Brexit.

The sole topic of any meaningful conversation that I have had with Americans over the past week has been about Brexit.  Like I'm some sort of expert because I'm English.
Exactly a week ago, when all polls showed no reason to suspect that the citizens of the United Kingdom would vote to the contrary, the European Union (EU) was comprised of 28 member nations.  Perhaps voting with their hearts, instead of their heads, my countrymen decided a divorce from Europe was in order. What happened?  I don't know. Nor, seemingly, does anybody else.
The confusion surrounding the debate, about a Brexit vote to seperate from the EU which dominated the news when I was home in April, apparently continued right up until the June 23rd referendum. One thing that is now known, (besides the fact that all politicians are perniciously untruthful), is that Brexit will wreak economic-havoc on my fellow Britons for a long time to come.
On record as wanting to remain in the EU, the UK's wine trade group, the Wine & Spirit Trade Association, issued a statement calling for calm among its members.  Just when English wine production, especially that of sparkling wines, was on the increase a sudden rise in prices (due to the devaluing of the British pound) is the last thing the burgeoning industry needed.  I mean, who, in their right mind, would voluntarily pay more for their favourite bottle of Château Trotanoy, Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia, Domaine Vacheron or Billecart-Salmon? Or even a delicously aromatic, home-grown Nyetimber Rosé.  Not me.
What a mess!

True Wine Lover 17.

I have just finished reading Vineyards in the Sky a biography about pioneering California vintner Martin 'Rusty' Ray.  The book, which reads like a novel, was written by his second wife Eleanor (herself, in a small way, a contributor to California's wine history - y'know, behind every successful man...).  It tells of the interesting life of Martin Ray; a man whose persistence, and passion, in championing for strict varietal wine regulations, and the establishment of identifiable viticultural areas in California, made him quite a controversial character.  And, nowadays, hardly anyone in California has ever even heard of Martin Ray.
Martin Ray, a protégé of Burgundian transplant Paul Masson, railed against the production of cheap blended wines - wines whose producers then passed off, onto the unsuspecting consumer, as varietal wines.  (Let me just say, Ray despised Thompson Seedless grapes.)  In 1936, Ray purchased Paul Masson's La Cresta vineyard and winery (2000 feet up in the Santa Cruz mountains).  Six years later, after selling La Cresta to Seagrams, he developed his own vineyard on another crest to the northwest: his very own vineyard in the sky.
Ray made a bit of a nuisance of himself by insisting that California vintners should make 100% varietal wines - wines that he believed could compete with any of the wines coming out of Europe.  He was a bit of a stickler.
Martin Ray was also perhaps one of California's earliest advocates of the use of clonal selections in winegrowing, himself identifying and then propagating Pinot Noir and Chardonnay clones that were originally brought to America by Paul Masson.  Interesting reading - if you're a vine-geek like me.
Today, June 26th, would have been Martin Ray's 112th birthday.  Happy birthday Rusty!

Meet David Brown.

Yesterday, I went for a walk down memory lane. Actually, I took Vinodog 2 for a walk along the Napa River, but on the way home I did stop off at the Napa Valley College (NVC) student vineyard to pay a quick visit to an old friend: a David Brown Selectamatic 990 tractor.  And, I must say, old DB looked quite fabulous and just like his old self.
During the time that I was studying for my A.S. in Viticulture at NVC, I cannot recall a single instance when upon bringing the old DB out for a little student hands-on instructional tractor time that Dr. Krebs did not comment to my classmates and me, "You know, the electrical system on this thing is terrible".  I didn't take it personally, being English and all.
David Brown Engineering Ltd., is an English company that was founded in 1860 by, of course, David Brown.  The first tractor produced by the company was a joint venture with Henry Ferguson (perhaps better known for Massey Ferguson tractors) in 1936.  Business boomed after World War II and the company became one of the biggest tractor manufacturers in the UK. (The company also made gears for Spitfires - so cool.)
I simply love this tractor, it is just so utilitarian and that appeals to me.  I just wish that I could have a conversation with the Selectamatic 990 and ask it a few questions like; How's your wiring harness feeling?  How did you end up in the Napa Valley?  And now that you are here, do you like the weather?  Just wondering.
Oh, and happy summer solstice!

Water works.

I think I may have mentioned it already, but this has been a relatively cool spring.  It is, however, forecast to be more than a tad toasty for the next several days.  Just in time for the summer solstice.  Yay!
With warm weather imminent, Vinomaker decided that it was time the vines got a little water, starting with the Syrah up on the hill (always the first to show a little stress).  But first we had to perform one particular vineyard operation - the clearing of the irrigation lines.
As I waited (at the end of a Syrah row) for Vinomaker to give me the go ahead to open the small, inline ball valve at the end of the line, I noticed a winsome little moss: the conversely named Largetooth Calcareous Moss (Mnium spinulosum), growing on a leaky pressure gauge. It made me smile.  Mother Nature is great.

Pinot grigio peekaboo.

The other day, during a friendly chat, the vineyard manager at TWWIAGE asked me if I had had any problems with fruit set this year. He mentioned to me that he'd noticed that there were a lot of "singles" in the Cabernet sauvignon vines, i.e., one cluster per shoot when there normally would be two. Nope, I hadn't noticed this particular phenomenon in Vinoland.  But then I have mostly been concentrating my suckering/shoot thinning and stuffing efforts in the Pinot grigio and the Syrah blocks.  I will be working in the Cabernet sauvignon tomorrow, so I will have a closer look.
This partial Pinot grigio cluster, caught up in the sinus of a leaf (a mini viticultural-hammock), seems to be following normal morphological progress, as does the entire vine.  There wouldn't be such a thing as a vintage if every growing season was the same.

Buying bottles.

Whilst I have been rather busy with the usual late-spring vineyard operations (suckering, stuffing shoots, hedging, shoot thinning and more suckering), Vinomaker has been busying himself with getting things organised for a couple of upcoming bottling events to be held here in Vinoland.  At the very top of Vinomaker's bottling-to-do list was the acquiring of new glass: in other words, bottles.  So today, we took a quick trip out of Napa (to a warehouse in Benicia, which was chock-a-block with pallets and pallets of the things) to purchase the Bordeaux style bottles needed for bottling the St. Helena Sot's Cabernet Sauvignon next week.
It rained a little on the drive back to Vinoland, not ideal weather for transporting a butt load (technical term) of bottle-filled cardboard boxes. Tut-tut, Mother Nature!

Continuing education.

Today, in work, I had to take a test as part of a continuing education programme, (a contrivance of The Wine Institute, lobbyists for the California wine industry).  A new-ish manager had decided that it was important for TWWIAGE to have the most informed staff in the Napa Valley.  "Here is a link, take the test and then give me your certificate," I was told. No discussion, no training, no follow-up.  I am positive that my co-workers and I are now all experts in the field of sustainable winegrowing. Yeah, right.

Wine into cheese.

Inspired perhaps by my recent purchase of a bottle of Blue Nun, Vinomaker disappeared into the bowels of Vinoland only to reappear with this litre bottle of Doktor Itschner, 1983 Liebfraumilch (Rheinhessen). Yet another gem from the remnants of his father's wine cellar - which surely must be reaching exhaustion by now.  (One can only pray.)  Older wines can be peculiar.
Recently I tasted an older red wine that brought to mind beetroots.  A winemaker (actually the winemaker at TWWIAGE) told me that the specific organic compound that causes wine to taste/smell like beetroots is a terpene called geosmin.  However, wine-fault aside, the wine still tasted like, y'know, wine. Unfortunately, this was not the case with the almost 33 year old Liebfraumilch.  No, it tasted like liquid cheese - yes, cheese.  There was not one clue that this liquid had ever been wine.  Not even the Madonna on the label could save the integrity of this aged wine.

Take me to church.

Vinomaker loves wine.  Vinomaker also loves tennis.  But when he doesn't love playing with a particular tennis racquet he'll barter said tennis racquet for a really nice bottle of wine.  Really nice.  And I always benefit.  Hallelujah!  This bottle of Long Meadow Ranch Winery's E.J. Church, 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve (Napa Valley AVA) was one such bottle of wine. And it was simply fabulous.
Produced from fruit grown at 1300 feet, relatively high in the Mayacamas (yes, the same Mayacamas as in my last post), this wine was young, but oh-so-flavourful.  With abundant sweet vanilla, red fruit and white pepper I found it a little hard to believe that this wine was 100% Cabernet sauvignon.  But what do I know?   And I did't even care.  The E.J. Church paired well with my meal of dead-cow (piled high with mushrooms and onions).  So moreish.  I'm a believer.