The Calm Before the Crush

I went out today to Paul Larson's chardonnay vineyard at the end of Burndale Road in Carneros. The road crosses the railroad tracks and ends at a gate that marks the entrance to a gun club. I didn't need the key that Paul had given me, as the gate was open. I drove on through the club and came to the first of two gates that allow passage through a bull pasture. "Keep Gate Closed", said the cardboard signs on the gates. Indeed. No need to have all of that cattle testosterone running amuck.

Paul told me on Saturday that his sampling had come in at 22.2 degrees Brix. A week earlier, it had been at 20.6 degrees. From his experience, the vineyard usually moved one point per week, so the results might have been skewed by sampling error.

I walked up and down the rows, cutting whole clusters and placing them into a cooler that I had brought along. I alternated taking clusters from the north and south sides of the rows, ending up with about twenty clusters. Paul did his sampling in the form of individual berries - about 200 of 'em. I like to take whole clusters; that way, I'm getting results that represent the grapes on the interior of the cluster as well as those that are accessible on the exterior.

With my little cooler full, I made my way back to the truck. I drove back the way I had come, making sure that the gates were closed behind me. As I approached Highway 121, I stopped at Homewood Winery. Paul had told me that Dave Homewood had purchased fruit from him in the past, and I took it upon myself to drop in for a chat if he happened to be there. He was working on the crushpad while an entourage from a tour van was entering the tasting room.

We talked briefly about the fruit and about the yeasts that he liked to use. "For many years, I really liked Wadenswil, but then they stopped producing it", he offered,"so last year, I went with QA23. They both really bring out the aromatics of the fruit." Just then, the tour driver interrupted to ask if Dave could come to the tasting room to chat with his passengers. "Sorry I can't talk more...", he started. "No problem! In this economy we're fortunate to have such interruptions", I replied, "Was that QA24?" "Question and Answer Twenty Three!" he hollered cheerfully as he turned the corner toward the tasting room. Got it.

I took my grape sample directly to the winery, waited 'til Jared, the house winemaker, returned from lunch, and handed off the clusters to him for testing. Before I left, I took one cluster in hand and squeezed the juice into a bucket. I dunked my refractometer into the sweet liquid. Holding the refractometer up, I peered into the eyepiece. 22.7, it read. I tipped the bucket and poured the juice into my mouth, straining out the seeds with my teeth. It was bursting with cool, refreshing flavors of peach, pineapple and mango!

Later this evening, I spoke with Jared. The readings: pH was 3.23, Titratable Acidity was 8.1, and Brix was 22.8. The grapes are ready as soon as we can get pickers, which will be Tuesday, according to Paul.

I'm excited about the prospects for these grapes. I've got to Google "Wadenswil".

Winemaker Dinner

Friday, Sept. 18...
There were 18 of us gathered at Central Market at 6 PM. We sat down to a four-course meal prepared for us by Tony Najiola, chef & owner. The menu varied slightly from what I posted earlier... First came Slow Cooked King Salmon with Italian Butter Beans and a pinot-marrow jus, paired with both the 2004 and 2006 Clary Ranch Pinot Noirs. The 2004 is my big "cocktail" Pinot, with a full body that would satisfy a Cab lover. The 2006 came out in more of a classic Burgundian style, lighter and more delicate. The salmon was done perfectly tender with a spice rub - Delicious!

Next came Pan Roasted Liberty Duck Breast with a fennel-potato gratin and green peppercorns. This was, without a doubt, the best duck I have ever had! It was paired with the 2004 and 2006 Clary Ranch Syrahs. I've always loved my Syrahs with a steak or with lamb. This pairing was a winning surprise. The duck was done medium rare and was reminiscent of a marinated slow cooked pork tenderloin. Yowza!

The third course was a palate-cleansing savory seeded gougere (a cheese puff) over a bed of local greens... which was followed by the piece de resistance:

a Warm Gravenstein Apple Galette with Prune Ice Cream paired with Vin de Noix. There were flavors exploding in my mouth; flavors that seemed to come out of nowhere - the product of whatever chemistry resulted from the unique combination of the Galette and the Vin de Noix. I had to go back and taste the individual components to see where the flavors were coming from, and THEY WEREN'T THERE! It was only in combination that the most complex flavors were revealed. WOW!

After dinner, we walked along the river over to Graffiti for a cocktail and more lively conversation. Graffiti was the first restaurant to carry my wine, and will always hold a special place in my heart. The setting is beautiful, overlooking the Petaluma River turning basin. All in all, it was a wonderful evening with good fellowship, great food, and some wonderful wines (if I do say so myself).

News Flash! Chardonnay for 2009!

This morning, I went out to a friend's vineyard in the Carneros, where he is growing the Wente clone of Chardonnay. The vineyard is on very shallow soils, and is at the southern edge of the grapegrowing area of Sonoma Carneros. I'm going to do a joint venture with MJ Lords, who are handling my custom crush this year, on ten tons of these grapes, which will net Clary Ranch Wines about 250-300 cases of Chardonnay. We are intending to press the juice at Baletto Winery, then truck it to MJ Lords, where we'll cold-ferment in stainless, with maybe a small fraction in barrels. We're not looking to produce a butter-bomb, so we'll halt malolactic fermentation early on with Lysozyme and sulfites. I intend to use a very light touch when it comes to oak, so I'll bottle much earlier than I do my reds.

The Chardonnay grapes are at about 21 degrees Brix, and we'll harvest soon. I'll be happy with 22-22.5, and that should be in about a week-and-a-half.

Crush is imminent!

Tastings and Dinner

I poured tastes of my '06 Pinot and my '04 Syrah last night at Central Market Restaurant in Petaluma. Central Market carries my Pinot already, but I brought along an extra bottle of the Syrah for them to offer by the glass. The Syrah sold out before the Pinot! It was great to be able to connect with new people and to have them taste their "homegrown" wines. Sadly, most Petalumans have no idea that THIS IS wine country, where we are producing world-class wines!

On Friday, September 18th, we're going to have our first Winemaker Dinner, also at Central Market. Our first course will be a Slow Cooked Salmon, with butter beans and a Pinot Noir jus. That will be paired with both the '04 and the '06 Pinot. The second course will be Saba-glazed Roast Duck Breast with cioppolini onions, to be paired with the '04 and the '06 Syrah. After a third course of Local Greens, we'll finish off with an Apple-Walnut Cake paired with our not-yet-released Vin de Noix. We'll be pouring a previous vintage that will give our guests an idea of what's to come. We still need to bottle and age this year's Vin de Noix. More on that later...

Cluster thinning

Now that we're almost through veraison, It's time to remove those clusters that haven't turned completely black. We're having some trouble finding laborers to do the work, since other parts of wine country are in the thick of harvest. I'm reluctant to just hire guys off the street, because of the decision of which clusters to remove. I'd rather have workers who are familiar with the work when the quality and quantity of the final product is dependent upon the choices that they make. But timing is important: the less-ripe clusters will be impossible to distinguish from those that are good when the color is more uniform.
I may be forced to hire workers off the street, and do their training on the job. Yikes!

Tastings

I enjoyed a visit yesterday from Tim and Sue Decker, from Minnesota. They're out here celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary, so a hearty "Congratulations!" is due. We walked out into the vineyard while we enjoyed a glass of 2006 Clary Ranch Pinot Noir.

Out among the vines, at the top of "block 6", the view of the Petaluma Gap is an easy demonstration of what makes this place special in terms of climate and terroir. The other part of the demonstration, of course, is what's in the glass.

Tomorrow, we'll be pouring at a benefit concert just a few miles away, at Kamal & Pari Azari's home and winery on Spring Hill Road. Cinnabar Theater, for whom the benefit is being held, is a non-profit organization. California Law allows small wine brands such as Clary Ranch to pour tastings for non-profits, a critical aspect to staying in business in these trying times. The more we can put ourselves out in front of the wine-buying public, the better.

There are five tasting tickets to be included with admission. When we started the planning for the event, I had intended to pour two library wines: my 2004 Pinot and 2004 Syrah. Teela and Mike Ridgeway of Ridgeway Cellars will be pouring their 2006 Pinot. We had no other wineries stepping up to pour! So I offered to pour two additional wines: my 2006 Pinot and 2006 Syrah. Looks like 4 of the 5 tastes will be Clary Ranch.

I'll follow up with a report...

Squawking And Rehab

The birds are upset. VERY upset. It sounds like they're being attacked. The starlings screetch and the finches cry in alarm. The call of a sharp-shinned hawk rings out!

Then silence.

Suddenly, the commotion repeats! What is happening to those birds?!

It is the time of year that we start up BirdGard, an electronic audio system that plays digital recordings of pest species' distress calls and predator calls. As the grapes ripen, these sounds have demonstrated a repellent effect on the flocks of birds who can otherwise strip a vineyard in a matter of days. Right now, the grapes are completing veraison, and we'll soon go through to do our cluster thinning. When that is done, we'll begin netting for the final push to harvest.

My orthopedist, Dr. Mark Northfield (who I've known since 4th grade) told me to start pushing my hand to regain it's former range of motion. The swelling is slowly diminishing: I can see knuckles on my left hand again. Can't quite make a fist, but I'm working on it. I played guitar a couple of times this week. It will be a little while before I'll be able to play the old riffs without pain.

Meditation helps to heal the emotional disruption. Motrin and warm water work on the physical.