One of my favourite tipples.

The weather continues to be spectacular in Napa.  A few of cool mornings have given way to afternoon temperatures into the low 80s: a threat of rain did not materialise this past Wednesday.  So Vinomaker and I continue to quaff chilled white wines, one of which is the ever pleasant Laird Family Estate, 2014 Pinot Grigio.  With screw cap-ease, sunsets are appreciated, navels are contemplated and all is right with the world.  Sigh.

The Midterm Presentation.

Tonight, my little group of marketing-classmates and I presented our midterm assignment to the entire class.  And ours was indeed the littlest group.  I hadn't noticed before, but one of the other groups was comprised of seven people, (in theory, that's almost twice the man-hours that the larger group had to dedicate to writing their marketing project), so we were at a little disadvantage from the start.  And start we did, as I volunteered for my group to go first.  I wanted to get it over and done with. But I also wanted to be the first group to present our marketing ideas; wine pricing, label redesign, promotion, events, social media, etc., because I had a feeling that the three other groups would probably have the same sort of ideas that my group had come up with.  Tactics, tactics.
Speaking in public is not my favourite thing to do, but I can make myself do it.  As it turns out I didn't have to say much.  One member, a mere 25% of our motley crew, who is the lone American and the only one taking this class for a grade, (yes, 75% of my group are not Americans, or taking the class for a grade), did the majority of the presentation.  However, I didn't just stand around twiddling my thumbs, (no, I left that particular presentation skill to the two men in our group).  I busied myself with manning the class computer.  I had decided that the visual vehicle of our presentation should be driven by a blog that I had set up for that very purpose. (Thank you Blogger/Google for free blogging). The blog proved to be a great tactical coup because the other groups, as I had anticipated they would, used PowerPoint (boring) to present their visual content. Our instructor loved the blog format.
The fifteen minutes allotted to us flew by, thank goodness, and the feedback was very positive. Phew!  Then the instructor dropped a bombshell - we have to do it all over again next week for a couple of Napa Valley College-bigwigs, Shark Tank-style.  Not good.

NVSVA Harvest Party, 2015.

Vinomaker and I have just returned from the annual Napa Valley Small Vineyard Association's harvest party at Phoenix Ranch Vineyards.  I missed it last year (as I was double booked for harvest parties that night), so I was really looking forward to attending this year.  I got to catch up with a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a while and also meet some new folks.  A good time was had by all.
I was a little disappointed that the Thingwall Tipplers (you know who you are) were not present, but it seems they flew back to Merseyside on Wednesday.  I was hoping to make my apologies in person for being a lousy emailer.  Sorry!
Great evening, great food, great wines.  Happy harvest season everyone!

Going snorkelling.

There is a new tool in Vinoland.  Meet, The Snorkel.
For years now, Vinomaker and I have been using a home-made apparatus to separate the free-run juice from the pressed juice.  Our DIY jobbie was made from food grade plastic and performed the task fairly well, but it was difficult to clean, and therein lies the problem.  Anything, absolutely anything, that is used in the winemaking process from beginning to end has to be cleanable.  There are a lot of ways to spoil wine and using dirty equipment is right at the top of the list.  The most important thing to remember about microbial spoilage - from yeasts and bacterium - is that it is a whole lot easier to prevent the development of these microorganisms in the production of wine than it is to deal with the adverse effects of spoilage once it has happened.
Not exactly a cheap item, The Snorkel's retail price is $290.  Vinomaker was considering another home-made gizmo, but when he did a little bit of research he found the cost of the materials alone would have been about $150. Much easier, and time management efficient, to just buy one that someone else manufactured. The Snorkel made the whole pressing operation, along with the fact that our hydraulic basket press was feeling better today, much more expeditious.
Harvest and winemaking 2015 is complete.  Yay!

Social media.

Tonight, being that our instructor is still out of town, my marketing-classmates and I had a guest speaker.  Andrew Healy, a native of Ireland, is the founder of 3 Rock Marketing.  3 Rock Marketing is a small marketing company based in Napa that specialises in social media. Mr. Healy's presentation was really interesting and he had a lot of good tips for those marketing-type folks who already use social media in their workplace.  In fact, he had so much to say that the class ran a little bit late, but nobody seemed too bothered.
Although Andrew's main focus was on Facebook, (and how to optimise your company's online presence - for a relatively small amount of money), Andrew covered most social media applications like; Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  Now, of late, I had been thinking that Facebook was a little passé, but apparently I am wrong.  It seems Facebook is still the go-to platform for companies who want to reach the most people...and translate eyes-on-the-page into dollars.
Nowadays, one cannot escape the ubiquitous, highly recognisible, stylised, little social media icons that appear on just about everything. The Facebook icon was even on a bottle of San Pellegrino that I took out of the refrigerator when I got home from class.  I'm left wondering who are the people who have the time to go to San Pellegrino's Facebook page and read about sparkling water, albeit Italian.   I am not one of those people.  I barely have time to post on this blog.

Vinsanity: Another new logo.

How about this Liverbird for Vinsanity's logo? Cool, eh?
A co-worker of mine at TWWIAGE is quite a good doodler - he is always scribbling away at something or other.  Taking advantage of  The Doodler's talent, I asked him if he could draw me a Liverbird with grapes. Of course, I first had to explain to him exactly what a Liverbird was, but, after a couple of internet searches, it didn't take him long to come up with this sketch of my newest feathered-friend.
Fierce looking, with a bunch of grapes in its beak and a picking knife in its claw, this Liverbird looks all set for harvesting action - a bit like me...yeah, right.

A pressing matter.

Two weeks have passed since we harvested Vinoland's Syrah, so today it was time to press off the grapes.  Just one little problem though, we could not use our large hydraulic, stainless-steel basket press as it was feeling under the weather.  With the hydraulic press out of commission, (incapacitated by a temperamental capacitor), Vinomaker and I had to resort to using an old basket press that he had purchased back when he started making wine in the late 90s.  It took us forever.  But, looking on the bright side, although the process was long it did give me plenty of time to reflect upon how much I love electricity.
Tomorrow, I must see if I can borrow the neighbour's horse, hook up a plough and get the vineyard whipped into shape for the winter. Just joking.

Sell, sell, sell!

Tonight, in my wine marketing class, I got to meet with my group of classmates and work on our mid-term project as our instructor is out of town.  He will be out of town next week also, as he was on October 1st (attending a conference in Spain).  Mr. Wagner is a busy man.  In lieu of a proper class, we were supposed to watch a film called Crazy People (about an advertising executive who goes mad), but we only got to see the opening credits as something was wrong with the DVD and nobody could get it to work. So, with nothing else scheduled for the evening, I had to meet with my group.
I have to say, my group is an interesting mix of people.  Originally the group was made up of 5 people, but then number 5 simply disappeared for a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, our instructor had given us an additional group member, number 6.  Then number 5 dropped the class and number 6 informed us that she didn't want to be in our group (ouch!) and so we became 4.  Only one member of our group is an American, so communication is a bit of a challenge.  Nevertheless, we put our heads together in an attempt to come up with a 5 year financial plan for selling the wine that the college produces.  (Our mid-term paper is due October 29th).  After 45 minutes I could stand getting nowhere no longer: I made my excuses and left.  Hopefully, my group and I will be able to come up with something feasible, (something better than the business plan I came up with on my own), over the next fortnight.

Harvest 2015 is complete!

Harvest 2015 in Vinoland is done (and it was the earliest harvest ever). Hooray!  Whereas the size of Vinoland's Syrah crop was about normal, the Cabernet Sauvignon (CS) crop was, perhaps, 25% down.  The CS harvest numbers are; 24.0 °B, a pH of 3.82 and a TA of 5.15 (a little low).
I had actually decided upon the harvest date a few weeks back due more to logistics than anything else.  Vinomaker was concerned that the fruit would not be ready, but, by the way in which harvest had been progressing valley wide, I really felt that harvest wouldn't be late in Vinoland.
Besides it being the earliest harvest in Vinoland it was also the fastest pick - which meant that the harvest lunch/afterglow got going a little sooner than expected; wine, food and more wine abounded.
A surprisingly enjoyable wine at lunch, brought along by Mrs. St. Helena Sot who had been given the bottle by the proprietor of the winery, was a Fantesca, 2012 Chardonnay (Russian River Valley AVA).  Yes, a Chardonnay! An absolutely beautiful wine, made by Heidi Barrett (whoo hoo! for women winemakers), this Chardonnay was balanced, delicately fruity and was possessed of an ethereal quality that was simply too hard to describe. A fun quote, from Margaret Thatcher, printed on the cork (Fantesca Fortune Corkies) just added to my enjoyment.
Harvest 2015 is done, just ask this woman.

The three-tier system.

So Vinomaker and I have a fairly frequent conversation that goes something like this;
VM: "Hey, it's Whatchamacallit's birthday, can you send him/her a bottle of TWWIAGE Cabernet Sauvignon?"
VG: "No, I can't."
VM: "Why can't you?"
VG: "Because I'd be committing a felony if I shipped a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to Whosit in, e.g., Pennsylvania."
VM: "Well, that's stupid!"
Yes, it would be a felony for me to ship wine into Pennsylvania and, yes, it is stupid.  But that is the current state of affairs when trying to navigate the shipping/distribution laws in the US.
Tonight's wine marketing class concentrated on the unique, and arcane, wine distribution system in the United States.  Simply put, the 'three-tier system' came into existence with the repeal of Prohibition (in 1933) which gave each state control over the sale and distribution of alcohol, (the three-tier system refers to the producers, distributors and retailers of wine).  And that is the way it continues to work to this day, with no real incentive to change the system in the states where the distributor has a monopoly (and the politicians like the status quo).  So, no, Thingamajig cannot have a birthday bottle of wine: I like my liberty too much.
It is much less complicated, in the US, to make wine than sell it.

Vinoland's Syrah Harvest: 2015.

The Syrah grapes are in, and I have to say the fruit looks gorgeous.  Look at the colour of that drop of juice on the berry to the lower left of the photograph: getting good colour extraction of of Syrah grapes is never a problem.  There was quite a bit more bee-damage than bird-damage this year which is a little unusual.  But I like bees, so it's alright.  Harvesting and destemming went smoothly.  And so did the party afterwards, (which is always a lot of fun).  A good harvest.
Syrah by the numbers, 26.5 °B, a pH of 3.56 and a TA of 5.75.

Happy 8th birthday V2!

Vinodog 2 turns 8 years old today - and she is clearly not impressed.  At least that is the feeling I am getting, as she looks like she is blowing a raspberry at the very thought of being so old. And the fact that her black bits are increasingly becoming more grey.  Of course, she did enjoy her extra helping of dog biscuits after breakfast and unwrapping her new squeaky toy (Sid the shark), but now she is outside napping in the Napa sunshine clearly underwhelmed by the day's events thus far.  I'll take her for a walk down by the river, she'll like that.  She's a great dog.
Happy birthday V2!

Other people's stuff.

Published weekly, Wine Country Classifieds (WCC) is not just about other people's stuff: the distinctive, bright yellow advertisement-mailing is a very helpful wine industry resource/tool.  Of course, WCC does include lots of ads about stuff for sale, e.g., barrels (new and used), macro bins (used) and bottles (hopefully, new).  But WCC also includes a diverse selection of services that are available to wine industry peeps, like; custom crush facilities, mobile bottling services, barrel storage and bulk wine storage.  It's an interesting read for any wine geek - and it's free. I love it.

The cost of wine.

When the bird netting goes up on the grapevines I do my very, very best to make sure that none of my feathered friends can sneak in through a gap, that I may have inadvertently left, and become trapped.  I walk through the rows often to make sure that not one single bird is caught in the canopy. But it's not a perfect system.  Just last weekend, I had to free a rather annoyed female Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) from one of the Pinot grigio (PG) rows.  Not a particularly easy task with V2 on the other side of the vine snapping away, (she takes her partial terrier-heritage very seriously).  The PG vines having been harvested already are now sans nets, so the birds are at liberty to go about their business as usual.
Today, on the way out for our morning walk, V2 drew my attention to a house finch that was trapped in the Orange Muscat (OM) vines.  I pulled open the netting quickly and the finch flew away, seemingly unscathed, into a nearby tree.  A little later in the morning, when Vinomaker and I were finally organised enough to get around to removing the netting on the OM prior to picking, I found the remains of a little house finch (hanging in the netting by its spine and the teeniest little ribs).  I am so sad to have one less house finch in Vinoland: I hate to be the cause of the demise of even one precious bird. 2015 may prove, in a way, to be an expensive vintage.  Sigh.

Label it drinkable.

More on  wine labels.  In tonight's wine marketing class we discussed what exactly constitutes a wine brand's shelf appeal.  And how a winery can make their brand stand out from all the hundreds of other wine bottles on the supermarket/wine shop's shelf.
The initial impact that a label can make on a consumer is very important: the right design can act as a 'billboard' that will catch the consumer's eye and make an immediate and favourable impression. Besides all the legal mumbo jumbo that must be included on a wine label, a label should make a strong statement and be conspicuous and snazzy.  But at the same time a label should be smart, tasteful and classic - something that says that the wine inside the packaging is, after all, ultimately drinkable. The copy in the textbook says; "...create a label that is big, bright, stylish, bold, elegant, loud, sophisticated, flashy..."  So I am thinking that just a touch of schizophrenia can be a desirable thing in a label designer.  Yikes!
My label is striking, is it not?  But I'm afraid it may get pigeon-holed as a critter wine!  Double yikes!

It's a miracle.

Not quite in the same league as the two proven miracles required to become a Catholic saint, I returned home from work today to find that Vinoland's Pinot grigio grapes had been harvested.  It is indeed a small miracle, as I didn't think harvest 2015 was ever going to get started here at home.  I think it is only fitting that today - the day that Pope Francis canonized Father Junípero Serra, the first winegrower in California - a few grapes were picked in Vinoland; grapes destined to become a little bit of California wine.  (And it is California wine month, besides.)
Like the St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon, the Pinot grigio yield was down by about 50%.  Pinot grigio by the numbers; outrageous 32 °B, a pH of 3.94 and a TA of 5.30.  Next up, Orange muscat.

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 is still a conundrum.

Another blind wine tasting in tonight's wine marketing class.  My classmates and I were told to simply rate the mystery wines, 1 through 6, in our order of preference.  Now, none of the wines were anything I'd personally want to swallow, but two stood out as particularly undesirable to me.  The first was a Meiomi, 2013 Pinot noir - with a really funky nose, I didn't even want to taste it, but I did.  As an aside, this brand just sold to Constellation Brands for $315 million making Joe Wagner, at 33 years old, a very rich young man.  The second wine was a Conundrum, 2012 California Red Wine - it had a nonspecific red-fruit nose and, upon tasting, it was cloyingly sweet.  I had actually commented to the person sitting next to me, who happens to be a co-worker at TWWIAGE, that the wine was disturbingly reminiscent of Conundrum.  I nailed it!  I am guessing that I just don't like Wagner Family wines.
After the unveiling, the entire class acted as a mini-focus group and we discussed the merits and demerits of the labels.  I don't know if I need to visit an optician, or if I need to take a design class, but my idea of what constitutes 'shelf appeal' in a wine label was quite different from the majority of the class.  We all did, however, agree that the label on the Napa Valley College wine left something to be desired.  Someone commented that the pale blue, circular label looked like it had been printed at home for a baby shower.  My favourite label was the Parducci, 2012 True Grit Reserve Red (Mendocino AVA).  Clean and unfussy, with a sort of Wild West-meets-Bordelais-charm, the True Grit label was to the point; proprietary name, wine type, origin, vintage and producer. Besides, I'm a sucker for anything with cowboys boots on it.

Lake County Goats.

More goats.  Not the fat and happy, valley-floor-living Napa goats I photographed this past April. No, these poor goats had the misfortune to find themselves in the midst of one of the most destructive wildfires in the history of California. I copied this photograph from the Facebook page of one of my co-workers, the Balancing Queen (BQ), who unfortunately lost her home and all of her possessions, and most likely her cats, in the Valley Fire which is currently burning to the north of here in Lake County. And tragically, the BQ is not alone in her predicament, at last count some 600 homes have been destroyed.
Wineries and vineyards have been lost.  Many vineyards, although not directly affected by the fire, remain unpicked as access to them is restricted.  Regretfully, wildfires, earthquakes and drought are all apart of life in California. The goats survived.
Photo credit: JoAnn Saccato

Syrah is wild.

One could be forgiven for thinking that this photograph of grape flower buds was taken earlier this year, but nope, I took it earlier today. I was out in the vineyard checking the progress of grape maturation when I came across this particular over achiever.  It didn't surprise me in the least, as Syrah is my little wild child.
A quick berry sampling of the Syrah today revealed the vital statistics of; 25.0 °Brix, a pH of 3.30 and a TA of 8.5.  Things are looking good.
And I just realised that I missed my 7th Blogiversary (the 6th of this month), oops!  I have been so busy, I simply failed to remember my anniversary. Thanks to those who read and comment on Vinsanity, I really appreciate your input.
Roll on year 8!