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Press,
Barrel, and Rack
A few months ago I was
joking with some friends that, because of the
cooler summer and the late ripening of grapes,
I would probably still be working on this
year’s harvest on Christmas. Guess what, it’s
nearly Christmas and I’m still working on this
year’s harvest! Guess the joke is on me…I
honestly thought that I would be snuggling up
at home with a roaring fire in the fireplace, a
good book, my dog Rascal by my side, relaxing
with a glass or two of wine. (Such a lovely
picture, a boy, his dog, and a glass of wine.
What about me, the winery wife?). Okay, a
fire, a book, my dog, a glass of wine and YOU,
SUE, THE WONDER WIFE! (That’s better, still
would have been nice to be listed before the
dog, though). Let’s get back to the story…
I thought I would be
done with harvest by now. However, Mother
Nature did not cooperate. Fruit came in late;
as a matter of fact, I received the last of my
fruit around Thanksgiving. Fermentations were
longer than usual due to the cooler climate.
Normally, a week to ten days fermenting in bins
turned into 3 weeks or more in some cases. My
last press load was just a few days ago. I
still have wine in tank that needs to be
barreled and wines in barrel that need to be
racked.
It sounds fairly
straight forward, press, barrel, and rack. But,
for me as well as for other small wineries, it
can be a complicated logistical problem. In a
"normal" year, fruit comes in at varying
intervals that allows for staggered pressing,
barreling and racking. There is time between
press loads to fill and empty holding tanks
before the next press load. However, when fruit
harvest is delayed it seems like everything
gets harvested at the same time leading to
non-stop crushing and then fermenting. The
cooler weather means that our outdoor bin
fermentations take longer and, again,
everything seems to come due at the same time.
We have a limited amount of holding tanks so
some fermenting musts get pressed to the
holding tanks and some get pressed directly to
barrel.
To rack the wines from
the barrel requires that the barrels be emptied
into a holding tank or into yet more barrels.
It takes quite a balancing act to move wine
from tank to barrel to free up the tanks so
that other wines can be moved from barrel to
tank. Throw in the white wines that we ferment
in stainless steel and another layer of
complexity is added. (Sounds like quite the
juggling act. Maybe you should be in the circus
or get a job as a supply Sergeant. It seems
like a lot of organization skills are needed.
How come you can organize the winery but you
can’t get organized at home? Just sayin…)
Don’t go there, woman.
Anyway, it has been a
challenge for me this year. With any luck I
should be through the barreling and racking
stage of my 2011 wines just before Santa makes
his way down the chimney. (What makes you
think Santa will be coming down the chimney
with a roaring fire in the fireplace? Besides,
I’m not sure where you fall on his naughty or
nice list. As for me, NICE, OF COURSE!) Sue
and I were originally going to write this
article on what we learned during the year.
Since I’m still learning we thought it would be
a good to kick off January 2012 with a
retrospect of 2011. Believe me, we have lots of
fodder to look at. For now, we would like to
wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year. May you all have a safe and sane
holiday season.
Until next time,
Gary and Sue. Drop us a line and let us
know what’s on your mind…
fromthevine@pacbell.net or to PO Box 897,
Sutter Creek, CA 95685.
"Age is just a number.
It's totally irrelevant unless, of course, you
happen to be a bottle of wine." Joan Collins
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The Winemaking
Begins
Last month we raved about
the fun we have harvesting grapes after the
growers finish their part in getting the wine
grapes to the winemaker. Now it’s time for the
winemakers to do their own part in getting the
wine to the consumer.
Here we are in the middle
of November, just a turkey feather away from
pressed and barreled. Foothill vintners in the
last few years have seen the winemaking side of
the process extend further and further into the
last months of the year. Blame the cool summers
(More days to drink beer, though!).
Fruit takes longer to ripen on the vine and
subsequently takes longer to get to the
winemaker. Cooler temperatures also slow
fermentation. Those little yeast guys are no
fools. They drag their little white feet when
it’s too cold. But, I’m getting ahead of
myself.
What exactly happens once
the fruit is delivered to the winery, you ask?
Well, let’s take a peek at the Frog’s Tooth
winery. Sleep, sleep: remember last month…fruit
was just delivered to the winery in ½ ton macro
bins. Watch us unload the fruit from the
trailer with a forklift. See us scoot over to
our 5, 000 lbs. floor scale (printer
attached). Note the bin tare weight
(unloaded) at 93-97 lbs. Subtract this from the
gross weight and create a weigh bill ("Why,
daddy?") 1.) Give the grower an accurate
amount to bill, and 2.) Give the winemaker a
weight to record for the State of California
and the Federal Government and to calculate the
correct amount of any required additions.
Weigh the bins:
winemaking begins. For white wine or a rose,
vintners may pass the grapes through a
destemmer/crusher to separate the grapes from
the stems and crush the berries. Many wineries,
us included, skip the destemmer/crusher for
white wines and roses and put the fruit
directly into the wine press. No crushing
equals less contact between grape skin and
juice which equals less color in the wine. The
press gently squeezes the juice from the grapes
(Sigh, sounds cozy). Then we pump this
juice into a container to ferment. Depending on
the de-sired style of wine, we use a stainless
steel tank, a barrel or a poly tank. We test
the juice for pH, tartaric acid, and brix (the
amount of sugar in the juice). (Yes,
children, there will be a comprehension test
later.) Based on these readings we may add
water or tartaric acid. We also may add
commercial yeast or use the native yeast
resident on the grapes. The yeast converts
sugar into alcohol. Sometimes the yeast needs
help so yeast food is added, too (Available
in chocolate flavor?).
Red wine fruit is usually
run through the destemmer/crusher to separate
the stems, crush the berries slightly, and ease
fermentation. While no color is desirable in
white wines, color, caused by the juice’s
contact with the grape skins and seeds, is very
important in red wines. So, we crush the red
grapes and put them into some sort of
fermentation vessel/container. We, like many
smaller boutique wineries, use clean ½ ton
macro bins for our fermentation vessel. The
crushed grapes stay in the bin for a week or
longer to ferment. Again, we test pH, TA and
brix to determine any necessary additions. We
add more yeast and yeast food and fermentation
continues. Unlike white or rose wines, red
wines
require they must to be "punched down" 2-3
times per day during the initial fermentation
process. If Pilates isn’t your thing then try
punch-downs – guaranteed to build muscles and
make you sweat.
Once the red grapes
reach the desired level of fermentation we dump
the must into the press and gently squeeze the
juice out, into either a stainless steel
container, a poly tank or a barrel. The juice
settles for a day or so and is then put into
barrels for long term fermentation and aging.
Periodically, we take the wine out of the tank
or barrel. Then we do a rub a dub-dub on the
containers to clean them and pump the wine back
in. We call this "racking". Racking removes the
sediment that collects at the bottom of the
tank/barrel and helps prevent unwanted flavors
and aromas in the wine (Ugh, sounds nasty!).
When next we meet we’ll fast forward a year or
so and see what happens to the aging (gracefully)
wine.
Have a very Happy
Thanksgiving! Enjoy your family, friends and a
good glass of wine. Until next time, Gary
and Sue
Drop us a line and let
us know what’s on your mind;
fromthevine@pacbell.net or to Editor, PO
Box 897, Sutter Creek, CA 95685
If food is the body of
good living, wine is its soul. - Clifton
Fadiman
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Picking Grapes
Darkness lingers
tentatively in the vineyard. Bands of first
light as tenuous as angel hair slide over the
nearby hillocks. The almost imperceptible
swoosh of bat wings that beat the predawn air
announce the fading of night and herald
approaching sunrise. The smell of native
ironweed competes with the heady aromas of
Grenache and Tempranillo berries already
fermenting in the half ton bins (macro bins).
The yeasts in these containers are working,
breaking down sugars and leaving hints of
berry, cherry, spicy pepper and, of course,
alcohol.
The yellow jackets that
are addicted to the fragrances and that tiptoe
around everything on their miniscule insect
feet are sleeping now. Grape harvesters,
however, are not. Over the hill and down the
road in a caravan they come. Cutting head lamps
dance; tractors throb; tools glisten; muscles
flex; greetings and jibes fly. Welcome to grape
harvest.
So what do you need to
have and to do and to know to bring in your
grape crop? As you might expect the answers
vary greatly depending on the size of your
vineyard. Twenty plants need at least two
people (one to cut off the grape clusters
and one to pour the beer). Three or four or
five good size buckets will hold your crop
nicely, depending on Mother Nature’s bounty and
your own vineyard management expertise. If you
have a slightly larger planting you add to the
number of pickers exponentially and you still
need at least one person to pour the beer.
We’ve talked about
harvesting before but the more one does it the
more one learns. For ex-ample, from last year
we learned that it is no fun to harvest in the
rain. It’s wet, cold, miserable, and water gets
into the grape bins. Great if you are selling
the fruit by weight but not so great for the
quality of the fruit after it sits for a while.
We also learned that if you intend to pick in
the dark (which we have done several times.
Why? Because the pickers would prefer to be
done with picking before the heat of the
afternoon zaps all of their energy.) It’s
best to use head lamps and start with the red
fruit. It’s easier to see. Otherwise, daylight
reveals the missed clusters and additional time
is spent re-picking the vine rows.
Picking in the dark is
also good if you have an abundance of yellow
jackets in the vine-yard. You can get in and
out before they wake up. Of course, they get a
little peeved when they find out all of their
fruit is gone and aggressively seek out its new
locale.
Unfortunately that means the macro bins in
which it is now sitting. Most winemakers can
attest to the tenacity of a yellow jacket and
can spin tales of the many stings, bites,
swollen hands and other body parts as they
compete -- mano y insect.
At Frog’s Tooth, we
have about 9.5 acres, too much for one person
(or two people - the beer guy or gal) to
harvest alone. We use a labor crew that comes
up from Lodi to help us harvest. We have used
this same crew since 2004. They are very
efficient and know our vine-yard. We start at
4am or 5am. Most, if not all, of the vineyards
in the foothills are harvested by hand. The
terrain is such that mechanical harvesting is
not an option. If you’ve never experienced a
grape harvest you should put that on your
bucket list. It’s quite amazing-ok, maybe not
as amazing as climbing Mt Everest, or seeing
the Taj Mahal, but interesting anyway.
Harvesting our vineyard
goes something like this; a group of 6-8 guys
(sometimes more and sometimes there may be a
few gals, too) show up pre-dawn, around O dark
thirty. With 40-pound picking lugs in hand,
they don their head lamps, sterilize their
clippers and head for the designated picking
area. One person per row, they work their way
down the line on
the hunt for their illusive quarry. The grapes
are cut and deposited into the picking lug that
they slide down the row with their foot. A
tractor with a bin trailer carrying 2 one-half
ton macro bins slowly moves down the center of
the vineyard between the pickers.
As the
lugs fill up they are passed under the vines
toward the center to the awaiting tractor. The
bins are received and dump-ed into the macro
bins and the empty bin is passed back to the
picker. Several individuals are assigned to
pick out leaves, un-desirable grapes and other
foreign objects from the macro bins as the
tractor moves slowly down the line keeping pace
with the pickers.
When
the two macro bins are full, a second tractor
with two new bins slides in behind the first
tractor ready for the next deposit of full
lugs. The first tractor then moves out of the
vineyard to the grape bin drop off point, picks
up two more empty bins and heads back to the
vineyard to keep the cycle going. This goes on
until all of the scheduled fruit is harvested.
Next time we’ll tell you what happens
next…Until next time, Gary and Sue
Drop
us a line and let us know what’s on your mind…
fromthevine@pacbell.net or PO Box 897,
Sutter Creek, CA 95685
"Who
took the cork out of my lunch?" W.C. Fields
Back to Top
Harvest Time!
Hello, fellow wine
lovers, and welcome to the busiest month of the
vintner’s year. It’s September and it’s HARVEST
TIME! The vineyards and wineries are aflutter
with activity and I am hip deep in picking,
pressing, crushing, etc. (The etc includes
eating bratwurst and drinking beer. It takes a
lot of beer to produce a barrel of wine.)
While composing the following tasty comments (Remember
ladies, with these guys it’s all about the old
tumtum) and remembering last September’s
harvest article I got that feeling of deja vu.
Some of the points from 2007 were so pertinent
that they merited repetition. (Plus, he was so
sated with dogs and suds that his brain was on
pause mode.)
Some of you who have
walked the aisles of your local produce market
and squeezed a few tomatoes may wonder how we
know when it is time to pick the fruit. I’m
tempted to say it’s magic and have you all gaze
at me with slack jawed awe but this is the
season for sharing so I will let you in on
field tests and laboratory tests.
Field tests are
generally begun after the grapes go through
verasion (The official definition of
véraison is "change of color of the grape
berries"). Véraison signifies the change
from berry growth to berry ripe-ning in
grapevines. One of the field tests that are
conducted is to check the brix (sugar level) of
the grape berries. The grower and/or winemaker
walk the vine-yard and randomly select berries
while trying not to focus on any particular
color or size of fruit. All the berries, not
just the juiciest and most brilliantly colored
ones, will wind up in the barrel so a balanced
representation is required.
The chosen berries are dropped into a plastic baggie
and crushed. A few drops of the resulting juice
is placed onto the business end of an
instrument called a refractometer. This handy
device allows the user to look into its
eyepiece (Oh, that sounds decidedly
Transylvanian. Admit it, we all have thought of
Count Dracula as a mildly sexy guy. Something
about that black cape.) which reveals a
scale calibrated in degrees brix. The higher
the number, the more sugar in the juice. As the
berry ripens, the brix level will rise. Another
less technical indicator of ripeness is the
color of the seeds. Less ripened grapes will
have green seeds and ripe grapes will have
brown seeds. (Of course, dear, any
hardworking sparrow could tell you that.)
The most common
laboratory tests revolve around acid (titratable
acidity or TA), and pH (No, that is not
a printer’s error - he is serious about that
lower case "p" and the upper case "H". Don’t
ask him why or he will get sidetracked and
never finish his ripeness dissertation.)
The key to knowing when to harvest is to find
the optimal balance between brix, TA and pH.
One can argue what is optimal but in general,
the optimum brix is around 22, TA 0.60 to 0.80
for reds and 0.65 to 0.85 for whites.
While this might sound
easy, it is very difficult to co-ordinate a
harvest where all three of these elements are
in their optimal positions. It is more common
to find only one or two of these elements at
their prime at one time. This is where the
winemaker’s skills come into play in syncing up
these elements during the winemaking process.
Water may be added to bring down sugar levels,
tartaric acid maybe added to raise acidity and
lower pH. We can talk about the effects sugar,
acid and pH have on the wine another time.
Suffice it to say each has its purpose.
All of these tests are
important but one of the most important tests
is conducted utilizing one of the most complex
instruments ever created. The test is TASTE and
the instrument is your mouth and tongue. Taste
is often "The indicator that best defines the
right time to pick. Until next time, Gary
and Sue
Send us your comments,
favorite recipes, and stories to
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to us c/o
Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter Creek,
CA 95685
"Wine had such ill
effects on Noah’s health that it was all he
could do to live 950 years. Show me a total
abstainer that ever lived that long." - Will
Rogers
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Sierra Foothill
Wines
Waaahoooo! Way to go
Sierra Foothill wineries…What a showing at the
2011 California State Fair Wine Competition.
Yes, folks, in case you haven’t heard, the
Sierra Foothill wine producers came away with
an astounding 51 gold or double gold awards in
this year’s wine com-petition! We are often
overlooked as a wine region and overshadowed by
our neighbor regions to the West, Napa and
Sonoma. This year the tables were turned; Napa,
the region with the second most gold or double
gold came away with 26. Of course, those of us
who live in the Sierra Foothill Appellation
have known how great our wines are all along.
For those of you who do
not know, the Sierra Foothill Appellation is
comprised of El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras,
Nevada, Placer, Yuba, Tuolumne and Mariposa,
counties. It is one of the largest AVA’s
(American Viticulture Area) in California It
encompasses over 2,600,000 acres and is home to
over 200 wineries.
So what exactly is an
appellation? An appellation is a legally
defined and protected geographical indication
used to identify where the grapes for wine were
grown. To qualify as an AVA it must be
demonstrated that the wines produced from that
region possess similar characteristics. That
is, the grapes/wines are influenced by soil,
climate, landscape, etc. (also known as terroir)
and produce a style of wine that cannot exactly
be duplicated elsewhere. Wines produced with an
AVA designation must contain a minimum of 85%
of the grapes used in making the wine from that
AVA.
Special congratulations
to all of the Sierra Foothill wineries for a
job well done. It is not possible to list all
of the wineries that medaled in this year’s
wine competition but here are a few that were
recognized with Double Gold, Gold or Best of…
awards; Best of Region awards went to
Windwalker (Double Gold-Shady Lady Primitivo)
and Obscurity Cellars (Double Gold- Alicante
Boushcet Rose); Gold and/or Double Gold went
to: Amador Foothill Winery, Black Sheep Winery,
Borjon Winery, Chatom Vineyards, Convergence
Vineyards, Dillian Wines, Driven Cellars,
Drytown Cellars, Goldhill Vineyard, Jeff
Runquist Wines, Milliare, Renwood Winery, Sobon
Estates, Twisted Oak Winery, Villa Toscano
Winery, and Wilderotter Winery. I am sure I
missed a few, so check at:
www.bigfun.org/competitions-awards. Again,
congratulations to everyone!
Finally, we are going
through verasion in the vine-yard. At least
that’s true for some of us in the lower
elevations. At Frog’s Tooth we are beginning to
see color in our Grenache and Petite Sirah. The
Sauvigon Blanc and Viognier are swelling and
softening up. We may be harvesting Sauvignon
Blanc in another 3-4 weeks. Then let the fun
begin…it will be non-stop for the next 2 months
or maybe more?
Reports from other
vineyards indicate that the crop loads for some
varietals may be lower than expected due to the
late season hail in the upper elevation
vineyards. Others have seen a slight decrease
in crop from last year but overall, quality
looks good. Harvest seems to be running about
two weeks be-hind normal. We’re all keeping our
fingers crossed that Nature doesn’t play
anymore tricks on us until harvest is over.
That means no foul weather or fowls of a
feather, please. Many wineries are finishing up
their bottling of 2009 vintage wines. Tanks are
being emptied; equipment is being cleaned and
serviced in preparation for this year’s crush.
Don’t be surprised if
you start getting solicited to help in the
vineyard or winery. Remember, it’s fun and not
everyone gets to do it…and I have a picket
fence to whitewash, too. As a reminder,
September is Wine Month, so get out there and
drink some wine. Lots and lots of wine; we need
the revenue. Plus, it’s good for you.
Until next time, Gary and Sue
Drop us a line and let us know what’s on
your mind…
fromthevine@pacbell.net or PO Box 897,
Sutter Creek, CA 95685
"Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath
and a glass of good wine."
St. Thomas Aquinas
Back to Top
HOW
I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION…An Alaskan
cruise, no; a trip to Mexico, no; a trip to
Europe for a leisurely wine cruise or tour; not
even close…maybe you’re thinking a day trip or
two to the lake or mountains for some much
deserved R&R; uh, no. As luck would have it, my
summer vacation has, so far, been spent working
in the vineyard. I know, some would say what a
GREAT way to spend the summer.
Yes, some WOULD say
that! However, as much as I like working in the
vineyard it would be nice to get some time away
to relax and do nothing. But as Sue constantly
reminds me, "That’s farming". (Ironically,
one of the things that attracted me to Gary
back when we were barely out of diapers was
that he had steady employment. The other thing,
besides the Ford Mustang, of course, was that
he wasn’t a farmer!) So what have I been
doing in the vineyard? I’m doing many of the
same things that a lot of you are doing or
should be doing (Yes, daddy dearest).
Earlier in the year we dealt with pruning and
shoot selection. Of course, we had an
"unseasonable" rain, although I’m not sure we
can call it unseasonable anymore since it’s
happened for the last couple of years.
But, because of the
rain, another pass through the vineyard with
sulfur spray was dictated. Along with the
sulfur sprays, now is the time to treat the
vines for mites, whitefly and other "sucking"
pests. (Do the IRS and State Board of
Equalization fit into that category? OOPS, are
they listening?) I may have mentioned in
previous articles that our vineyard is located
in the Salt Spring Valley just outside of
Copperopolis. I mention this because we
generally get a breeze that develops around
10:00 am every day. To keep drift to a minimum,
we start spraying at daylight and stop around
10pm. It usually takes a couple of days to
complete the spraying.
My routine is to get up
at 4 am, get to the vineyard 5 am, don my
hooded spray suit, rubber boots, respirator,
goggles, and rubber gloves, mix the chemicals
in the 50 gallon Pak-Blast sprayer and fly
through the vineyard at a blazing 1.5 mph. This
year, of course, we had the rain and then 100+
temperatures. Oh, did I mention the spray
outfit adds about 10 degrees to the outside
temperature? So, when it got up to 100 degrees,
it was 110 degrees in the spray suit. As the
temperature in the suit rises, you realize that
you are sitting in a sauna with sweat filling
up your boots and fogging your goggles. Nothing
but fun! (Complain, complain. Do you know
how much tourists in Sweden pay to hunker down
on wooden benches bristling with ill placed
slivers while huddling congenially around
steaming rocks? Then they clamor out the door
and roll around in the snow like giddy
penguins. Cowboy-up there, pardner!).
We have experienced a
booming grasshopper population again this year
and we are treating with NoLo bait. This is
interesting bait. (Only a farmer would say
that.) It is made from flaky wheat bran
sprayed with protozoan. The protozoa affect the
grasshopper’s digestive system so they don’t
eat and become lethargic. Eventually, the
grasshoppers will die. The protozoa, however,
live on and because grasshoppers are
cannibalistic, the others feed on the dead ones
and become infected too. (Creepy: Stephen
King, are you listening?)
Now we are tucking,
suckering and moving wires as the vines have
started their spurt of rapid shoot growth. (Perhaps
we should consider that technique for our
grandson, Gio, who is 13 years old now and
stands about 5 feet, 9 inches.) Berry set
has occurred in our area. We want to get the
berries acclimated to the sunshine so we will
be doing some leaf pulling around the clusters.
We are also experimenting with a different
canopy management style known as "ballerina".
We are on a VSP (vertical shoot position)
trellis. Normally this trellising style keeps
most of the vine growth in a vertical position
inside the wires.
The ballerina style
allows for some shoot growth to hang outside of
the wires and into the vineyard rows to provide
for some additional shade. (Sounds like but
farmers can’t say, "Tutu".) Our vineyard is
going to be part of the annual Calaveras
Winegrape Alliance Vineyard tour later this
month, so a final mowing and some
under-the-vine weed eating is in order. Lest I
forget, we continue to monitor the vineyard for
irrigation repairs and it’s now time for a post
bloom fertigation application. A month or so
from now, we should begin harvesting our
Sauvignon Blanc grapes. And then the fun really
begins!
Until next time, Gary and Sue
Send us your comments,
favorite recipes and stories to
fromthevine@pacbell.net or write to us c/o
Gold Country Times, PO Box 897, Sutter Creek,
CA 95685.
"Wine makes daily
living easier, less hurried, with fewer
tensions and more tolerance."
-- Benjamin Franklin
Back to Top
Rose Expose June 2011
Greetings to one and
all from summer central. The thermometer topped
out at 104 today in the vineyard and the grapes
are ecstatic. Irrigation is a must now to keep
the vines stretching skyward and the fruit
sucking up moisture like dromedaries in the
Sahara.
It’s time to finally
tuck away the winter togs and strut around in
our tank tops and shorts. However, don’t forget
the sun block or you will find yourself pinking
up from too much sun exposure. (After the
interminable winter and a peek-a-boo spring
that teased us unmercifully with its on-again,
off-again flirtations can one really imagine
too much sun?) Yes, one can. Just ask those
mothers chasing flush faced toddlers and wives
dogging the heels of lackadaisical husbands.
Speaking of pinking up, let’s get down and
dirty and dish up what we here snidely call the
"Rose Expose". What is the real story behind
those naughty "blushing" pink wines? What were
those berries doing out there behind the winery
that compromised their pristine white clarity?
Or more pertinent what were those vintners
doing to their grape juices?
Like so many seemingly
easy questions, we need to step back in time
for the complete answer. (Oh, no, here he
goes again on a side trip that might drag us
off into deepest outer space. Black hole, here
we come.) In the late 1970’s once popular
Portuguese pink wines like Mateus and Lancers (groovy
bottles) were going out of fashion. Rose,
it seemed, semisweet though it might have been
was leaving a sour taste in wine purchaser’s
mouths. Red wines made from Zinfandel were also
losing their appeal. (Oh, darling, that wine
is just so, so pedestrian, don’t you think?)
Fortunately for Zinfandel lovers, not to
mention nervous Zinfandel grape growers who
were staring at hundreds of acres of producing
vines, as well as the loyalists who still
wanted to think pink, Sutter Home winery
created a market for rose Zinfandel.
For some reason the
wine-makers called it "white". Bacchus only
knows why. (Could have been an error during
the labeling process.) So, how did the
winemakers create that softer pink tint that is
characteristic of a rose? Good question? The
way rose is produced is very similar to the
method for making red wine. As you recall from
earlier articles red wine becomes red because
the juice ferments while staying in contact
with the red grape skins. The juice draws the
color from the skins. Yeast is added and the
grapes are stirred or pumped around the tank
during fermentation to encourage redness of
color, flavor, and tannin. To create a rose,
the winemaker will leave the juice in contact
with the skins for only 12 to 24 hours. The
color that develops is lighter, pinker, and
daintier. (I have been waiting for months to
wordsmith in that ladylike delicacy: daintier.
Big, tough guys would be laughed out of the
vineyard for employing such a sissy adjective.)
Another difference
between the production of rose and red wines
happens later in the process. Once fermentation
has been completed, the red wine juice is drawn
off. This is known as free-run juice or
free-run wine. The winemaker who wants more
tannin or color in the red wine can press the
leftovers and combine this "press wine" with
the other liquid. For a rose wine the maker
would not normally blend this "press wine" back
into the juice that was first drawn off.
Instead the winemaker can either decide to
allow it to ferment only a little longer before
stopping the process and bottling the wine as a
semisweet pink wine or perhaps decide to allow
the fermentation to complete as though it were
to become a dry white wine.
Whatever the decision,
the rose is unlikely to go into a new oak
barrel. (No, no, don’t throw my precious
baby into anything that astringent or harsh!
Remember, she is too delicate for that.)
Roses are generally bottled within a few months
of the harvest. It is generally better to drink
rose's as soon as they are bought because the
majority of roses do not improve noticeably
with age. Don’t wait. Why not pair a dry rose
for your first summer cook-out with charbroiled
swordfish and a fresh green salad topped with a
simple citrus dressing. The meaty swordfish
needs a bit of red fruit in a wine to bring out
the flavor. Until next time, Gary and Sue
Drop us a line and let
us know what’s on your mind…
fromthevine@pacbell.net or PO Box 897,
Sutter Creek, CA 95685
"Compromises are for relationships, not wine."
- Sir Robert Scott Caywood
Back to Top
Sweet Wines
May 2011
Mother Nature is
belting out a riotous vineyard two step now:
mow me; spray me; mow me; spray me. The
winemaker, Gary, and the winemaker’s pup, Rascal,
are holding hands and paws and dancing between
rows of Grenache and Viognier. Both man and dog
swear on a stack of Wine Spectator magazines
that they are working, but we know better,
don’t we? I occasionally hear the roar of the
Kubota tractor or the bark of the four-legged,
many-fanged squirrel bane. However, the ominous
periods of quiet guaranties that beer is being
guzzled and ears are being scratched.
Hopefully, the taller
and, theoretically, more mature of the pair is
imbibing while the shorter one looks on with
wistful, hero worshipping eyes and dreams of
the day when he can metamorphosis into his own
real boy skin with be-fingered paws capable of
clutching a bottle between his very own
opposable thumb and forefinger.
While they are
distracted, let’s sneak in a few comments about
my favorite and the taller one’s least favorite
subject: sweet wines. The wine industry and the
aforementioned tall tractor driver have
generally pushed sweet wines to the back of the
burner to make more room for dry and ultra-dry
wines. But, historically, people have enjoyed
drinking sweet wines with their meals. In
addition, late harvest sweet wines pair well
with popular Pan-Asian and California cuisine.
So, why bridle your sweet tooth and limit your
sweet wine pairing to cheeses and desserts
only?
Take the bit into your
mouth and run a little wild. You will discover
that sweet wines can also complement meats, sea
foods, and soups. The chef only needs to ensure
the sauce being served is not sweeter than the
wine. (Or in Gary and Rascal’s case, the
corn dog dip and the kibble juices should not
be sweeter than the accompanying wine.) So,
you may wonder, just what is a late harvest
wine?
Glad you asked! Here in
the higher elevations of the foothills harvest
generally happens in September. However, our
vineyard, Frog’s Tooth in Salt Springs Valley,
ranges from only 900 to 1200 feet so we can
start harvest earlier on in the later weeks of
August. A late harvest wine grape can be picked
three, four, or even eight weeks later. Timing
is critical. The grape grower wants the sugars
in the fruit to be as high as possible (Can
you say 35 brix?) while still being
balanced by good numbers in acid and ph. (Not
to mention the unpredictability of fall weather
patterns and the unenviable possibility of
harvesting during thunder and lightning or
falling snowflakes.)
Delayed harvesting with
the need for more vigilant monitoring of the
fruit and additional labor costs for the
returning labor crews translate into higher
production costs so don’t be unduly surprised
when the price for a sweet wine is higher than
the typical price for a dry wine. Another
technique for creating sweet wine involves the
manipulation of Botrytis cinera a.k.a. the
Noble Rot. (Dare I say this while dedicated
grape growers everywhere strap jet sprayers to
their backs-actually to their tractors but that
is a mundane visual-and march up and down their
grape rows 24 hours a day fighting fungi?)
Botrytis spores are present in vineyards all
over the world but the main condition to make
them sprout is high humidity.
Most growers will drag
out the spraying rigs, especially after rain,
and apply chemicals to their grape buds to
prevent the growth of unwanted mildew and
fungus and rot (whether noble or as common
as a stable boy). The unbridled spores
penetrate the grape skin without breaking it
and evaporate the water out of the grape. The
grape clusters shrivel and are left without
nearly 60 percent of the juice they started
with but have greater concentrations of sugar
and glycerin per ounce. Savvy fungi
wranglers/vintners celebrate this lack of
juice. Grape growers howl in agony because less
juice equals lower weight equals less money in
their pockets because, remember, they are being
paid for their grapes by the tonnage they bring
to market.
Oops, just when we are
getting to the finger licking, super sticky
section of the sweet wine story, the winemaker
and the spigot licker are returning. Let’s hit
the SAVE button and corral this edition before
our own glucose levels shoot into the danger
zone.
Until next time, Gary and Sue
Back to Top
Spring Chores
April 2011
In the spring every
young man’s fancy turns to thoughts
of…pre-emergent spraying, mowing, shoot
thinning, pruning, and bud break. (I agree
with you, readers, those thoughts should have
turned to love, but the thoughts of farmers,
like those of Nascar drivers, tend to spin
around a central core of horsepower, torque,
and gear ratios) Valley grape growers
already have grape shoots of four to five
inches while here in the foothills most grape
varieties are just showing the first signs of
bud break. (Crikies, man, what do you
expect? Last week it was snowing here in
Murphys!)
Good news for local
growers-we finally started seeing the sun. The
bad news for local growers is that winter
stomped back in with hail storms and dropping
temperatures. So, we say our prayers, get our
sulphur ready (using air blast
sprayers-thinking Nascar still?), and
busying ourselves with other chores such as
topping, blending, and preparing to bottle
those wines that are ready to graduate from the
barrel.
You may be wondering
what topping is. To learn about that you need
to know that once wine is put into barrels for
aging, not all the wine stays there. Some of it
evaporates through the sides of the barrels.
This wispy runaway wine is commonly referred to
as "the angel’s share". (Now that is lovely
and almost romantic.) During much of the
wine-making process, air is the enemy. A
winemaker wants to keep his or her barrels full
so that little or no air comes in contact with
the wine living inside. So, periodically, the
winemaker will pull the bung, the oversize plug
on the top of the barrel, (remember, though,
the barrels are lying on their sides, so that
would be the top of whatever side is pointing
toward the sky) Well, aren’t you observant.
Anyway, the bung is pulled and more wine is
added to fill the barrel to the top again.
At various times during
the winemaking process, nitrogen or argon may
be used by the winemaker to protect the wine.
Because these gases are heavier than air, they
can be pumped into the wine vessel (barrel,
stainless steel tank, or other container)
to form a protective seal between the wine and
the air. (No, Dorothy, now climb off that
barrel, put down that helium tank, and slip
your ruby red slippers back on. Helium is only
good for dirigibles and testosterone overloaded
Munchkins.)
A second fun chore for
this time of the year is blending. As the name
implies this technique involves combining two
or more wines into a combination that pleases
the wine-maker and all the friends who accepted
their invitations to the blending party. (King
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
thought they were living large while gathered
together in a smoke filled castle planning
manly pre four stroke engine war campaigns.
Their mead might have been rousing but those
epidermis grabbing chain-mail suits probably
raised more merry old rashes than goblets
raised by knights.) So, why blend wines?
Like mad scientists,
winemakers are always looking for ways to "make
it better". Blending grapes with grapes that
have different characteristics, perhaps from
different vineyard sites or different clones or
varietals gives the winemaker tools to create a
wine that is "greater than the sum of its
parts". As an example, we make a Meritage. It
is a blend of different Bordeaux varietals.
Varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot,
Malbec and Merlot in our blend contribute
different color, aroma and flavor components
that when melded together create a wine that is
more interesting and complex than the "sum of
its parts". Bottling is yet another activity
that is taking place in many wineries this time
of year. As many of you may know, this is not
especially one of my favorite things to do.
It accounts for long
days of standing and lifting with few breaks. I
do enjoy the camaraderie but let’s face it; I
would rather be out in the vineyard or
"creating" in the winery. It’s a necessary part
of the process and it does bring a feeling of
satisfaction when the wine is finally bottled
and labeled, ready for the tasting room and our
customers.
Until next time, Gary and Sue
Drop us a line and let
us know what’s on your mind:
fromthevine@pacbell.net or PO Box 897,
Sutter Creek, CA 95685
Wine is constant proof
that God loves us and loves to see us happy. -
Benjamin Franklin
Work in the Vineyard March 2011
Rain, Snow, Power
outages… ENOUGH ALREADY! We don’t know about
the rest of you but we’re ready for winter to
get the "heck" out of Dodge… There’s work to be
done in the vineyard and this weather is
keeping me from my appointed tasks. (Yes,
and it’s keeping him home and in my hair!)
I hope you all have had an opportunity to get
your under-the-vine weeding programs done.
Whether you use sprays or mechanical weed
control, it’s a good thing to get them done
before spring really sets in and the grasses
take off.
My initial Roundup and
pre-emergent sprays were done a few weeks ago
but this weather is hampering my mowing. Many
vineyards are in the midst of pruning and,
although rain doesn’t prevent the crews from
working in the vineyards, it certainly makes
for a miserable day. (Believe me, I know.
I’ve had to be out there with you on many a
rainy day and to put it bluntly, IT SUCKS!)
You have such a way with words. Getting the
vineyard floor weeded, mowed and generally
spruced up is not only esthetically pleasing
but helps reduce problems in the vineyard later
in the year. Removing or shredding the left
over prunings reduces the chances of pests that
over winter on the canes.
Shredding the prunings
has an added benefit since they then become
compost that works its way back into the soil.
If one is not shredding, then it’s a good idea
to drag a springtooth through the vineyard and
remove the prunings for later disposal. Bud
break in the foothills is just around the
corner. There is a growing concern about the
possibility or more likely probability that
there will be a frost during the onset of bud
break. Frost can have a devastating effect on
young buds and shoots as we experienced a
couple of years ago when many vineyards lost
50% or more of their crops due to an extended
frost.
We’ve talked about some
various methods of frost control before, like
wind machines, smudge pots and overhead
sprinklers. These controls can mitigate the
damage caused from an extended frost but they
can also be expensive; an expense that most
small vine-yards cannot afford. So, like us and
many others we throw the dice and take our
chances that damage from a frost will be
minimal. If you have a vineyard you may have
been or may soon be contacted by your county
agriculture department regarding the placement
of bug traps.
As you know, this is a
key line of defense in our ongoing battle
against several devastating insects such as the
Glassy-wing Sharpshooter and the European
Grapevine Moth. Early detection is paramount,
so please cooperate with them and allow them
access to your vine-yard to set and monitor
traps. It benefits us all.
Out in the winery we
continue to do barrel work and bottling. Not
necessarily the fun stuff for me. (Oh, face
it; you love to be out in the winery no matter
what you’re doing). I guess that’s true but
I have to keep the image up that this is hard
work and not just more time to taste wine and
drink beer. But, we do in fact, do work.
Barrels need to be inspected and topped. Plus
there are always surprises when you haven’t
been there for a few days. It seems a rabbit
got into the winery while I was up there the
last time and was trapped in there for several
days. What a mess! Rabbit pellets everywhere.
It had jumped up on the
lab table and knocked off some of the
equipment, pulled down the curtain over the
window, knocked the stereo off the window
ledge, knocked off several wine glasses onto
the floor-glass everywhere. It wasn’t fun
cleaning up and having to sanitize everything
again. It’s a good thing I don’t eat rabbit.
Until next time, Gary and Sue
Drop us a line and let
us know what’s on your mind,
fromthevine@pacbell.net or PO Box 897,
Sutter Creek, CA 95685.
"Sorrow can be
alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of
good wine."
St. Thomas Aquinas
Back to Top
Sensory
Response to Wine January 2011
Wake up, sleepyheads! Anyone who has ever
shambled through a Northern California winter
without the luxury of island hopping in the
South Pacific knows the monotony of four
interminable months of gun metal gray skies or
cotton batting fog inspired claustrophobia. No
wonder we overeat at Thanksgiving: the apparent
gluttony is a precursor to impending forced
hibernation.
So, what is the remedy? You open hearth and
home to friends and family and bring out
several bottles of that cabernet sauvignon you
squirreled away last fall. With a hearty (some
might say goofy) grin on your face you
await the expected accolades, praise, and
yahoos. But what happens? Someone, most likely
a woman (you will find out why later)
grimaces and complains that the wine is too
harsh or too bitter.
Now, before you get yourself in a pickle by
proclaiming some palates (meaning yours, of
course) are more developed than others,
consider this: according to Liz Thach, Ph.D,
wine business and management professor at
Sonoma State University and Tim Hanni, CEO of
the Napa Seasoning Company and a founding
partner of Wine Quest LLC, studies have shown
that differences in sensory response to wine
can be roughly divided into two categories of
physical and associative diversity.
The first, physical diversity, includes the
number of taste buds on a person’s tongue, his
or her salivary rate flow, the amount of
protein in the person’s saliva, the
individual’s response to hot or cold, and, of
course, whether or not your guest has a raging
head cold, stayed out too late the previous
evening and is now semi-comatose from sleep
deprivation, or perhaps just received a pink
slip from the office manager and is stressing
over the upcoming lease payment on the new
Escalade that Santa Claus delivered but did not
include in his own personal budget.
Associative diversity has to do with a person’s
background and wine experiences. For example,
if one of your guests remembers the dismal
summer spent mowing lawns as a youngster to
raise enough collateral for a Schwinn bicycle
that was later stolen by a less enterprising
but light fingered thief, the grassy aroma of
sauvignon blancs could generate a negative
response. Ditto the guest who is forced to
stock up on antihistamines once the snow melts
and the tips of budding greenery poke up from
the thawing earth. (Achoo, and God bless
you!)
As for wine experiences, consider the
thoroughly enjoyable Tempranillo that one of
your guests raved about when shared with the
loving fiancé but that later tasted flat and
unappetizing as the poor sod sipped while
opening the letter postmarked in Paris that
included a snapshot of the Eiffel Tower, the
returned engagement ring, and the
heartbreaker’s new email address:
mariekisskissclaudeforever@inyourface.com .
Perhaps an obvious exaggeration and hyperbole
but you get the picture.
So what do we learn from all this (Something
less stressful, I hope! My gewürztraminer is
suddenly acquiring bitter overtones.)
People are different. (Duh!) Some people
are hypersensitive tasters. These folks have
more taste buds and react at first to a big
tannin wine with disgust. More taste buds-more
intensity-yuck! About 25% of the population
falls into this category and most of them are
women.
The tolerant tasters have fewer taste buds and
prefer denser, more concentrated wines higher
in tannins and acid. This 25% of the population
is more likely to enjoy big cabernets and red
Bordeaux wines over lighter, more delicate
offerings. Most of these folks are men.
The last group, about 50% of the population (Great
math there, my man), are sensitive tasters
who are fortunate to have been born with the
capability to enjoy both light, delicate and
sweet wines while easily moving on to and
savoring red wines of higher intensity. (Super,
let’s bring magnifying glasses to our next
party and count taste buds on everyone’s
tongues. Then for future gatherings we will be
able to invite only abundant budders to white
wine parties and skimpy budders to red wine
parties. We might also consider ear tagging
each person according to taste bud type, but
some might label that just a tad extreme!)
What does all this mean? (Keep it simple,
man, the philosophy column is on another page.)
Diversity is Mother’s Golden Rule. (It’s
also a vaccination against boredom and an
antidote for malaise.) Keep Mother Nature
happy; live in balance with the cosmos; don’t
mock your fellow wine lovers because he or she
may have been born with less or more taste buds
than you; get on the rainbow colored bus of
God’s living creatures and, lastly, always
bring two bottles of wine to every party: one
red and one white
Until next time, Gary and Sue
Drop us a line and let us know what’s on your
mind.
fromthevine@pacbell.net or PO Box 897,
Sutter Creek, CA 95685
“What is better than to sit at the end of the
day and drink wine with friends, or substitutes
for friends!” - James Joyce
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From the Vine 
