The Monks Visit Montelena

One of the fun things about the holiday season is all the traditions that have sprung up along the way - some unique, some common, some just plain odd. These traditions bring us comfort as they are known, constant, and enduring - some just bring heartburn and make us question our better judgment.

Here at Chateau Montelena, one of the more entertaining holiday traditions is a pre-Christmas employee social gathering known as the Monk's Visit. Started some time ago, it is now an annual ritual were we all get together, snack on Dave Vella's (our vrd. mgr.) famous game sausage, pretzels, and other simple foods, exchange stories, chat about holiday plans, relax, and enjoy the presence of the monks. Never the same group of Monks, though there are always a few old favorites, some years there are few, other years many, but it is always a good time.

Hopefully your Holidays too are full of great traditions, and may Chateau Montelena or any Napa Valley wine be among them.

Cheers! Until next year,

Cameron Parry
Winemaker
Chateau Montelena


Oh - I almost forgot - the Monks in question are the Belgian Trappist variety, this years group is pictured above right.

Holiday Gifts Galore

Disclosure: I have no idea what's been going on in the cellar the past two weeks. :-S I saw some wine being pressed in the basket press last week, but I can only assume it was our Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon since it was the last of the fruit to come in during harvest. Our winemaker has been hard to track down lately!

What's he been up to? Let me introduce my new nephew, Matthew Alan, born on Saturday, 12/12. He's been keeping Alan & Mariela very busy lately! I overheard a friend saying to him today, "It's like harvest all over again," referring to the loss of sleep, long busy days, constant cleaning...

Matthew will be the only one not enjoying a glass of wine with my family's Christmas dinner this Thursday evening. His parents will definitely be toasting to 2010!

On other business, we have completed almost all of our holiday shipping. One part of our caves is dedicated to our shipping department, and our shipping manager is now on vacation. So my morning involved packing a few "DARE-ing Collections" for people who ordered over the phone and off our website. We'll probably get some calls tomorrow from people trying to find gifts for their friends and family -- to be sent before Christmas of course. We'll do it if they pay 2-Day Air! (Otherwise, the wine sits in a freezing warehouse all weekend, and it could possibly ruin the wine.)

Make sure you all stay warm out there!

Happy holidays,

Janet Viader

sales & marketing at VIADER

So what now?

OK, so the grapes are picked, the crush gear is clean and stored for the season, and the fermentations are finished (mostly), so what's going on in the winery now? Is everybody just sitting around staring at the barrels and biding their time until the holiday break?

Not a chance.

We're still very busy here in the winery getting the red wines through malolactic fermentation (the conversion of malic acid to lactic acid carried out by the bacterium Oenococcus oeni), waiting for a few Chardonnay and Riesling ferments to finish, and performing lots of rackings. Racking is the term we use for decanting (pumping) the clear wine off of any solids (lees) that have settled to the bottom of the tanks. These lees are largely comprised of dead yeast and bacterial cells along with some grape solids. Each of the red wines we make is normally racked 3-4 times before it goes to barrel for ageing, and each time we save those lees, so what happens to all the purple glop? Well, there is still wine mixed in with the lees, so we call in a filtration company and we have them use a Rotary Drum Vacuum filter to filter (see above pictures) out the solids and recover the wine from the lees. This recovered wine isn't of sufficient quality to be included in our products, so we sell it to other wineries or negociants that will blend it with other bulk lots to create other brands. Waste not want not, right?

Cheers!

Cameron Parry
Winemaker
Chateau Montelena Winery

Season's Greetings

Work in the cellar was cut short this morning because all the water is frozen! The holding tanks next to the winery were not drawing any water during the night when the temperatures fell to the low 20's. All we can do is wait...

I suppose our fountain could act as an indicator of when the temperature get's back above freezing. It's 9:15am, and sunny, yet still in the 30's.

This is typical weather this time of year. Since the vines are now dormant, they are able to endure the extreme weather with no issue. Not until February will we treat the vines to some "TLC" with our pruning team. For now, they can just relax and dream of all the wonderful grapes they will produce for us next year.

Sincerely,

Janet Viader of VIADER

Napa Valley Vintners Toasting as Feds Approve Calistoga AVA

The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) announce that the long-awaited recognition of one of America's most historic wine places, Calistoga, an area within the Napa Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) has been approved by the Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) of the US Department of Treasury as the Calistoga AVA. This milestone represents years of hard work and unwavering leadership of US Representative Mike Thompson (D-St Helena).

"We could not have achieved this incredible victory for wine consumers and the wine industry had it not been for Representative Mike Thompson. He has worked tirelessly to ensure truth-in-wine-labeling for consumers and intimately understands the need for forthright protection of wine's place of origin," said NVV Executive Director Linda Reiff.

Learn more at the Napa Valley Vintners website.
Read Rep. Thompson's statement.
Read today's statement from the TTB.

Congrats to Clos Pegase! Winner of the ‘Best of Wine Tourism' Art & Culture Award

Last night the Napa Valley Vintners and community members gathered at Clos Pegase to celebrate the winery's recent receipt of the Great Wine Capitals 'Best of Wine Tourism' Art & Culture award.

Chosen from a combined 56 regional winners from each city of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network, the award recognizes owners Jan and Mitsuko's commitment to make Clos Pegase a temple of art and wine, sharing not only their wine, but their personal art collection with their customers.

A visit to Clos Pegase is an enlightening and enjoyable experience, with figures from Greek and Roman mythology – from Pegasus to Bacchus and Gaia – making continual appearances in the art and architecture of the winery, and the cave theatre.

“The integration of art and culture with the creation of outstanding wines is a lifelong passion for the owners of Clos Pegase,” said Bill Dodd, Napa County Supervisor and chair of the regional GWC committee. “Their contribution to what makes Napa Valley legendary is highly regarded.”

Visit Clos Pegase's website to learn more about the winery and art collection.

Life on the Crush Pad

Pressing; pressing; pressing. Shown here is our basket press, gently squeezing the remaining juice from the Tempranillo grapes. One complete cycle for this press takes 24 hours.

Alan says we have only about four lots to go before everything is pressed and "barrelled down" (transferred from tank to barrel). The remaining wine is happily contained in the stainless steel tanks inside the winery at around 70+/- degrees. On average, the skin contact was around 50 days for all the wines - that's a lot!

And in the middle of everything, we bottled our 2007 VIADER Proprietary Cabernet Blend, and the 2007 "V" Petit Verdot Blend last Monday. Since our own bottling line only does about 500 cases a "day" (read: a very loooong day), and our 2007 VIADER is about three times that, we hired a mobile bottling line to get it done in one day. Well, I guess the large formats and half-bottles were bottled over the weekend, so it was more than one day! Today our friend Valerie Lenhart waxed the tops of all the big bottles (3L, 6L and 9L). She has to wear a back support belt!

As the holiday nears, we will break for Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately the whole family will not be together, as I have a trip to the East Coast... Wine will definitely be served with Thanksgiving dinner on both coasts. :)

Sincerely,

Janet Viader

Sales & Marketing at VIADER

Napa Valley Vintners Gives $5.2 Million to Napa County Charities

The Napa Valley Vintners awarded $5.2 million raised from Auction Napa Valley (ANV) at a celebration at the Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa last night. Proceeds come from ANV held in June, and provide grants to area healthcare, affordable housing and youth service non-profits. This year's gifts bring the overall giving from ANV to $90 million.

"Auction Napa Valley is always a fantastic way for our community to raise money for the many, many non-profits that provide needed services. Our family was proud to chair this prestigious event. We all feel, especially during this recession, that any dollar raised at the auction was a dollar more than we had the day before--and to have raised $5.6 million over the weekend, in this economy, was just terrific," said Janet Trefethen, 2009 ANV chair of Trefethen Family Vineyards.

"This evening's festivities were also to honor the more than 500 volunteers, without whose support we could never produce such a world-class fundraiser benefiting Napa County," said Linda Reiff, NVV's executive director. "The success of ANV is based not only on our very generous bidders from around the world, but also on the generosity and hard work our vintners, and these dedicated, amazing community volunteers."

Visit the Napa Valley Vintners website to learn more about this year's charitable giving or check out more photos of the event.

Halloween pics from Freemark Abbey!

Horror in the vineyards, dark clouds championing a horrendous rain, followed by days of humidity…and Riesling grapes succumbing to that creepy, sporulating, gray, parasitic mold called botrytis cinerea, the “noble rot” or “Edelfaule” of German fame. Oh no…scary mummies in the vineyard (insert scream!). But wait, you may recall an earlier blog of mine totally predicting this situation. (Sigh of relief)

Freemark Abbey makes a dessert wine from this stuff… called Edelwein Gold (noble wine). I know, it’s hard to imagine. When the rain hit a couple of weeks ago, the White Riesling was at 21.5 degrees brix (percent sugar), and ready if we were to make a dry style Riesling. But thank goodness for the rain. (this is one time I can say that) With the ensuing humidity, the individual grapes started to turn purple…then to shrivel....then to mummify and start to grow hair. Hair? Yes, think back when you were in biology class and looked at bread mold in the microscope. It is an advanced colony of mold that is growing palm tree like structures called sporangiophores, it is part of the sporulating process. Okay, enough about biology, how do we get wine out of this mess?

As you can see in the pictures, these vines were picked with micro shears, and the …fruit?...was dumped directly to the press. It takes a very patient, long pressing to get the juice out of these mummies. For us this year, the juice concentrated from 21.5 to 36 degrees brix…wow, what a sticky mess, and the yield was 60% of what we would expect for a dry Riesling style. The Edelwein Gold will be bottled in February or March. With this preamble to the process, what does the growth of botrytis do for the wine?

You may know what a lovely dry White Riesling tastes like. It typically is very fruity with spicy floral notes that resemble it’s cousin Muscat, with that hint of flint, or sometimes leechee nut with a bit of citrus. With the advance of botrytis cinerea, much of the Riesling flavors are concentrated in the remaining juice, and new flavors are created. After a long cold fermentation, with no barrel aging, the wine is bottled with flavors of apricot, peach, dried apricots, honey, honey suckle, I could go on but needless to say….it is an amazing transformation, with a long flavorful natural sweetness. I liken it to making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear…

I hope I didn’t SCARE you away from trying our delicious Edelwein Gold, the 2008 is waiting for you.

Martin Estate Harvest 2009: Quality Trumps Quantity

It was a long, late harvest in the Napa Valley this year, thanks to back to back bouts of early autumn storms that took many growers in the valley by surprise. While we anticipated the first round of rain that hit in early October, the quarter inch expected from round two quickly accelerated to several inches in some spots, although only an inch fell here at our Rutherford estate.

Martin Estate has many factors working in its favor when challenges like these arise. We have long been advocates of hand harvesting, and our commitment to this delicate, intimate style of farming served us well this year. When dirt softens into mud, human feet are much more adept at maneuvering between the vines than machines, and at Martin Estate, the rainy days didn’t cause harvest to come to a halt. We were able to patiently wait for the acids and sugars in our grapes to come into balance before we began to pick – in both rain and sunshine.

In addition, we use small 30-pound picking bins throughout the harvest. Because this method allow us to assert quality control right there in the vineyard, the micro-bins are essential to maintaining the premium standards for which we have become known.

Before the second rain drenched the Napa Valley, vineyard manager Josh Clark dropped all of Martin Estate’s fruit that looked compromised, including a few bunches in our sunnier southern exposure that had started to shrivel – as full-time winemaker Frederic Delivert says, “We are growing grapes not raisins!” When picking finally commenced, we started with the most delicate varieties – Merlot and Petite Verdot – and finished with the thicker skinned Cabernet Sauvignon.

Only the very best berries went into the bins, which were literally walked to the winery, where they were hand sorted and destemmed in yet one more step to remove any inferior material. The Cabernet was brought in last, and thanks to our new, state-of-the-art crush equipment, Frederic was able to process the remaining fruit in less than two days. In other words, the risk for this year’s crop was minimal – but any risk keeps the blood pumping and energies high.

We are finally in the last stage of harvest, with separate whole berry fermentations in 500-litre French barriques focusing the specific characters of each lot before being pressed in a small basket press. Frederic monitors the process without interruption, allowing him to make press cuts at exactly the right moment.

This harvest is one of the lowest yielding in Martin Estate’s history. Clone 6, which is the foundation for the Martin Estate Reserve Cabernet, came in at less than one ton per acre, justifying its reputation as a winemaker’s dream and a grower’s nightmare!

Frederic, however, observes the small lots in his winery with a smile, because while the yields may be low, the fruit is high caliber. Small but spectacular! Quality trumps quantity every day in Fred’s book. And that makes the last few weeks’ early mornings and late nights filled with punch downs, hose hauling, draining, and pressing more than worth it.

Harvest is (not) over.

'I have only leaves and apples. Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the
city. Then you will have money and you will be happy.' And so the boy
climbed up the tree and gathered her apples and carried them away.And the tree
was happy.
--"The Giving Tree", Shel Silverstein

It is finished.

--John 19:30b

I once worked with a curmudgeon who said harvest wasn't over until the last lot was finished with malolactic fermentation.

Well "fudge that"! I'm drinkin' tonight!

All the grapes are in! That doesn't mean harvest is over...but at least it's more under my control. I will be posting more in coming days about the indoors fun of harvest...but for now...phew@!

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

Did I Mention We're Done?

Well, we're almost there. We're waiting for a few tons (1 ton = 145 gallons, and a barrel is 60 gallons) of Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain. Monday, October 5th was our last harvest day for the VIADER estate fruit (See post about "Alan's Got Some Major Skills") -- well before the rains.

This past weekend was quite eventful at the winery. On Saturday our crew finished the pump-overs by noon, and we hosted our annual "Futures" Gala & Casino Games in the caves (read: glorified harvest party). With 42 people we were quite cozy in the tank room, and we later moved into the caves on the other side of the curtain to barrel taste our available futures from vintages 2007 and 2008 as we hit the casino tables. My brother Alan even gave people a taste of our two-week old 2009 Cabernet Franc pulled directly from the tank. It's quite a different animal before malolactic fermentation is completed, but it was showing so well.

Occasionally there's a slightly less glamorous side to owning a winery. Today, I had to wash our vineyard dog Lady, because she decided to get sassy with a skunk. (I forgot to mention we have those critters around here too). The weather was perfect today, but a dog never likes a bath...

This Sunday we're having our annual "family day" at the winery where Alan gives our employees the day off and we take over the cellar responsibilities. My little brother Alex, who is just in town for the weekend is going to be put to work processing the Howell Mountain fruit that will just be coming in. I volunteered to help too. What jeans go best with rubber boots? ;) Here's a picture from a couple years ago showing Alex covered in grape juice, with Mariela (Alan's wife) and Alan looking on.

Happy Friday,

Janet Viader

sales & marketing at VIADER

Regional "Best of" Wine Tourism Winners Announced for 2010

San Francisco Napa Valley Innovators Receive International Spotlight

Each year, the Great Wine Capitals Global Network's (GWCGN) "Best Of" Wine Tourism Awards offers hospitality leaders throughout San Francisco and Napa Valley the unique opportunity to showcase their best practices in a competition with other wine tourism businesses from around the world. There are seven categories in which to compete: restaurants; accommodations; architecture, parks and gardens; art and culture; innovative wine tourism experiences; wine tourism services; and sustainable wine tourism practices.

The regional winners of the 2010 San Francisco Napa Valley "Best Of" Wine Tourism Awards were announced October 15 at Domaine Chandon, last year's global winner in the restaurant category:

Accommodations: Auberge du Soleil
Wine Tourism Restaurants: The Napa Valley Wine Train
Architecture, Parks & Gardens: Chateau Montelena
Art & Culture: Clos Pegase
Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences: St. Supery Vineyards & Winery
Wine Tourism Services: California Wine Tours
Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices: Quintessa

More than 50 entries were submitted for this year's contest for the seven categories of merit making this Napa Valley's most successful regional Great Wine Capitals "Best Of" thus far. Local judges included writer Paul Franson, Gourmet Magazine's San Francisco Director, Greg Silvi, Napa County Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht, and Napa Mayor Jill Techel. Contest entrants were required to be members of either a San Francisco or Napa County chamber of commerce, The Napa Valley Destination Council, the Napa Valley Vintners, or the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"Congratulations to the 2010 'Best Of' winners!" said Clay Gregory, president and CEO of The Napa Valley Destination Council. "The 'Best Of' Wine Tourism Awards is a very important opportunity for wine tourism innovators to receive the recognition of their region and elevate their images even further on the international stage."

Regional "Best Of" winners will now move forward to compete in the international awards, which will be judged by an international panel of respected wine tourism professionals and presented at The Great Wine Capitals Global Network's Annual General Meeting being held this November in Bordeaux, France.

"Auberge du Soleil is thrilled to be selected as the Accommodations winner for the Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism award. Auberge has always focused on the most inviting experiences and truly embodies the world of hospitality to each guest that passes the threshold of the resort and restaurant," commented Kara Adamson, director of marketing and public relations.

"We are so thrilled to be chosen for this award. The Napa Valley takes its food very seriously, and there is some really tough competition for top honors in this field. To be so recognized for the work we do is humbling," stated Kelly Macdonald, executive chef of the Napa Valley Wine Train.

Jeff Adams, marketing director for Chateau Montelena noted, "We are incredibly delighted with this honor. We take as much pride in our place as we do our wines, so it is especially nice to be recognized for it."

Jan Shrem, owner of Clos Pegase, had this to say about the award: "My wife Mitsuko and I created Clos Pegase to be a temple to wine and art, where we could not only make great wine, but also share our personal art collection with others to enjoy. We are delighted to win in the Art and Culture category as this is our passion and we are dedicated to further educating people about wine and art and the enhancement of culture in our community and the world."

"We are thrilled to be honored with this award. St. Supery strives to showcase the best of the Napa Valley in an approachable, friendly way. People are learning about wine destinations in new ways and we hope to share what Napa and St. Supery have to offer through new media channels," said Cooky Logan, special events coordinator at St. Supery Vineyards & Winery.

"I am honored to have California Wine Tours recognized as a true leader in the wine tourism world. Over the last 24 years, we have invested much in our diverse fleet and most importantly in training our drivers to create top notch experiences for each and every visitor," explained Michael Marino, founder and CEO of California Wine Tours. "We are also the first transportation company to be certified in the Bay Area Green Business program, which further illustrates our commitment to excellence and sustainable business development."

"Quintessa is honored to be recognized for our sustainable practices and to be in the company of some truly great wineries," commented Gwen McGill, director of marketing and public relations for Quintessa.

Members of this year's delegation representing the San Francisco Napa Valley region at the Annual General Meeting in Bordeaux include: Napa County Supervisors Bill Dodd and Mark Luce; Dave Whitmer, Napa County Agricultural Commissioner; Clay Gregory, CEO of The Napa Valley Destination Council; Joe D'Alessandro, President and CEO of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau; Ian MacNeil, representing Napa Valley College; Katherine Zimmer, Director of Marketing for the Napa Chamber of Commerce; Mike Fisher, representing the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce; Rex Stults, Industry Relations Director for the Napa Valley Vintners; Sharon Harris, Owner of Amici Cellars; and Linda Viviani, Owner of Viviani Destination Management/California Style.

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day (like November).

Severe rain all day yesterday! Our first major storm of the season brought us anywhere from 2.5 to 5 inches, depending on where in the valley. Merryvale's estate vineyard in St. Helena had just under 4 inches.

Even though our ecosystem and watershed need the water, most wineries would have preferred if the rain came in November. Fortunately, Merryvale has the majority of our fruit already harvested and in the winery. We only have approximately 10% of our grapes still ripening on the vines, and it is mostly well-drained hillside Cabernet. All of our estate vineyards have been completely harvested, and we just finished harvesting our St. Helena Estate vineyard on Monday with the final pick of Petit Verdot.

Driving around this morning, I stopped at a few of the blocks where we have grapes remaining on the vines. Although there is some standing water on the vines, the weather is forecasted to clear up, and they will dry out. Brix may have decreased slightly, but the few blocks I tasted still had nice flavors and concentration.

The rain would be an issue only for vineyards where the fruit is already damaged, and then the water would cause rot and mold to form, or for vineyards that have yellowing leaves and will not see much additional maturation despite the forecast for sunny weather.

Tomorrow, we will sample all of our remaining blocks to determine if Brix have decreased, and to confirm or postpone any remaining scheduled picks. The majority of the fruit will be harvested Friday, Saturday, and into next week.

Wow…what a rain storm!

We knew that we had a chance of rain for Tuesday, so we started to wrap up the picking of Chardonnay last week. We had been holding out for that last little bit of flavor development and on Saturday, finished the Chardonnay pick at Wood Ranch in Rutherford. On Monday we brought in Syrah from the Mt. Veeder district and finished the Merlot from Atlas Peak as well as Howell Mtn districts. We have a little bit of Petit Verdot left on Wood Ranch as well as the Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m not worried about the Cabernet Sauvignon because it has loose clusters and thick skin, which helps protect it from bunch rot. However, the Petit Verdot has a tight cluster, and I think we should pick it as soon as we can get in there. We have a little Mt. Veeder Zinfandel, which should probably come in as well. So what am I not worried about and hope that it succumbs to bunch rot…..WHITE RIESLING!

Freemark Abbey makes a late harvest Riesling called Edelwein (noble wine) Gold. Imagine you are the winemaker. You are diligently walking the White Riesling vineyard, taking samples and appraising the degree of ripeness. You have been observing the vineyard for weeks, watching the green hard berries turn to yellowish green, softening to the touch and developing the ever so pleasant spicy, fruity Riesling flavors. The degree of sugar is around 21.5 degrees brix ready to pick and then, we get a dousing rain storm, leaving everything soaked, including the soil. This scenario happened yesterday. We had a relatively warm rain that is going to be followed by a few days of warming weather, creating the perfect conditions for the parasitic mold botrytis cinerea to grow on the berries. This is the “Noble Rot” or Edelfaule of German fame. After a week of warm weather, following the rain, we will probably observe that the greenish golden berries are turning purple and slightly brownish purple. While this can be a disaster with most wine grapes, often called “bunch rot”, we know that we can make our famed dessert wine “Edelwein Gold”. With a dose of patience, we will let the grapes stay out there longer.

I’ll be walking this vineyard diligently over the next few weeks, to see if the botrytis grows.

Stay tuned…

The Art of the Triple Sort

At Signorello Vineyards, we have been "triple sorting" our red varietals for over six years. We triple sort the grapes to make sure no raisins, stems, rotten bunches, leaves, jacks or anything else besides berries make it into the fermentation tanks.

The grapes are picked at night into 30 lb trays (champagne boxes) which are then dumped one by one onto an elevated conveyor where the crew begins the first step of the process. Crew members stand at the side of the conveyor picking out the leaves and rotten bunches before the grapes are dropped into a destemmer where they are destemmed, not crushed.

From the destemmer, the berries move to a vibrating table (le trieur) where the raisins and green shots (non polinated berries) are removed.

From the vibrating table, the berries move to a third, flat conveyor where the rest of the crew tediously picks out the little pieces of stem, jacks and any remaining leaves. On average, we have at least six to eight crew members working the flat conveyor to make sure the crop is pure before entering the fermentation tanks.

From there, the whole berries, skins and juice are pumped into the fermentation tanks for a 25-30 day maceration period. During this maceration period, the tanks are pumped over and pressed down twice a day to give the juice the best possible flavor and color.

This process is very slow going (about 1.5 tons per hour), but is worth it because the final quality of the wine is so good. We wouldn't have it any other way!

Cheers!

- Pierre Birebent, Vineyard Manager & Winemaker, Signorello Vineyards

One good storm and the cellar's full

So as of 10:30 this morning our trusty Picovale weather station out in G-block here at Montelena had recorded 1.99" of rain, the station at our Chardonnay vineyard just north of Napa showed 2.03", and it is still dumping out there. We all saw this comming and were part of that great scramble that Molly Lippit spoke of in her most recent post. This past Saturday we harvested all 44 tons of our remaining Zinfandel and Primativo in anticipation of today's storm. Here at Montelena we're all about taking our time and waiting for optimal ripeness, but sometimes the correct course of action is to go go like crazy and get the fruit in. The other consequence of this is that the winery is now full, at capacity, and we're having to put wines to barrel as soon as they go dry in order to empty tanks just so that we have that volume to press into. This space crunch isn't surprising though as we are on track to set a record for the largest harvest in the modern history of Chateau Montelena. We were expecting a slightly above average size harvest... Just goes to show that you never know what you're going to get until it is in the tank.

My recommendation for a grey day like today is a warm fire, a good book, a close friend, and a bottle of Chateau Montelena Zin!

Cheers!

Cameron Parrry - Winemaker
Chateau Montelena Winery

Battle of the Palates Winners announced!

Congrats to Eddie, Gillian and Yvonne from PlumpJack Restaurant Group who took top honors at our Battle this morning in SF.

We had about 25 trade and media in attendance and sounds like a good time (and challenge) was had by all. The tasting was quite a challenge, but a great education experience. Nothing like trying to identify grape leaves and juice!

Rain Dance

There's no better way to see an entire industry scramble than to mention a threat of rain while most of the valley's vines are still bearing fruit. Consult the National Weather Service, and we're getting a solid 5-8". Consult weather.com and we've just but a 40% chance of showers. I walked a block with a winemaker who purchases grapes from the Paradigm estate earlier today, and her exasperation seems appropriate to mention here. "I like to imagine all those meteorologists sitting around throwing darts at a board. 'Gonna rain? Sure. How much...well, just hit a number and we'll tell them that.' They have no idea how insane it makes our lives!"

So scramble we will. Our Merlot is ready to harvest, and was a pick that, pre-storm warning, we'd earmarked for a Tuesday arrival. The rain will apparently besiege the valley Monday evening. Alright then, we say, we'll harvest Monday morning and be happy. But the other two producers who take our Merlot, and the one who takes some of our Cabernet, want their grapes now. Tomorrow. Yesterday. So early today we sit down with our vineyard manager, query him with the robustness and staying power of the picking crew he's assembled, and wonder how we can make this happen. Done, he says.

Within an hour, the winery was a cluttered mess of picking bins, frenzied winemakers, and energized pickers, all awash in the melodic timber of excited Spanish. The luxury of a methodical harvest has left us. What we're faced with is the art of intelligent compromise - what needs to come in, what could come in, and in what we have the confidence of allowing to ride out the storm.

A big rain is a legitimate concern - moisture on the fruit can exacerbate mold concerns, canopies that have already begun their gradual decline might not bounce back, and, above all else, the rain makes working outside just a trifle more challenging. Dusty dirt quickly becomes sticky mud, and your feet will never, ever forget the chill of a cold, wet October morning.

Our Merlot buyers will get their fruit this weekend. For both producers, this means processing in one weekend what they would normally process in one week (since we are, without a doubt, not the only grower they are harvesting this weekend). Crews will work overtime, double-time, whatever time is needed to carry the grapes from picking bin through to tank. This is the beauty of what we do. Harvest flirts with routine, it alludes to control, but at its essence we are all at the mercy of the sun, the clouds, the wind. I have yet to meet anyone truly dedicated to this industry who would have it any other way. We are an agricultural society, and as such we are all loyal disciples of the church of Mother Nature.

The upside here is that the wines we've made so far, and the fruit that we're picking this weekend, are stellar. Consolation prizes, perhaps, for the frenetic dance we've been forced into to prepare for the week's precipitation. The grapes left out hanging have strong canopies, and should tolerate the rain well. Forecasts for the days following the storm are clear, and truthfully, a little rain does nothing more than wash the dust off those late-ripening varieties.

When everything is picked, when tanks are dry and barrels are topped and buttoned up for a cozy winter's nap, this week's drama will be an interesting talking point in the grand story of the 2009 vintage. But for the moment, the adrenaline of knowing where we need to be and what it will take to get us there is enough to remind us that we are all but pawns in a much larger game.

Molly Lippitt
Paradigm Winery