Happy International Chardonnay Day!

I am not sure whether today is 'International Chardonnay Day' or 'National Chardonnay Day.'  Or just plain, old 'Chardonnay Day.'  No matter, I'm going international with a Chablis.  However, there is a Napa Valley connection with this wine.  It is imported into the United States by Boisset America, St. Helena.  (Yes, that Boisset.  See here and here and here.  The less said, the better.)
Not a huge fan of Chardonnay, I have to say I consumed a fair amount of Chablis when I was growing up, never ever taking the stuff serious.  Always bone dry, fresh, austere and a tad green, Chablis always seemed to pair well with food.  And good conversation.
The J. Moreau & Fils, 2018 Chablis (AOC), "is specially selected in each vintage from the best wines of the Chablis appellation."  Makes sense, the Boisset family own several vineyards in Burgundy.  Due to a warm, dry summer the 2018 vintage in Chablis is believed to be one of the best in quite a while.
The wine?  Nose - lemon curd, satsuma peel and Bird's Custard powder.  Mouth - pineapple, melon rind (Vinomaker says Crenshaw) and wet pebbles.  Acid?  Fab.  A very pleasant quaff.  Served as a reminder as to why I can't abide California style Chardonnay.
Oddly, the alcohol is listed as "11% to 14% by vol."  I don't even know how listing alcohol content like that is legal here in the U.S., it's a bit wishy-washy.  But that's the French for you.  À votre santé!

A sensory epiphany.

This morning, as I walked from the south building to the north building at TWWIAGE I got a whiff of a familiar smell, (something is rotten in the state of Oakville). With the temperature reaching 70° F today in Oakville I tried to find any excuse to be out of doors, it was just gorgeous.

There is a very definite seasonality to the wine industry.  Of course many peoples day jobs are cyclical; there are often tasks that need to be performed on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly basis etc., but no occupation is quite as seasonal as farming.  Unlike an office job, where ones immediate environment changes little, if at all, especially with HVAC, working at a winery one is fully immersed in the daily changes in ones immediate environment - there is constant awareness of exactly where one is on the viticultural calendar. My olfactory epiphany today was triggered by the smell of compost in the air: a neighbouring vineyard was spreading composted grape pomace amongst the vines, a typical vineyard operation this time of year (to take advantage of the winter rains). It's not a bad smell, (it reminds me of being on a Greek island after an olive harvest/olive oil pressing), but it is strong and evokes in me an almost tangible awareness of the passage of time.

This past Sunday, Vinomaker and I bottled a 2013 Chardonnay, (grapes from the Carneros AVA, all stainless steel fermentation and sur lie aging) and it smelled great.  Wineries often have very definite bottling schedules, we don't.  Sometimes our day jobs just get in the way.

Happy Epiphany!

Fermentation Frenzy: Part 1.

There are a lot of fermentations ongoing right now in Vinoland, including a 30 gallon batch of Chardonnay that was gifted to Vinomaker by a commercial winemaker friend.
It's not a secret in these parts that Vinomaker just loves Chardonnay.  I don't understand his fascination with this particular grape variety, but then wouldn't the world be an extremely boring place if we all had the same taste in wine? Vinomaker's yeast of choice to ferment the Chardonnay, is a Saccharomyces cerevisiae hybrid yeast from a unique breeding programme of the Institute for Wine Biotechnology at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa - Cross Evolution. Known to increase the mouthfeel component of white and rosé wines, Cross Evolution also enhances varietal characteristics and in Chardonnay tends to accentuate fresh fruit and floral aromas. Sounds good so far.  I have seen this yeast in action at TWWIAGE and it really gives quite a dramatic performance, working itself up into a veritable, bubbling frenzy.  But just look at the bubbles in the photograph, they are very small and uniform - most different from the other yeasts that Vinomaker has awakened from their freeze-dried slumber - appearing rather docile and really do not resemble the frothing, fermentation-fiend it is about to become.

A bevy of whites.

Optimistically hoping that the weather will one day be warm enough in California to eat out on the deck, Vinomaker and I did a quick white wine tasting - in part to decide what wines we need to stock up on. Generally, we both prefer to drink more white wines over the summer months, but I do know people who will drink nothing but red, no matter what the temperature is. Here are some speed tasting notes;

Mayacamas Vineyards 2001 Chardonnay - as the old adage goes, if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything.

Lamoreaux Landing 2008 Riesling - a delightful, lemony-minerality. Nice acid man!

Artesa 2008 Albariño - peachy, tropical, clean. Nice.

De Rose 2000 Viognier - aging and flabby, though still showing telltale signs of ripe apricots and orange blossom. A passable attempt, but it is no Condrieu.

There you have it. The Lamorueax Landing won hands down, but seeing as it was a gift it would take a bit of an effort to stock up Vinoland's wine fridge with this particular wine. Oh darn, I'll just have to do more research.

Like clockwork...

...the vineyard crew were out pre-pruning the Far Niente Chardonnay vineyard near Vinoland today. Although a week earlier than last year, I have to take my hat off to their head viticulturist for maintaining a very tight vineyard operations schedule...if only I were so organised!

Green harvest.

Last weekend the vineyard crew in our friendly neighbourhood Far Niente vineyard performed a green harvest on their Chardonnay vines. A green harvest is the removal of immature grape clusters whilst they are still green, with the express intent of inducing the vine to put all its energy into ripening the remaining clusters. Up in the rocky vineyards soils of the east and west hills of the Napa Valley, vine vigour is naturally kept in check due to oftentimes burdensome growing conditions. In contrast, on the valley floor where soil fertility is high, sunlight hours are long and irrigation systems are regularly employed, the pampered vines can beget an over-abundance of grapes that might not be of the desired quality.
This year, in the valley, green harvesting seems to be the rule rather than the exception. Growers, perhaps anticipating the continuance of a thus far cool growing season, are carrying out green harvests at a slightly higher rate than I have witnessed in previous vintages. However, the general consensus is that the 2010 vintage will be satisfactory in this the coolest summer in Napa since 1998. But, they have to say that don't they? After all, who would buy a 2010 wine in 2013 if the growers and producers themselves slammed the vintage now before it is even harvested?
I personally think the 2010 vintage will be just fine, although yields will obviously be reduced. We still have basically two full months before the majority of Cabernet sauvignon grapes will be harvested and Mother Nature generally knows how to get the job done. And lets face it, most French producers would chew off their own right arms to get just one month of a Napa Valley growing season, even in this less than perfect of years.
The Chardonnay grapes in the Far Niente vineyard do look rather handsome: they seem to be progressing through veraison very nicely and really don't look like they are having too difficult of a time in 2010 at all!

Old wineries never die...

...their wines just fade away, or they are reincarnated as another winery.
When the fruit in a wine has all but disappeared sometimes all that we are left with is the information on the label. Sometimes we don't even have that. So what do we have here?
Let's start with the Beringer. This is a historical Napa Valley winery that is still in existence, albeit now owned by multi-national Beringer Blass Wine Estates. The label on this wine tells you all the pertinent stuff you would want to know about the bottles contents; varietal - Zinfandel, valley - Napa, vintage - 1974, and alcohol - 12 1/2% (a ha, a fraction. No silly decimals back in those days). Beringer were very obviously on top of things back in the 1970s.
The 1985 Merlion Chardonnay hails from the Napa Valley also. This defunct winery was located in the St. Helena AVA although the label just claims Napa Valley as the source of the wine, which I assume means that the fruit was not from the aforementioned AVA. The alcohol content is not listed so there is not even a hint as to the alcoholic punch that the summer of '85 endowed upon this particular vintage. The winery may be long gone but a signature tasting glass, designed by Merlion owner George Vierra, endures.
The Christain Brothers, (now Hess), Napa Rosé declares an alcohol content of of 12%. However, there is no vintage or mention of grape varietal. The Brothers used more label space on extolling the virtues of their "anytime wine" rather than waste it on all the regulatory nonsense required on current day wines.
Last but not least, the Carneros Creek California Red Table Wine. This property now operates as Folio Winemakers Studio (a Michael Mondavi venture), a collection of wine companies in the Los Carneros AVA. This extremely simple label does not divulge the vintage, alcohol content or even the varietal of the grapes. How can I be sure that it is even wine?
How times have changed. Compared with the draconian governmental stipulations wineries have to comply with nowadays when they put together their labels for subsequent releases, the wineries of decades past had it easy.
I don't feel inclined to taste any of these antiquated wines, to me they are more like museum pieces, unless somebody dares me of course.

Prune early for Christmas.

Almost one year ago to the day, this vineyard was undergoing the exact same farming operation, pre-pruning. The people at Far Niente have to be the most consistent and dedicated winegrowers I have seen in these parts. Either that or they have nothing better to do. Having polished off a bottle of their delicious 2006 Cabernet sauvignon, with Vinomaker and Thud last week, I know that is not the case.
I hope I don't come across as some Far Niente groupie or stalker, it's just that their vineyard is the closest commercial vineyard to where I live, just some 200 yards from my gate, and it is hard not to notice when stuff is going on over there, seeing as I walk it's entire length daily with the Vinodogs.
So a very Merry Christmas, and a very nice looking cover crop, to all the Far Niente vineyard crew.

Shedding some light on night harvesting.

Whilst walking the Vinodogs this evening after work, I noticed that the folks at Far Niente had decided to night harvest their Chardonnay vineyard that's closest to Vinoland. So, before I ran off to my evening class at NVC, I stopped to take a photograph of the preparations, portable lights in place and half ton picking bins just out of the shot.
Night harvesting can simply be a logistical issue, but mainly it ensures that the fruit arrives at the winery at the coolest possible temperature for processing, thus maintaining varietal characteristics and requiring less time and energy to chill the juice in the tank.
I love this time of year.

Idling.

Yesterday a crew of Far Niente workers passed through their Chardonnay vineyard, located near Vinoland, clearing the basal leaves from the vertical fruit-bearing shoots. This particular vineyard operation exposes the fruit so that it is easier to remove from the vine.
More and more wineries are experimenting with night harvesting these days, the fruit is still cool when it arrives at the winery for processing and the vineyard workers don't get so fatigued in the heat of the day. I half expect that when I take the Vinodogs for a stroll tomorrow the vines will be naked.
I have no idea what clone this Chardonnay is, I am only familiar with clones 4 and 76, but I would hazard a guess at this being clone 76 because of the smallness of the clusters...but I can stand to be corrected. Whatever clone it is I am positive that the folks at Far Niente are very pleased with the crop this year as it looks superb and plentiful compared with the frost troubled crop of 2008. Hats off to their vineyard manager.

Good wine gone bad.

Oh dear, it's a shame when a fairly expensive wine does not live up to expectations. The Bouchard Pere et Fils 1996 Puligny-Montrachet was one such wine.
I get excited to have nicely salted and vinegared fish and chips when I get home to England, accompanied by a pleasing glass of wine. I usually prefer the vinegar be on my chips as opposed to in my glass, call me old fashioned, but a glass full of vinegar I did indeed get with this one. Hate when that happens.

When the frost hits the fan.

I don't normally get this up close and personal with a wind machine. This particular fan has been moved to the perimeter of the Far Niente vineyard for repair. The grey, ominous skies added to the atmosphere of doom and gloom for the future of the burgeoning 2009 vintage. There may be cloud cover now but, just wait a day or two, the frost will be back.
Seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was stalking his wind machine, the vineyard manager filled me in on the prognosis for this particular fan: propeller, half broken off....then inquired, in a most genuine fashion, if the noise bothered me at night. How polite!
I hope he gets the fan fixed. Despite the overnight disturbance of something akin to a helicopter hovering over your bedroom, I hate the thought of a diminished vintage. I will sleep more soundly when the threat of frost has passed.