Rah-rah for Syrah!

When I left for work this morning the Syrah grapes were hanging around in all their resplendent purple-gorgeousness.  When I got home I discovered that the fruits of my labour had had the bejesus squished out of them.
The St. Helena Sots harvested their Cabernet sauvignon this morning and were then bringing their grapes to Vinoland for processing.  Ever efficient, Vinomaker had arranged for our Syrah to be picked today, so that everything could be processed together.
Vinomaker was surprised at the size of the crop, a little larger yield than normal.  I knew the quality of the 2017 fruit was good, but quality and quantity don't always go hand in hand.  I don't have the Syrah's vital statistics yet, but the juice tastes lovely, very sweet.
A great growing season in Vinoland.

Dr. Jezza.

Vinomaker and I had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Jeremy Parzen Ph.D. in Vinoland the past two days.  It wasn't really a social visit, although we did have a lot of fun and good conversation on Friday night.  No, Jezza was in California to work on a very exciting, new project for him, so he was just passing through.
And he departed Vinoland just in time.  It go to 104° F today: it was stinking hot.  Of course Vinomaker had picked today to be a bottling day. The St. Helena Sots, thankfully, showed up in Vinoland early and the bottling event went smoothly, quickly and without incident.  It was so hot that there was, unfortunately, no afterglow-luncheon - it was just too uncomfortable to be outside.  Don't know about anyone else, but I for one didn't want to be the BBQed meat!

Just juice.

Harvest 2016 is finished, yay!  Vinoland's Cabernet sauvignon grapes, the ones I lovingly tended all summer long, are now just juice (well, skins and seeds too).  The must is now awaiting inoculation with Vinomaker's yeast of choice. My job is done.
Special thanks go out to the St. Helena Sots (both sets), the Barrow Lane Boozer, the Atlas Peak Alky and the Coombsville Carouser, all of whom got just as drenched as me whilst harvesting the grapes.  Cheers, my dears!

The 2015 lowdown.

With the arrival of the St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, this morning in Vinoland, the 2015 winemaking season has begun.  One small problem though: the yield is down about 50% on the previous vintage.  Most wineries, including TWWIAGE, are reporting that crops are on average about 30% down.  With the 2012, 2013 and 2014 vintages being very bountiful, some folks have been taken by surprise at the reduced size of the crop this year.  (In all honesty, this years crop size is probably closer to normal. Whatever normal is, that is.)  Vinomaker will deal with it.  The Cabernet Sauvignon grapes looked, for the most part, like their usual beautiful blue-velvet-selves.  Vital statistics were; 25.2 °B, with a pH of 3.75 and a TA of  5.85.
The 2015 growing season has not been without its problems e.g., poor fruit set and persistent drought conditions.  In addition, this particular vineyard (the source of the Clone 7), is slowly succumbing to Pierce's Disease.  I am hopeful, however, that this vintage will more than make up for what it lacks in crop with the quality of the finished wine.

It's the real thing.

Cork, that is.  Or, to be exact, composite corks.
Today was a bottling day in Vinoland.  The St. Helena Sots arrived bright and early and the clone 7 Cabernet sauvignon was unbarreled, bottled and corked in the blink of an eye.  At least I think it was.  I was away running errands, (too many cooks blah, blah), and buying some victuals for the after-party.  Fun!
The cork of choice for this bottling event was a disc-cork.  A disc-cork has a solid, natural cork disc on each end with a conglomerate of natural, squished cork in between.  Disc-corks are an inexpensive option for corking wines that are meant to be consumed within three years. What, three years?  Believe me, this wine will last no where near three years around the St. Helena Sots.  Tee-hee!
Speaking of natural cork...I have been getting a butt load (technical term) of emails recently from folks requesting that I post this and that on my blog.  I read some of them, but I generally just delete them.  One recent email, that did catch my eye, was about the resurgence of natural cork as the preferred bottle closure amongst wine-consumers.  The aim of the email was to educate me about the high percentage of  "quality" wines on the planet that employ natural cork, versus those that use cork alternatives (and the consumer's preference for natural cork over synthetics and screw-caps).   As to be expected, perhaps, the email was from, for want of a better word, a lobbyist for the cork industry.  That's alright, I tend to prefer natural cork myself...except when the wine in question is a fun, young white (think a Vinho Verde), and then screw-caps are the perfect closure.  No corkscrew necessary!

The St. Helena AVA.

Just above the Rutherford AVA is the St. Helena AVA.  Named after the town of St. Helena, this AVA covers approximately 9,000 acres.  Besides being the home of my dear friends The St. Helena Sots, this storied AVA is home to many notable names/wineries such as; Corison Winery, Dancing Hares Vineyard, Flora Springs Winery and Vineyards, Louis M. Martini Winery, Pride Mountain Winery, Smith-Madrone Vineyards and Winery and Salvestrin Winery - a lot of wineries that mostly produce Bordeaux varietals.  Of course, in my humble opinion, it is getting a little too toasty for the production of Bordeaux varietals up in St. Helena: it is just a tad too far north to benefit from the cooling influence of the San Francisco Bay fog.  But that is just my opinion.

St. Helena is also notable as the home of the first winery in the entire state of California to be founded and run by a woman, Josephine Marlin Tychson, c. 1886, (the winery is now Freemark Abbey). Josephine Tychson is a much more interesting St. Helena story, but that's just my opinion.

Six down, ten to go.

A Syrah shower.

Vinoland's Syrah is harvested, yay!  Here it is going through the destemmer.  Harvest was quick and painless; fruit looked great and seemed extra juicy; breaking of harvest-bread afterwards with friends was fun and relaxing.  The Syrah came in at 26 °Brix and tastes just lovely. 
Vinoland had some new volunteers (or wineslaves) this year, we warmly welcomed the Lafayette Lushes who fitted right in with the St. Helena Sots and our one, ever reliable, Coombsville Carouser.  It was quite a large group of pickers.  That leaves just the Cabernet Sauvignon to be picked and Harvest 2013 will be at an end.