Chard remains and wines

So last week I got to experience my very first California wild fire! I had seen a bunch of fire trucks around town and it seemed like something was up but there was nothing extremely alarming, that was until we were driving from St. Helena to Calistoga. There was a vintage party at the Co-Op warehouse where Neyers stores all their bottled wine where Marie and I dined on grilled chicken and various $50+ wines donated by the wineries that use the warehouse. On the way to Calisotga we looked up at the side of the mountain and saw a huge red glow and could even see the flames jumping up off the tree tops. It was amazing, and terrifying. Being night and not really knowing the geography all that well it look almost like the fire was right on top of the winery, or at the Neyers ranch! Rather than racing up the hill with shovels and hoses, we decided that the fire fighters would probably turn us back anyway and so headed to a bar to toast the 'toasted' remains of the winery. In the morning, as luck had it, the fire turned out to be several valleys over from where we worked, just downhill from Angwin in fact. There was quite a bit of burnage but from what I have heard, not much in the way of property dammage. There were a few wineries that couldnt do their pump-overs or punch-downs for a few days but they can just market thoes wines as "minimally processed". My next fear was that my trails had been burnt. I have been going to Los Pasados State Park quite a bit and riding my bike and that is right in Angwin, but luckley that was spared as well. I did snap this shot on my way up to the trails:


Today I worked on all my wines. Both the Chardonnays are done fermenting and are ready for malolactic fermentation. They were starting to pickup quite a bit of color (brown) from the oak chips though they really don't smell and taste all that oaky...but I racked them off anyway. When racking I did stir everything up and keep the lees as it will provide valuable nutrients to both the yeast and malolactic bacteria. The Rose is dry and has started malo which is something that I don't really want, it needs to be as crisp as possible so I have racked it off the sediment and added a bit of sulphur to stop malo, it should be ready to bottle in about a week. The little bit of malo might not be all that bad in the end, it will be quite a heavy rose and so a bit of softness will probably complement it, but no more than it has already done. Did I mention that I was making a port? Anyway, we pressed one of our Zins a while back that was not quite completely dry and I saved about 4 gallons that was left at the end of the press and in the hoses. To this I added 1.2 litres of brandy and about 12 toasted oak bungs. That might have been a bit too much oak....I tasted it yesterday and it is good, but it smelled and tasted like the inside of a barrel. It does have a very nice and creamy long finish though. It was interesting none the less and I will still bottle it. I racked it off the oak and sediment today as well.

We harvested the last of Cabernet and Merlot from the Neyers Ranch this weekend and will get the very last grapes of the 2008 vintage this Tuesday. Everything is sadly wrapping to a close but as I look back I realize how much I have learned and experienced in a little over two months.

Overall, from what I can tell, it has looked like quite a good vintage. There was a heat spike in late August and then it cooled quite down quite a bit. That coupled with lower than normal yields (looks like about 30% down, across the valley) has allowed everything to be harvested at leisure. There were no rushed pickings, no scrambling at the end, only picking when ready. Everything is ripe, ready, and sweet. So all in all, I give 2008 a thumbs up.

Here are some pictures of the Point Reyes National Seashore where I went last weekend for a bike ride:

10.8.08 Napa and around

So a lot has happened since my last post, been keeping quite busy. No time to write it all down so here are some pictures and recaps. In order:
My Chardonnays are coming along nicely, they are nearing dryness and are smelling great. The colors seem a bit darker in the pictures but never fear the one on the right (sans skins) is coming out quite clean. I drained the chard on the left off its skins last week and pressed the juice out with a colander so that it can finish up with no hidden sugars in the skins. It is amazing the difference between the two, the chardonnay fermented on skins has a bit of and earthy or gritty note and a bit of tannin and seems a bit appley while the other is very crisp, clean, and bright. The rose is just about dry as well. It has lot quite a bit of its flowery nose and is more fruit, which is a shame. It also has a bit of tannin to it and seems to be getting denser. In the end, it may turn out to be a flop but it was still fun to play with.

We harvested the Old Lakeville Syrah a while back and it is almost done fermenting.

Last tuesday our whole crew went to visit Quintessa. Amazing winery, they certainly spared no expense. They have one of the biggest plots of land on the valley floor. They also farm completely biodiamically a lot of which I like but a bit of it seem...gimmicky. It is agriculture so I think that working around the phases of the moon has a lot of validity but fermenting thistle in cow horns? Sounds like witchcraft. They did have new cement egg fermenters though, which have resonate somehow with me, I like how they feel, I like the idea of them, but not sure why.

Came home one night and Tom was skinning a deer he had just shot, hopefully they'll share!

Last weekend I headed to "The City" or San Francisco. There was a concert at the Golden Gate Park that lasted all Saturday and Sunday, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. Lots of good bands, the most notable of which was Gogol Bordello! This is the bike parking. Thank god I brought my bike into the city, I can only imagine what driving there would be like. If I ever lived there, I would go completely car-less.