The show must go on: Part 2.

I returned to work yesterday after a forced, week long natural disaster furlough.  But it wasn't exactly business as usual.  Nope, it was an all hands on deck situation, or rather all hands on the sorting table.  Yep, I helped sort 40 tones of Cabernet Sauvignon yesterday.  Then today, 12 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon and 28 tons of Merlot.  TWWIAGE's harvest is now finished.
After suffering a little bit of motion sickness - I had no idea that the progress of the moving fruit would have that effect on me - it was simply eyes down and sort out the MOG (material other than grapes).  Leaves, twigs and raisins begone!  It was tedious work, I wouldn't want to do every day, two days was plenty, but I was more than happy to be able to help get the 2017 crop in and sorted.

A tale of two bottles.

I was just saying to someone recently that, of late, I rather enjoy it when I open a bottle of wine that I can't drink.  That is, undrinkable for a variety of reasons; cork taint, over the hill, etc. And then it happened the very next night.
The wine on the left, the Henry Earl Estates 2013 Merlot (Red Mountain AVA), was totally oxidised and, yes, undrinkable.  Down the sink it went. I suspect that the wine was in this state when it was bottled, probably having been produced poorly.  (The cork appeared sound, no leakage.) This bottle of Merlot was a gift, which probably contributed to my rapid rejection of this wine.
The wine on the right was a quick replacement - simply, the next bottle at hand - as dinner was being served.  The Goosecross 2014 Amerital (Napa Valley AVA) was tasty, quite moreish and not oxidised.  And, being a blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Sangiovese, it just so happened to be a much better pairing with my Bolognese.
Life is too short to drink oxidised oenos!

What ifs.

The photograph on this Vinsanity post is meant to illustrate how I imagine our great-great-grandchildren will enjoy their Napa Valley wines.  I envision a future where Riedel may have been forced out of the glassware business because all wine will be being quaffed from coffee mugs, (in this case, a rather fetching Robert Mondavi mug - adorned with Bob's mug).  I came to this rather alarming conclusion after reading a stunningly unscientific article in the January issue of Scientific American, 'Will We Still Enjoy Pinot Noir?'  The article is written by Chicken Licken, sorry, I mean, Kimberly A. Nicholas who is an associate professor of sustainability science at Lund University in Sweden.  Ja, that Sweden.
Ms. Nicholas writes to educate us all about climate change and its effect on wine-growing regions around the globe and seems to be on a crusade to save the wine styles that we know and enjoy today for the benefit of the palates of future generations.  I dunno, personally, I am glad that the Bordeaux wines that I can enjoy today do not resemble any of the wines being produced in that particular wine region during the (approximate) 300 year period when Bordeaux was owned by England: they were most likely horrid by today's standards.
Wine was not being produced commercially in the Napa Valley 200 years ago (as it was in most European countries), and even if it had been would it have tasted like, oh, let's say the Saddelback, 2011 Merlot (Oakville AVA) that I am going to drink with dinner tonight?  I doubt it.  There are a lot of variables that have contributed to the evolution of wine production through the centuries, not just heat.  Obviously, temperature brings out different characteristics in grapes (ergo, wine), but focusing only on the influence of heat ignores the importance of things like soil composition and topography, etc.
There is no real research documented in this article other than a graphic which cites the work of Lee Hannah (of Conservation International) and Patrick Roehrdanz (of U.C. Santa Barbara), which suggests that climate change will force the wine industry to "migrate" to survive.  A sidebar claims, "California growers in Napa and Sonoma are experimenting with ways to compensate for climate change, preferable to moving to new locations."  How preposterous (and alarmist) is that statement?  I personally know a few Napa growers and not one of them has mentioned moving their operations elsewhere.  I don't know about Messrs. Hannah and Roehrdanz, but Ms. Nicholas hails from Sonoma, so I am assuming that she has noticed, first hand, the very current lack of plantable acreage in the Napa Valley and is aware that, basically, there is a moratorium on hillside planting.  Oh, and there is a tiny paragraph that mentions some sunlight analyses that Ms. Nicholas conducted with her "colleagues at Stanford and U.C. Davis," which showed "that for every 1 percent increase in light, there was a more than 2 percent decrease in desirable tannins and anthocyanins." Not one "desirable tannin" (and its subsequent disappearance) was named in the article.  Well, there goes the neighbourhood...and the palates of the wine drinkers of 2080!  (Wonder where Ms. Nicholas bought her crystal ball, because I want one.)
There is one thing in the article, right near the end, perhaps as a meagre attempt at objectivity, that I agree with, but it is nothing Ms. Nicholas proposed.  Jason Kesner, of Kesner Wines (producers of mainly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir), believes "that the most outstanding vineyards in the region may still be generations away."  How dare he be so optimistic and so audaciously uninformed!  But I happen to agree with him.  With new techniques, equipment, plant materials, philosophies and, yes, even conservation, I think Napa wine-growing has a rosy future.  The Antinori's, the Italian wine dynasty, who began making wine in the really toasty middle ages, have even invested in Napa's future.  I am not filled with doom and gloom.
Nobody knows whether or not global warming is fact or fiction, man-made or a natural and cyclical phenomenon and to pretend (with no facts to back up that pretense, especially in fact-free articles like the one in Scientific American), is just irresponsible and journalistic-sensationalism at its worst.
My own empirical data suggests, nay screams, that after about a decade of trying to get Cabernet sauvignon, clone 4, ripened in chilly-Coombsville I am not likely to achieve a desirable level of ripeness in 2015 either.  Not this year, not 100 years from now.  Sigh.  I should have planted clone 169, and that's a fact.

The Penultimate Party.

Actually, I have one and a bit more harvest parties to attend before the harvest season is over.  But the harvest festivity that I attended today is, perhaps, for me the ultimate harvest party.  I love the harvest party the vineyard workers throw for all of the staff at TWWIAGE.  Best Mexican food, EVER!

A couple of wines, other than TWWIAGE's, showed up with guests whom also have Oakville vineyards. My absolute favourite was the Gargiulo Vineyards, 2011 Money Road Ranch Merlot (Oakville AVA).  A beautiful wine that could almost make me forget about ever drinking any Cabernet Sauvignon ever again.  But then again, Gargiulo do a great job with all of their wines. Yummy.

Many thanks to the TWWIAGE vineyard boys.

Drinking in Las Vegas.

Last night, whilst the majority of my family toddled off up The Strip to see the musical-fountain extravaganza at the Bellagio Hotel, I took my mother, aka Vinomum, for a drink at our hotel's bar.
The Mandarin Bar, located on the 23rd floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, is a lovely place to enjoy a glass of wine and the bright lights of Sin City.  Floor to ceiling windows ensured that my mother and I were able to drink in the unimpeded sights of some of the goings-on on the Las Vegas Strip.  My mother had a pleasant glass of Okanagan Estates Merlot and I had a glass of The Federalist Zinfandel (sorry, did not pay attention to the respective vintages).  Once again, I really enjoyed The Federalist and it paired wonderfully with the appetisers I chose for our big girl's soirée. 
Bottoms up, mother!

Mouthwash.

What do you do when you open a bottle of wine and find that it is undrinkable? Now I understand that taste is a very subjective matter, one man's vino is another man's poison after all, but in the case of the Jack Larkin 2006 Merlot the consensus here in Vinoland was that it was much too high in alcohol. The bottle claimed that the alcohol was 14.5% but it tasted higher, (or the wine was extremely out of balance.) My everyday Sauvignon blanc regularly clocks in at 14.6 - 14.9% alc. (depending on vintage), but you would never know it as it still displays the wonderful citrus and alluring tropical notes one would expect from a well crafted, balanced wine.
So what did I do? It just so happens that I had just read a column, only last week in the local newspaper, in which Dan Berger advocated a little 'tabletop chemistry' at home. Mr. Berger suggests that the addition of a tablespoon of spring water to an offending glass of wine will make it a little more palatable whilst not diminishing the aroma. He was spot on about the aroma, but my attempt at amateur alchemy did not produce the desired result...for my palate. It was very unfortunate because this wine showed great promise, very spicy and fruity, but I just could not get past the burn. I suspect that this wine will not age well.
I will try Mr. Berger's trick again...I mean, it's not like there is a shortage of high alcohol, out-of-balance wines in the Napa Valley now, is there?

Christmas in November?

I received my first Christmas gift today. I know, Halloween was a mere 3 days ago, Bonfire Night is still 2 days hence, and Thanksgiving (if you happen to be an English person who cares about that particular holiday), is yet more than 3 weeks away. But Christmas is looming large already; on telly commercials, in the shops and apparently, on the mind of my own personal Santa! An extremely generous co-worker left a rather large, gift-wrapped package for me at the winery, with the instruction to open it and enjoy it with my family before Christmas, if I wished. So open it I did, but only after I nearly threw my back out picking it up!
What was it? Oh, just a 6 litre bottle of 1998 La Vita Lucente. This Sangiovese/Merlot blend from Tuscany was the brainchild of Florence’s Lamberto Frescobaldi and Napa Valley’s Robert Mondavi when they united their efforts in 1995 to create a world class Italian wine.
I happen to love Italian wines, so this is going to be interesting...I just need to quickly organise a party to aid in the polishing off of what is the equivalent of eight bottles of wine. Any volunteers?