I keep a journal that I call the 'Work Order Book'. It contains the plan and schedules for all nine vineyards we have under our full time management. (I don't include the Haut Tubee vineyard, or the 20 plants at the local church we take care of.)
Each vineyard has a list of tasks, the dates they should be done by, how long it should take, any equipment or training needed, and any conditions that should be met. For instance it says, "don't spray Sulfur if the temps are over 90 degrees'.
Millie, Gerardo, and I each have a copy, and I keep it updated on a monthly basis. I mark off tasks as they are done, and insert maps, instructions, or notes that the crew will need. The Haut Tubee vineyard has actually turned into a training ground. Since everything happens in that vineyard a week or two before the others, I'm able to have the crew come over and we go over the upcoming tasks in detail.
We even let the roses get powdery mildew this year on purpose so that the crew could see it in all its stages and know what to look for in the vineyards. We've sprayed the roses now though, don't want to miss out on Spring roses totally.
Monday I updated the Work Order Books, and guess what? We are totally caught up and on schedule. In each vineyard the plants have begun to flower, so now we just leave them alone and try not to disturb them at all.
There's work to do in the winery, but for the next two weeks, it's time for a break in the vineyards!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Our web 2.0 Adventures
About 4 weeks ago I signed up on myspace. Stef had signed up because her brother Hans had signed up and sent her a note. So I thought I'd sign up too. What a pain in the ass the site was. After fighting with the set up process for 45 minutes, then spending 15 minutes figuring out how to get this Tom guy off my friends list I sent Stef a note:
"I'm on myspace now, you can make me your friend."
to which she replied:
"I'm on facebook dumbass."
:)
So off to facebook a went. That was a marginally less stupid sign up and set up process and there was a feature to actually find people I already know who were on facebook. So I sent notes off to about a dozen people and had about a dozen people add me in. Stef even posted on my 'board':
"Facebook = Lamebook".
Feeling the web 2.0 love.
But I gave it a try and I think I've learned I am squarely in the generation that this stuff is not meant for.
I've still got those 10-12 people linked on facebook, but I find the site about as compelling as Miracle Whip. I've got no reason to go there or use it, and it doesn't really beat actually talking to those 10-12 people. I'd rather invite them over, open a bottle of wine and catch up with them, than read what they did today on line.
Myspace, well that's 'Lameface'. I'm proud to be friendless. Not that I don't get offers every few days from 'Rachel', or 'Lisa", to come be their friends and look at the naughty pictures they took, but I really didn't need another way for SPAM to reach me. I do take a certain joy though in marking those invites as SPAM. It always amazes me that their 'profiles' have notes from 10-15 guys who added them as friends with such witty commentary as 'Yo baby, thanks for lookin me up'. Which brings me back to the Miracle Whip commentary as in, "these guys are dumber than Miracle Whip."
So, you can send me an add request. I might get to it. You might even be the first myspace person to not be a porn site, but I'd still rather invite you over for a bottle of wine.
"I'm on myspace now, you can make me your friend."
to which she replied:
"I'm on facebook dumbass."
:)
So off to facebook a went. That was a marginally less stupid sign up and set up process and there was a feature to actually find people I already know who were on facebook. So I sent notes off to about a dozen people and had about a dozen people add me in. Stef even posted on my 'board':
"Facebook = Lamebook".
Feeling the web 2.0 love.
But I gave it a try and I think I've learned I am squarely in the generation that this stuff is not meant for.
I've still got those 10-12 people linked on facebook, but I find the site about as compelling as Miracle Whip. I've got no reason to go there or use it, and it doesn't really beat actually talking to those 10-12 people. I'd rather invite them over, open a bottle of wine and catch up with them, than read what they did today on line.
Myspace, well that's 'Lameface'. I'm proud to be friendless. Not that I don't get offers every few days from 'Rachel', or 'Lisa", to come be their friends and look at the naughty pictures they took, but I really didn't need another way for SPAM to reach me. I do take a certain joy though in marking those invites as SPAM. It always amazes me that their 'profiles' have notes from 10-15 guys who added them as friends with such witty commentary as 'Yo baby, thanks for lookin me up'. Which brings me back to the Miracle Whip commentary as in, "these guys are dumber than Miracle Whip."
So, you can send me an add request. I might get to it. You might even be the first myspace person to not be a porn site, but I'd still rather invite you over for a bottle of wine.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Shipping and Inventory Update
Time for a quick update on shipping.
We've released all orders for shipment. Everything is now either delivered, on its way, or holding at the shipment warehouse waiting for some state requirement and will ship as soon as the state in question approves it. Only one exception and that is a single order to Missouri, which will go out Monday.
Here is the breakdown on holds:
New York, New Jersey and Michigan: All pending state label approval. This should happen no later than 6/1 and the wines will release from the warehouse as soon as the label is approved.
Florida and Virginia: The Syrah label has been approved, the Haut Tubee has not. If your order included just Syrah, it's shipped. If it included both wines, it's pending still, also until 6/1.
We still have wine left if you have an order form you've been holding on to. Not a ton, just about 5 cases we can still release.
We've released all orders for shipment. Everything is now either delivered, on its way, or holding at the shipment warehouse waiting for some state requirement and will ship as soon as the state in question approves it. Only one exception and that is a single order to Missouri, which will go out Monday.
Here is the breakdown on holds:
New York, New Jersey and Michigan: All pending state label approval. This should happen no later than 6/1 and the wines will release from the warehouse as soon as the label is approved.
Florida and Virginia: The Syrah label has been approved, the Haut Tubee has not. If your order included just Syrah, it's shipped. If it included both wines, it's pending still, also until 6/1.
We still have wine left if you have an order form you've been holding on to. Not a ton, just about 5 cases we can still release.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Highlights
Last night was one of the highlights of the winemaking job.
Our friends parents were visiting from Canada and requested a winery tour, so we overlapped them with a winery appointment for a couple visiting from New York. What would have been a routine evening after work ended up being a very special night for us.
We greeted our six guests, toured the vineyard site and winery, and opened four bottles of wine to taste through. Paul opened the Chaine d'Or Chardonnay, Stefania Syrah, Haut Tubee, and Uvas Creek Cabernet. In addition to the bottled wines, Paul pulled several barrel samples for everyone.
Paul entertained the couple from New York while I answered questions and visited with our friends and their parents. For two hours we talked about the weather, grape varieties, childhood memories of rolling hills and prairies, back yards with grape vines, processing, bottling, labeling, art, music, alcoholism, social eating, aromas in wine, anything and everything.
We sent two partial bottles home with the parents, dropped off the opened Haut Tubee bottle with Jerry to drink since he had not tried it yet, and took the leftover Chardonnay with us to sushi.
Figuring it might be tough to get a spot at the sushi bar, our back up plan was to call and order a pizza. As luck would have it, there were several seats at our favorite sushi house; Tomo Sushi.
We brought in a bottle of Haut Tubee for Jun, the chef. He opened it right away and poured for the nine of us sitting there and we also passed around the last of the Chardonnay. The party was on a roll and we were loud and boisterous having a great time. Paul pulled another bottle from the car and some business cards for the folks that wanted to know where they could buy our wine.
It was so much fun meeting our neighbors and talking about growing up in the valley, and hearing their memories of the landscape before high tech took over and the population growth. We must have been there for nearly 3 hours carrying on, eating, drinking, laughing. An evening of much conviviality and joy.
I've blogged before about the coming together of mixed people and having the differences of lifestyles, opinions, backgrounds, political and/or religious views, all mesh over good food and good wine, and in this case some sake, and beer too.
Cheers,
Stefania
Our friends parents were visiting from Canada and requested a winery tour, so we overlapped them with a winery appointment for a couple visiting from New York. What would have been a routine evening after work ended up being a very special night for us.
We greeted our six guests, toured the vineyard site and winery, and opened four bottles of wine to taste through. Paul opened the Chaine d'Or Chardonnay, Stefania Syrah, Haut Tubee, and Uvas Creek Cabernet. In addition to the bottled wines, Paul pulled several barrel samples for everyone.
Paul entertained the couple from New York while I answered questions and visited with our friends and their parents. For two hours we talked about the weather, grape varieties, childhood memories of rolling hills and prairies, back yards with grape vines, processing, bottling, labeling, art, music, alcoholism, social eating, aromas in wine, anything and everything.
We sent two partial bottles home with the parents, dropped off the opened Haut Tubee bottle with Jerry to drink since he had not tried it yet, and took the leftover Chardonnay with us to sushi.
Figuring it might be tough to get a spot at the sushi bar, our back up plan was to call and order a pizza. As luck would have it, there were several seats at our favorite sushi house; Tomo Sushi.
We brought in a bottle of Haut Tubee for Jun, the chef. He opened it right away and poured for the nine of us sitting there and we also passed around the last of the Chardonnay. The party was on a roll and we were loud and boisterous having a great time. Paul pulled another bottle from the car and some business cards for the folks that wanted to know where they could buy our wine.
It was so much fun meeting our neighbors and talking about growing up in the valley, and hearing their memories of the landscape before high tech took over and the population growth. We must have been there for nearly 3 hours carrying on, eating, drinking, laughing. An evening of much conviviality and joy.
I've blogged before about the coming together of mixed people and having the differences of lifestyles, opinions, backgrounds, political and/or religious views, all mesh over good food and good wine, and in this case some sake, and beer too.
Cheers,
Stefania
Monday, May 05, 2008
Las Vegas "Trade Show" and '06 Syrah notes
By "Trade Show" I mean we had a table at Rock N Roll wine www.rnrwine.com at the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson. What an awesome venue, what an awesome party.
Initially we talked about what we were going to do with the leftover wine...since neither of us really wanted to pack it up and check it on the flight home. Hah! The event was scheduled for 3 hours, from 7-10pm, and we ran out of wine just after 9. Four cases in two hours, and since the cups were small we were giving little pours, ~2 ounces or less. (I'll admit giving smaller pours to anyone on a cellphone jabbing their glass in my general direction).
Speaking of the "stemware", we did a taste test at the end of the night.
We got down to our last bottle, and put our table sign face down with people still lined up for more wine. We apologized for running out and someone pointed to the bottle in Pauls hand. Sorry guys, this is for us...and we headed to a quiet spot by the pool.
My plastic "stem" sprung a leak, as many others had thru the night, and Paul fetched me a replacement - a clear plastic water cup, no stem. Hm.
One thing I noticed with the goblet was that it didn't matter how much you tried to swirl and sniff, there was no aroma present, the goblet was so wide and flat on the bottom that it killed whatever nose you would expect. Then I poured the remaining wine from the leaker into the water glass and was pleasantly surprised, the nose returned! Ok, it was still a plastic cup, but at least I could smell the wine in it.
For those of you thinking you might like to hit an event like this, the VIP section of the party included a Riedel "O" glass, which I would say is well worth the price of admission based on our experience of leaking plastic goblets.
We poured the 2006 Haut Tubee (a cab. blend $20 retail) and the 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah ($35 retail).
I've been enjoying the Syrah a lot but worried that it's so different from the average Syrah. It's bright and crisp, and has a palate cleansing acidity that lends it self well to spicy foods and solid cheeses. The nose is very floral (in the right glass) and clean.
Last night for dinner, Paul braised lamb shanks and simmered them with rough chopped carrots, celery, and potato. I made goat cheddar and herb muffins to dunk in the stew.
He opened a 2001 Cote-Rotie and poured a glass while he cooked. I wasn't ready for wine yet, but sipped from his glass and asked if we could open one more bottle for comparison. Since he almost never tells me "no", he asked what it was that I wanted.
For a side-by-side comparison I had him open the 2006 Stefania Syrah. The nose on our syrah was prettier, the CR was smoky and saltier. Both were crisp, both were savory with the stew, and both opened up over the course of the meal getting denser and fuller. We went back and forth between bites and sips and ended up finishing with the Stefania wine.
At least the wine finished better than the Sharks, what a disappointment that was....
Cheers,
Stefania
Initially we talked about what we were going to do with the leftover wine...since neither of us really wanted to pack it up and check it on the flight home. Hah! The event was scheduled for 3 hours, from 7-10pm, and we ran out of wine just after 9. Four cases in two hours, and since the cups were small we were giving little pours, ~2 ounces or less. (I'll admit giving smaller pours to anyone on a cellphone jabbing their glass in my general direction).
Speaking of the "stemware", we did a taste test at the end of the night.
We got down to our last bottle, and put our table sign face down with people still lined up for more wine. We apologized for running out and someone pointed to the bottle in Pauls hand. Sorry guys, this is for us...and we headed to a quiet spot by the pool.
My plastic "stem" sprung a leak, as many others had thru the night, and Paul fetched me a replacement - a clear plastic water cup, no stem. Hm.
One thing I noticed with the goblet was that it didn't matter how much you tried to swirl and sniff, there was no aroma present, the goblet was so wide and flat on the bottom that it killed whatever nose you would expect. Then I poured the remaining wine from the leaker into the water glass and was pleasantly surprised, the nose returned! Ok, it was still a plastic cup, but at least I could smell the wine in it.
For those of you thinking you might like to hit an event like this, the VIP section of the party included a Riedel "O" glass, which I would say is well worth the price of admission based on our experience of leaking plastic goblets.
We poured the 2006 Haut Tubee (a cab. blend $20 retail) and the 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah ($35 retail).
I've been enjoying the Syrah a lot but worried that it's so different from the average Syrah. It's bright and crisp, and has a palate cleansing acidity that lends it self well to spicy foods and solid cheeses. The nose is very floral (in the right glass) and clean.
Last night for dinner, Paul braised lamb shanks and simmered them with rough chopped carrots, celery, and potato. I made goat cheddar and herb muffins to dunk in the stew.
He opened a 2001 Cote-Rotie and poured a glass while he cooked. I wasn't ready for wine yet, but sipped from his glass and asked if we could open one more bottle for comparison. Since he almost never tells me "no", he asked what it was that I wanted.
For a side-by-side comparison I had him open the 2006 Stefania Syrah. The nose on our syrah was prettier, the CR was smoky and saltier. Both were crisp, both were savory with the stew, and both opened up over the course of the meal getting denser and fuller. We went back and forth between bites and sips and ended up finishing with the Stefania wine.
At least the wine finished better than the Sharks, what a disappointment that was....
Cheers,
Stefania
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Chicago Trip Summary
40th Floor Condo Overlooking River : The view, the view, the view!!!
Deep Dish Pizza : Something I look forward to each trip
Fox & Obel Market : Most expensive dinner "at home"
Blue Man Group : A Must See, great venue
The Bean : Because it's cool
Chicago Art Institute : Winslow Homer & Edward Hopper exhibits
Tulips : Prettiest sign of spring in the city
Museum of Contemporary Art : Inspiring
Lightning Storm as seen from the 40th Floor : OMG Fantastically Awesome!!!
Dinner with Friends : Good Wine, Good Food, Good Party, Great Friends
Best part about coming home :
The Rose Garden & Haut Tubee Vines :
Deep Dish Pizza : Something I look forward to each trip
Fox & Obel Market : Most expensive dinner "at home"
Blue Man Group : A Must See, great venue
The Bean : Because it's cool
Chicago Art Institute : Winslow Homer & Edward Hopper exhibits
Tulips : Prettiest sign of spring in the city
Museum of Contemporary Art : Inspiring
Lightning Storm as seen from the 40th Floor : OMG Fantastically Awesome!!!
Dinner with Friends : Good Wine, Good Food, Good Party, Great Friends
Best part about coming home :
The Rose Garden & Haut Tubee Vines :
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Shipping Update
Here's the latest on shipping.
Orders from states listed on our 'ship to states' section on the allocation letters have all been released to the fulfilment center. Those orders that came in before 4/21 went out last week and tracking emails have been sent. Orders after 4/21 went out yesterday and tracking emails should go out today or tomorrow.
If you did not receive a tracking email yet it is because of one of two reasons.
First: a number of states require 'label registration'. This means the state government must approve the label for shipment. Yes, even though the federal government has already approved it, each individual state has a right to approve it also. Currently the following states have registration pending: NY, NJ, FL, MA, NC (I've given up on NC, they still have not approved the 05 labels after over a year). In addition VA has approved the Syrah label but not the Haut Tubee label. All those approvals (except NC) should be done no later than 6/1. As soon as the label clears, the shipment will release.
Second: States not listed on our allocation letter have to be shipped directly using our Bonded Winery Permit / Type 2. Those go out directly from the winery and have to be picked up by UPS with us present or delivered to a UPS office by us. We will begin shipping those states next week.
I'll begin sending updates directly to individuals next week who are going to have delays beyond 5/15 to let them know the status.
Write your state legislator or visit www.freethegrapes.org, to see what you can do to make this situation easier for all of us wine lovers!
Orders from states listed on our 'ship to states' section on the allocation letters have all been released to the fulfilment center. Those orders that came in before 4/21 went out last week and tracking emails have been sent. Orders after 4/21 went out yesterday and tracking emails should go out today or tomorrow.
If you did not receive a tracking email yet it is because of one of two reasons.
First: a number of states require 'label registration'. This means the state government must approve the label for shipment. Yes, even though the federal government has already approved it, each individual state has a right to approve it also. Currently the following states have registration pending: NY, NJ, FL, MA, NC (I've given up on NC, they still have not approved the 05 labels after over a year). In addition VA has approved the Syrah label but not the Haut Tubee label. All those approvals (except NC) should be done no later than 6/1. As soon as the label clears, the shipment will release.
Second: States not listed on our allocation letter have to be shipped directly using our Bonded Winery Permit / Type 2. Those go out directly from the winery and have to be picked up by UPS with us present or delivered to a UPS office by us. We will begin shipping those states next week.
I'll begin sending updates directly to individuals next week who are going to have delays beyond 5/15 to let them know the status.
Write your state legislator or visit www.freethegrapes.org, to see what you can do to make this situation easier for all of us wine lovers!
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
A Glamour Day in the Wine Business
I originally posted this on the Wine Spectator site, but I liked it so much, I'm reposting here.
Monday turned into a long day. Visited the new vineyard site from 8-10am. Whacked one gopher. You know what winegrowers talk about when they get together? Killing gophers. We all keep a count, it's like kill marks on a fighter plane. "How many did you get?." "I got 14 so far this year." "That's good, I've only got 7."
Everyone keeps an up to date count, plus a vintage history. "I got 11 this year, but nothing like 05 I got 104 that year." I heard someone actually say that on Saturday. I know winegrowers who can't remember exactly what the weather was like 5 years ago, but they can remember how many gophers they killed. Monday was my first kill of the vintage. Millie's comment. "11 more and your even with me."
Glamour of the wine life.
I meet with our Bay Area sales reps for lunch and did barrel samples for them. Good kids. They seem so young.
The crew had a spat and I had to go back on site after lunch. Daniel was filling the post holes with too much water and Millie was mad about working in mud. Turned out it was a Spanish translation problem. Last week I had a simliar problem. I backed the forklift around the truck to unload it, and Jerry had said he'd turn the truck around. My Spanish isn't good enough to tell the difference between "go around the truck" and "turn around the truck".
Monday the problem was Daniel's English wasn't good enough to tell the difference between 'put water in the holes' and 'fill the holes with water'. Everyone made up though and they have 5 of the 34 rows complete.
Total wine stuff 10 hours.
Total miles:104.
Rows installed :5
Sales Reps met: 3
Dead Gophers: 1
Monday turned into a long day. Visited the new vineyard site from 8-10am. Whacked one gopher. You know what winegrowers talk about when they get together? Killing gophers. We all keep a count, it's like kill marks on a fighter plane. "How many did you get?." "I got 14 so far this year." "That's good, I've only got 7."
Everyone keeps an up to date count, plus a vintage history. "I got 11 this year, but nothing like 05 I got 104 that year." I heard someone actually say that on Saturday. I know winegrowers who can't remember exactly what the weather was like 5 years ago, but they can remember how many gophers they killed. Monday was my first kill of the vintage. Millie's comment. "11 more and your even with me."
Glamour of the wine life.
I meet with our Bay Area sales reps for lunch and did barrel samples for them. Good kids. They seem so young.
The crew had a spat and I had to go back on site after lunch. Daniel was filling the post holes with too much water and Millie was mad about working in mud. Turned out it was a Spanish translation problem. Last week I had a simliar problem. I backed the forklift around the truck to unload it, and Jerry had said he'd turn the truck around. My Spanish isn't good enough to tell the difference between "go around the truck" and "turn around the truck".
Monday the problem was Daniel's English wasn't good enough to tell the difference between 'put water in the holes' and 'fill the holes with water'. Everyone made up though and they have 5 of the 34 rows complete.
Total wine stuff 10 hours.
Total miles:104.
Rows installed :5
Sales Reps met: 3
Dead Gophers: 1
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Bottling Day Photos
Hey folks!
I didn't get an opportunity to take very many photos during the process as all available hands were on the line working, but follow the link below to see a handful of pictures from our April 1st bottling.
http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/349947
I was grateful that this bottling was small since it was our first time managing the process from start to finish. Inconveniences with suppliers were many, mistakes to be corrected happened, but overall the logistics came together and even the rain stayed away for just one more day.
Once the truck finally settled in (after much ado about the driveway and tree limb) and was sterilized, we hooked the hoses up, got the people in their work positions and hit the big green "Go" button!
Earplugs were passed around, thankfully, and for the most part the operation went very smoothly. There was some fine tuning needed with the fill level of the bottles, the depth of the corks, and the position of the new labels. Once we got started though, we all found or rhythm and hustled through two hours of hands-on assembly line work.
Loading empty bottles onto the line was Millie, getting empty boxes to the end of the line was Kathy - both of them short enough to fit under the overhead racks. The bottle fill station, cork station and label station were all monitored by the bottling crew, then Daniel and I were at the tail end putting the full bottles back into the cases.
We struggled at first, but with coaching from the bottling crew we found a great rhythm and hustled through the two hours.
Paul told me later that he and Jerry were sweating keeping up with us - they had to stop loading the finished cases on pallets when there was an empties pallet change. He thinks next time we bottle we'll need one or two more bodies to keep the flow moving better.
I thought we did just fine, but that's because I had my head down and focused on my bottle count the entire time - and the earplugs kept me from getting too distracted.
An enormous THANK YOU to our crew, Jerry Anderson "Winemaker Emeritus" for coaching us, the folks at Top It Off Bottling, and CWT for taking such good care of us.
I didn't get an opportunity to take very many photos during the process as all available hands were on the line working, but follow the link below to see a handful of pictures from our April 1st bottling.
http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/349947
I was grateful that this bottling was small since it was our first time managing the process from start to finish. Inconveniences with suppliers were many, mistakes to be corrected happened, but overall the logistics came together and even the rain stayed away for just one more day.
Once the truck finally settled in (after much ado about the driveway and tree limb) and was sterilized, we hooked the hoses up, got the people in their work positions and hit the big green "Go" button!
Earplugs were passed around, thankfully, and for the most part the operation went very smoothly. There was some fine tuning needed with the fill level of the bottles, the depth of the corks, and the position of the new labels. Once we got started though, we all found or rhythm and hustled through two hours of hands-on assembly line work.
Loading empty bottles onto the line was Millie, getting empty boxes to the end of the line was Kathy - both of them short enough to fit under the overhead racks. The bottle fill station, cork station and label station were all monitored by the bottling crew, then Daniel and I were at the tail end putting the full bottles back into the cases.
We struggled at first, but with coaching from the bottling crew we found a great rhythm and hustled through the two hours.
Paul told me later that he and Jerry were sweating keeping up with us - they had to stop loading the finished cases on pallets when there was an empties pallet change. He thinks next time we bottle we'll need one or two more bodies to keep the flow moving better.
I thought we did just fine, but that's because I had my head down and focused on my bottle count the entire time - and the earplugs kept me from getting too distracted.
An enormous THANK YOU to our crew, Jerry Anderson "Winemaker Emeritus" for coaching us, the folks at Top It Off Bottling, and CWT for taking such good care of us.
Leaving the SCMWA
After 9 very frustrating months of dealing with the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association, I've decided to give up. I notified them yesterday that we are pulling our membership application and asked that they return our membership check. I also let them know we will be withdrawing Chaine d'Or from the SCMWA next year.
Going forward we will not be participating in any events that the organization sponsors. I've also removed the link to the organization here.
It was sad and difficult to deal with the organization from the very start and with as little time as Stefania and I have we could not continue to dedicate time to the organization. It appears to me that the organization is headed in a direction to promote the small 50-75 case backyard vanity projects that exist in the mountains rather than real commercial wineries, and we are headed in a different direction.
I encourage people who are looking for information on the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA to go to:
http://scmwine.wikispaces.com
Dave Tong's wiki is accurate, extensive and has information on all the wineries in the area, including those like Varner, Ryhs, Clos la Tech and ourselves who do not belong to the SCMWA.
Going forward we will not be participating in any events that the organization sponsors. I've also removed the link to the organization here.
It was sad and difficult to deal with the organization from the very start and with as little time as Stefania and I have we could not continue to dedicate time to the organization. It appears to me that the organization is headed in a direction to promote the small 50-75 case backyard vanity projects that exist in the mountains rather than real commercial wineries, and we are headed in a different direction.
I encourage people who are looking for information on the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA to go to:
http://scmwine.wikispaces.com
Dave Tong's wiki is accurate, extensive and has information on all the wineries in the area, including those like Varner, Ryhs, Clos la Tech and ourselves who do not belong to the SCMWA.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
My Brother Called - Memories of Chile
My brother called the other night. He and my mom were just in Chile, he had to be there for work, she tagged along to see friends and neighbors of ours from when we lived there. Of the various photos they have sent me in email to look at, it's clear much has changed since we were there (30 years ago!).
One thing in particular they both noted was the amount of air pollution, though I figure the dense metropolitan area is much like here, some months are worse than others. I'm sure that once you leave the big city and head toward the coast that the air is much improved.
Because my brother was there for work related business, they didn't get a whole lot of time to venture outside of the city and see the wineries or vineyards. We talked of planning a trip there together, perhaps in a couple of years when our schedules are more free and our vacation/PTO accounts have the reserves for an extended vacation.
I'm excited to think I'll be able to travel back to my childhood home and see the country and vineyards with new eyes. I remember fondly the trips to "Tio Tolo's" vineyard and winery where my best friend and I got to glue labels on the bottles and play in the winery. I also remember the smells of the wine and the oak barrels and of riding horses through the cork orchard. It wasn't until very recently that I made the connection between the cork trees and wine corks.
My dad once told me that his fantasy plan for retirement from the Army was to own his own vineyard and winery in Chile and not come back to the States. I toss that information around in my brain from time to time and wonder if maybe I inherited that passion to be a farmer and winemaker from him. It's a fun fantasy to bat around because I'm certain that the hootch my dad would have made would be just that, "vino tinto" whose sole purpose is for daily drinking and in large quantities.
I can still see pictures of him swilling wine from a basketwoven covered green jug of wine hoisted over his shoulder, his neck twisted around so his lips could drink right from the bottle. No doubt he was showing off and being silly. He loved to wear hats and act the part to correspond with the style. Sometimes he would don a FuManchu mustache that was made from real hair.
I could reminisce all afternoon and tell you all the crazy antics I pulled as a kid in Chile. I'm glad my brother called and put all those crazy memories in my head, and glad to have the time to just sit and enjoy memories of my dad and living his dream.
A toast to my dad, he would have said my wine was too fancy, but I can picture him drinking it right from the bottle just the same to antagonize me!
Cheers,
Stefania
One thing in particular they both noted was the amount of air pollution, though I figure the dense metropolitan area is much like here, some months are worse than others. I'm sure that once you leave the big city and head toward the coast that the air is much improved.
Because my brother was there for work related business, they didn't get a whole lot of time to venture outside of the city and see the wineries or vineyards. We talked of planning a trip there together, perhaps in a couple of years when our schedules are more free and our vacation/PTO accounts have the reserves for an extended vacation.
I'm excited to think I'll be able to travel back to my childhood home and see the country and vineyards with new eyes. I remember fondly the trips to "Tio Tolo's" vineyard and winery where my best friend and I got to glue labels on the bottles and play in the winery. I also remember the smells of the wine and the oak barrels and of riding horses through the cork orchard. It wasn't until very recently that I made the connection between the cork trees and wine corks.
My dad once told me that his fantasy plan for retirement from the Army was to own his own vineyard and winery in Chile and not come back to the States. I toss that information around in my brain from time to time and wonder if maybe I inherited that passion to be a farmer and winemaker from him. It's a fun fantasy to bat around because I'm certain that the hootch my dad would have made would be just that, "vino tinto" whose sole purpose is for daily drinking and in large quantities.
I can still see pictures of him swilling wine from a basketwoven covered green jug of wine hoisted over his shoulder, his neck twisted around so his lips could drink right from the bottle. No doubt he was showing off and being silly. He loved to wear hats and act the part to correspond with the style. Sometimes he would don a FuManchu mustache that was made from real hair.
I could reminisce all afternoon and tell you all the crazy antics I pulled as a kid in Chile. I'm glad my brother called and put all those crazy memories in my head, and glad to have the time to just sit and enjoy memories of my dad and living his dream.
A toast to my dad, he would have said my wine was too fancy, but I can picture him drinking it right from the bottle just the same to antagonize me!
Cheers,
Stefania
Thursday, March 20, 2008
E-fax and March Madness
If you're having trouble getting your order form to go through on the e-fax, hang on another day or send it by mail. No telling for sure why we're getting a "busy" signal, but we figure it may be due to the start of March Madness and the live streaming video of the games hogging the 'net.
We tested the efax number yesterday with no problems, but have gotten feedback today that some of you are sending faxes that are not going through.
Thanks,
Paul & Stefania
We tested the efax number yesterday with no problems, but have gotten feedback today that some of you are sending faxes that are not going through.
Thanks,
Paul & Stefania
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Start of the Season
We've had bud break in almost all the vineyards now. That's when the nodes on the dormant vines swell and finally open, showing little leafs for the first time.
Each vine looks a little different when it opens up. Grenache is vibrant green. Syrah has pink-red tips. Merlot looks a little yellow. Chardonnay is bold green. They also all start at different times. Right now we are still waiting on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Mourvedre to open everywhere.
It's a busy time. We need to start spraying all the vineyards to protect against Powdery Mildew. I'm spraying an organic oil, JMS Stylet Oil to start. Stylet oil is a wood mineral oil that prevents Powdery Mildew and a host of other things. For those vineyards on a organic program, we'll spray Sulfur next in about two weeks. The non organic vineyards will get Eagle 20W in 4 weeks, or after the next rain.
I like to use Eagle 20W on new vineyards we've just taken over. Zap the mildew out of the vineyard, and then convert to an organic routine. It's too hard in the mountains to get rid of mildew once it's established in a vineyard with just organics, especially given that many of the vineyards we take over have been neglected.
We'll also add fertilizer over the next few weeks. I'm doing a spring mixture of 12-0-0 Corn Gluten, and 7-3-5 Fish Bone, both are organic treatments. The Corn Gluten also acts as an anti seed germination agent, preventing weeds where it's applied. I like to apply the treatment under the rows right around the roots, rather than spreading it over the entire vineyard with the tractor. This lets me control the overall amount better, and helps keep the weeds down. More work to walk around to each plant, but it's better in the long run.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Offer Letters on the Way
We will have the first set of offer letters out next week, maybe as soon as Monday. In the newsletter I said there would be two waves, but there are likely to be as many as four different mailings going out.
The first set will go to the 1000 pointer's. Those customers with more than 1000 points. There are about 70 of those people. They signed up early, and have bought a lot of wine! They will get an offer of two six packs of 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah at $200 a six pack, and one three pack of Haut Tubee at $60. Yeah $60, $20 a bottle :) Since this group usually buys a lot of wine I'm going to judge how to get the next set of letters out.
I've broken the remainder of people on the list into three groups:
700-999 points will be offered one six pack of Syrah and one three pack of Haut Tubee
400-699 points will be offered one six pack of Syrah
100-399 points will be offered one three pack of Syrah at $105
Right now there are about 60 people with under 100 points who have signed up in the last couple of months. If I have wine left after the first few waves of mailings, I'll get a three pack offer out to them, but I suspect I'll just be able to offer them an apology that we're out of wine and hope they hold out until the Fall release.
Our list has grown about 250% since the release last Spring. This release will be a big clue about what the future looks like for us. For the next few years we really won't have much more wine to sell than 125-150 cases of each wine. I have to judge how ordering goes this time to figure out future allocations pretty closely. I don't want to get into a situation where it takes people years on a waiting list, but I'm afraid for people signing up in the near future, it might be a long wait to get wine.
The first set will go to the 1000 pointer's. Those customers with more than 1000 points. There are about 70 of those people. They signed up early, and have bought a lot of wine! They will get an offer of two six packs of 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah at $200 a six pack, and one three pack of Haut Tubee at $60. Yeah $60, $20 a bottle :) Since this group usually buys a lot of wine I'm going to judge how to get the next set of letters out.
I've broken the remainder of people on the list into three groups:
700-999 points will be offered one six pack of Syrah and one three pack of Haut Tubee
400-699 points will be offered one six pack of Syrah
100-399 points will be offered one three pack of Syrah at $105
Right now there are about 60 people with under 100 points who have signed up in the last couple of months. If I have wine left after the first few waves of mailings, I'll get a three pack offer out to them, but I suspect I'll just be able to offer them an apology that we're out of wine and hope they hold out until the Fall release.
Our list has grown about 250% since the release last Spring. This release will be a big clue about what the future looks like for us. For the next few years we really won't have much more wine to sell than 125-150 cases of each wine. I have to judge how ordering goes this time to figure out future allocations pretty closely. I don't want to get into a situation where it takes people years on a waiting list, but I'm afraid for people signing up in the near future, it might be a long wait to get wine.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
New Wine Drinkers
A good article I found from the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-youngwine12mar12,0,5536281.story
We've seen this on our mailing list. Lots of young people, under 30 who buy our wine for special event drinking. The one piece I thought was missing was any mention of the much higher than traditional percentage of women buying and drinking wine under 30.
One of the classes I attended at UC Davis in 2002 noted that the percentage of wine over $25 bought by women was under 10%. Women made up the majority of wine purchases, they just bought daily drinking wine at the supermarket, not higher end wines. This mirrored what was traditional in Europe, where women had bought the daily drinking wine, and men bought special occasion wine.
I think for the new generation on wine drinkers, you can through that out the door. Women are buying the wine across all price points. If one has any doubts about the shift in the market place, I'd suggest looking at the ad campaigns of Budweiser. They clearly feel pressure on their core market of 21-30 year olds and are trying to counter wines growing popularity.
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-youngwine12mar12,0,5536281.story
We've seen this on our mailing list. Lots of young people, under 30 who buy our wine for special event drinking. The one piece I thought was missing was any mention of the much higher than traditional percentage of women buying and drinking wine under 30.
One of the classes I attended at UC Davis in 2002 noted that the percentage of wine over $25 bought by women was under 10%. Women made up the majority of wine purchases, they just bought daily drinking wine at the supermarket, not higher end wines. This mirrored what was traditional in Europe, where women had bought the daily drinking wine, and men bought special occasion wine.
I think for the new generation on wine drinkers, you can through that out the door. Women are buying the wine across all price points. If one has any doubts about the shift in the market place, I'd suggest looking at the ad campaigns of Budweiser. They clearly feel pressure on their core market of 21-30 year olds and are trying to counter wines growing popularity.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Links Update
I've updated the blog with a few links of friends who've written about our wines and have good blogs with food and wine info.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Web Site Update Coming
I just sent off the new label and font for Stefania to have added to the website. I suspect it will take a week or two to get done, and then the entire site will get a content refresh.
As soon as the label work is complete I'll have updates on the 2006 and 2007 wines as well as plans for 2008. There will also be an update on our new vineyards. Look for the schedule to be updated as well. We have a number of events coming up in March, April and May.
I may also start adding the newsletter to the site as well. We're just a few weeks away from sending out offer letters for our 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah, and I'd like to have the site updated by then. Originally we had planned to have on line ordering set up for 2008, but that was postponed for another year. With the new vineyards we've taken on that money had to go to vineyard maintenance costs this year.
As soon as the label work is complete I'll have updates on the 2006 and 2007 wines as well as plans for 2008. There will also be an update on our new vineyards. Look for the schedule to be updated as well. We have a number of events coming up in March, April and May.
I may also start adding the newsletter to the site as well. We're just a few weeks away from sending out offer letters for our 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah, and I'd like to have the site updated by then. Originally we had planned to have on line ordering set up for 2008, but that was postponed for another year. With the new vineyards we've taken on that money had to go to vineyard maintenance costs this year.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Quick Update on Pruning, more photos
Paul and the crew worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Woodruff Vineyard in Corralitos this past weekend. I was able to help on Saturday and we rounded up a few more volunteers to whom we are greatly appreciative.
Huge Thanks to Kathy, Wes, and Dave!
The rest of the crew, Daniel, Jerry, and Millie kicked some serious butt over the weekend and are almost done - just a few more rows this week and we can cross that off the list as "Done".
I took some time out Saturday to capture the site and the crew working - the photos are uploaded here: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/316611
The next round of blogs and updates will probably include the bottling schedule (early March for the Syrah and Haut Tubee) and whatever random musings cross our minds.
Again, a huge round of applause and kudos to our volunteer pruners, you guys are awesome!!!!
(and we secretly wonder if you'll be back...)
S&P
Huge Thanks to Kathy, Wes, and Dave!
The rest of the crew, Daniel, Jerry, and Millie kicked some serious butt over the weekend and are almost done - just a few more rows this week and we can cross that off the list as "Done".
I took some time out Saturday to capture the site and the crew working - the photos are uploaded here: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/316611
The next round of blogs and updates will probably include the bottling schedule (early March for the Syrah and Haut Tubee) and whatever random musings cross our minds.
Again, a huge round of applause and kudos to our volunteer pruners, you guys are awesome!!!!
(and we secretly wonder if you'll be back...)
S&P
Monday, February 04, 2008
Photos from Chaine d'Or
http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/312203
I captured the vineyard before we pruned, and took a bunch of pictures yesterday with it all done and cleaned up. I even got Sophie to sit still for me long enough for a photo. Inside the winery Paul and I racked almost all of the barrels. He trained me on using the equipment and had me working alongside him both days.
Though I meant to take photos of another vineyard we were contracted to prune, it was raining way too hard and I was soaking wet from a quick survey of the site. The wind chill was brutal as the actual temperature outside was somewhere around 46 degrees. Bone chilling and wet.
For certain I enjoyed the challenges and technical aspects of the winery tasks from the weekend and it's always a great day at work when there is a sample of wine to taste and talk about.
We barrel tasted everything and there were some amazing highlights that I'll let Paul blog about further. One barrel had this heady aroma of cinnamon and spice, another had the most beautiful aroma of flowers; purple and white flowers. When we took samples and tasted them, they were both full bodied and fulfilling even though the nose was sexy and wispy on the flowery one. (I left varietal and vineyard specifics off on purpose).
We got home in time to catch the 2nd half of the SuperBowl though mostly I think it was on for noise in the background while we sat still and tried not to think about our sore muscles. I'll be glad when winemaking is full time on-site and not something we cram into every weekend minute we have available - it's a lifestyle change for the better, but a smoother transition from sitting on my posterior during the week to full days on my feet would be nice.
I captured the vineyard before we pruned, and took a bunch of pictures yesterday with it all done and cleaned up. I even got Sophie to sit still for me long enough for a photo. Inside the winery Paul and I racked almost all of the barrels. He trained me on using the equipment and had me working alongside him both days.
Though I meant to take photos of another vineyard we were contracted to prune, it was raining way too hard and I was soaking wet from a quick survey of the site. The wind chill was brutal as the actual temperature outside was somewhere around 46 degrees. Bone chilling and wet.
For certain I enjoyed the challenges and technical aspects of the winery tasks from the weekend and it's always a great day at work when there is a sample of wine to taste and talk about.
We barrel tasted everything and there were some amazing highlights that I'll let Paul blog about further. One barrel had this heady aroma of cinnamon and spice, another had the most beautiful aroma of flowers; purple and white flowers. When we took samples and tasted them, they were both full bodied and fulfilling even though the nose was sexy and wispy on the flowery one. (I left varietal and vineyard specifics off on purpose).
We got home in time to catch the 2nd half of the SuperBowl though mostly I think it was on for noise in the background while we sat still and tried not to think about our sore muscles. I'll be glad when winemaking is full time on-site and not something we cram into every weekend minute we have available - it's a lifestyle change for the better, but a smoother transition from sitting on my posterior during the week to full days on my feet would be nice.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Snow on the Foothills!
Oh yes, snow! Have I taken any photos yet? No, but I've been waiting for the clouds to lift high enough to get a good shot. It's just about the same as the photo on our main page of the website, so you get the idea.
Anyway, we were up at Chaine d'Or last Saturday and Sunday pruning. I'm still passionate about this part of grapegrowing and call tell you for certain that pruning these old boys was much different than young vines. (I'll leave out the part about wearing a wrist brace all week and the blisters -- shhh, you're ruining the romance).
It was interesting to go through each plant, see where it was doing very well and where it needed to be retrained or cut so as to inspire new growth. Overall I would say we did great in the ten hours that we put in.
On Saturday we had morning fog which was nice because it can get very hot when you're out there with full exposure and little shade. The sun peeked out around 11:30, then by noon I was cursing it for being so hot and then glad toward the end of the afternoon when we made the lower section and got some shade.
Sunday morning, when we got up, I begged the weather gods for lingering fog so that we weren't working in the heat of the day again at noon with the sun on us. I even dressed in fewer layers anticipating another warm day (no thanks to yahoo or the newspaper on the weather forecast by the way). We got up there and it was foggy alright, but it was also misting, and cold, and a biting wind that kept whipping up the rows.
The sun peeked out for a scant total of about ten minutes over the course of the five hour day, barely enough to warm the surface layer of my thin fleece pullover. It must have been right around 3:15 when I finally yelled at the boss and said we have to stop, it's just too cold to be out here any longer. The wind was whipping up even harder and it was sprinkling on us off and on.
I kept saying it felt and smelled like snow. Like when you're on the lift at the ski resort and the next storm is about to hit, you can smell it. The air has that crisp edge to it. I felt it, in my bones.
On Monday we headed "over the hill" to Boulder Creek and got bits of hail and heavy downpours of rain. By the time we got to Highway 9 it was a full snow storm at the summit. I knew it!
We got home, Paul got a roaring toasty fire going for us and we spent some time chatting about the next round of vines to prune. I'll be sure to dress more appropriately and keep my mouth shut since I'm certain now the weather gods were listening.
-SR
Anyway, we were up at Chaine d'Or last Saturday and Sunday pruning. I'm still passionate about this part of grapegrowing and call tell you for certain that pruning these old boys was much different than young vines. (I'll leave out the part about wearing a wrist brace all week and the blisters -- shhh, you're ruining the romance).
It was interesting to go through each plant, see where it was doing very well and where it needed to be retrained or cut so as to inspire new growth. Overall I would say we did great in the ten hours that we put in.
On Saturday we had morning fog which was nice because it can get very hot when you're out there with full exposure and little shade. The sun peeked out around 11:30, then by noon I was cursing it for being so hot and then glad toward the end of the afternoon when we made the lower section and got some shade.
Sunday morning, when we got up, I begged the weather gods for lingering fog so that we weren't working in the heat of the day again at noon with the sun on us. I even dressed in fewer layers anticipating another warm day (no thanks to yahoo or the newspaper on the weather forecast by the way). We got up there and it was foggy alright, but it was also misting, and cold, and a biting wind that kept whipping up the rows.
The sun peeked out for a scant total of about ten minutes over the course of the five hour day, barely enough to warm the surface layer of my thin fleece pullover. It must have been right around 3:15 when I finally yelled at the boss and said we have to stop, it's just too cold to be out here any longer. The wind was whipping up even harder and it was sprinkling on us off and on.
I kept saying it felt and smelled like snow. Like when you're on the lift at the ski resort and the next storm is about to hit, you can smell it. The air has that crisp edge to it. I felt it, in my bones.
On Monday we headed "over the hill" to Boulder Creek and got bits of hail and heavy downpours of rain. By the time we got to Highway 9 it was a full snow storm at the summit. I knew it!
We got home, Paul got a roaring toasty fire going for us and we spent some time chatting about the next round of vines to prune. I'll be sure to dress more appropriately and keep my mouth shut since I'm certain now the weather gods were listening.
-SR
Friday, January 18, 2008
A Passion for Pruning
My favorite job in the vineyard happens but once per year - pruning. And let me tell you what, with the new vineyards we've agreed to manage this year, I'm up to my eyeballs in pruning. I may have to reassess how I really feel about pruning after this January.
This kind of ties in to the initial romance of being winemakers and grapegrowers. Picture if you will a quiet tranquil morning, walking row after row of vines across from the love of your life, chattering all along the way, discussing each plant and how to shape it for optimal fruiting, all at a leisurely pace. Then you stop for lunch, a picnic in the vineyard, with nothing but the birds chirping and a light breeze rustling the tree branches overhead. That was Year One.
Fast forward to last weekend: Crazy madness, six of us this time, no leisurely walks through the rows, no chatter or banter or lingering over the plants. It's quick faced paced decision making because this is just one acre and there are 13 more to go, all before the end of the month. Oh yeah, and that picnic, a thing of the past, it was more like burgers and fries horked down well past lunchtime because we were so hungry!
Regardless of the pace and the fact that I no longer get to greet each plant anymore, I'm still very much enamored with this part of being a grapegrower.
I'm taking the camera with us this weekend and will get some photos posted up shortly.
Vineyards that we've already pruned:
Crimson Clover (cabernet in Morgan Hill)
Harrison (syrah Los Altos)
Elandrich (various, Portola Valley)
Upcoming vineyards:
Chaine d'Or (chardonnay and cabernet, Woodside)
Woodruff (chardonnay and pinot noir, Corralitos)
Llama Vnyd (merlot, Bonny Doon)
Ottigurr (various, Santa Clara County)
This kind of ties in to the initial romance of being winemakers and grapegrowers. Picture if you will a quiet tranquil morning, walking row after row of vines across from the love of your life, chattering all along the way, discussing each plant and how to shape it for optimal fruiting, all at a leisurely pace. Then you stop for lunch, a picnic in the vineyard, with nothing but the birds chirping and a light breeze rustling the tree branches overhead. That was Year One.
Fast forward to last weekend: Crazy madness, six of us this time, no leisurely walks through the rows, no chatter or banter or lingering over the plants. It's quick faced paced decision making because this is just one acre and there are 13 more to go, all before the end of the month. Oh yeah, and that picnic, a thing of the past, it was more like burgers and fries horked down well past lunchtime because we were so hungry!
Regardless of the pace and the fact that I no longer get to greet each plant anymore, I'm still very much enamored with this part of being a grapegrower.
I'm taking the camera with us this weekend and will get some photos posted up shortly.
Vineyards that we've already pruned:
Crimson Clover (cabernet in Morgan Hill)
Harrison (syrah Los Altos)
Elandrich (various, Portola Valley)
Upcoming vineyards:
Chaine d'Or (chardonnay and cabernet, Woodside)
Woodruff (chardonnay and pinot noir, Corralitos)
Llama Vnyd (merlot, Bonny Doon)
Ottigurr (various, Santa Clara County)
Monday, January 14, 2008
How many hours do you work?
I read an interesting little quote in Rolling Stone. A scientist was asked the question: "How many hours do you work?" His answer: "All of them".
I've stolen that quote and I'm using it now when people ask how we get everything done we need to get done. Even working 'all of them' I get behind in things I need to do. Documents that need to get written, updates to our website, and writing blogs.
I was really encouraged though this past weekend in getting caught up a bit more. Daniel and Jerry who have proven so helpful in the vineyards and winery, got their first exposure to pruning this past weekend. They did an amazing job, and we're now a week ahead of schedule. I feel like I've got a top flight crew now, and their growing experience in the vineyards should make it easier to shift some of those work hours to other work tasks.
Not that Stefania and I didn't spend many hours pruning vines this weekend, we did. And I replaced broken trellis and made repairs, but we don't have to spend all the working time doing that. There should be more time for other tasks now.
I've stolen that quote and I'm using it now when people ask how we get everything done we need to get done. Even working 'all of them' I get behind in things I need to do. Documents that need to get written, updates to our website, and writing blogs.
I was really encouraged though this past weekend in getting caught up a bit more. Daniel and Jerry who have proven so helpful in the vineyards and winery, got their first exposure to pruning this past weekend. They did an amazing job, and we're now a week ahead of schedule. I feel like I've got a top flight crew now, and their growing experience in the vineyards should make it easier to shift some of those work hours to other work tasks.
Not that Stefania and I didn't spend many hours pruning vines this weekend, we did. And I replaced broken trellis and made repairs, but we don't have to spend all the working time doing that. There should be more time for other tasks now.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Twist Newsletter
From the "Twist" newsletter.
Last place to find our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Uvas Creek Vineyard for sale, and it's also available by the glass:
D's new Wine Picks of December (available from December 1) ..
This selection became something that my regular guest are looking for each month now for their dinner or just when they stop for a glass of wine at the bar. Can you imagine that last month after 3 weeks we had to change 3 wines already! This month I decide to keep the Madiran because I really would like to promote that area of France more and more.The two new white wines are both Chardonnay from California. One is from a veryyyyyyy small winery in the Santa Cruz Mountain and the other one is owned by the Hyde Family (Hyde Vineyard) and De Vilaine Family (Romanee Conti) oh yeah, I wrote Romanee Conti now you can imagine the result.A new Cabernet Sauvignon from my close friends at "Stefania Wines", a French Syrah from the Northern Rhone Valley and a Cabernet Franc from "Vinum Winery" a must taste wine !!!Sante ;-)
Last place to find our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Uvas Creek Vineyard for sale, and it's also available by the glass:
D's new Wine Picks of December (available from December 1) ..
This selection became something that my regular guest are looking for each month now for their dinner or just when they stop for a glass of wine at the bar. Can you imagine that last month after 3 weeks we had to change 3 wines already! This month I decide to keep the Madiran because I really would like to promote that area of France more and more.The two new white wines are both Chardonnay from California. One is from a veryyyyyyy small winery in the Santa Cruz Mountain and the other one is owned by the Hyde Family (Hyde Vineyard) and De Vilaine Family (Romanee Conti) oh yeah, I wrote Romanee Conti now you can imagine the result.A new Cabernet Sauvignon from my close friends at "Stefania Wines", a French Syrah from the Northern Rhone Valley and a Cabernet Franc from "Vinum Winery" a must taste wine !!!Sante ;-)
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Done!
For the second year in a row I planned to do a good job providing regular blog updates, and again, the actual work of harvesting just was too much to get daily blogs done. But, here is where we are at as of Monday night:
We're DONE picking and crushing grapes. 20 tons total picked and 14+ tons crushed. We sold the Chardonnay from Chaine d'Or so that was not crushed by us.
Things really got going nuts last Tuesday when we cleaned the winery and got ready to go for the big load coming in.
Wednesday Millie went off to Eaglepoint Ranch to pick up 3+ tons of Syrah and I headed south to round up 350 pounds of dry ice. We were worried that the fruit would come in too warm to cold soak and I needed to get the dry ice to cool the fruit down. Millie had a really tough day with the trailer but made it back to Big Basin at 5PM We sorted fruit under the lights until after 8PM. (The day started at 3:30 for her, 5:30 for me).
It was a tough, long, tiring day and I really banged up my ring finger pretty bad. The grapes were a bit ripper than I'd have liked, but not bad at all considering the drama of the weather up north. We added a little water to one vat to get the BRIX under 28 and some acid (2 g per liter). The pH was 3.8, but Malo was low and the finished pH would have been over 4.0, with the addition we should finish around 3.6.
The next day we drove all over, picking up bins, dropping off bins, dropping off trailers, and checking on wine. About 200 miles in the truck and a 12 hour day.
Friday we picked 4 tons of Cabernet from Martin Ranch. 2 tons went to Chaine d'Or and 2 tons to Big Basin, so lots of driving again. We decided to not use the trailer since it had been so difficult on Wednesday. Unfortunately there were no 8 foot bed trucks available so we used Millie's truck, my Dad's and a rental. Millie drove hers, I drove the rental and Stef drove mine.
As we filled up one bin we'd load a truck and take off for the winery. As soon as the truck was done at one winery, we'd rush back and pick up another and go to the other winery. It turned into a day that lasted 17 hours. We got to bed about 11:30 PM. The fruit came in good, a little low in TA but Brix was 24.9 and the fruit looked really good. We're treating each of 4 bins a little different to see what gets the best results for the future.
Saturday morning we were back up at 5:30 am for harvest at Chaine d'Or. We had a great picking crew and great help and were able to bring in a very large harvest of 3+ tons before 11am. Everything went smoothly and the wine came in at 24.2 Brix, .66 TA and 3.38 pH! Anne said the fruit was the best looking ans tasting she'd seen there.
It took us a few hours to clean up and finish up but we only worked 10 hours that day!
Sunday I was able to get to emails and shipping and get caught up on the books. Even though I worked about 7 hours it felt like a day off.
Monday we brought in the last 2 tons from Uvas Creek. We had to run a relay again with two trucks, but got it done by 3:45. Millie and I had to run t Chaine d'Or after that to do a pump over and remove about 200 gallons from the tank so it didn't over flow.
In the end we got it all in, 14+ tons and it is all doing well. I'm happy with the wines so far, flavors are great, color is really dark and the numbers needed a little help, but we got them under control. Now that the days are back to 8-10 hours of work, I should get regular updates out more often.
We're DONE picking and crushing grapes. 20 tons total picked and 14+ tons crushed. We sold the Chardonnay from Chaine d'Or so that was not crushed by us.
Things really got going nuts last Tuesday when we cleaned the winery and got ready to go for the big load coming in.
Wednesday Millie went off to Eaglepoint Ranch to pick up 3+ tons of Syrah and I headed south to round up 350 pounds of dry ice. We were worried that the fruit would come in too warm to cold soak and I needed to get the dry ice to cool the fruit down. Millie had a really tough day with the trailer but made it back to Big Basin at 5PM We sorted fruit under the lights until after 8PM. (The day started at 3:30 for her, 5:30 for me).
It was a tough, long, tiring day and I really banged up my ring finger pretty bad. The grapes were a bit ripper than I'd have liked, but not bad at all considering the drama of the weather up north. We added a little water to one vat to get the BRIX under 28 and some acid (2 g per liter). The pH was 3.8, but Malo was low and the finished pH would have been over 4.0, with the addition we should finish around 3.6.
The next day we drove all over, picking up bins, dropping off bins, dropping off trailers, and checking on wine. About 200 miles in the truck and a 12 hour day.
Friday we picked 4 tons of Cabernet from Martin Ranch. 2 tons went to Chaine d'Or and 2 tons to Big Basin, so lots of driving again. We decided to not use the trailer since it had been so difficult on Wednesday. Unfortunately there were no 8 foot bed trucks available so we used Millie's truck, my Dad's and a rental. Millie drove hers, I drove the rental and Stef drove mine.
As we filled up one bin we'd load a truck and take off for the winery. As soon as the truck was done at one winery, we'd rush back and pick up another and go to the other winery. It turned into a day that lasted 17 hours. We got to bed about 11:30 PM. The fruit came in good, a little low in TA but Brix was 24.9 and the fruit looked really good. We're treating each of 4 bins a little different to see what gets the best results for the future.
Saturday morning we were back up at 5:30 am for harvest at Chaine d'Or. We had a great picking crew and great help and were able to bring in a very large harvest of 3+ tons before 11am. Everything went smoothly and the wine came in at 24.2 Brix, .66 TA and 3.38 pH! Anne said the fruit was the best looking ans tasting she'd seen there.
It took us a few hours to clean up and finish up but we only worked 10 hours that day!
Sunday I was able to get to emails and shipping and get caught up on the books. Even though I worked about 7 hours it felt like a day off.
Monday we brought in the last 2 tons from Uvas Creek. We had to run a relay again with two trucks, but got it done by 3:45. Millie and I had to run t Chaine d'Or after that to do a pump over and remove about 200 gallons from the tank so it didn't over flow.
In the end we got it all in, 14+ tons and it is all doing well. I'm happy with the wines so far, flavors are great, color is really dark and the numbers needed a little help, but we got them under control. Now that the days are back to 8-10 hours of work, I should get regular updates out more often.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Elandrich Harvest (pictures soon)
Thursday we harvested about 1500 lbs at the Elandrich Vineyard. This was easily a new record for us there, as the vineyard is finally coming back after a long restoration project. The fruit looked and tasted excellent and was 25.9 BRIX in the bin after crushing.
We started about 8AM with the 'normal crew'; Millie, Daniel, Herrardo and myself, plus some extra help from a few friends and the vineyard owner who was able to come out and help even on a work day. The crew did a great job and we arrived at the crusher at 9:30 AM right on schedule.
We only had one back up with the pump and it quickly was fixed. The crew really has the routine now, and Jerry commented it was the best harvest day he'd ever seen, because all he had to do was remind me to turn the pump on before the crusher and fix the cellar door.
We should end up with 1 1/2 or 2 barrels of wine from this vineyard which will be really cool. We can evaluate it on it's own for the first time in barrel and get a better idea of what we might be able to do long term with these grapes.
We started about 8AM with the 'normal crew'; Millie, Daniel, Herrardo and myself, plus some extra help from a few friends and the vineyard owner who was able to come out and help even on a work day. The crew did a great job and we arrived at the crusher at 9:30 AM right on schedule.
We only had one back up with the pump and it quickly was fixed. The crew really has the routine now, and Jerry commented it was the best harvest day he'd ever seen, because all he had to do was remind me to turn the pump on before the crusher and fix the cellar door.
We should end up with 1 1/2 or 2 barrels of wine from this vineyard which will be really cool. We can evaluate it on it's own for the first time in barrel and get a better idea of what we might be able to do long term with these grapes.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Making Friends
I've wanted to write a blog for a few weeks about our company "Vision Statement." I haven't had time though to devote to writing it, I think it needs a good explanation to stay away from Dilbertville.
I did come up with one though, I actually thought it was really important to do that. In the still to be written blog about visions statements I'll explain why. The one I came up with though was : "Make Friends".
This release has been really satisfying in meeting that vision. I've gotten to email and talk with dozens of people all over the country. I have really enjoyed that a great deal. I feel like I'm making new friends all over and it's great to hear from you about our wine, and our adventure.
I know many winemakers like to avoid dealing with customers, they view it as a time drain, or are really uncomfortable with it. I love it. The last few weeks have been a real blast. The emails from people and phone calls have given us a lot of inspiration during the really long days we are putting in. It's been nice to take a break every now and then and just chat about wine with people.
I hope this continues and I hope I get to talk to and meet even more people in the months ahead. It's great to hear from everyone, and each phone call and each email, gets us closer to the vision statement of making friends!
I did come up with one though, I actually thought it was really important to do that. In the still to be written blog about visions statements I'll explain why. The one I came up with though was : "Make Friends".
This release has been really satisfying in meeting that vision. I've gotten to email and talk with dozens of people all over the country. I have really enjoyed that a great deal. I feel like I'm making new friends all over and it's great to hear from you about our wine, and our adventure.
I know many winemakers like to avoid dealing with customers, they view it as a time drain, or are really uncomfortable with it. I love it. The last few weeks have been a real blast. The emails from people and phone calls have given us a lot of inspiration during the really long days we are putting in. It's been nice to take a break every now and then and just chat about wine with people.
I hope this continues and I hope I get to talk to and meet even more people in the months ahead. It's great to hear from everyone, and each phone call and each email, gets us closer to the vision statement of making friends!
Monday, October 08, 2007
First Shipments Released
Just a quick note that I released about 20 orders for shipment this morning. Mostly going to the north east, and upper midwest. I was torn about Illinois, but it looks like temps will cool there tomorrow and a went ahead and let those go.
I released some for Northern California, but almost 90% of the California orders choose to pick up at Chaine d'Or (or have Kenny pick them up at Chaine d' Or ;) ) so only a few will actually ship. Next week if things continue to cool, I should release another batch of orders.
We also sent out a final offer to the 26 new sign ups we got in the last 3 weeks. That should get us close to selling out. The sending out offer letters in waves worked out well and I think everyone who wanted wine will be able to get wine and there are probably just a few requests for extras that we'll be able to meet.
I released some for Northern California, but almost 90% of the California orders choose to pick up at Chaine d'Or (or have Kenny pick them up at Chaine d' Or ;) ) so only a few will actually ship. Next week if things continue to cool, I should release another batch of orders.
We also sent out a final offer to the 26 new sign ups we got in the last 3 weeks. That should get us close to selling out. The sending out offer letters in waves worked out well and I think everyone who wanted wine will be able to get wine and there are probably just a few requests for extras that we'll be able to meet.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Our First Pinot Noir
Friday morning we picked up 1 ton of Pinot Noir from an old vine vineyard in the Southern Santa Cruz Mountains. This will be the first Pinot Noir we make.
The grapes were small and the flavors very intense. It was very cool Friday morning. Temps were in the high 40's and the grapes came off the vine cool, which is perfect for transport and winemaking. Millie was able to load both bins in the back of her pick up truck so we didn't have to rent a big flat bed like normal.
We were a little late leaving the vineyard, but by 10:00 am we were on the road and headed towards Chaine d' Or, about a 45 minute drive. We arrived just before 11:30.
I was a little worried about how things would go. This was the first time anyone had brought grapes into the winery, everything else made there had always been estate grapes. That meant we had some new processes to set up, new equipment to use, and a new layout of all the equipment. With so much being done for the first time I was counting on some problems.
We got very lucky! Everything went better than planned and we quickly worked out a couple of small details and had a system down. 85% of the grapes went through the de-stemmer and 15% went into a t-bin in whole clusters. We just filled up one bin, or about enough to make 50 cases of wine.
The Brix tested at 25.2 in the bin, right in the range I like and I covered the grapes and let them start their cold soak. With temperatures so low, we won't need to do anything artificial to lower the temperature. The grapes should just soak for 2-3 days before natural fermentation starts. My plan is to be pretty gentle in push downs as the juice already seems pretty intense.
We'll have another 1-2 tons coming in from a second vineyard soon and eventually we'll combine the two into a "Santa Cruz Mountains" Pinot Noir.
The grapes were small and the flavors very intense. It was very cool Friday morning. Temps were in the high 40's and the grapes came off the vine cool, which is perfect for transport and winemaking. Millie was able to load both bins in the back of her pick up truck so we didn't have to rent a big flat bed like normal.
We were a little late leaving the vineyard, but by 10:00 am we were on the road and headed towards Chaine d' Or, about a 45 minute drive. We arrived just before 11:30.
I was a little worried about how things would go. This was the first time anyone had brought grapes into the winery, everything else made there had always been estate grapes. That meant we had some new processes to set up, new equipment to use, and a new layout of all the equipment. With so much being done for the first time I was counting on some problems.
We got very lucky! Everything went better than planned and we quickly worked out a couple of small details and had a system down. 85% of the grapes went through the de-stemmer and 15% went into a t-bin in whole clusters. We just filled up one bin, or about enough to make 50 cases of wine.
The Brix tested at 25.2 in the bin, right in the range I like and I covered the grapes and let them start their cold soak. With temperatures so low, we won't need to do anything artificial to lower the temperature. The grapes should just soak for 2-3 days before natural fermentation starts. My plan is to be pretty gentle in push downs as the juice already seems pretty intense.
We'll have another 1-2 tons coming in from a second vineyard soon and eventually we'll combine the two into a "Santa Cruz Mountains" Pinot Noir.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Shipping Update
I finally got a little break yesterday afternoon to start processing payments. The weather looks pretty good next week and we'll start sending out shipments to those areas that also have good weather.
Right now we stand at about 60% of the wine 'booked', that is orders in, entered and waiting for billing. There are commitments for about 25% more. I'll make a call one way or another tonight to send out order forms to the last group of people to sign up after the initial release.
By the end of next week we should be sold out and by the following week we'll have shipments going out to everyone but people in the hottest areas. If you've been holding on to your order form, please try and get it to me soon. Last release I kept back some wine for people who I knew would be stragglers and was able to fill a few orders into June. This time around I don't think I'll have anything left.
Right now we stand at about 60% of the wine 'booked', that is orders in, entered and waiting for billing. There are commitments for about 25% more. I'll make a call one way or another tonight to send out order forms to the last group of people to sign up after the initial release.
By the end of next week we should be sold out and by the following week we'll have shipments going out to everyone but people in the hottest areas. If you've been holding on to your order form, please try and get it to me soon. Last release I kept back some wine for people who I knew would be stragglers and was able to fill a few orders into June. This time around I don't think I'll have anything left.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Snakes and Bees
There are lots of unglamourous things to do in growing and making wine. We often joke as we work about feeling 'romantic' or glamorous', as we clean things or lift things. The past two days have given some good examples of the un-fun side of winemaking.
Saturday after picking and crushing the home vineyard grapes we stopped by the Elandrich vineyard to take sugar readings. A 2 foot rattle snake greeted us on the walk way up to the Zinfandel section. The little snakes are the worst. Their rattles don't rattle yet, they are too soft to make noise, and they bite everything, since they haven't learned yet not to waste their poison.
With a rake and a pair of hedge trimmers we were able to eliminate the little dude. The head keeps on biting well after being removed from the rest of the critter, so you've got to bury it. That task done, we went on to test the Zinfandel. 23.4 BRIX, almost ready, another week or so.
Yesterday was spent at Chaine d'Or picking Chardonnay and Merlot. As soon as the picking starts, the bees and wasps show up. Hundreds of them if not thousands. They hover around the crushpad where there is lots of good grape gunk to feast on.
I got my first two stings of the season. Luckily I'm not allergic to bees, but one of the pickers had a pretty bad reaction on his hand. That's a little secret of picking. You can't sneak up on the clusters, you have to give the plant a good shake before you reach in to start cutting. That lets the bees know you are there and they move on to another plant.
At the end of the day I was crushing about 600 pounds of Merlot. My shirt and pants were covered with grape gunk from the crusher. The little bits of grape are too much for the bees to resist and they crawl all over you. It's not unusual to have 10-15 bees on you and many more hovering around. You've got to just let them be bees. If you leave them alone they'll happily harvest the sugar and be on their way.
So add two more skills to the winemaking playbook. Snake wrangler and bee herder.
Saturday after picking and crushing the home vineyard grapes we stopped by the Elandrich vineyard to take sugar readings. A 2 foot rattle snake greeted us on the walk way up to the Zinfandel section. The little snakes are the worst. Their rattles don't rattle yet, they are too soft to make noise, and they bite everything, since they haven't learned yet not to waste their poison.
With a rake and a pair of hedge trimmers we were able to eliminate the little dude. The head keeps on biting well after being removed from the rest of the critter, so you've got to bury it. That task done, we went on to test the Zinfandel. 23.4 BRIX, almost ready, another week or so.
Yesterday was spent at Chaine d'Or picking Chardonnay and Merlot. As soon as the picking starts, the bees and wasps show up. Hundreds of them if not thousands. They hover around the crushpad where there is lots of good grape gunk to feast on.
I got my first two stings of the season. Luckily I'm not allergic to bees, but one of the pickers had a pretty bad reaction on his hand. That's a little secret of picking. You can't sneak up on the clusters, you have to give the plant a good shake before you reach in to start cutting. That lets the bees know you are there and they move on to another plant.
At the end of the day I was crushing about 600 pounds of Merlot. My shirt and pants were covered with grape gunk from the crusher. The little bits of grape are too much for the bees to resist and they crawl all over you. It's not unusual to have 10-15 bees on you and many more hovering around. You've got to just let them be bees. If you leave them alone they'll happily harvest the sugar and be on their way.
So add two more skills to the winemaking playbook. Snake wrangler and bee herder.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
First Pick
Woke up at 6:15 this morning. A very cold morning, in the low 50's. It rained last night for about 45 seconds, but by this morning there was no sign of it, the sky was clear. We tried to have a normal morning, a little coffee in bed, and read the newspaper.
At 7:30 we started the first pick of the season. The 'Home Ranch', "Haut Tubee". The Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre and two Zinfandel plants around our home. It took about 30 minutes to get the bird netting off. Always a dirty disgusting job. Then about 10 minutes to pick the 150 pounds of grapes we got this year.
Next we're off to Kathy and Millie's to pick the grapes around their house. About 9:30 we should be on our way up to Chaine d'Or to get the 300 pounds or so of grapes into a bin to start turning it into wine. In all about 1/3 of a barrel, or 10 cases or so. We'll combine these grapes with the other small lots and probably end up with about 40 cases of wine from the small lots.
There won't be much processing. It's really not worth hooking up the crusher and pump. We'll dump the grapes in whole cluster and then some lucky person will jump in and smash them up some. Then I'll leave it to start on its way to fermentation. If all goes well we should be done and cleaned up by 1pm.
At 7:30 we started the first pick of the season. The 'Home Ranch', "Haut Tubee". The Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre and two Zinfandel plants around our home. It took about 30 minutes to get the bird netting off. Always a dirty disgusting job. Then about 10 minutes to pick the 150 pounds of grapes we got this year.
Next we're off to Kathy and Millie's to pick the grapes around their house. About 9:30 we should be on our way up to Chaine d'Or to get the 300 pounds or so of grapes into a bin to start turning it into wine. In all about 1/3 of a barrel, or 10 cases or so. We'll combine these grapes with the other small lots and probably end up with about 40 cases of wine from the small lots.
There won't be much processing. It's really not worth hooking up the crusher and pump. We'll dump the grapes in whole cluster and then some lucky person will jump in and smash them up some. Then I'll leave it to start on its way to fermentation. If all goes well we should be done and cleaned up by 1pm.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Second Round of Mailers Out Today
Orders are still coming in from our first round of mailers last week. Demand is just about where I thought it would be so we dropped of the second round of mailers on schedule today.
This round includes offers for three packs with an option to ask for a six pack. Right now it looks like we should be able to fill requests for a six pack if ordering stays on track. I'm guessing that by this time next week we should be down to 3-4 cases left. I'll start to process payments shortly and we should begin shipping to states that have good weather in the second week of October.
We've had about a dozen recent sign ups, and I hope to get those people out a three pack offer next week if ordering stays on track. IT will be tight, but I'm still hoping I can get wine out to everyone who wants it. Maybe not as much as they want, but I should have wine for everyone.
This round includes offers for three packs with an option to ask for a six pack. Right now it looks like we should be able to fill requests for a six pack if ordering stays on track. I'm guessing that by this time next week we should be down to 3-4 cases left. I'll start to process payments shortly and we should begin shipping to states that have good weather in the second week of October.
We've had about a dozen recent sign ups, and I hope to get those people out a three pack offer next week if ordering stays on track. IT will be tight, but I'm still hoping I can get wine out to everyone who wants it. Maybe not as much as they want, but I should have wine for everyone.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Too Early For 2008?
A few years ago when we started the vineyard management company we averaged 8-10 calls a year about managing or installing vineyards. We'd consult on 1-2 and usually take on one small project every year. That was the most I could handle and that was usually the scope of the projects. A few acres or even a backyard and some advice on growing grapes and making wine.
Each year it grew a little more, and we remained pretty selective on the projects we'd take on. The important thing was to make sure that the projects helped us out in making wine and growing the winery side of the business. Along the way we started to get a reputation among the local winemakers as top quality growers and dedicated farmers.
This past summer I'd say the vineyard business 'tipped over'. It's grown to the point now that it is its own thriving enterprise. Sycamore Creek, Big Basin Vineyards, Windy Oaks and several other wineries have started to recommend us to people thinking of putting in vineyards. We've also started to get calls from landscape architects and even one of the largest commercial construction companies in the area.
So now, even though we're months away from 2008 I'm trying to figure out what projects we'll take on in 2008. There are already people trying to sign us up for next year. There are two large projects pending. One would involve a no-corners cut top of the line 4+ acre vineyard installation project. An amazing south facing hill side ready for us to plant, and grow grapes and make wine. The owners want the very best, top of the line, and they've asked us to do it for them!
We're also mulling over another amazing project. 12 acres of some of the finest old vine Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A 30 year old vineyard that supplied grapes for some of the most legandary wines ever made in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We've been asked to take over management of the vineyard, and most importantly, make the wine from the amazing site.
Now comes the tough part. What project can we take on? Can we do both? And what about all the other calls we'll get in the Spring? I never thought the little vineyard company, "Two Gringos" would grow so large, and take on such huge projects. Hard work, dedication, and commitment to the highest quality, I can't think of any other secrets, but those three things worked!
Each year it grew a little more, and we remained pretty selective on the projects we'd take on. The important thing was to make sure that the projects helped us out in making wine and growing the winery side of the business. Along the way we started to get a reputation among the local winemakers as top quality growers and dedicated farmers.
This past summer I'd say the vineyard business 'tipped over'. It's grown to the point now that it is its own thriving enterprise. Sycamore Creek, Big Basin Vineyards, Windy Oaks and several other wineries have started to recommend us to people thinking of putting in vineyards. We've also started to get calls from landscape architects and even one of the largest commercial construction companies in the area.
So now, even though we're months away from 2008 I'm trying to figure out what projects we'll take on in 2008. There are already people trying to sign us up for next year. There are two large projects pending. One would involve a no-corners cut top of the line 4+ acre vineyard installation project. An amazing south facing hill side ready for us to plant, and grow grapes and make wine. The owners want the very best, top of the line, and they've asked us to do it for them!
We're also mulling over another amazing project. 12 acres of some of the finest old vine Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A 30 year old vineyard that supplied grapes for some of the most legandary wines ever made in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We've been asked to take over management of the vineyard, and most importantly, make the wine from the amazing site.
Now comes the tough part. What project can we take on? Can we do both? And what about all the other calls we'll get in the Spring? I never thought the little vineyard company, "Two Gringos" would grow so large, and take on such huge projects. Hard work, dedication, and commitment to the highest quality, I can't think of any other secrets, but those three things worked!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Harvest Spin
I've been keeping up on postings on line about harvest around the state. One thing seems to be happening already that I'm calling harvest spin.
A few posts ago I wrote about being surprised about early harvesting going on. I was even more surprised to see pictures of these harvests. The grapes just did not look ripe. Green stems and green seeds in the bins. A few old growers joked about 'panic', and those harvesting shot back with some pretty harsh words about people who 'pick by the numbers'.
Now this week I've seen a few of those early pickers start talking about what a great job they did. How now the weather looks cooler, and there is rain on the way (40% chance of 1/4 inch of rain this week) and the harvest is ruined for everyone else. I'll tell you what I think that is....pure spin.
I think those earlier harvesters got nervous with the little heat wave and worried it would not end. They picked when their grapes got in the sugar ranges they wanted because they worried the sugars would climb too high. I also think those grapes were not ripe yet. Now they are trying to make a bad choice, seem like a good one, even if only to themselves.
The weather has turned cool, but it's in the normal range. There is light rain in the forecast, but just a little, and the vineyards will dry out fine afterwards. Now the patient people are talking about a harvest a week or so earlier than 2005 or 2006, with ripe grapes and lower alcohol wine. That sounds like a great combo to me.
A few posts ago I wrote about being surprised about early harvesting going on. I was even more surprised to see pictures of these harvests. The grapes just did not look ripe. Green stems and green seeds in the bins. A few old growers joked about 'panic', and those harvesting shot back with some pretty harsh words about people who 'pick by the numbers'.
Now this week I've seen a few of those early pickers start talking about what a great job they did. How now the weather looks cooler, and there is rain on the way (40% chance of 1/4 inch of rain this week) and the harvest is ruined for everyone else. I'll tell you what I think that is....pure spin.
I think those earlier harvesters got nervous with the little heat wave and worried it would not end. They picked when their grapes got in the sugar ranges they wanted because they worried the sugars would climb too high. I also think those grapes were not ripe yet. Now they are trying to make a bad choice, seem like a good one, even if only to themselves.
The weather has turned cool, but it's in the normal range. There is light rain in the forecast, but just a little, and the vineyards will dry out fine afterwards. Now the patient people are talking about a harvest a week or so earlier than 2005 or 2006, with ripe grapes and lower alcohol wine. That sounds like a great combo to me.
Monday, September 17, 2007
First Offer Letters Out
We dropped the first round of offer letters for our fall release in the mail this morning. Our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Uvas Creek Vineyard is officially released.
I had to cut down the number of people being offered 6 packs this time around to about 90. This first round of mailers went to those allocated a 6 pack. The remaining 170 or so letters have already been completed and we will drop those in the mail next Monday. Those letters will go to everyone allocated a 3 pack.
We expect to start shipping right around October 1st. We are also offering people the opportunity to pick up their wine in person for this release at Chaine d'Or. We'll have the winery open on November 17th as 'Pick Up Day".
The fax machine should start to go off tomorrow night and be going full force on Wednesday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll be able to get wine to everyone who wants it this time around.
I had to cut down the number of people being offered 6 packs this time around to about 90. This first round of mailers went to those allocated a 6 pack. The remaining 170 or so letters have already been completed and we will drop those in the mail next Monday. Those letters will go to everyone allocated a 3 pack.
We expect to start shipping right around October 1st. We are also offering people the opportunity to pick up their wine in person for this release at Chaine d'Or. We'll have the winery open on November 17th as 'Pick Up Day".
The fax machine should start to go off tomorrow night and be going full force on Wednesday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll be able to get wine to everyone who wants it this time around.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Weekend Update
It's been another busy weekend. My phone actually rings more on the weekends now than during the week. There was a little break Saturday. I had planned on harvesting Syrah and Grenache from the home vineyard, but it's just not where I want it yet, so I was able to sleep in on Saturday for a few hours.
At 11:30 though we had an appointment to visit a new vineyard site. It's about 4 acres in Los Altos Hills that would be planted next year. The site is on a very nice hill with southern exposure. We met with the general contractor and will decide this week if we take the project or not.
Then it was up to the winery. We had a little clean up work to do after the move in and I wanted to get all the barrels marked off and topped up. We had visitors who wanted to ask questions about getting started in the wine business. We had a fun time, and finished up our work after they had gone, getting home by 6pm.
Today Millie and I headed off to the Harrison vineyard to replant three plants and tie up the new little plants. They seem to be doing very well and a few have even reached the cordon wire. Next we drove to the Elandrich vineyard to check on the grapes.
They look amazing. This really looks like it's going to be a great year. The clusters are small, tight, and clean. The colors look great and the flavors are intense already. The Zinfandel tested at 23.1 BRIX and the Merlot at 22.0. It looks like 3 week until we'll harvest the Zin and 4 weeks for the Merlot. That's on track with what we saw at Chaine d'Or on Saturday. I didn't take BRIX levels, but the Cabernet tasted and looked like it was 4-5 weeks away.
That break will be good, because we're spending the afternoon stuffing envelopes with our fall release letters. We're also going to go check out the Almaden Art and Wine festival. I'm not a big fan of Art and Wine festivals, but this one is the closest to our home, and since we're are the only winery in the area, we're going to see if we want to set up next year. The last task for the day will be visiting the annual Friends of the Winemakers meeting at 4PM. Hopefully a good nights sleep and then off to the 'full time' job on Monday!
At 11:30 though we had an appointment to visit a new vineyard site. It's about 4 acres in Los Altos Hills that would be planted next year. The site is on a very nice hill with southern exposure. We met with the general contractor and will decide this week if we take the project or not.
Then it was up to the winery. We had a little clean up work to do after the move in and I wanted to get all the barrels marked off and topped up. We had visitors who wanted to ask questions about getting started in the wine business. We had a fun time, and finished up our work after they had gone, getting home by 6pm.
Today Millie and I headed off to the Harrison vineyard to replant three plants and tie up the new little plants. They seem to be doing very well and a few have even reached the cordon wire. Next we drove to the Elandrich vineyard to check on the grapes.
They look amazing. This really looks like it's going to be a great year. The clusters are small, tight, and clean. The colors look great and the flavors are intense already. The Zinfandel tested at 23.1 BRIX and the Merlot at 22.0. It looks like 3 week until we'll harvest the Zin and 4 weeks for the Merlot. That's on track with what we saw at Chaine d'Or on Saturday. I didn't take BRIX levels, but the Cabernet tasted and looked like it was 4-5 weeks away.
That break will be good, because we're spending the afternoon stuffing envelopes with our fall release letters. We're also going to go check out the Almaden Art and Wine festival. I'm not a big fan of Art and Wine festivals, but this one is the closest to our home, and since we're are the only winery in the area, we're going to see if we want to set up next year. The last task for the day will be visiting the annual Friends of the Winemakers meeting at 4PM. Hopefully a good nights sleep and then off to the 'full time' job on Monday!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The First Late Night of the Harvest Season
And it wasn't harvesting.........
Tuesday night we received all our 2006 wines in barrel. They had come from the facility we had them stored at to Chaine d'Or. We decided to move them to make bottling easier in the spring and fall. This way we'll have everything together when it's time to bottle and be able to make bottling decisions based on what's best for the wine and our schedule.
As with most things related to wine making, it was mostly about logistics. Unfortunately the logistics got off to a very rough start. Some how my written instructions to "Call me after Tuesday to set up a delivery time", got translated too "Put the wine on a truck on Tuesday."
So after getting a phone call at 10AM we were able to set up a 4:30 drop off time. That gave us just enough time to rush to the winery and start moving empty barrels around to make room for the full barrels arriving. We finished at 5:10 PM. And then waited and waited and waited and finally at 8:50 PM the truck showed up.
More logistical problems to deal with. Some of the racks were not the right type for our forklift, and other were stacked in a pyramid, which will not work in the winery. So we scrambled and worked and lifted and improvised and racked wine into new barrels and sent Millie out on a dinner run and finally sometime after midnight got everything put in the winery and in its place.
We did manage to take samples from each barrel though and I'll have tasting notes on the wines up shortly and the wines are safe and resting in our new home.
Tuesday night we received all our 2006 wines in barrel. They had come from the facility we had them stored at to Chaine d'Or. We decided to move them to make bottling easier in the spring and fall. This way we'll have everything together when it's time to bottle and be able to make bottling decisions based on what's best for the wine and our schedule.
As with most things related to wine making, it was mostly about logistics. Unfortunately the logistics got off to a very rough start. Some how my written instructions to "Call me after Tuesday to set up a delivery time", got translated too "Put the wine on a truck on Tuesday."
So after getting a phone call at 10AM we were able to set up a 4:30 drop off time. That gave us just enough time to rush to the winery and start moving empty barrels around to make room for the full barrels arriving. We finished at 5:10 PM. And then waited and waited and waited and finally at 8:50 PM the truck showed up.
More logistical problems to deal with. Some of the racks were not the right type for our forklift, and other were stacked in a pyramid, which will not work in the winery. So we scrambled and worked and lifted and improvised and racked wine into new barrels and sent Millie out on a dinner run and finally sometime after midnight got everything put in the winery and in its place.
We did manage to take samples from each barrel though and I'll have tasting notes on the wines up shortly and the wines are safe and resting in our new home.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Harvest already?
I was really surprised to read today that many people are already starting harvest. And not just in hot areas, or for early grapes like Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. There are actually vineyards in Napa harvesting Cabernet Sauvignon, which should normally be about the last grape to come in.
This seems way too early to me. I'm still several weeks away from having anything ready to pick, and it will likely be the end of September early October before we pick most of our vineyards. Chaine d'Or should be the last, probably around the 15th of October. Early than 2005 or 2006, but still 'normal'.
I wondered as I read the reports if people aren't in a bit of a panic. We've had a string of hot days and sugars have started to climb. The grapes taste good, but I think are still a few weeks away. It reminds me a little of 2003, when we had a heat wave in mid September and a lot of people picked early. Many people I talked with were sorry they did that.
This time of year is the great test of nerves for winemakers and growers. You worry and worry about the grapes getting too ripe, or having late season problems and loosing everything. But you have to be patient, you've got to wait for the right time. It's hard on the guts and the heart, but you've got to do it.
This seems way too early to me. I'm still several weeks away from having anything ready to pick, and it will likely be the end of September early October before we pick most of our vineyards. Chaine d'Or should be the last, probably around the 15th of October. Early than 2005 or 2006, but still 'normal'.
I wondered as I read the reports if people aren't in a bit of a panic. We've had a string of hot days and sugars have started to climb. The grapes taste good, but I think are still a few weeks away. It reminds me a little of 2003, when we had a heat wave in mid September and a lot of people picked early. Many people I talked with were sorry they did that.
This time of year is the great test of nerves for winemakers and growers. You worry and worry about the grapes getting too ripe, or having late season problems and loosing everything. But you have to be patient, you've got to wait for the right time. It's hard on the guts and the heart, but you've got to do it.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Fall Newsletter
Dear Friends,
So much has happened since the last time we wrote to all of you it's hard to know where to start! It's been a busy few months and a fantastic summer for growing grapes. We're excited with everything that's happened so far this year and excited for the upcoming harvest.
If you have signed up to receive an order form we will be mailing them starting the week of September 10th. We are going to do two waves this year. Those higher on the 'points' list will get their letters first, and the second wave will follow the week of the 17th. This spring there was a flurry of sign ups right after letters went out, so if that happens again, and we have wine left, there will be a final chance offering on September 24th.
We sold out in just about 5 weeks last time, and we think it may be as fast as two weeks this time based on the growth of our mailing list. We are so grateful for the support you've given us!
We expect to start shipping during the last week of October as the weather cools and the harvest activity slows down. Just like before, the order form will contain details on allocations, shipping and ordering. Shipping in particular has some big changes, as we've tried to make it even easier (and lower priced).
Summer News
And what news we have! First, our vineyard management business is booming! We have added a new vineyard in Morgan Hill that will start producing Cabernet Sauvignon in 2009 and a Syrah vineyard in Los Altos Hills that will start producing in 2010. We have several other projects lined up for 2008 and beyond.
All this new work has allowed us to add our first real employee. Our good friend Millie Ottinger is joining us for 20 hours a week starting this fall. Millie is a journeyman carpenter and electrician and loves working in the vineyard. She'll take on the role of Vineyard Construction Foreman and Assistant Vineyard Manager. Her email will be millie@stefaniawine.com. Millie's been helping us out for a few years now in the vineyard and knows exactly how we like to farm our vineyards.
We got the chance to get out and meet many of you this summer on our "Summer Tour 2007." We stopped in Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago. We had such a great time at each event and really loved being able to preview our new wines. We're already looking forward to "Summer Tour 2008"! Well, maybe “Spring Tour” when it’s a little cooler. We are also going to try and get to Dallas this fall or winter since so many of you live in the Dallas area.
Of course the REALLY BIG NEWS we already shared with you is that we're now running Chaine d'Or. Paul started working with Jerry and Anne Anderson a few harvests ago as "Crushman". They've helped us along and taught us so much over the years. This summer Anne and Jerry decided to retire and asked us to take over the vineyard and winery. We are so excited and grateful we can't even begin to tell you. The winery is absolutely state of the art and first class. We'll be releasing the wines we helped on and Jerry and Anne finished, under the "Chaine d'Or" label. Starting with the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon we'll be releasing the wines as Stefania Wine, Chaine d'Or Vineyard.
The winery is located about 25 minutes north of San Jose, and about 20 minutes south of the San Francisco Airport. I know many of you fly into SFO on visits, and now there's no excuse to not stop by for a tour and some tasting. Just let us know in advance and we'll set up a visit for you!
Fall Release
This Fall we'll be releasing our 2005 Uvas Creek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard is located on the gravelly banks of Uvas Creek in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. It lays just outside the approved AVA for Santa Cruz Mountains wines, in the Santa Clara Valley AVA. We're very happy with how this wine has turned out and feedback has been great!
Like our 2005 Syrah this wine is round and well balanced, with really great notes of currant, black cherry, spices, vanilla and cigars. It will need about 20 minutes in the decanter if you open it now. I'm going to tell people to open it now or over the next 5-7 years. We have heard from some of you though that you think the wine has the backbone for much longer aging.
We are also scrambling to offer the 2006 Chaine d'Or Chardonnay in time for the fall. The wine is ready for release, but we don't know if we'll have all the shipping permits in place in the next few weeks. We may be able to offer it only to those of you in California this fall. We will have it in our Spring Release though for sure.
Harvest Update
Right now we're in a mini heat wave, with temperatures in the 90's and great sunshine. It looks like harvest will be a few weeks earlier than 2005 or 2006, both of which were 'late' years. It looks like 2007 will be a 'normal year'. We expect to start picking grapes at home in mid-September. The commercial picks will probably start the first week of October.
We have a lot of grapes coming in this year. We're planning on at least 12 tons, or 6 times more than just two years ago. We should end up making 750 cases. We will be returning to Eaglepoint Ranch for Syrah, and Uvas Creek for Cabernet Sauvignon. We will also be back to Martin Ranch/Harvest Moon for Cabernet Sauvignon and a new addition for 2007, Cabernet Franc. Stefania has wanted to make a Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Franc since we started, and this year we will have the space to try it. We will also be harvesting the Cabernet Sauvignon at Chaine d'Or and Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel from our own vineyards. Finally, Jim Schultze at Windy Oaks, has agreed to sell us some of his fantastic Pinot Noir in 2007. We have been after this Pinot Noir since we started making wine and are excited to get some this year.
Our plan is to make 5 different wines in 2007 plus our Haut Tubee. There will be vineyard designate wines from Eaglepoint Ranch, Uvas Creek and Chaine d'Or. We will also have Santa Cruz Mountains designate Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Plans for 2008
Settling in to Chaine d'Or and getting used to running the winery is our top goal in 2008. We plan on producing about 1200 cases next year. We will have a couple of new vineyard sources next year as we take on some new vineyard projects and older projects start producing fruit. We're going to try and balance all this into making 7-8 different wines going forward, and getting case production to about 3000 total. We'd like to keep our releases to 3-4 wines twice per year.
Upcoming Events
If you would like to come to our annual Harvest Party please send us a note. It looks like it will be Saturday October 13th in our backyard. We'll have our usual grape stomp and pumpkin patch at the party plus lots of great food and wine.
November 10th we'll be hosting a Friends of the Winemakers (FOW) dinner. FOW is a local group dedicated to preserving the history of winemaking in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley. Tickets will be $45 and include four courses paired with our wines. Space is very limited. Please contact us if you would like ticket information.
November 17th we will participate in Passport Days in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We'll be open to the public at Chaine d'Or. Paul will be providing barrel tasting for members of the Stefania Wine mailing list. If you stop by please let us know you are on the list for samples of our 2006 wines from barrel and a tour of the winery. Chaine d'Or is open only on Passport Days and Vintner’s Festival days, usually four days per year. We will be open by appointment, exclusively to members of our mailing list. If you would like to plan a visit please call us at 408-242-8598 or email Paul at paul@stefaniawine.com.
Cheers and thank you all for your continued support!
Stefania and Paul
So much has happened since the last time we wrote to all of you it's hard to know where to start! It's been a busy few months and a fantastic summer for growing grapes. We're excited with everything that's happened so far this year and excited for the upcoming harvest.
If you have signed up to receive an order form we will be mailing them starting the week of September 10th. We are going to do two waves this year. Those higher on the 'points' list will get their letters first, and the second wave will follow the week of the 17th. This spring there was a flurry of sign ups right after letters went out, so if that happens again, and we have wine left, there will be a final chance offering on September 24th.
We sold out in just about 5 weeks last time, and we think it may be as fast as two weeks this time based on the growth of our mailing list. We are so grateful for the support you've given us!
We expect to start shipping during the last week of October as the weather cools and the harvest activity slows down. Just like before, the order form will contain details on allocations, shipping and ordering. Shipping in particular has some big changes, as we've tried to make it even easier (and lower priced).
Summer News
And what news we have! First, our vineyard management business is booming! We have added a new vineyard in Morgan Hill that will start producing Cabernet Sauvignon in 2009 and a Syrah vineyard in Los Altos Hills that will start producing in 2010. We have several other projects lined up for 2008 and beyond.
All this new work has allowed us to add our first real employee. Our good friend Millie Ottinger is joining us for 20 hours a week starting this fall. Millie is a journeyman carpenter and electrician and loves working in the vineyard. She'll take on the role of Vineyard Construction Foreman and Assistant Vineyard Manager. Her email will be millie@stefaniawine.com. Millie's been helping us out for a few years now in the vineyard and knows exactly how we like to farm our vineyards.
We got the chance to get out and meet many of you this summer on our "Summer Tour 2007." We stopped in Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago. We had such a great time at each event and really loved being able to preview our new wines. We're already looking forward to "Summer Tour 2008"! Well, maybe “Spring Tour” when it’s a little cooler. We are also going to try and get to Dallas this fall or winter since so many of you live in the Dallas area.
Of course the REALLY BIG NEWS we already shared with you is that we're now running Chaine d'Or. Paul started working with Jerry and Anne Anderson a few harvests ago as "Crushman". They've helped us along and taught us so much over the years. This summer Anne and Jerry decided to retire and asked us to take over the vineyard and winery. We are so excited and grateful we can't even begin to tell you. The winery is absolutely state of the art and first class. We'll be releasing the wines we helped on and Jerry and Anne finished, under the "Chaine d'Or" label. Starting with the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon we'll be releasing the wines as Stefania Wine, Chaine d'Or Vineyard.
The winery is located about 25 minutes north of San Jose, and about 20 minutes south of the San Francisco Airport. I know many of you fly into SFO on visits, and now there's no excuse to not stop by for a tour and some tasting. Just let us know in advance and we'll set up a visit for you!
Fall Release
This Fall we'll be releasing our 2005 Uvas Creek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard is located on the gravelly banks of Uvas Creek in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. It lays just outside the approved AVA for Santa Cruz Mountains wines, in the Santa Clara Valley AVA. We're very happy with how this wine has turned out and feedback has been great!
Like our 2005 Syrah this wine is round and well balanced, with really great notes of currant, black cherry, spices, vanilla and cigars. It will need about 20 minutes in the decanter if you open it now. I'm going to tell people to open it now or over the next 5-7 years. We have heard from some of you though that you think the wine has the backbone for much longer aging.
We are also scrambling to offer the 2006 Chaine d'Or Chardonnay in time for the fall. The wine is ready for release, but we don't know if we'll have all the shipping permits in place in the next few weeks. We may be able to offer it only to those of you in California this fall. We will have it in our Spring Release though for sure.
Harvest Update
Right now we're in a mini heat wave, with temperatures in the 90's and great sunshine. It looks like harvest will be a few weeks earlier than 2005 or 2006, both of which were 'late' years. It looks like 2007 will be a 'normal year'. We expect to start picking grapes at home in mid-September. The commercial picks will probably start the first week of October.
We have a lot of grapes coming in this year. We're planning on at least 12 tons, or 6 times more than just two years ago. We should end up making 750 cases. We will be returning to Eaglepoint Ranch for Syrah, and Uvas Creek for Cabernet Sauvignon. We will also be back to Martin Ranch/Harvest Moon for Cabernet Sauvignon and a new addition for 2007, Cabernet Franc. Stefania has wanted to make a Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Franc since we started, and this year we will have the space to try it. We will also be harvesting the Cabernet Sauvignon at Chaine d'Or and Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel from our own vineyards. Finally, Jim Schultze at Windy Oaks, has agreed to sell us some of his fantastic Pinot Noir in 2007. We have been after this Pinot Noir since we started making wine and are excited to get some this year.
Our plan is to make 5 different wines in 2007 plus our Haut Tubee. There will be vineyard designate wines from Eaglepoint Ranch, Uvas Creek and Chaine d'Or. We will also have Santa Cruz Mountains designate Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Plans for 2008
Settling in to Chaine d'Or and getting used to running the winery is our top goal in 2008. We plan on producing about 1200 cases next year. We will have a couple of new vineyard sources next year as we take on some new vineyard projects and older projects start producing fruit. We're going to try and balance all this into making 7-8 different wines going forward, and getting case production to about 3000 total. We'd like to keep our releases to 3-4 wines twice per year.
Upcoming Events
If you would like to come to our annual Harvest Party please send us a note. It looks like it will be Saturday October 13th in our backyard. We'll have our usual grape stomp and pumpkin patch at the party plus lots of great food and wine.
November 10th we'll be hosting a Friends of the Winemakers (FOW) dinner. FOW is a local group dedicated to preserving the history of winemaking in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley. Tickets will be $45 and include four courses paired with our wines. Space is very limited. Please contact us if you would like ticket information.
November 17th we will participate in Passport Days in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We'll be open to the public at Chaine d'Or. Paul will be providing barrel tasting for members of the Stefania Wine mailing list. If you stop by please let us know you are on the list for samples of our 2006 wines from barrel and a tour of the winery. Chaine d'Or is open only on Passport Days and Vintner’s Festival days, usually four days per year. We will be open by appointment, exclusively to members of our mailing list. If you would like to plan a visit please call us at 408-242-8598 or email Paul at paul@stefaniawine.com.
Cheers and thank you all for your continued support!
Stefania and Paul
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Planes, Trains and Stagecoaches
We're off on our summer tour and it's very likely the next few blogs will just have a tiny bit more to do with travel than wine.
Friday we flew out on Southwest from San Jose to Baltimore. Now I actually like Southwest. I know some people hate it, but to me it's an airline that doesn't pretend it's going to treat you nice, it's honest about the service it offers. A bag of peanuts and a seat that's what you get.
The other airlines pretend like they are going to give you more, but in the end, you get a bag of peanuts and a seat. Plus the latest I've ever been on Southwest is 35 minutes. On Northwest I've only had delays of less than four hours about 25% of the time. SO they get me there, it's on time, and they are honest. Good enough for me.
On this last trip though, wedged in the tiny seat, I started to think of all the transportation I've ever taken and where an airplane ranks. I've never been on a camel, or an elephant, but I have been on a horse and a stagecoach. So a plane is definitely less comfortable than a bus or a train. Then I tried to rank it????
It came in at the stagecoach level. Well kind of. Riding on top of a stage coach is not bad, you can see the bumps coming. Inside a stagecoach though is hot, stuffy, small and bumpy. So that's it. A plane is definitely better than taking a stagecoach. At leas if you have to ride inside the stagecoach.
Friday we flew out on Southwest from San Jose to Baltimore. Now I actually like Southwest. I know some people hate it, but to me it's an airline that doesn't pretend it's going to treat you nice, it's honest about the service it offers. A bag of peanuts and a seat that's what you get.
The other airlines pretend like they are going to give you more, but in the end, you get a bag of peanuts and a seat. Plus the latest I've ever been on Southwest is 35 minutes. On Northwest I've only had delays of less than four hours about 25% of the time. SO they get me there, it's on time, and they are honest. Good enough for me.
On this last trip though, wedged in the tiny seat, I started to think of all the transportation I've ever taken and where an airplane ranks. I've never been on a camel, or an elephant, but I have been on a horse and a stagecoach. So a plane is definitely less comfortable than a bus or a train. Then I tried to rank it????
It came in at the stagecoach level. Well kind of. Riding on top of a stage coach is not bad, you can see the bumps coming. Inside a stagecoach though is hot, stuffy, small and bumpy. So that's it. A plane is definitely better than taking a stagecoach. At leas if you have to ride inside the stagecoach.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Beta Testing
Last night we went out to dinner at Sent Sovi in Saratoga. The idea was to try all our wines with some good food before we go out visiting people next week. A 'Beta Test'. I wanted to know how everything was doing before I opened it for other people.
The dinner at Sent Sovi was actually very good and service was wonderful. There was a wild mushroom course in particular that was very good.
We opened four wines. I checked in on the 2005 Syrah since it had been over a month since we'd had it. Doing fine and hitting a good spot now. I also opened the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. It needs 30 minutes in a decanter right now. Not yet ready for release, but I think we knew it would be like that. We're not planning on sending out for a few months still. With the decanter time it showed really well and I think everyone will really enjoy this wine next week as we open it for the first time for people.
We also opened two mystery wines to try out. More news on those two wines coming soon, but we were pretty excited by how they tasted.
The staff at Sent Sovi tasted along with us and were very impressed. They asked us to come back and taste through with the owner and see about scheduling a winemakers dinner for us there sometime soon.
We ended up taking almost 4 hours to work through the wines and the courses and our small test group had a great time. I'm feeling really good about showing the wines next week.
The dinner at Sent Sovi was actually very good and service was wonderful. There was a wild mushroom course in particular that was very good.
We opened four wines. I checked in on the 2005 Syrah since it had been over a month since we'd had it. Doing fine and hitting a good spot now. I also opened the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. It needs 30 minutes in a decanter right now. Not yet ready for release, but I think we knew it would be like that. We're not planning on sending out for a few months still. With the decanter time it showed really well and I think everyone will really enjoy this wine next week as we open it for the first time for people.
We also opened two mystery wines to try out. More news on those two wines coming soon, but we were pretty excited by how they tasted.
The staff at Sent Sovi tasted along with us and were very impressed. They asked us to come back and taste through with the owner and see about scheduling a winemakers dinner for us there sometime soon.
We ended up taking almost 4 hours to work through the wines and the courses and our small test group had a great time. I'm feeling really good about showing the wines next week.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Fall Mailers are Upon Us.
Today I got my first two mailers of the 'Fall'. On July 30th. Fall comes earlier than the Christmas season now, at least if your selling wine.
I understand the desire to get them out early. Beat the rush of other mailers that pile up for people is a big consideration I'm sure. The main thing though I think is to get orders and shipping done and taken care of for small operations. The mailers I got were from Loring Wine Company and Copain.
Both are bigger than us of course, but I know both are all hands on deck during the September and October harvest season. With everyone working in the winery crushing grapes and making wine, there will be no one left to answer emails, fix shipping issues, or process credit cards.
Stefania and I will be the same way. During October we won't have much time to tend to the business side of the business, it will be all about making wine. Our Fall Mailer will go out early too. Probably just another few weeks or right around Labor Day. We won't start shipping until after we've wrapped up harvesting, that way we'll have time to deal with any shipping issues, but the gap between taking orders and shipping is a gap we need to get other things done.
We're not pushing it into July, but I can sure understand why Brian Loring and Wells Guthrie want to.
I understand the desire to get them out early. Beat the rush of other mailers that pile up for people is a big consideration I'm sure. The main thing though I think is to get orders and shipping done and taken care of for small operations. The mailers I got were from Loring Wine Company and Copain.
Both are bigger than us of course, but I know both are all hands on deck during the September and October harvest season. With everyone working in the winery crushing grapes and making wine, there will be no one left to answer emails, fix shipping issues, or process credit cards.
Stefania and I will be the same way. During October we won't have much time to tend to the business side of the business, it will be all about making wine. Our Fall Mailer will go out early too. Probably just another few weeks or right around Labor Day. We won't start shipping until after we've wrapped up harvesting, that way we'll have time to deal with any shipping issues, but the gap between taking orders and shipping is a gap we need to get other things done.
We're not pushing it into July, but I can sure understand why Brian Loring and Wells Guthrie want to.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Last Chance 2005 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah
Stef and I stopped in last night at Unwined just off Almaden Expwy in South San Jose. http://www.unwinedshop.com/ It's a great little wine bar / shop about 4 miles from our home. They always have interesting flights of wine, nice small tapas style plates of food, and 2-3 tv's to watch sports (or Oprah) on.
We had the "Mendocino White's" flight and the "Unusual Red's" flight and a plate of cheese and salami. All very nice.
Unwined still has 4-5 bottles left of our 2005 Syrah Eaglepoint Ranch. We left them with some after our release party, so that I didn't have to carry an open case back to the storage facility. This is the very last available 2005 Syrah, everything else is gone or on restaurant wine lists. Unwined is selling it at release price of $35, so if you'd like to pick up one more bottle, give them a call at 408-323-WINE.
We had the "Mendocino White's" flight and the "Unusual Red's" flight and a plate of cheese and salami. All very nice.
Unwined still has 4-5 bottles left of our 2005 Syrah Eaglepoint Ranch. We left them with some after our release party, so that I didn't have to carry an open case back to the storage facility. This is the very last available 2005 Syrah, everything else is gone or on restaurant wine lists. Unwined is selling it at release price of $35, so if you'd like to pick up one more bottle, give them a call at 408-323-WINE.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Los Altos Vineyard Update.
Millie, Stef and I completed construction on the Los Altos vineyard project Sunday morning. It's a small project. Eleven rows, about 175 plants on a 1/4 acre, but when combined with the Elandrich vineyard should make enough fruit for 3-4 barrels of wine in 4-5 years.
We're putting in Syrah on a 5 wire trellis system with 6 x 8 spacing. The plants will go in on Friday and Saturday and we'll finish up a few remaining tasks then. The site is about 500 feet from the old Page Mill Winery site and should be a great spot to grow Syrah.
The project was a little rough starting out. We wanted to start in early May, but the homeowner wasn't ready for us. That put a serious kink in the schedule. We have a little gap in Mid May through Mid June when flowering is going on to do construction on new vineyards. As soon as flowering completes though we have to stop whatever is going on and go 'green prune' and tie up the existing vineyards.
So right after getting in the end posts on this project we had to stop for three weeks as we took care of the other vineyards. Last week we were able to get back out and finish up. Stef should have photos soon.
Millie, Stef and I completed construction on the Los Altos vineyard project Sunday morning. It's a small project. Eleven rows, about 175 plants on a 1/4 acre, but when combined with the Elandrich vineyard should make enough fruit for 3-4 barrels of wine in 4-5 years.
We're putting in Syrah on a 5 wire trellis system with 6 x 8 spacing. The plants will go in on Friday and Saturday and we'll finish up a few remaining tasks then. The site is about 500 feet from the old Page Mill Winery site and should be a great spot to grow Syrah.
The project was a little rough starting out. We wanted to start in early May, but the homeowner wasn't ready for us. That put a serious kink in the schedule. We have a little gap in Mid May through Mid June when flowering is going on to do construction on new vineyards. As soon as flowering completes though we have to stop whatever is going on and go 'green prune' and tie up the existing vineyards.
So right after getting in the end posts on this project we had to stop for three weeks as we took care of the other vineyards. Last week we were able to get back out and finish up. Stef should have photos soon.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Burgers and Bordeaux
Today we'll be hosting our 5th annual "Burgers and Bordeaux".
It was an idea 5 years ago to de-mystify wine in general and French wine in particular. Bordeaux was the perfect subject. Many new wine drinkers are afraid to try French wines, or find wine naming in general confusing. We work off a simple theme: We taste wines of each of the five grapes used in Bordeaux; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petite Verdot and Malbec. Then we taste blends of those grapes from around the world, including many Bordeaux's.
It gives every one a chance to taste each part of the blend on it's own and see what it brings, and how the sum of parts can be greater than the individual grapes. Many people are afraid to get away from varieties they know, and this is a chance to explore blends. It also is an easy environment to learn in and take some of the fluff away from wine.
The "Burgers" portion of the BBQ plays an important part in that. I hate that people obsess over the "perfect pairing". There is no such thing. Time, place, mood, preperation and a hundred other factors make the interplay of wine and food unique each time you do it. Forget about "perfect", go for "fun". What's more fun than burgers on the Forth of July? The burgers also let people know, it's ok to have wine, even great wine, with any food you'd like.
So we'll relax on this 4th of July with a casual BBQ, good friends, and good wine. No fluff, no pretense, no anxiety. Just the way we like wine.
It was an idea 5 years ago to de-mystify wine in general and French wine in particular. Bordeaux was the perfect subject. Many new wine drinkers are afraid to try French wines, or find wine naming in general confusing. We work off a simple theme: We taste wines of each of the five grapes used in Bordeaux; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petite Verdot and Malbec. Then we taste blends of those grapes from around the world, including many Bordeaux's.
It gives every one a chance to taste each part of the blend on it's own and see what it brings, and how the sum of parts can be greater than the individual grapes. Many people are afraid to get away from varieties they know, and this is a chance to explore blends. It also is an easy environment to learn in and take some of the fluff away from wine.
The "Burgers" portion of the BBQ plays an important part in that. I hate that people obsess over the "perfect pairing". There is no such thing. Time, place, mood, preperation and a hundred other factors make the interplay of wine and food unique each time you do it. Forget about "perfect", go for "fun". What's more fun than burgers on the Forth of July? The burgers also let people know, it's ok to have wine, even great wine, with any food you'd like.
So we'll relax on this 4th of July with a casual BBQ, good friends, and good wine. No fluff, no pretense, no anxiety. Just the way we like wine.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Two Worlds of Wine
Last week Stef and I were guests at a lovely dinner hosted by a local professional organization. They asked us to pair wines with a three course dinner, including our Syrah, and speak about each pairing.
It was a real fun night and the group was very enthusiastic. They had great questions and treated us like celebrities. We chatted away for several hours after the event was supposed to wrap up. It was the type of nice event we're starting to get more often now where people are so excited to meet the winemaker. I had a blast.
Sunday I was out in the hot sun. Me and Millie and a crew of two helpers. We were digging post holes and setting the end posts for the new vineyard in Los Altos Hills. At one point one of the holes was not aligned right and I picked up a shovel and expanded it out, digging down 3 feet in the rough mix of hard clay and rocks.
This is in a little suburban area, so there was lots of foot traffic (and horse traffic) going by as we worked. A couple people stopped, one to ask directions and one to ask if it was a vineyard we were putting in. As I held the shovel, I thought of the Thursday night event. What a totally different world. The glamour of the wine dinner vs. the business end of a shovel on a hot day. I think I'm lucky though, I enjoy doing both.
It was a real fun night and the group was very enthusiastic. They had great questions and treated us like celebrities. We chatted away for several hours after the event was supposed to wrap up. It was the type of nice event we're starting to get more often now where people are so excited to meet the winemaker. I had a blast.
Sunday I was out in the hot sun. Me and Millie and a crew of two helpers. We were digging post holes and setting the end posts for the new vineyard in Los Altos Hills. At one point one of the holes was not aligned right and I picked up a shovel and expanded it out, digging down 3 feet in the rough mix of hard clay and rocks.
This is in a little suburban area, so there was lots of foot traffic (and horse traffic) going by as we worked. A couple people stopped, one to ask directions and one to ask if it was a vineyard we were putting in. As I held the shovel, I thought of the Thursday night event. What a totally different world. The glamour of the wine dinner vs. the business end of a shovel on a hot day. I think I'm lucky though, I enjoy doing both.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Here's what I've seen so far. Although I've followed the situation in other areas I've only talked in detail with growers in my area, and Casey Hartlip at Eaglepoint Ranch in Mendocino. Keep that in mind as the situation can be very different in different parts of the state.
So far 2007 has been the easiest year I've seen since I've started in 2001. There actually have been comparisons to 1997, which was also viewed as easy.
So what does easy mean?
It means that there has been a leisurely pace to vineyard work and no unusual actions needed in the vineyard. At this stage in the growing season you're looking at four main themes:
1. disease pressure - mildew2. potential yields3. green growth or vigor4. water stress and situation for the remainder of the growing season.
1. disease pressure. Mildew pressure has been the lowest I've ever seen. Many have cut back their spraying drastically. Casey didn't do his first spraying until May. Only Bradley Brown at Big Basin Vineyards has told be he's seen any pressure this year, and he zapped it early with oil.
Spraying has also been very easy. 2005 in particular and a lesser amount in 2006 were difficult years. The rain patterns often had us out 2-3 times a week. This year we've been able to stay on an every 2 weeks schedule. You have to spray after each rain if you use organics or time your spraying for dry periods with systemics. In 2005 and 2006 the weather drove us nuts. We'd spray, it would rain, then not give enough gap between rain to get another spray to set. To make matters worse there would be calm periods between storms, which lets Powdery Mildew thrive. It meant a lot of work, and some growers still had Powdery Mildew problems in both years, and black rot problems in 2006. It was a challenge and although the best growers brought in good healthy grapes, it was still a lot of work.
This year we've had rain, gone out and sprayed, the wind kicks up (which helps prevent Powdery Mildew) and then relaxed until the next spraying was needed.
The net result? Healthy flowering, fruit set and cluster size. Potential yields look good, and unless something dramatic happens in the summer, we're not worried about mildews and rots.
2. Potential yields - At this point in the season yields look good. Some plants are throwing 3rd clusters, but not many. Flowering is still underway but set appears good and the plants healthy. Good growers will drop 3rd clusters which tend to not catch up, but every thing was very even this year. Plants flowered and set all together, which leads to even ripeness.
3. Green Growth - Vigor. This was the demon in 2005. The rain patterns lead to excessive growth. That encouraged Powdery Mildew, and meant many growers had to increase their farming labor 25-75%. There was a lot of work to do to bring in healthy grapes and balance vines.
This year the plants have been late, 1-2 weeks, but even and controlled in their growth. I've had to do no shoot thinning or lateral removal before flowering. In 2005 I had to make 2 complete passes through the vineyards.
I've also had very little need to remove excess buds or double shoots. The plants have just been balanced and not needed extra fussing. The lateness is not a concern to anyone I've talked with, or myself. We're not pushing things severely like 1998 or 1999, it just looks like 1-2 weeks later than normal, or about the same as last year.
Although we have only seen one heat spike, our degree days seem fine, and the heat is really needed over the 90 days following flowering. The entire summer is ahead of us, and it is possible we'll have lower alcohol, lower pH wines again in 2007, like 2005 and 2006, but that will play out in July and August. No one is concerned on not getting grapes ripe.
4. Water stress and situation for the remainder of the growing season.
It has been a drought year, with rainfall at 30-50% of normal in many locations. I've turned on my drip systems later than I have in the last few years. In 2005 I had them off all season. Still the amount has been small 1/2 gallon per week and precautionary.
Others are doing the same. No one seems particularly worried, just cautious in getting water in the ground. We've seen no drought stress at this time. If things get really hot this summer it could be a concern. Those on reservoir water are worried that they can make it through a hot summer with the water on hand, but thus far it's not been an issue.
So overall? 'Easy'. The year is off to a good start, and for consumers I think it looks particularly good. Both 2005 and 2006 were challenging years. The kind that took hard work in the vineyards and separates the good growers and winemakers from the average. Maybe a little like 2003 in Bordeaux, where some made great wines, and some struggled.
2007 is off to a start like 2000 Bordeaux, the kind of vintage that lifts everyone and makes the average good, and the good great. BUT, the real work and risk is ahead. There's a long summer to get through, and the Fall is always key to quality.
(Also posted on Wine Spectator Forums)
So far 2007 has been the easiest year I've seen since I've started in 2001. There actually have been comparisons to 1997, which was also viewed as easy.
So what does easy mean?
It means that there has been a leisurely pace to vineyard work and no unusual actions needed in the vineyard. At this stage in the growing season you're looking at four main themes:
1. disease pressure - mildew2. potential yields3. green growth or vigor4. water stress and situation for the remainder of the growing season.
1. disease pressure. Mildew pressure has been the lowest I've ever seen. Many have cut back their spraying drastically. Casey didn't do his first spraying until May. Only Bradley Brown at Big Basin Vineyards has told be he's seen any pressure this year, and he zapped it early with oil.
Spraying has also been very easy. 2005 in particular and a lesser amount in 2006 were difficult years. The rain patterns often had us out 2-3 times a week. This year we've been able to stay on an every 2 weeks schedule. You have to spray after each rain if you use organics or time your spraying for dry periods with systemics. In 2005 and 2006 the weather drove us nuts. We'd spray, it would rain, then not give enough gap between rain to get another spray to set. To make matters worse there would be calm periods between storms, which lets Powdery Mildew thrive. It meant a lot of work, and some growers still had Powdery Mildew problems in both years, and black rot problems in 2006. It was a challenge and although the best growers brought in good healthy grapes, it was still a lot of work.
This year we've had rain, gone out and sprayed, the wind kicks up (which helps prevent Powdery Mildew) and then relaxed until the next spraying was needed.
The net result? Healthy flowering, fruit set and cluster size. Potential yields look good, and unless something dramatic happens in the summer, we're not worried about mildews and rots.
2. Potential yields - At this point in the season yields look good. Some plants are throwing 3rd clusters, but not many. Flowering is still underway but set appears good and the plants healthy. Good growers will drop 3rd clusters which tend to not catch up, but every thing was very even this year. Plants flowered and set all together, which leads to even ripeness.
3. Green Growth - Vigor. This was the demon in 2005. The rain patterns lead to excessive growth. That encouraged Powdery Mildew, and meant many growers had to increase their farming labor 25-75%. There was a lot of work to do to bring in healthy grapes and balance vines.
This year the plants have been late, 1-2 weeks, but even and controlled in their growth. I've had to do no shoot thinning or lateral removal before flowering. In 2005 I had to make 2 complete passes through the vineyards.
I've also had very little need to remove excess buds or double shoots. The plants have just been balanced and not needed extra fussing. The lateness is not a concern to anyone I've talked with, or myself. We're not pushing things severely like 1998 or 1999, it just looks like 1-2 weeks later than normal, or about the same as last year.
Although we have only seen one heat spike, our degree days seem fine, and the heat is really needed over the 90 days following flowering. The entire summer is ahead of us, and it is possible we'll have lower alcohol, lower pH wines again in 2007, like 2005 and 2006, but that will play out in July and August. No one is concerned on not getting grapes ripe.
4. Water stress and situation for the remainder of the growing season.
It has been a drought year, with rainfall at 30-50% of normal in many locations. I've turned on my drip systems later than I have in the last few years. In 2005 I had them off all season. Still the amount has been small 1/2 gallon per week and precautionary.
Others are doing the same. No one seems particularly worried, just cautious in getting water in the ground. We've seen no drought stress at this time. If things get really hot this summer it could be a concern. Those on reservoir water are worried that they can make it through a hot summer with the water on hand, but thus far it's not been an issue.
So overall? 'Easy'. The year is off to a good start, and for consumers I think it looks particularly good. Both 2005 and 2006 were challenging years. The kind that took hard work in the vineyards and separates the good growers and winemakers from the average. Maybe a little like 2003 in Bordeaux, where some made great wines, and some struggled.
2007 is off to a start like 2000 Bordeaux, the kind of vintage that lifts everyone and makes the average good, and the good great. BUT, the real work and risk is ahead. There's a long summer to get through, and the Fall is always key to quality.
(Also posted on Wine Spectator Forums)
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