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!

Vichyssyrah.

Today was a bottling day in Vinoland.  In an effort to tie up some odds and ends before our harvest begins, Vinomaker and I bottled a barrel (24 cases) of Syrah by ourselves.  The 2014 Syrah, from a small vineyard on Vichy Avenue (hence the title of this post, titter, titter), was all spicy-dark-berry-plum on the palate, and displayed a softer tannic profile than is usual for this varietal.  I think the Vichyites will enjoy it.
With loud music for motivation, the bottling event went rather speedily. Vinomaker had done a lot of prep work yesterday, so things moved along at a brisk pace.  I think I may have worked even quicker if I had had the musical accompaniment of The Ramones.  But, instead, I acquiesced to Vinomaker's choice of music, Lynyrd Skynyrd, as he is the winemaker after all; I am just chief cook and (almost literally) bottle-washer.

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!

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!

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!

A double Cabernet bottling.

Had a quick bottling event in Vinoland today.  A friend's Cabernet Franc and Vinoland's own Cabernet Sauvignon are now slumbering peacefully inside antique green Bordeaux bottles.  Vinoland's Syrah is still waiting to be bottled, but thoughts are now moving on to all things harvest.  Mumm Napa started their harvest yesterday by bringing in their first Pinot noir for sparkling wine production, so other wineries will not be too far behind bringing in their white wine grapes.  I love this time of year.

Corks gone wild.

No, there aren't any angry corks marauding around Vinoland - just an over zealous human-corker perhaps.  Accidents happen.  Besides, this particular bottle might simply have had a weak spot on it's neck or shoulder.  Such a flaw in the glass would cause the bottle to break when pressure was applied from the hand-corker.  But rest assured, no wine-drinkers, or Vinodogs, were hurt during the bottling of the 2011, St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon (clone 7).
A leisurely lunch followed; corks were pulled from miscellaneous bottles and after a while the broken bottle was forgotten. 
Job's a good 'un.

Just desserts?

I spent yesterday performing some odds and ends in the vineyard operations department - sugar-testing and field-budding - but today I spent a little time in the oenology department - bottling Vinoland's small batch of 2011 late harvest Orange Muscat.
This little pet-project of Vinomaker's has resulted in a very agreeable late harvest tipple (as opposed to a dessert wine).  It is a well balanced marriage of sugar and acid that is not in the least syrupy, or cloying, as one might expect of a wine with residual sugar.  Instead, this wine is fresh and lively with a distinct aroma of, well, orange blossom - fancy that!  We decided to put it in 375 ml  bottles...a little goes a long way.

Coffee break.

The third of four bottling events took place today: Vinoland's Cabernet sauvignon and Syrah are now recovering from bottle shock down in the cellar.  It was thirsty work, so Thud, family OTW and I went down to the Oxbow Public Market afterwards for a well deserved cup of java from Ritual Coffee Roasters.  And a very nice cup of coffee it was.

Photograph by Princess OTW.

A rosy occupation.

Today, the second bottling event of Vinoland's 2012 bottling season was successfully executed.  The St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon (clone 7) and the Stags Leap District Cabernet Franc (unknown clone) are now resting in antique green Bordeaux bottles, whilst snuggling up to a natural cork.  The grapegrowers departed Vinoland well pleased with their vinous plunder-laden pickups.
Also bottled was a delightful saignée of the aforementioned Cabernet Sauvignon.  A perfectly balanced, deeply hued, expression of a Cabernet Sauvignon rosé.
Job well done, Vinomaker.

The incredible cork.

The first bottling event of Vinoland's bottling season went without a hitch today.  Vinomaker has been busy all week sourcing pallets of Burgundy style bottles (for a 2010 Sonoma Syrah) and vacuum-sealed bags of SO2 treated corks.

Whilst I do appreciate the incontrovertible simplicity of a screw cap closure (on an inexpensive white wine perhaps), I am a big fan of cork - I think I've mentioned that before.  Screw caps are perhaps the perfect wine-bottle closure in technical terms, but I still favour the age old tradition of a natural cork closure.  Call me old-fashioned.
Someone once advocated to me the use of crown caps for wine bottles (especially for home-winemaking), the very same closure as one would find atop a beer bottle. Far fetched?  Hardly, considering even the very finest champagnes on the planet are sealed with crown caps all the way through tirage and remuage etc.  I can imagine dégorgement would be much more difficult a process if dealing with a cork.
Funny, suddenly I feel like a glass of something bubbly.  Beer, or champagne?

Bottling 2011: Done and dusted.

The swirling mass of 2009 Cabernet franc, in the above photo, is now contentedly idling in antique green Bordeaux bottles. A mini bottling event held today in Vinoland, and amiably assisted by Family OTW, was the last such event of this year.

It's a good feeling to have all of the wines from 2009 out of the barrels and into the bottles. Now, let's get ready for harvest...whenever that may be.