on Howell Mountain. There's something incredibly enchanting about this fog that appears on select winter days and summer's warmest mornings. I've grown up on this mountain but it is no less beautiful to witness this shroud of white covering the commotion on the valley floor.

Everything is all covered up in a white blanket, and the peaceful silence at our family estate is even more surreal. In this photo, the morning mist even covers our western view of Diamond Mountain in the Mayacamas Mountains Range, which climbs up to over 2500 feet directly across from us.

As a child, I used to walk down the hillside trying to get in the middle of the fog, but really it's not much different from being above it... you just get colder! But you warm up quickly with the steep climb back to the top of the vineyard.

My mother Delia, was a visionary and chose to plant our vine rows straight downhill in a European design versus the horizontal terracing method. The rows enjoy western exposure that is sun baked in the afternoon, giving us the mature and concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot for which we are known.

If my family has learned one thing in the past 25 years of farming on Howell Mountain, it's that our vineyard site truly excels in cooler vintages, like 1998 and 2000. Delia says those are the years where the human component of terroir - the decisions of the winemaker - is most important.

We're also very excited about our 2010s and 2011s! The 2010 vintage was featured this weekend at our local trade wine auction, Premiere Napa Valley. I was speaking with my friend and colleague Chris Howell of CAIN on Spring Mountain about the vintage who agreed, "You could not have a better vineyard site for a cooler vintage." Other sites in the Napa Valley fared very well too, which was proven by the excitement at our record-breaking Premiere event. I really enjoyed the 2010 wines I sampled at Premiere, and know that my contemporaries in Napa Valley will continue to produce stellar wines even if Mother Nature throws a little fog and summer rain at us.

Happy Leap Year everyone.

Cheers,

Janet Viader, sales & marketing at VIADER

Understanding the Malolactic Coma

January and February are traditionally considered to be the "slow season" at Clos Pegase, because that is when our production team stops to take a minute to catch their breath after the past Harvest.

That doesn't mean that the cellar is a ghost town. The action shifts from the crushpad in September, to the cellar in November through the beginning of the new year, and inevitably the focus lands in the lab in January and February.

While our winemaking team keeps an eye on the vineyards, glancing at the weather report and its lack of rain (the exact opposite of what we did in October of 2011 when we desperately wished for rain to stay away), they are keeping their other eye on the wines that we are getting ready to bottle, not to mention the wines from 2011 that are in barrel (gotta make sure everything is progressing in the right way, you know!)

In order to get a better idea of what type of things go on in the cellar in the "off-season" I headed in to chat with Winemaker, Richard Sowalsky, where he was full of production-world gems.

This time of year, Richard explained, malolactic fermentations are usually wrapping up in the cellar and the team has been keeping close watch to make sure the acid levels are at the desired levels, achieved via this process. What are the desirable levels? So glad you asked.

Before I tell you, I will admit. I'm a rookie at this production stuff (me: grapes get smashed, juice ferments to alcohol, bottle it up and enjoy. Simple. Now we know why science wasn't my strong suit.) So I wanted to know what this malolactic fermentation stuff was all about.

This fermentation, or more accurately, chemical conversion, is the process during which malic acid is converted to lactic acid. For everyone reading this who feared chemistry was a communications major like me, this is like converting the tart taste of apples to the less tart taste associated with sourdough bread. You introduce some "desirable bacteria" into the wine (or use bacteria naturally on the grape skins or in the winery) and they take care of the conversion, a process which naturally de-acidifies the wine. Without ML (as I call it, so I can sound like I know what I'm taking about after my crash course with the production team) many of the wines would taste sharp- great for wines known for crisp acidity like sauvignon blanc; not so great for cabernet sauvignon or merlot.

This conversion happens with almost all wines in our portfolio, with the exception of our Sauvignon Blanc, Vin Gris Rosé and The Portico. (Our SB is known for its crisp acidity so if we allowed malolactic fermentation to take place, that lovely acidity would be gone. Insert sad face here.)

But back to the science of this winemaking stuff. It was at this point in the conversation with Richard that he drew me a couple of molecules on a piece of paper, complete with carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. This was in order to illustrate the ML conversion. I'm going to spare you this part, because it was here was I finally understood what he meant when he referred to this process as the "malolactic coma."

Basically, he went into a whole bunch of science-related topics about bacteria eating carbon chains and stabilizing the wine and I was furiously writing notes down, stopping him every couple of minutes to clarify what he'd just explained.

And I was still confused.

In order to save you from entering into the malolactic coma yourselves (you're welcome for taking one for the team), I'm going to just give your the jest of it, with some history mixed in for good measure:

Wine has three types of acids in it:

• tartaric, which is pretty stable and acceptable in the wine
• malic, which is unstable and can be less desirable because of the tart flavors it imparts (unless you're making sauvignon blanc, or another "crisp" varietal)
• citric, though this is found in very minute amounts.

So, you have these types of acid in the wine and malolactic fermentation is the method that leaves the tartaric acid in tact but more importantly converts the malic acid into lactic acid. During ML, the citric acid also runs the risk of becoming diacetyl. Diacetyl is what causes the super buttery, nutty, oaky flavors in wine that overpower everything else. And if the wrong type of "desirable bacteria" is introduced, diacetyl could be an issue.

Enter the history part of this lesson.

Back in the day, in the Champagne region of France, they were making lovely sparkling wines, but diacetyl (read: buttery, oaky flavors) was overshadowing the delicate bubbles. Some smarty wine scientists then developed a good bacteria that could be used in the ML process that would not leave diacetyl behind as a bi-product and thus, a "desirable bacteria" was born. Then all the winemakers from the Champagne houses rejoiced.

But back to our story.

We choose to mimic the Champagne method of ML because it allows us to emphasize the vineyard fruit and the place from which our grapes come, rather than obscure the quality fruit. Since we age everything in oak barrels, we still have some of the hallmark qualities of varietals (toasty oak, vanilla, etc.) but can better balance those qualities with the fruit characteristics, giving our wines a sense of place while keeping it in balance.

So that, my friends, is the short version of malolactic fermentation, believe it or not.

Trust me, be very glad you didn't get the whole science version. I'm still recovering from the high school chemistry flashbacks induced by those molecule drawings...

-Colleen LeMasters
Clos Pegase Winery

Barrels and Forklifts

The number one things I fear at the winery (besides ruining an entire vintage of wine) is the forklift.  Just thinking about climbing onto that that thing gives me nightmares.  Yes true, I know all I really need to do is take a class and practice, but its not really the operation that gives me anxiety, it is all the damage I could cause.  This fear was sort of realized during an episode of The Office when the warehouse crew wins the lottery and quits leaving the sales staff in charge of loading up the trucks.  Dwight, being the handy man he is climbs right onto a forklift and promptly ran it right into a wall. 

     You have to leave these things to the professionals and I am a total klutz.  Four broken arms, two broken toes and a few fingers have proven that without a doubt.  Never mind I achieved all of those from activities that most would consider safe. It is almost written in stone that I will cause damage to myself or something expensive.

   Wait... I think I've gone off subject, no one cares about my broken bones.  This was supposed to be about topping barrels, obviously I'm slightly off track.  Generally barrels need to be topped off about once a month.  Wine evaporates through the wood and so we must "top off" the wine so there isn't too much oxygen in contact with the wine, and today I was called up to help.  Usually the assistant winemaker, Jeff, handles everything, but my wine maker Joel is determined to get me more involved (he is obviously unaware of my past medical history).

     Thankfully I will not be the one manning the fork lift, mostly because our winery isn't the most forklift friendly place.  About ten years ago we finished renovating the two car garage into the present day winery.  The 2 arch shaped doors open in the middle (see picture... did you look? Okay back to the story).  The forklift barely clears the center of the doors, a huge opportunity to cause some real property damage. Moving the stacked barrels in and out of the winery is an art form, an art form that Jeff has nearly perfected... nearly. (We have only had to repair the damage a few times.)



Pulling Samples



  All morning Jeff unstacked and moved the barrels out onto the crush pad, as he added sulphur to a few barrels I pulled samples from others, don't I look like I'm having fun!  After pulling samples we tasted through the wines and then it was time to top them off.  We had one partial barrel, so I siphoned from that (my least favorite thing to do) into a bucket. I then dragged the bucket along with me filled a pitcher and from there into the barrels. It might sound really fun, but I assure you after about ten barrels it isn't all that exciting anymore. I do however love that I am exposed to wine making in this position.  It is actually my favorite thing about working here.  It is such a great learning experience to taste the wines through every stage if the process.  Joel Aiken, the wine maker, always makes sure to include me, even if it isn't the most glamorous job.

Cheers!
Rebecca, Chase Cellars.

'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

Napa Vintners Announce Partnership with UC Davis

We are proud to announce that the NVV is partnering with the University of California at Davis to host a unique, professional development course for winemakers and enologists to be held in the Napa Valley focusing on topics relevant to commercial winemaking.

The Wine Flavor class is structured with tastings coupled with discussion, taught by UC Davis faculty. The inaugural class will be held on January 13, 2012 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at The Culinary Institute of America, Greystone in St. Helena. The cost is $150 per person (including lunch) for NVV members and $225 per person for non-NVV members. Topics will include the recognition of common microbial off characters including sulfur taints, ML/bacterial taints, fermentation-derived taints and spoilage organisms, among others. Please contact Connor Best at the NVV at 707-968-4225 or email cbest@napavintners.com for more information or to sign up for the class.

No More Monkeying Around in the Cellar for Me at Peju Province Winery

Today, I write to you from my brightly lit desk in the very tame upstairs offices. Actually, ironically, I just heard a cacophony of high-pitched hollers from the other end of the offices. Sounds like a big sale came in, woo-hoo! The holidays are an exciting time for Patti, Jess & Christina who take care of phone sales. Anyway, it is the first Friday in two months that I've had to iron before clothing myself presentably, and that I've come to work to spend the day wielding the almighty mouse and keyboard. Slightly different strengths required than those for wielding the heavy hoses and 20-gallon buckets of juice in the cellar. I am in the office today because finally the seasonal work requiring so many extra hands has come to an end. There is still much going on for the full time cellar workers, but they've got that under control. We drained our very last tank yesterday to press and barrel down today- Cabernet Sauvignon from one of the later-ripening blocks on our Persephone Vineyard. Almost all of the leaves have fallen off the vines, which are now dormant and will remain so until spring when the weather warms, rousing the vines out of their winter stillness to begin again to do what they are meant to- to photosynthesize, to pull nutrients out of the ground to create leaves and eventually to flower and to bear fruit.

'Dormancy', as defined by Wikipedia, is "a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormancy) My organism can relate to that.

Dormant Vines on Peju's Rutherford Estate

Next week Winemaker Sara, Assistant Winemaker Joe, and Production Planner Sheri will begin tasting through the 2011 whites to see how the now two-and-a-half-month-old wine is tasting, and to start thinking about how they'll want to blend it in a month or two. Blending involves systematic tasting through barrel-aged versus tank-aged lots, lots in French versus American and new versus neutral oak, and then blending varietals with any combination of these variations. Love how winemaking involves doing science with your taste buds.

Most of the work that's going on in the cellar these days is to take care of the older vintages of reds that were laying low in their barrels while Harvest's new crop, like a needy newborn sibling, took all of the attention. Mostly, it's the topping I mentioned in a a recent blog post that the crew is busy with now. On a monthly rotation, the crew will bring all of the hundreds of barrels in our Estate cellar out to the crush pad to make sure the headspace in each barrel is at a minimum, lest the wine breathe too much oxygen and lose its youthful vigor.

Naked Vines Soak Up Some Winter Sun

And as the vineyard rests for winter, the sales team springs to action for the most wonderful time of year for us humans! It is certainly true that some of the best gifts in life are free. But wine is always a great gift too. Cheers!

Brittany Starr for Peju Province Winery

View from Peju, December 6, 2011

VIADER has been busy!

Forgive me bloggers, it has been over six months since my last confession...

I'll give you an update through photos.

Back in April, our winemaker Alan Viader was teaching his young son about pruning in the small section of Syrah & Shiraz that we have growing on our estate.

We also applied our annual allotment of fresh compost at the beginning of the year, using the mulch from our leftover grape skins & seeds from the 2010 harvest. Delia a.k.a. Mom, does not appreciate having the compost site right next to her home at the top of the vineyard, but Alan swears we don't have any other place to put it! NIMBY!

Springtime flew by, and we enjoyed warm evenings and beautiful sunsets, without the threat of frost up on the mountain. A typical saying is that if you make it to Mother's Day without a big frost, you're in the clear. Although we have great sun exposure and constant breezes, I try not to mention the "F-word" (frost) for fear of calling it over! Just like "R-word" (rain) around harvest time... Call me superstitious.

In the summer, we were all things "Auction Napa Valley," preparing our "Black Label" Barrel Lot and participating in multiple events. Alan took a little creative license to decorate our barrel for Friday's Marketplace event, which was a special blend full of "black" fruits. We had all hands on deck for the Marketplace event, with Alan and Cante, our hospitality director pouring at the barrel. Delia was out front pouring our current release of the VIADER "Black Label" and our signature VIADER Proprietary Cabernet Blend, and I was out promoting the E-Auction with my iPad and fellow "E-Squad" volunteers.

Despite the weather, we had a wonderful Auction Napa Valley and raised $7.3m for our community. Mom had a fun interview with her buddy Jean-Charles Boisset and Gavin Newsom under the tents at Meadowood on CRN Radio's "What's Cookin' with Mike Horn." I'm not sure how much of the conversation was actually centered around the wine auction, but I know it was interesting nonetheless!

Fast forward to Harvest 2011. Here are the highlights:

Happy Holidays everyone!

Sincerely,

Janet Viader, Sales & Marketing at VIADER

GI Status Approval in Thailand

The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) non-profit trade association representing more than 420 wineries in the appellation announced today that the country of Thailand has recognized Napa Valley with Geographic Indication (GI) Status that will protect the American wine region from misuse of its name in wine labeling in that country.

The NVV worked directly with Thailand's Department of Intellectual Property on the registration which reads, "The combination of Napa Valley's unique geography, climate, geology, and the winemaking traditions as well as the human skills of the Napa Valley vintners give Napa Valley wine its distinctive taste and unique characters."

"This is a terrific accomplishment for our trade group in protecting our appellation's name from fraudulent use in yet another high-profile, emerging wine market," said NVV Executive Director Linda Reiff. "We have been able to achieve this and other GI recognitions by working directly with these government agencies, such as our successes in the EU and India, which is important to building our export channels for Napa Valley wines."

"It's necessary to know that consumers of Napa Valley wine in Thailand will be able to trust that if it reads 'Napa Valley' on the label, that the wine in the bottle is indeed from California's Napa Valley," said Pat Stotesbery of Ladera Vineyards who chairs the Napa Name Protection Committee for the association.

Read the full press release.

NVV Harvest 2011: Winemaking

With All Our Grapes Safely in Tank and Barrel, We Begin Our Descent Into Winter Calm at Peju Province Winery...

With the number of work orders diminishing each day, the cellar dance has changed from a swift and sprightly Viennese waltz to the more moderately-tempoed American variety. I watch the team work now and I imagine the cellar like one giant music box with the song coming to an end and all the players slowing simultaneously to a halt as the box lid closes us inside the dark, quiet of winter. We can no longer celebrate (or commiserate in) the craziness of being ‘in the middle of Harvest’, yet there is still work to do. Interns and temporary workers are starting to prepare for their migration to the other side of the equator for the next one. The high of Harvest end’s cheer and festivity gives way to the realization of what will pretty immediately follow: a cold, wet winter with less time in the day and less people in the Valley. But whoa woe, it is now the Holiday Season! Americans’ favorite time of year! A time when opportunity abounds to spend quality time with family and friends. A time of reflection and joy and thankfulness and snuggling in tight. A time of cooking up old traditions, of getting inventive with those that have gone stale, and a time when red wine never tasted so good. 

Much of what is now 2011 red wine in the Peju cellar has been drained and pressed, though a handful of ferments are still finishing up. When a ferment finishes, Peju Winemaker Sara usually lets the wine mingle with the skins in the tank for a bit before pressing off the skins and putting the wine into French and American oak barrels to age. This prolonged contact of the wine with the skins at the end of fermentation is called ‘extended maceration.’ Maceration is simply the name given to the process by which all that good stuff in the skins is extracted by the juice. This occurs naturally upon contact with one another. Phenolic compounds give color to what would otherwise be clear(ish) juice and tannins give structure/body to the wine, which also give it the potential to age. Sara does a cold maceration at the beginning of each ferment, too, to allow the pre-fermented juice to extract water-soluble components. The water-soluble components are less likely to be extracted once alcohol is produced in the juice during fermentation. It is all of these numerous steps taken to ensure that the wine maximizes complexity, concentration and integration which distinguishes ‘fine wine’ from the rest, and makes it so-o fine.

Below is the mouth of a tank that has just been drained and sent to press and then barrel. What you don’t see is that in order to empty the tank to the extent it appears here, a member of the team has to climb into the tank through this very opening to shovel out the skins, all the while attached by a harness to a fellow crew member outside the tank in the event of a Carbon Dioxide overdose, which is an actual cause of death during every harvest!!! Yet another example of just how much goes into the production of a bottle of wine.

 

Quality Control Lab Tech Nick presses the last truck samples for testing.

The last yeast inoculation.

A truck takes away the last of the fruit-carrying bins.

And resourceful, winemaker Sara sabers a bottle of bubbly with a draining-valve clamp to honor a Phase-One well done.

 Cheers!

 Stay tuned because there is work left to do and words left to write for Harvest 2011!

Until next time, 

Brittany Starr for Peju Province Winery 

May you always have cheer in your cheeks and great wine in your glass!

The Napa Valley Designated Official Wine Region of the 34th America's Cup

Legendary Napa Valley Wines and Tourism to be Exclusively Featured at 34th America's Cup Events in United States

The Napa Valley has been named the official wine region of the 34th America's Cup. In partnership with The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) and The Napa Valley Destination Council (NVDC), America's Cup events in the United States through 2013 will exclusively feature Napa Valley wines, while the Napa Valley will be the only wine region featured as a getaway destination for attendees of the San Francisco-based America's Cup events.

"The America's Cup is a fantastic way to showcase the wines of Napa Valley. This high-profile, world-renowned sporting event's stature perfectly aligns with the high quality and world renown of Napa Valley, America's premier wine region. We are delighted to bring our wines to the table in celebration of this great partnership," said Napa Valley Vintners Executive Director Linda Reiff.

"Many of the America's Cup enthusiasts love the same things that the Napa Valley is known for--great wine, food, arts and wellness activities. We are very excited to have the opportunity to invite them to experience our beautiful region while they are in the Bay Area, and we look forward to sharing the best we have to offer," said Clay Gregory, NVDC CEO and President.

The Napa Valley is home to the founders of America's fine wine industry--legendary entrepreneurs who showed the world that the art of winemaking had crossed continents--and the region is prized for its natural beauty, 14-Michelin Star culinary scene, world-class hotel accommodations, robust arts community, and one-of-a-kind wellness experiences including the region's famed spas, mud baths and healing geo-thermal hot springs.

Over the next two years, Napa Valley wines will be poured and tourism to the region will be promoted, beginning with the America's Cup World Series event in San Diego this November 12-20, as well as at the AC World Series Newport and San Francisco events in 2012, and in San Francisco during the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup--the America's Cup Challenger Series--and America's Cup Finals.

"We are very pleased to partner with the Napa Valley on our America's Cup events in the United States, as it is one of the world's premier wine growing regions," said Craig Thompson, CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority. "The 34th America's Cup is focused on creating a one-of-a-kind experience for every fan, so we look forward to showcasing the bounty that the Napa Valley has to offer to our guests."

Click here for the press announcement on the America's Cup Website.

Watch a video on the America's Cup Preview in San Diego, currently underway through November 20th.

Fourth and Final Harvest Update

The winemaking team has been furiously busy since I last wrote on Tuesday, October 11th. As you may or may not remember, that was the day after the final rains of this growing season. That Monday was supposed to be dry, and if the weather models had played out as predicted, the pace of this harvest would have been more leisurely. When this vintage is looked back upon in two or three years, as its wines are being released, many people will refer to October 10th as the fulcrum point that tipped the vintage towards its close.

Harvesting started in a panic as many winemakers, this one included, realized the scope of the challenge that the mold pressure presented; a block with trace amounts of botrytis could become completely enveloped in twenty four hours. The thin skin, tight cluster varieties were the first to succumb to the fungus. Petit Sirah and Petit Verdot were particularly hard hit and were triage priority when making pick calls. The Round Pond Estate however, has the fortunate ability to harvest any block any day that’s needed or desired—a resource that proved particularly crucial this year. Throwing courtesy and convention aside, I called many picks the same day I walked out into the fields and realized that another block absolutely must come in. For that I would like to extend many thanks to the vineyard team for their flexibility, and my cellar crew for their tenacity.

Following the rains, we had a string of warm, windless days that were perfect for fungus growth. On the valley floor, the sun heated the saturated soil, which raised the relative humidity in the fields. Those vines trellised in curtain forming fashion trapped the evaporating water and created a sauna-like environment, which further exasperated the tendency for mold to spread. When temperatures fell at night, the surface of the grapes cooled and the trapped moisture below the canopy condensed on the fruit so that by daybreak, the clusters were dripping with dew. Vines trellised in a vertical fashion did not suffer the “sauna effect” and fared better against the mold. Also of note, the more gravely sections of vineyard blocks dried out more quickly, and were subsequently less susceptible to mold pressure.

Winemaking, like any science, is an exercise in observation. Walking the vineyards, it was critical to understand why some blocks were more affected by botrytis than others in order to make decisions on optimizing fruit quality and harvesting efficiency. Having learned from our early picks, it was apparent that the benefit of a few extra days of ripening was negated by the sensory influence the mold had on the wines. As such, I tended to pick at the first signs of mold development, which I believe preserved the fruit character in the grapes and has given us the foundation for producing wonderfully elegant and seductively aromatic wines.

November 1st marked the last day of harvest on the Estate and in that twenty-two day period, the production crew broke records three consecutive times for number of tons processed in a day, and the amount of fruit received at the winery in a week’s span. These statistics do not come as a surprise to me; all vintages at the Estate are fast and furious but late ones, like this year, especially so. Harvest at Round Pond is most certainly a sprint and not a marathon.

Thanks to all of the staff in other departments who came to lend a hand on the sorting line, delivered food and libations, or simply gave a kind word of encouragement. Those sentiments never go unnoticed and are certainly appreciated. I look forward to sharing our collective efforts with everyone in the years to come, and feel the climatic challenges of this vintage will prove to be a historic bellwether for the exceptional consistency of quality achievable on this Estate.

Humbly,

Brian Brown
Winemaker
Round Pond Estate

Napa Valley Wraps-up Harvest 2011

Challenging year in the vineyard reaps rewards in the cellar

"Although it may be stretching to compare our harvest with one of the greatest ever games in the history of baseball...but like the 2011 World Series, we had our ups and downs, and finally pulled it out. This was one of our most exciting harvests ever!" said Cain Vineyards' Winemaker and General Manager Chris Howell. And once again the excitement of the finale of the American baseball season seems to parallel that of the vintage at harvest from America's premier winegrowing region, the legendary Napa Valley. Today the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) non-profit trade association of more than 420 wineries representing 98% of the appellation's wine production offers its annual report on harvest.

"2011 was a challenging and as well as what I am calling 'an educational vintage,' the third in a row," said Oakville Ranch Winery General Manager Paula Kornell who was born and raised in the Napa Valley wine industry. "What we found this vintage were flavors that developed at lower brix, giving us an opportunity to make truly elegant wines at lower alcohol levels."

"Harvest 2011--from tears to glory!" is how renowned vintner Tim Mondavi, owner of Continuum capsulized the year and winemakers appellation-wide are in agreement.

What began with a wet winter and spring continued with rainfall into mid-June that delayed bloom and disrupted fruit set resulting in shatter in parts of the region set the stage for a long, cooler-than-average growing season with a later-than-average harvest beset with autumn rain storms. The precipitation measuring season ending on June 30 found the region more than a third above normal in rainfall. While this is good news for water resources, the cloud cover and cool temperatures delayed vine development by several weeks at the onset of the growing season.

This timetable continued through the somewhat cool summer season where harvest for the first varieties for sparkling wines found the latest harvest start in anyone's memory, beginning August 29. Few high heat events occurred at any point this year, but growers managed more open vine canopies to ensure sunlight, warmth and good air circulation around the grape clusters. The shatter resulting from the rain events in June was variable by vineyard location hitting some locations harder with projected crop diminished by more than 30% while leaving other sites nearly untouched with near-normal crop.

New Media Resources Tell Story of Year in Real Time

New this year, wine lovers around the world were able to follow the Napa Valley harvest like never before. Twitter was a-buzz at #NVHarvest with thousands of tweets from the vineyards and cellars. Read the ongoing Twitter feed at the www.napavintners.com/harvest.

Napa Valley filmmaker Bret Lyman chronicled the vintage in a series of harvest videos beginning in August with the start of harvest for sparkling wines to the white varieties, Merlot and then Cabernet Sauvignon. Check out today's release of the final chapter of the harvest videos below.

The region's winemakers and vineyard managers participated in a week-long "Harvest Live" streaming video the week of October 17 with six days of morning and afternoon live chat painting the picture in clear detail of what was happening in the vineyard and in the winery in real time. Check out U-Stream to watch the archived programs hosted by Christophe Smith of Titus Vineyards along with his esteemed guests.

And, more than ever before the vintners themselves blogged all season on their experiences in written, photo and video posts on the NVV's official blog "Unfiltered."

Click to read the full release

Click to view the all 2011 harvest videos

Night Harvesting at Shafer Vineyards

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/

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