I'm on the verge of leaving the workforce and going full time as an entrepreneur. It occurred to me as I'm sitting at my day job that I should get a real clear picture of where we are in the wine business.
Not that I'm flaky or inattentive, but there are certain aspects to this that belong to Paul, in many ways I really am just the inspiration. He keeps good track of the business plan and where we are headed in terms of growth.
Today I've been asking questions and taking notes.
Total barrel counts are below for each vintage year.
2005 = 4 barrels (100 cases)
2006 = 14.5 barrels (363 cases)
2007 = 34 barrels (850 cases)
2008 = 51 planned (1275 cases)
Not that blogging about this is relevant, but I'm hoping that maybe if I put this down "on paper" it will become more tangible.
In many ways I'm looking forward to putting all of my energy into Stefania Wine, the vineyards, and the winery, it's an exciting change. It will be good to be more 'hands on' especially with the amount of growth planned for this years winemaking.
Bring it On!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
On Being a Foodie
Somebody once called me a Foodie, and initially I took offense to that. It wasn't until this last vacation trip that I realized perhaps I prefer being called a Foodie and not a Food Snob.
We took off on a recent Sunday, drove up 280, thru SF and made it to Fortuna, CA in time for lunch at the Eel River Brewery. Their table menu credo stated that their objective is to cook all food to order and deliver it fresh and delicious to your table, and that if you are not satisfied bla bla bla... The beers were really good, Paul ordered the Triple X and many of the servers were wearing logo shirts that said Climaxxx and Drink Naked - I think they thought they were being risque.
Anyhow, the food was mediocre, basic fish and chips, standard issue sausage sandwich and sides, not bad pub fare, but no "wow" factor. My inner food snob was taking notes.
Next stop, Brookings Oregon - we checked in to the Best Western on the beach front, with jacuzzi tub and a view (of the Army Corps of Engineers dredging boat dumping sand) and settled in with all our stuff. Paul wanted pizza after the long day of driving and found a place right there in the harbor or another just up the road claiming to also be a brewery. The joint in the harbor specialized in pizza by the slice and we immediately dismissed that and headed to the brew parlor.
Excited to have a fresh pizza pie made to order, I asked for "pepperoni, wine salami, sausage, tomatoes, and roasted green chilies". Yeah! The fact that I said salami tripped up the order taker, as it's listed under "W" for "Wine Salami" as shown on the menu board, so that's my fault for shortening it (still, don't all pizza places have salami and call it such?).
Now, as you all know, a pizza takes no less than 20 minutes, usually more like 35 on average, and yes, we did wait for a bit on the bartender to get us beers...but still. I had drunk not more than a few sips of a pint and our order was up. Huh. Paul fetched our to-go box, brought it back to our table, we swigged a few more gulps then took our pie to go (we had a bottle of SeaSmoke waiting for us back at the BW). Before leaving I peeked in the box and was sadly disappointed with the pie but too hungry to fuss with it - there was pepperoni, and sausage, and salami, and even fresh tomatoes on top...the roasted green chilies however were instead chopped fresh bell pepper. (granted they are both green, but big difference between roasted and raw, me thinks).
The SeaSmoke was the highlight of dinner.
Next day took us back on the road for lunch and shopping in Florence, OR. Last year our lunch in Florence was it's own hilarious story of mishaps so we tried a different location even though the previous was clearly under new ownership and had tried to reinvent itself (really, I ordered hot tea but the server didn't notice that the water was cold...).
We started off for Mo's, they claim to be nationally famous for their clam chowder, and they looked interesting enough to try. The hostess thought it would be about 20 minutes for a table so we scooted across the street instead, no sense waiting when there are other choices. As we exited Mo's, Paul tells me, "I'm kind of glad we didn't eat there, it smells like fried ketchup".
Lunch across the street was good though I was disappointed that the old ladies that came in behind us ordered the last of the special crab melt - I settled for a shrimp melt and I can assure you that it was "just ok". The oyster shooters were huge, too huge to be considered a shooter but they were excellent, but then again, it's hard to screw up anything raw.
A quick trip through the ice cream parlor and off we went to our vacation rental in Newport. The Embarcadero claims to be a resort on Yaquina Bay in the historic waterfront district of Newport. We stayed there last year and liked the view and affordability of having our own fully equipped apartment for a week. I think they use the term "resort" loosely.
We found the Fred Meyer and Safeway in town and walked to the fishermans dock almost daily in search of fresh local seafood. Paul made us cioppino one night and I baked fresh bread to go with it.
On one of our ventures outside of Newport for the day, we ended up in Lincoln City and saw a sign to another Mo's (there are 5 or so in the area) and I had mentioned to Paul that I would definitely enjoy a bowl of clam chowder at least once on the trip. So he scouted out some other options, drove to the end of town and headed back -- side bar: drives me nuts when Paul does this, but he's a Libra and he has to know all of the options to weigh, it's what he does.
This Mo's is huge, compared to the one in Florence, at least it seems to be. It's late for lunchtime and they are busy but the hostess is able to get us a table immediately. Mo's is a large rectangle of a space, with gifty stuff in the front, kitchen in the middle of it all, and open seating much like a school cafeteria. They have Rogue beer on tap, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl for $7.95 and fried onion rings (we had already planned out our junk food lunch well in advance of being seated). And we sat, ever so patiently, for someone, anyone in all the hustle and bustle. Servers came and went to all the other tables...so Paul gets up, takes my hand and says come on, I saw another place just up the road.
We got in to Capn' Rons, they have 20 tables, it was comfortably quiet (no kids - mo's was crawling with the little critters) and our server brought our beer before we could even think about what to have for lunch. She did such a good job of upselling the large bowls of clam chowder and grilled bread to us that she forgot all about our fried onion rings, which was fine because we were both stuffed. I did have one silly comment though about Capn' Rons, our server brought the soup right away and apologized profusely for not having the bread yet "as it comes from the kitchen". Great, where did the chowder come from, the powder room? Just sayin'...
Mostly I'm just funnin' on folks and poking at differences between what I'm accustomed to. Nothing was horrible, and the people who served us have value and I certainly appreciated them all, even if they were "off" a little.
Paul on the other hand tried to kill us one night with flaming vegetables of death, but that's another story for another day.
Please enjoy the photos from Oregon, they are linked here: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/409682
I didn't put captions, they're mostly self explanatory.
Cheers,
Stefania
We took off on a recent Sunday, drove up 280, thru SF and made it to Fortuna, CA in time for lunch at the Eel River Brewery. Their table menu credo stated that their objective is to cook all food to order and deliver it fresh and delicious to your table, and that if you are not satisfied bla bla bla... The beers were really good, Paul ordered the Triple X and many of the servers were wearing logo shirts that said Climaxxx and Drink Naked - I think they thought they were being risque.
Anyhow, the food was mediocre, basic fish and chips, standard issue sausage sandwich and sides, not bad pub fare, but no "wow" factor. My inner food snob was taking notes.
Next stop, Brookings Oregon - we checked in to the Best Western on the beach front, with jacuzzi tub and a view (of the Army Corps of Engineers dredging boat dumping sand) and settled in with all our stuff. Paul wanted pizza after the long day of driving and found a place right there in the harbor or another just up the road claiming to also be a brewery. The joint in the harbor specialized in pizza by the slice and we immediately dismissed that and headed to the brew parlor.
Excited to have a fresh pizza pie made to order, I asked for "pepperoni, wine salami, sausage, tomatoes, and roasted green chilies". Yeah! The fact that I said salami tripped up the order taker, as it's listed under "W" for "Wine Salami" as shown on the menu board, so that's my fault for shortening it (still, don't all pizza places have salami and call it such?).
Now, as you all know, a pizza takes no less than 20 minutes, usually more like 35 on average, and yes, we did wait for a bit on the bartender to get us beers...but still. I had drunk not more than a few sips of a pint and our order was up. Huh. Paul fetched our to-go box, brought it back to our table, we swigged a few more gulps then took our pie to go (we had a bottle of SeaSmoke waiting for us back at the BW). Before leaving I peeked in the box and was sadly disappointed with the pie but too hungry to fuss with it - there was pepperoni, and sausage, and salami, and even fresh tomatoes on top...the roasted green chilies however were instead chopped fresh bell pepper. (granted they are both green, but big difference between roasted and raw, me thinks).
The SeaSmoke was the highlight of dinner.
Next day took us back on the road for lunch and shopping in Florence, OR. Last year our lunch in Florence was it's own hilarious story of mishaps so we tried a different location even though the previous was clearly under new ownership and had tried to reinvent itself (really, I ordered hot tea but the server didn't notice that the water was cold...).
We started off for Mo's, they claim to be nationally famous for their clam chowder, and they looked interesting enough to try. The hostess thought it would be about 20 minutes for a table so we scooted across the street instead, no sense waiting when there are other choices. As we exited Mo's, Paul tells me, "I'm kind of glad we didn't eat there, it smells like fried ketchup".
Lunch across the street was good though I was disappointed that the old ladies that came in behind us ordered the last of the special crab melt - I settled for a shrimp melt and I can assure you that it was "just ok". The oyster shooters were huge, too huge to be considered a shooter but they were excellent, but then again, it's hard to screw up anything raw.
A quick trip through the ice cream parlor and off we went to our vacation rental in Newport. The Embarcadero claims to be a resort on Yaquina Bay in the historic waterfront district of Newport. We stayed there last year and liked the view and affordability of having our own fully equipped apartment for a week. I think they use the term "resort" loosely.
We found the Fred Meyer and Safeway in town and walked to the fishermans dock almost daily in search of fresh local seafood. Paul made us cioppino one night and I baked fresh bread to go with it.
On one of our ventures outside of Newport for the day, we ended up in Lincoln City and saw a sign to another Mo's (there are 5 or so in the area) and I had mentioned to Paul that I would definitely enjoy a bowl of clam chowder at least once on the trip. So he scouted out some other options, drove to the end of town and headed back -- side bar: drives me nuts when Paul does this, but he's a Libra and he has to know all of the options to weigh, it's what he does.
This Mo's is huge, compared to the one in Florence, at least it seems to be. It's late for lunchtime and they are busy but the hostess is able to get us a table immediately. Mo's is a large rectangle of a space, with gifty stuff in the front, kitchen in the middle of it all, and open seating much like a school cafeteria. They have Rogue beer on tap, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl for $7.95 and fried onion rings (we had already planned out our junk food lunch well in advance of being seated). And we sat, ever so patiently, for someone, anyone in all the hustle and bustle. Servers came and went to all the other tables...so Paul gets up, takes my hand and says come on, I saw another place just up the road.
We got in to Capn' Rons, they have 20 tables, it was comfortably quiet (no kids - mo's was crawling with the little critters) and our server brought our beer before we could even think about what to have for lunch. She did such a good job of upselling the large bowls of clam chowder and grilled bread to us that she forgot all about our fried onion rings, which was fine because we were both stuffed. I did have one silly comment though about Capn' Rons, our server brought the soup right away and apologized profusely for not having the bread yet "as it comes from the kitchen". Great, where did the chowder come from, the powder room? Just sayin'...
Mostly I'm just funnin' on folks and poking at differences between what I'm accustomed to. Nothing was horrible, and the people who served us have value and I certainly appreciated them all, even if they were "off" a little.
Paul on the other hand tried to kill us one night with flaming vegetables of death, but that's another story for another day.
Please enjoy the photos from Oregon, they are linked here: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/409682
I didn't put captions, they're mostly self explanatory.
Cheers,
Stefania
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Mission Statement
Vision Statements and Mission Statements have been so abused and misused over the last two decades that talking about them can invoke instant invocations of Dilbert cartoons.
I’ve worked at companies that have used them successfully (Acuson - Cybersource), used them poorly (Blue Martini) or had them not at all (CollabNet). I felt the effects were dramatic on day to day performance. At Cybersource the Mission Statement was clear: One billion billable transactions by 2008. At the time I joined it was also a BHAG goal. First no one was really tracking how many transaction we were doing, and when I figured out how to do that, we had a huge company party to celebrate our first month with 1 million.
But that goal affected every choice we made and every action we took. When a course of action was in front of us the question was always, “Will this help us get to one billion transactions.”? If the answer was yes, we did it, if no, we did not. Conflicts did come up, often the choice was “which of these two things helps us get to our goal better?” The point was we always had a guiding Mission we were trying to get to and that framed the conversations we had, our interactions with each other, and the choices we made.
I left Cybersource in January of 2000. I thought the company was loosing direction. It turned out I was wrong, it did loose focus for a little while, but the founder stepped back in when the dot com bust came, and refocused the company back on its Mission. Today Cybersource’s market cap is 1.2 billion dollars, and they made that one billion transaction goal.
When companies I worked at had poor, or no Mission, they struggled and it was often a toxic environment to work in. I felt first hand the effects of not having a guiding set of goals could have on an organization and individuals.
When I started Stefania Wine I thought it was key to define what our vision for the company was and what it’s Mission Statement would be. It wasn’t as easy as it might seem. The vision was out there, but needed to be defined. The Mission, that took a little thought. I finally arrived at a really simple one. And Mission Statements have to be simple. Apple had a great on in the early 1980’s: “Change the World”. Some other great historical ones have included:
Ford Motor Company (early 1900's)
"Ford will democratize the automobile"
Sony (early 1950's)
"Become the company most known for changing the worldwide poor-quality image of Japanese products"
Boeing (1950)
"Become the dominant player in commercial aircraft and bring the world into the jet age"
We are not out to conquer the world, or dominate the wine market, our vision is much more small scale than that. Our Mission Statement reflects that, and where we want to be in 10 years.
"Make Friends"
Every time there is a choice to be made, a direction to go, or an action to take, we refer back to that Mission. Does what we are doing make friends? If it does, do it, if it doesn't, do something else. For us the most important outcome of this great adventure, the ultimate place we want to be, includes a home filled with friends. We also hope people will share our wine, and make friends with it. That would be for us a great achievement. Not just us making friends, but our product helping others make friends.
So when there is a shipping problem, or a bad bottle, or a request for extra wine, a visit, or special request, we go do what it takes to make a new friend. It's not just being nice, it is the very key part of who we are, what we do, and what we are hoping to achieve.
I’ve worked at companies that have used them successfully (Acuson - Cybersource), used them poorly (Blue Martini) or had them not at all (CollabNet). I felt the effects were dramatic on day to day performance. At Cybersource the Mission Statement was clear: One billion billable transactions by 2008. At the time I joined it was also a BHAG goal. First no one was really tracking how many transaction we were doing, and when I figured out how to do that, we had a huge company party to celebrate our first month with 1 million.
But that goal affected every choice we made and every action we took. When a course of action was in front of us the question was always, “Will this help us get to one billion transactions.”? If the answer was yes, we did it, if no, we did not. Conflicts did come up, often the choice was “which of these two things helps us get to our goal better?” The point was we always had a guiding Mission we were trying to get to and that framed the conversations we had, our interactions with each other, and the choices we made.
I left Cybersource in January of 2000. I thought the company was loosing direction. It turned out I was wrong, it did loose focus for a little while, but the founder stepped back in when the dot com bust came, and refocused the company back on its Mission. Today Cybersource’s market cap is 1.2 billion dollars, and they made that one billion transaction goal.
When companies I worked at had poor, or no Mission, they struggled and it was often a toxic environment to work in. I felt first hand the effects of not having a guiding set of goals could have on an organization and individuals.
When I started Stefania Wine I thought it was key to define what our vision for the company was and what it’s Mission Statement would be. It wasn’t as easy as it might seem. The vision was out there, but needed to be defined. The Mission, that took a little thought. I finally arrived at a really simple one. And Mission Statements have to be simple. Apple had a great on in the early 1980’s: “Change the World”. Some other great historical ones have included:
Ford Motor Company (early 1900's)
"Ford will democratize the automobile"
Sony (early 1950's)
"Become the company most known for changing the worldwide poor-quality image of Japanese products"
Boeing (1950)
"Become the dominant player in commercial aircraft and bring the world into the jet age"
We are not out to conquer the world, or dominate the wine market, our vision is much more small scale than that. Our Mission Statement reflects that, and where we want to be in 10 years.
"Make Friends"
Every time there is a choice to be made, a direction to go, or an action to take, we refer back to that Mission. Does what we are doing make friends? If it does, do it, if it doesn't, do something else. For us the most important outcome of this great adventure, the ultimate place we want to be, includes a home filled with friends. We also hope people will share our wine, and make friends with it. That would be for us a great achievement. Not just us making friends, but our product helping others make friends.
So when there is a shipping problem, or a bad bottle, or a request for extra wine, a visit, or special request, we go do what it takes to make a new friend. It's not just being nice, it is the very key part of who we are, what we do, and what we are hoping to achieve.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Smoke and Fire.
Last night about 6:30 PM a dark cloud rolled over the Blossom Valley and turned the Sun bright red. It was smoke from another fire in Monterey County.
The Martin Road fire was called 40% contained last night, and Ice Cream Grade, Smith Grade and Pine Flat Roads where all reopened. It actually looks like from reports that the fire is not a threat to any more property now, and they are expecting to have it in 100% contained by Monday.
I'll send the crew to Coralitos early in the week though. We'll stay off of Ice Cream Grade and Pine Flat until the fire is 100% controlled, which will likely come on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Right now the work in the vineyards has slowed down, with the warm weather, spraying is not needed as often, and we'll focus on tucking vines into wires and clearing out laterals to insure good sun exposure. There's also a little weed removal to do under the rows. Hopefully the news the rest of the summer will not include any more fires.
The Martin Road fire was called 40% contained last night, and Ice Cream Grade, Smith Grade and Pine Flat Roads where all reopened. It actually looks like from reports that the fire is not a threat to any more property now, and they are expecting to have it in 100% contained by Monday.
I'll send the crew to Coralitos early in the week though. We'll stay off of Ice Cream Grade and Pine Flat until the fire is 100% controlled, which will likely come on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Right now the work in the vineyards has slowed down, with the warm weather, spraying is not needed as often, and we'll focus on tucking vines into wires and clearing out laterals to insure good sun exposure. There's also a little weed removal to do under the rows. Hopefully the news the rest of the summer will not include any more fires.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Map Update on Fire
Cal Fire has just updated the effected area map.
It looks like the fire was stopped west at Quail Drive, about 3000 feet from the Llama vineyard. The wind would seem to be moving it South into the Canyon that cuts between Pine Flat Road and Felton Empire Road. That is very dense forest, with no roads or access. I'm not surprised that containment numbers are so low. In that canyon, there is nothing to do but let the fire burn until it reaches a road where it can be stopped.
It looks like it's moving towards Empire Grade, which is a fairly densly populated area. I would imagine that containment efforts largely run along Empire Grade, Quail Drive and Warren Drive right now.
It looks like the fire was stopped west at Quail Drive, about 3000 feet from the Llama vineyard. The wind would seem to be moving it South into the Canyon that cuts between Pine Flat Road and Felton Empire Road. That is very dense forest, with no roads or access. I'm not surprised that containment numbers are so low. In that canyon, there is nothing to do but let the fire burn until it reaches a road where it can be stopped.
It looks like it's moving towards Empire Grade, which is a fairly densly populated area. I would imagine that containment efforts largely run along Empire Grade, Quail Drive and Warren Drive right now.
Martin Road Fire
Map of Fire
The Llama Vineyard is on Country Estates, just off of Bonny Doon Rd, about 1/2 mile from the fire lines.
There is another small Chardonnay vineyard also on Country Estates which is closer to the fire. McHenry and Beauregard are both up Bonny Doon Road at the junction of Pine Flat and a little farther from the fire.
This is a very very rugged area with much denser forest that the Summit Road area fire. There are also more paved roads though and it should be easier for the fire crews to move around. THe weather is hot, but the wind is not strong. The area around Martin Road is actually pretty cleared at ground level, at least around Ice Cream Grade and it looks like the fire is moving away from the vineyards.
Cal Fire's link for information.
The Llama Vineyard is on Country Estates, just off of Bonny Doon Rd, about 1/2 mile from the fire lines.
There is another small Chardonnay vineyard also on Country Estates which is closer to the fire. McHenry and Beauregard are both up Bonny Doon Road at the junction of Pine Flat and a little farther from the fire.
This is a very very rugged area with much denser forest that the Summit Road area fire. There are also more paved roads though and it should be easier for the fire crews to move around. THe weather is hot, but the wind is not strong. The area around Martin Road is actually pretty cleared at ground level, at least around Ice Cream Grade and it looks like the fire is moving away from the vineyards.
Cal Fire's link for information.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Pictures from the Crimson Vineyard
Featuring our Intern Rajiv!
Daniel and Gerardo (Jerry), the veterans tucking and suckering.
Rows they've completed.
Look close, there's Rajiv!
Daniel and Gerardo (Jerry), the veterans tucking and suckering.
Rows they've completed.
Look close, there's Rajiv!
We're expecting great fruit this year from this vineyard. It will replace Uvas Creek a year ahead of schedule.
Vintners Festival Recap
We made it through the weekend ok and generally had a real good time. This is really the only time the winery is open to the public all year so for many people it seemed an annual event. They'd been coming to Chaine d'Or for years.
We poured wine from the kitchen and set up a table with snacks. Every hour I did a brief over view of the vineyards and then led a barrel tasting in the cellar. People really seemed to enjoy the barrel tasting a great deal and I spent most of the time in the cellar answering questions.
I was sampling the 06 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon and the 07 version of the same wine. Both showed really well and there were lots of inquires asking if we would sell futures and when the bottled wine would be available.
The hardest part for me was being 'center stage' the entire weekend. Most of the time winery work is pretty isolated, even lonely. You are by yourself, with your own thoughts, focused on a task at hand. Events like this, I'm talking and answering questions the entire time, meeting and greeting and generally don't get a break. I worked hard to keep water in me to make sure I kept my voice.
I do enjoy that though. I like talking about wine and winemaking with people. I hope I bring some casualness to wine and make people feel more comfortable about asking questions and talking about what they like.
We sold a bit of wine, and had a good time. It was hard to set wine aside for this event. I knew it was on the calender and Anne and Jerry really wanted us to pour Stefania as well as Chaine d'Or, so we set aside 10 cases from the initial release. At first we had planned on setting aside 20 cases, but that proved impossible. Instead we just cancelled a number of other events that were on the calender and got the wine out to our mailing list customers. That's always a hard process to go through.
We had great help over the weekend. Of course Anne and Jerry were wonderful hosts, and Amber and Ingird manned the pouring and sales stations. Sunday Rajiv also came to help and poured as well. It was also nice to meet some of our mailing list customers who had read on here we'd be open. We'll open the winery again in the fall for Pick Up Day and hope to see some friends visiting us then as well.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Day One of the VIntners Festival
We're off in a few minutes for our first public event at Chaine d'Or. Anne and Jerry opened the winery every year for the Vintners Festival and wanted to do that again this year.
We're really not sure what to expect, and how many people might come by. We sent out postcards to everyone on the Chaine d'Or mailing list but didn't really do much in the way of advertising to our mailing list.
We'll largely be featuring Chaine d'Or wines, 04 Cabernet and 06 Chardonnay, but I held back some of our 06 Syrah for this event and a small amount of 06 Haut Tubee. We're really not sure at all how much is going to sell, and what we might have left after the weekend. It's likely to be a long day on my feet and talking with people so I'll try hard to keep water in me and not loose my voice.
I'll try and do an update tonight or tomorrow.
We're really not sure what to expect, and how many people might come by. We sent out postcards to everyone on the Chaine d'Or mailing list but didn't really do much in the way of advertising to our mailing list.
We'll largely be featuring Chaine d'Or wines, 04 Cabernet and 06 Chardonnay, but I held back some of our 06 Syrah for this event and a small amount of 06 Haut Tubee. We're really not sure at all how much is going to sell, and what we might have left after the weekend. It's likely to be a long day on my feet and talking with people so I'll try hard to keep water in me and not loose my voice.
I'll try and do an update tonight or tomorrow.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Cult of the Gopher
I've written before about the important role the Gopher plays in every winegrowers life. How it dominates our conversations and we keep counts of our 'kills'. If you check this picture I think you'll agree that the gopher has a long history. It's clear the giant animal in the center of the hunt is the dreaded Gopher.
Saturday night we were invited to an impromptu party with Tracy and Emory Epperson. We planted just over an acre of Cabernet Sauvignon for them this year on 20 acres of land that's been in Tracy's family for decades. It's a fantastic site in the Coyote Valley and Tracy and Emory should be producing some amazing grapes in a few years. They are talking about expanding the vineyard a little each year and eventually putting a winery on the site.
We had been calling this project 'butterfly', but Tracy and Emory are leaning to the name Sesson for the vineyard, which Stef and I both love.
We settled in for a few snacks and opened some wine and relaxed after a long day in the winery. Soon Emory was sharing with us his exciting news of the week. Not only had he killed his first gopher, and done it with the most honorable of gopher whacking tools, a shovel, but he'd also added two ground squirrels!
Emory had officially entered the world of 'Grapegrower'!
So how to celebrate?
Well with no forethought, or deliberate planning, we fell quickly into a 30,000 year old ritual. A huge roaring fire was built outside and stoked with long logs of wood. The fire roared into the night sky and Emory hung a small grill over the flames to roast a beautiful chunk of meat. Tri Tip, thankfully roasting your kill is NOT a tradition. We opened bottle after bottle of wine and toasted away the evening telling stories of past gopher hunts.
It's very primitive, but people still enjoy a roaring fire on a clear night, friends, food, wine and good stories. I think we should all try and capture that more often. Celebrate life's little triumphs with big parties. Celebrate the little things. Worship the Cult of the Gopher with a bottle of wine, an open fire, a chunk of non-gopher meat, and friends you love.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Ode to a Phone
I hate my cell phone. Well not just mine, it's not personal. I hate all cell phones. Phones in general in fact. As Miss Manner's has said; "The phone is the rudest invention ever."
One goal in life for me is to not have to have one. To me that's a sign of success. Really if you are very important, people just can't call you when ever they feel like it. Obama is not standing at the podium and going; " We're coming together because we believe in what...hold on, that's mine, just a second, yeah, no, the pancake mix is in the bottom drawer."
Phones are rude, and no invention in the history of mankind has transmitted more useless information to more people, wasting more time, than the phone. Once standing at the airport in the security line I heard this conversation; "I'm in the line at the airport, it's a long line."
I thought; "Who cares"? I'm in the line, and I don't care that I'm standing there. Who in the world would care that you are standing in line? Is their life so boring and pitiful that you standing in line at the airport is interesting? If it is, you should text them links to a park or a movie, or a good book, not update them on your line status.
So as part of my rebellion against this phone culture we live in I owned a phone that was at least 8 years old. It's main feature was that I could drop it and not care. No Mr Spock in the ear headsets, cameras, or Benny Lava video for me. And belt strap ons? I made Stefania pledge that if I ever strapped a six shooter phone to my belt, she should hit me in the back of the head with a shovel.
I had lots of little pledges like that. I made Jaye, our favorite bartender at Chevy's, pledge that if I ever sat at her bar and made her wait to take my order, she a live person in front of me, so I could talk to someone on the phone, she should pick up a fork and jam it into my forehead.
I loved that phone, because it was an outward symbol of hating phones. My sign to the world that I wasn't going to participate in that silliness. Some people have bumper stickers, I had a ratty old cell phone.
Well, it's dead now. Lost in the vineyard and presumed run over by the tractor. A fitting end. It was sacrificed to the gods of wine. It's terroir now, for ever more part of the 2008 vintage. Probably the finest contribution a phone has ever made to society in my opinion. We'll toast it tonight with a glass of wine. Actually we'd have the glass of wine no matter what, but any excuse works in a pinch.
I think I'll get one of those new iPhones :)
Oh yeah if you call the winery and I don't pick up, it's because I ran over the phone with a tractor. Give me a couple days to get a new one.
One goal in life for me is to not have to have one. To me that's a sign of success. Really if you are very important, people just can't call you when ever they feel like it. Obama is not standing at the podium and going; " We're coming together because we believe in what...hold on, that's mine, just a second, yeah, no, the pancake mix is in the bottom drawer."
Phones are rude, and no invention in the history of mankind has transmitted more useless information to more people, wasting more time, than the phone. Once standing at the airport in the security line I heard this conversation; "I'm in the line at the airport, it's a long line."
I thought; "Who cares"? I'm in the line, and I don't care that I'm standing there. Who in the world would care that you are standing in line? Is their life so boring and pitiful that you standing in line at the airport is interesting? If it is, you should text them links to a park or a movie, or a good book, not update them on your line status.
So as part of my rebellion against this phone culture we live in I owned a phone that was at least 8 years old. It's main feature was that I could drop it and not care. No Mr Spock in the ear headsets, cameras, or Benny Lava video for me. And belt strap ons? I made Stefania pledge that if I ever strapped a six shooter phone to my belt, she should hit me in the back of the head with a shovel.
I had lots of little pledges like that. I made Jaye, our favorite bartender at Chevy's, pledge that if I ever sat at her bar and made her wait to take my order, she a live person in front of me, so I could talk to someone on the phone, she should pick up a fork and jam it into my forehead.
I loved that phone, because it was an outward symbol of hating phones. My sign to the world that I wasn't going to participate in that silliness. Some people have bumper stickers, I had a ratty old cell phone.
Well, it's dead now. Lost in the vineyard and presumed run over by the tractor. A fitting end. It was sacrificed to the gods of wine. It's terroir now, for ever more part of the 2008 vintage. Probably the finest contribution a phone has ever made to society in my opinion. We'll toast it tonight with a glass of wine. Actually we'd have the glass of wine no matter what, but any excuse works in a pinch.
I think I'll get one of those new iPhones :)
Oh yeah if you call the winery and I don't pick up, it's because I ran over the phone with a tractor. Give me a couple days to get a new one.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Winery Open This Weekend
The weekend is the annual Santa Cruz Mountains Vintner's Festival.
http://www.scmwa.com/VintnersFestival.htm
We'll have the winery at Chaine d'Or open for visitors.
http://www.chainedor.com/directions.html
The cost of the event is $30 in advance or $35 at the door, but we will not be charging our mailing list members or their guests for any activities at the winery. If you want to visit other wineries that are participating you'll need a ticket, but your stop at Chaine d'Or is free.
We'll be pouring the 2006 Chaine d'Or Chardonnay, 2004 Chaine d'Or Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 Stefania Haut Tubee, and 2006 Stefania Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah. In addition I'll be clearing out the very, very last 2005 Uvas Creek Cabernet Sauvignon for $45/bottle. There are only about 18 bottles left that I had held on to for restaurant reorders, but we're going to let those go.
There will be food and snacks for everyone and every hour I'll give a short 10 minute tour of the vineyard and talk about our farming practices and how they effect the final wine. We'll also have some of our 2006 and 2007 barrels available to taste. There is room for a picnic as well on the small hill by the crushpad. It can get chilly though so bring an extra layer if you plan on spending some time outside.
http://www.scmwa.com/VintnersFestival.htm
We'll have the winery at Chaine d'Or open for visitors.
http://www.chainedor.com/directions.html
The cost of the event is $30 in advance or $35 at the door, but we will not be charging our mailing list members or their guests for any activities at the winery. If you want to visit other wineries that are participating you'll need a ticket, but your stop at Chaine d'Or is free.
We'll be pouring the 2006 Chaine d'Or Chardonnay, 2004 Chaine d'Or Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 Stefania Haut Tubee, and 2006 Stefania Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah. In addition I'll be clearing out the very, very last 2005 Uvas Creek Cabernet Sauvignon for $45/bottle. There are only about 18 bottles left that I had held on to for restaurant reorders, but we're going to let those go.
There will be food and snacks for everyone and every hour I'll give a short 10 minute tour of the vineyard and talk about our farming practices and how they effect the final wine. We'll also have some of our 2006 and 2007 barrels available to taste. There is room for a picnic as well on the small hill by the crushpad. It can get chilly though so bring an extra layer if you plan on spending some time outside.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Racking the 07 Cabernets
We spent a long day yesterday racking our two Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignons.
Racking is the process of removing a wine from barrel, cleaning the barrel, then returning the wine back to barrel. We do this for three reasons. First it lets us get the 'gunk' out of the bottom of the barrel. The fine lees that have settled into the bottom of the barrel. These lees can develop amino acids called Mercaptans, that create off flavors, so best to remove them.
Second, and especially true with Cabernet Sauvignon, it's a chance to expose the wine to some oxygen. This helps with the softening of tannins, and makes the wine rounder and more enjoyable.
Finally, we use racking as an opportunity to make any sulfur additions that are needed. Sulfur acts as a preservative for wine and kills any bacteria. Some people add sulfur directly into the barrel, but this can cause problems. Sulfur doesn't really travel well, so if you add it to barrel, it tends to just sit in one place. By doing it when we rack we have a chance to stir it up and expose all the wine to it.
We had a rather complicated set of blending we were doing at the same time, and ended up using four tanks. The final result was seven barrels of Chaine d' Or Cabernet Sauvignon. Six barrels of Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon, which contains fruit from the Harvest Moon Vineyard, Elandrich Vineyard and Chaine d'Or Vineyard. That blend is also about 10% Merlot, which has added some really nice cherry notes. Finally we ended up with one barrel of Haut Tubee. We'll combine this with 1-2 barrels of Syrah we have at Big Basin later and end up bottling about 75 total cases of Haut Tubee for 2007.
Racking is the process of removing a wine from barrel, cleaning the barrel, then returning the wine back to barrel. We do this for three reasons. First it lets us get the 'gunk' out of the bottom of the barrel. The fine lees that have settled into the bottom of the barrel. These lees can develop amino acids called Mercaptans, that create off flavors, so best to remove them.
Second, and especially true with Cabernet Sauvignon, it's a chance to expose the wine to some oxygen. This helps with the softening of tannins, and makes the wine rounder and more enjoyable.
Finally, we use racking as an opportunity to make any sulfur additions that are needed. Sulfur acts as a preservative for wine and kills any bacteria. Some people add sulfur directly into the barrel, but this can cause problems. Sulfur doesn't really travel well, so if you add it to barrel, it tends to just sit in one place. By doing it when we rack we have a chance to stir it up and expose all the wine to it.
We had a rather complicated set of blending we were doing at the same time, and ended up using four tanks. The final result was seven barrels of Chaine d' Or Cabernet Sauvignon. Six barrels of Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon, which contains fruit from the Harvest Moon Vineyard, Elandrich Vineyard and Chaine d'Or Vineyard. That blend is also about 10% Merlot, which has added some really nice cherry notes. Finally we ended up with one barrel of Haut Tubee. We'll combine this with 1-2 barrels of Syrah we have at Big Basin later and end up bottling about 75 total cases of Haut Tubee for 2007.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Your Stefania Wine Order has NOT Shipped.
Sorry to everyone in New York, New Jersey and Michigan who received a message this morning that your order shipped. You probably thought, "Is he insane shipping on a Saturday?"
It's a software error at the shipping company. I sent those orders in weeks ago and they are processed and then lined up for shipment. They had a hold on them though as we were still waiting for label clearance from those states.
When the shipper removes the hold from the computer, the "Your Order Has Shipped" email goes out automatically. I complained about this last fall, and they told me they had fixed it, but it looks like the software glitch has remained.
Bottom line though is the boxes are still sitting in the climate controlled warehouse in Napa, waiting for pick up next week by Fed Ex.
Sorry for the confusion, I'll speak to the shipper about it again on Monday.
It's a software error at the shipping company. I sent those orders in weeks ago and they are processed and then lined up for shipment. They had a hold on them though as we were still waiting for label clearance from those states.
When the shipper removes the hold from the computer, the "Your Order Has Shipped" email goes out automatically. I complained about this last fall, and they told me they had fixed it, but it looks like the software glitch has remained.
Bottom line though is the boxes are still sitting in the climate controlled warehouse in Napa, waiting for pick up next week by Fed Ex.
Sorry for the confusion, I'll speak to the shipper about it again on Monday.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
My Vineyard Notes
From 5/26
Woodruff Family Vineyard - Corralitos, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA
Needs suckering, the old Freedom rootstock is prone to throwing suckers. Mid flowering, overall excellent shape. Should yield 8-9 tons of very high quality Pinot Noir.
Llama Vineyard - Bonny Doon, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA
Needs water for 3-4 weeks, drip system has not been on at all and new plants have not had bud break. Turned on water system for owner. Needs a spraying and some suckering. Should yield 800 pounds or so if we net it, vineyard in very good shape.
Arastradero Vineyard - Los Altos Hills, San Francisco Bay AVA
Water needs to go OFF ASAP. Over vigor and throwing laterals from too much water. Needs thinning and a spray of Stylet oil. This was the only vineyard I'm not happy with, I didn't know they had the water on so much. Yields look small, the vines are putting all their energy into growth. Crew needs to spend 4-5 days fixing this vineyard.
Harrison Vineyard - Los Altos Hills, San Francisco Bay AVA
Looks awesome, plants are at wire and have recovered fully from the frost. Need to go out in 3-4 weeks and get the grow tubes off and start training the plants. I'll do this personally so that the it's done right as it's critical for future growth of the plants.
Elandrich Vineyard - Portola Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA
Overall looks good, with good potential yield. Some plants suffering from mites which a sulfur spray will get rid of but no long term damage to the plants or crop. Other plants show 2,4d damage, probably from a weed and feed applied around the vineyard in error. We'll have to watch after that and do some replacements. Bummer, but it happens in suburban vineyards with lots of neighbors and lots of gardeners in the area. Expect we'll get about 1500 pounds of fruit.
Crimsom Vineyard - Morgan Hill, Santa Clara Valley AVA
Vineyard looks great! Much higher yield than expected, in fact we'll have to drop fruit for sure. This looks like it will be the replacement for Uvas Creek we'll need. Very excited to have this come on line a year ahead of schedule, this could become a top site.
Sesson Vineyard - Coyote Valley, Santa Clara Valley AVA
Some frost damage, but most plants re-pushed, others unaffected. Time to mow between the rows. This vineyard looks great. Suspect we'll have very healthy plants here. It's nice to work in these vineyards we've installed rather than rehabs. No problems to correct.
Haut Tubee - San Jose, Santa Clara Valley AVA
Flowering finishing up, which makes sense. The home vineyard is like a little lab for the other vineyards, it's always 2 weeks ahead of the other locations. Clusters look large and loose with larger berries than last year, and a lower chance of bunch rot. Yields look lower, which should help the plants get riper flavors even though the berries are bigger. Things are looking pretty good so far.
Woodruff Family Vineyard - Corralitos, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA
Needs suckering, the old Freedom rootstock is prone to throwing suckers. Mid flowering, overall excellent shape. Should yield 8-9 tons of very high quality Pinot Noir.
Llama Vineyard - Bonny Doon, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA
Needs water for 3-4 weeks, drip system has not been on at all and new plants have not had bud break. Turned on water system for owner. Needs a spraying and some suckering. Should yield 800 pounds or so if we net it, vineyard in very good shape.
Arastradero Vineyard - Los Altos Hills, San Francisco Bay AVA
Water needs to go OFF ASAP. Over vigor and throwing laterals from too much water. Needs thinning and a spray of Stylet oil. This was the only vineyard I'm not happy with, I didn't know they had the water on so much. Yields look small, the vines are putting all their energy into growth. Crew needs to spend 4-5 days fixing this vineyard.
Harrison Vineyard - Los Altos Hills, San Francisco Bay AVA
Looks awesome, plants are at wire and have recovered fully from the frost. Need to go out in 3-4 weeks and get the grow tubes off and start training the plants. I'll do this personally so that the it's done right as it's critical for future growth of the plants.
Elandrich Vineyard - Portola Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains AVA
Overall looks good, with good potential yield. Some plants suffering from mites which a sulfur spray will get rid of but no long term damage to the plants or crop. Other plants show 2,4d damage, probably from a weed and feed applied around the vineyard in error. We'll have to watch after that and do some replacements. Bummer, but it happens in suburban vineyards with lots of neighbors and lots of gardeners in the area. Expect we'll get about 1500 pounds of fruit.
Crimsom Vineyard - Morgan Hill, Santa Clara Valley AVA
Vineyard looks great! Much higher yield than expected, in fact we'll have to drop fruit for sure. This looks like it will be the replacement for Uvas Creek we'll need. Very excited to have this come on line a year ahead of schedule, this could become a top site.
Sesson Vineyard - Coyote Valley, Santa Clara Valley AVA
Some frost damage, but most plants re-pushed, others unaffected. Time to mow between the rows. This vineyard looks great. Suspect we'll have very healthy plants here. It's nice to work in these vineyards we've installed rather than rehabs. No problems to correct.
Haut Tubee - San Jose, Santa Clara Valley AVA
Flowering finishing up, which makes sense. The home vineyard is like a little lab for the other vineyards, it's always 2 weeks ahead of the other locations. Clusters look large and loose with larger berries than last year, and a lower chance of bunch rot. Yields look lower, which should help the plants get riper flavors even though the berries are bigger. Things are looking pretty good so far.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Vineyards Tour, 5/26/08
We decided to take a mini-road trip on Memorial Day and visit all* of the vineyards we take care of.
We left San Jose at 9a.m. and dragged Kathy and Millie along with us.
The vineyard agenda was:
Woodruff Vineyard, Corralitos
Llama Vineyard, Bonny Doon
Arastradero Vineyard, Los Altos Hills
Harrison Vineyard, Los Altos Hills
Private Consultation site, no photos - also Los Altos Hills
Elandrich Vineyard, Portola Valley
*Chaine d'Or in Woodside would have been here on the tour, but we skipped it
Crimson Clover Vineyard, Morgan Hill
Sessen Vineyard, Coyote Valley
Haut Tubee (home), San Jose
Photos are uploaded here: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/388768
Given that the Summit Road Fire was at 80% containment yesterday, we noted several groups of fire trucks headed home, thank goodness for that. We passed the "road closed" signage and the Red Cross station at the center of town in Corralitos (where much of the filmed news reports were taking place over the last several days) and only one remaining tv crew truck was on site.
Several of the houses, fences, gates, had home made signs thanking Cal Fire and the firemen who came to their aid.
We walked through the vines, saw Pete on the tractor mowing the grass between rows and snapped some photos before heading back over the hill part way to Bonny Doon. A quick tour through that vineyard and a few extra moments chatting with the owner about the watering schedule for the new plants and we were in Scotts Valley for a noon time snack. Yep, 3 hours, only 2 sites so far.
Heading north on 85 to 280 we chatted about Kathy and Millies trip to Washington DC and dining at Fogo de Chao, good eats.
Paul and I walked to the top of the Arastradero site, vertical stairs (!) and were amazed by how much vigor there was - it was like a jungle between the rows. Next stop was the new vineyard that Paul and Millie installed last summer and though we saw frost damage a month ago, the vines have all recovered and sent long healthy shoots.
A quick drive up the next hillside and Paul stopped in for a private consultation for a guy growing ~100 assorted vines that he is determined to get fruit from this year (past problems with powdery mildew have left him with no fruit for several seasons). I took no photos at this site but did see a jack rabbit that took off before I could get the camera ready.
Next stop, Elandrich in Portola Valley. This site was a major re-hab project when we took it on and we are smitten with the results. There is still some unknown pest though on a handful of the plants so I took several photos of that to see if we can find someone who can tell us what it is and what we should do, if anything. The zinfandel was doing great, the Merlot was happy, and all of the usual trouble spots were still troubling though still doing so much better than our first visit to the site.
At 2:30 we were back on 280 to 85 to 101 south. More fire trucks on the road headed home, I tried to get mobile photos from the car, but again, by the time the camera was on and ready, they were well past us - caravans of 5 to 7 fire trucks at a time.
The homeowner at the Crimson Clover vineyard in Morgan Hill was on his riding mower and cleaning up between the rows when we got there. The cover crop between rows here is Crimson Clover, which is gorgeous when it's in full bloom and lush green with bright red tops, but by now, it's dry and done and though the rows don't really need to be mowed it sure does look better when it's done. A blue jay kept flying through the site while we were there so we addressed that issue with the owner since there will be tons of fruit to harvest (thus requiring netting to keep out the birds) this year.
Almost done.
Our last stop was in Coyote Valley, also a Morgan Hill address, but further north on the outskirts of San Jose is the Sessen Vineyard (though I'm not certain yet if that's what they plan to call it or if I'm even spelling it correctly). This site is an installation we just planted a month ago. The little vines are looking great though you have to search for them in the tall grass and clover (yep, we put in the same crimson clover here too). We'll get the site mowed soon and do some weed control under the rows, as well as get the wires installed. No real urgency just yet on the wires as the plants are barely 6" off the ground.
It was just around 5 p.m. when we pulled in to the driveway at home, a full day with a short lunch break and market stop for rib eyes.
Kathy and Millie stayed over for dinner; fresh bread, baked potatoes, chard, and rib eyes. We opened a Belle Pente Rose to refresh ourselves with snacks while the food cooked, then Paul opened a couple of Bordeaux's to have with dinner (a '98 and '01 Calon Segur).
The road trip was just about 190 miles...billable under vineyard management.
I was glad to take the day and see all each of the sites in one shot, it gave us all a full glance into what each vineyard is up to right now. Most are in full bloom and showing great fruit set, all look spectacular. Our guys are working hard for us and it shows.
We left San Jose at 9a.m. and dragged Kathy and Millie along with us.
The vineyard agenda was:
Woodruff Vineyard, Corralitos
Llama Vineyard, Bonny Doon
Arastradero Vineyard, Los Altos Hills
Harrison Vineyard, Los Altos Hills
Private Consultation site, no photos - also Los Altos Hills
Elandrich Vineyard, Portola Valley
*Chaine d'Or in Woodside would have been here on the tour, but we skipped it
Crimson Clover Vineyard, Morgan Hill
Sessen Vineyard, Coyote Valley
Haut Tubee (home), San Jose
Photos are uploaded here: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/388768
Given that the Summit Road Fire was at 80% containment yesterday, we noted several groups of fire trucks headed home, thank goodness for that. We passed the "road closed" signage and the Red Cross station at the center of town in Corralitos (where much of the filmed news reports were taking place over the last several days) and only one remaining tv crew truck was on site.
Several of the houses, fences, gates, had home made signs thanking Cal Fire and the firemen who came to their aid.
We walked through the vines, saw Pete on the tractor mowing the grass between rows and snapped some photos before heading back over the hill part way to Bonny Doon. A quick tour through that vineyard and a few extra moments chatting with the owner about the watering schedule for the new plants and we were in Scotts Valley for a noon time snack. Yep, 3 hours, only 2 sites so far.
Heading north on 85 to 280 we chatted about Kathy and Millies trip to Washington DC and dining at Fogo de Chao, good eats.
Paul and I walked to the top of the Arastradero site, vertical stairs (!) and were amazed by how much vigor there was - it was like a jungle between the rows. Next stop was the new vineyard that Paul and Millie installed last summer and though we saw frost damage a month ago, the vines have all recovered and sent long healthy shoots.
A quick drive up the next hillside and Paul stopped in for a private consultation for a guy growing ~100 assorted vines that he is determined to get fruit from this year (past problems with powdery mildew have left him with no fruit for several seasons). I took no photos at this site but did see a jack rabbit that took off before I could get the camera ready.
Next stop, Elandrich in Portola Valley. This site was a major re-hab project when we took it on and we are smitten with the results. There is still some unknown pest though on a handful of the plants so I took several photos of that to see if we can find someone who can tell us what it is and what we should do, if anything. The zinfandel was doing great, the Merlot was happy, and all of the usual trouble spots were still troubling though still doing so much better than our first visit to the site.
At 2:30 we were back on 280 to 85 to 101 south. More fire trucks on the road headed home, I tried to get mobile photos from the car, but again, by the time the camera was on and ready, they were well past us - caravans of 5 to 7 fire trucks at a time.
The homeowner at the Crimson Clover vineyard in Morgan Hill was on his riding mower and cleaning up between the rows when we got there. The cover crop between rows here is Crimson Clover, which is gorgeous when it's in full bloom and lush green with bright red tops, but by now, it's dry and done and though the rows don't really need to be mowed it sure does look better when it's done. A blue jay kept flying through the site while we were there so we addressed that issue with the owner since there will be tons of fruit to harvest (thus requiring netting to keep out the birds) this year.
Almost done.
Our last stop was in Coyote Valley, also a Morgan Hill address, but further north on the outskirts of San Jose is the Sessen Vineyard (though I'm not certain yet if that's what they plan to call it or if I'm even spelling it correctly). This site is an installation we just planted a month ago. The little vines are looking great though you have to search for them in the tall grass and clover (yep, we put in the same crimson clover here too). We'll get the site mowed soon and do some weed control under the rows, as well as get the wires installed. No real urgency just yet on the wires as the plants are barely 6" off the ground.
It was just around 5 p.m. when we pulled in to the driveway at home, a full day with a short lunch break and market stop for rib eyes.
Kathy and Millie stayed over for dinner; fresh bread, baked potatoes, chard, and rib eyes. We opened a Belle Pente Rose to refresh ourselves with snacks while the food cooked, then Paul opened a couple of Bordeaux's to have with dinner (a '98 and '01 Calon Segur).
The road trip was just about 190 miles...billable under vineyard management.
I was glad to take the day and see all each of the sites in one shot, it gave us all a full glance into what each vineyard is up to right now. Most are in full bloom and showing great fruit set, all look spectacular. Our guys are working hard for us and it shows.
Tuesday Fire Update
Yesterday we drove over to Corralitos as part of visits to every vineyard we manage (more on that 8 hour 190 mile trip later). Things were calm and the town square was mostly empty. Home made 'Thank You Firefighters' signs were up everywhere.
We saw lots of fire crews on the roads, either headed home (North), or to Uvas Canyon (South). There was a real good sense that the Corralitos area is safe and returning to normal. It looked like there were two active areas of the fire from the smoke we could see, and that it had moved back to 5-6 miles from the Hazell Dell Road, Browns Valley Road junction.
The CDF is reporting more than 70% containment now anf that 100% containment should happen tonight.
We saw lots of fire crews on the roads, either headed home (North), or to Uvas Canyon (South). There was a real good sense that the Corralitos area is safe and returning to normal. It looked like there were two active areas of the fire from the smoke we could see, and that it had moved back to 5-6 miles from the Hazell Dell Road, Browns Valley Road junction.
The CDF is reporting more than 70% containment now anf that 100% containment should happen tonight.
Monday, May 26, 2008
60% contained
The CDF is now reporting that the fire is 60% contained. It looks like a succesful stand was made at Redwood Road and Hazell Dell Road at the south edge of the fire and that area is no longer in danger. Windy Oaks has reported that they've been told they are no longer in danger.
The fire looks like it has been held at the northern edge of Uvas Canyon as well. There's an access road to the summit, that's one of the hardest hikes in the Bay Area, and a claring near the top of the canyon, and it appears crews have stopped the fire there. Keeping the fire out of the canyon would have been a priority.
Once a fire gets into a canyon in California it becomes critical. Canyons become wind funnels and push flames up the sides and out, spreading the fire as flames race up the sides. There was an advatage in this fire as the fire was entering the canyon from the top, and not the bottom, making it easier to stop.
It looks like the fire has been stopped in the critical areas near housing and crews will now work to contain it in the more wild areas.
The fire looks like it has been held at the northern edge of Uvas Canyon as well. There's an access road to the summit, that's one of the hardest hikes in the Bay Area, and a claring near the top of the canyon, and it appears crews have stopped the fire there. Keeping the fire out of the canyon would have been a priority.
Once a fire gets into a canyon in California it becomes critical. Canyons become wind funnels and push flames up the sides and out, spreading the fire as flames race up the sides. There was an advatage in this fire as the fire was entering the canyon from the top, and not the bottom, making it easier to stop.
It looks like the fire has been stopped in the critical areas near housing and crews will now work to contain it in the more wild areas.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Fire shift.
Just caught up on reports of the fire and it's mostly positive news. The weather has been cool, and the winds down the last two days. It looks like the crews were able to stop the fire at the junction of Hazell Dell Road and Browns Valley Road.
The Woodruff's look to be out of any danger now. We're planning on trying a visit tomorrow to see the vineyard, but suspect we won't be able to get past the fire lines. I'll send off a note today to Pete and Barbara to see how they are.
Reed's Vineyard also seems out of danger now, and there's no chance of the fire moving down Redwood Retreat Road and getting close to Martin Ranch or Fernwood Cellars.
The bad news is that it has moved into Uvas Canyon Park. The area just east of the park is more populated than the areas the fire has been burning in so far, and the construction is much older, which means very poor fire clearance and breaks. Almost all the housing in the area is build right into the forest.
Some good pictures of the density of the forest in the area are at :
http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/3Dbayarea/html/UvasCanyon.htm
For a referance point on where the fire is to us, check out our lable. The view from the label is the view from our backyard. The fire is burning right behind the twin peaks you see on the left side of the label.
The Woodruff's look to be out of any danger now. We're planning on trying a visit tomorrow to see the vineyard, but suspect we won't be able to get past the fire lines. I'll send off a note today to Pete and Barbara to see how they are.
Reed's Vineyard also seems out of danger now, and there's no chance of the fire moving down Redwood Retreat Road and getting close to Martin Ranch or Fernwood Cellars.
The bad news is that it has moved into Uvas Canyon Park. The area just east of the park is more populated than the areas the fire has been burning in so far, and the construction is much older, which means very poor fire clearance and breaks. Almost all the housing in the area is build right into the forest.
Some good pictures of the density of the forest in the area are at :
http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/3Dbayarea/html/UvasCanyon.htm
For a referance point on where the fire is to us, check out our lable. The view from the label is the view from our backyard. The fire is burning right behind the twin peaks you see on the left side of the label.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Latest Posting with Updates
We're fine. Working the day jobs as normal today. Herardo was scheduled to work in the Woodruff Family Vineyard today, but I sent him to the Harrison Vineyard and Elandrich vineyard in Los Altos instead.
We could see Reed's vineyard and home in the TV coverage last night. We consulted there and helped him put in the vineyard. He hasn't called me, but I'm sure he evacuated. IF you check out this map:
map
He is located right where the color of the vegitation changes on Summit Road, south of the fire. There's a cluster of houses there, with a good cleared fire area, so it's likely that if the fire does reach that area it will be defended hard and they should be able to save the houses. The vineyard is organic, so all metal, but the plants could be lost. The big risk I think is that they've probably already drained his tanks so there's no water left for the vineyard.
I just spoke with Barbara Woodruff. The are located on Brown's Valley Road, just south of Avocado Road. If you check the map there you can see the terraced vineyard. It's also an area that can be defended well. They have the tractor out now incase they need to help cut a fire line. They have heard a rumor that they are in an evacuation area, but they are going to stay. They can see the smoke on Redwood Road, and the helicopter activity, it looks to them to be about a mile away now. Barbara said it looks like they are changing out the fire crews as there have been trucks on the road for the last 20 minutes.
She seemed fine and we spent more time talking about who I'd sell the grapes too this year than the fire.
Windy Oaks actually looks to be a bit closer at this point. If you follow the junction where Brown's Valley Road turns into Hazel Dell Road, and follow that, Windy Oaks is at Hazel Dell and Sweetwood. I got the email from Judy yesterday as well that they were fine. I suspect she's just not wanting to answer the phone so hopefully they'll send out an update today. They are in a bit more rugged and wooded area than the Woodruff's with less open farm land around, so a slight higher risk.
The weather is cooperating though and winds are down, so keep all fingers crossed.
We could see Reed's vineyard and home in the TV coverage last night. We consulted there and helped him put in the vineyard. He hasn't called me, but I'm sure he evacuated. IF you check out this map:
map
He is located right where the color of the vegitation changes on Summit Road, south of the fire. There's a cluster of houses there, with a good cleared fire area, so it's likely that if the fire does reach that area it will be defended hard and they should be able to save the houses. The vineyard is organic, so all metal, but the plants could be lost. The big risk I think is that they've probably already drained his tanks so there's no water left for the vineyard.
I just spoke with Barbara Woodruff. The are located on Brown's Valley Road, just south of Avocado Road. If you check the map there you can see the terraced vineyard. It's also an area that can be defended well. They have the tractor out now incase they need to help cut a fire line. They have heard a rumor that they are in an evacuation area, but they are going to stay. They can see the smoke on Redwood Road, and the helicopter activity, it looks to them to be about a mile away now. Barbara said it looks like they are changing out the fire crews as there have been trucks on the road for the last 20 minutes.
She seemed fine and we spent more time talking about who I'd sell the grapes too this year than the fire.
Windy Oaks actually looks to be a bit closer at this point. If you follow the junction where Brown's Valley Road turns into Hazel Dell Road, and follow that, Windy Oaks is at Hazel Dell and Sweetwood. I got the email from Judy yesterday as well that they were fine. I suspect she's just not wanting to answer the phone so hopefully they'll send out an update today. They are in a bit more rugged and wooded area than the Woodruff's with less open farm land around, so a slight higher risk.
The weather is cooperating though and winds are down, so keep all fingers crossed.
Fire Update
The winds are calmer this morning and blowing north and west. The fog came in last night, and news this morning was that the fire is 40% contained.
It looks like Reed's vineyard and home are ok from the maps we've seen, but I still have not heard from him.
I'll call the Woodruffs this morning to see how they are doing. The fire was about 1 1/2 from the vineyard there. A close call and a reminder how dangerous the mountains can be. I worry all the time driving through places like Ben Lomand, or Redwood Estates, just how bad a fire would be in one of the more populated pockets of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
It looks like this one's impact will be relatively small. The weather cooperated and the area of the fire is very sparsely populated.
It looks like Reed's vineyard and home are ok from the maps we've seen, but I still have not heard from him.
I'll call the Woodruffs this morning to see how they are doing. The fire was about 1 1/2 from the vineyard there. A close call and a reminder how dangerous the mountains can be. I worry all the time driving through places like Ben Lomand, or Redwood Estates, just how bad a fire would be in one of the more populated pockets of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
It looks like this one's impact will be relatively small. The weather cooperated and the area of the fire is very sparsely populated.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Reed's Vineyard
Stef and I both just spotted Reed's house and vineyard in the coverage.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/feature?section=news&id=6158710
http://www.stefaniawine.com/winesvineyards/vineyards.html
It looks like the fire is 200-300 yards away. The house looked empty. The fire crews will not try and save the vineyard it won't be a priority. At the current time they are saying it is zero contained and they are focusing on evacuations and protecting homes in immediate danger.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/feature?section=news&id=6158710
http://www.stefaniawine.com/winesvineyards/vineyards.html
It looks like the fire is 200-300 yards away. The house looked empty. The fire crews will not try and save the vineyard it won't be a priority. At the current time they are saying it is zero contained and they are focusing on evacuations and protecting homes in immediate danger.
Fire Update
Please see Dave Tong's Blog for the latest news on the fire.
It is very close to several projects we've consulted on and about 3 miles from the Woodruff Family Vineyard. Ash is falling in the vineyard there. I've spoken with Pete and Barbara today and they are ok at the moment.
We know this area very well and the rugged roads are one reason we have the 4wd Toyota FJ Crusier as our vineyard car.
Brown Valley Road is closed and I was going to send the crew there tomorrow to spray at the Woodruff's but that of course is off now.
It is very close to several projects we've consulted on and about 3 miles from the Woodruff Family Vineyard. Ash is falling in the vineyard there. I've spoken with Pete and Barbara today and they are ok at the moment.
We know this area very well and the rugged roads are one reason we have the 4wd Toyota FJ Crusier as our vineyard car.
Brown Valley Road is closed and I was going to send the crew there tomorrow to spray at the Woodruff's but that of course is off now.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
And The Respite
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!
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!
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 ;-)
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