Cleanliness & Blending
I can't emphasize enough the need to keep the wine making equipment and general area "clean as a whistle". Once a wine batch starts to go, there is no way to save it. I have learned the hard way, and basically poured at least 100 gallons of wine into the ground over the years.
Chemistry is crucial. I have posted a number of times about additives to keep the PH and Acid in balance, plus you have to add SO2 at regular intervals to prevent any chance of bacteria getting involved.
Blending. An Art for sure. A few years back after fermentation, extended maceration, pressing, racking, etc, I had about 75 gallons of Zinfandel to put into Oak. I had a brand new American Oak 30 gallon barrel, a 3 year old 30 gallon French Oak barrel, and a 4 year old 15 gallon French Oak barrel. I filled each barrel with wine from the same batch, same vineyard, same harvest day, same yeast used. 18 months later I was ready to bottle. I barrel tasted wine from each barrel and each tasted totally different. Each had significant characteristics, and each had holes or incomplete aspects. So, I invited friends over and I pulled out about a 20 ounce sample out of each barrel, labeled them, and then we each started blending them in various percentages. We took copious notes. This was an amazing learning experience. Adding even 5% of one wine to another cause a profound change in flavor, and complexity. We decided on a blend to optimize the flavor and this produced an exceptional wine, while wine from each individual barrel was ordinary at best.
6 months ago, my neighbor who I make wine with, had two 30 gallon barrels of wine he wanted to pour out. One was 30 gallons of Primitivo, and the other was 30 gallons of Zinfandel. I did some blending experiments. I had some Petite Sirah, that was dense dark, and very fruity. In doing just a few blending experiments I came across a blend of 45% Primitivo, 45% Zinfandel, and 10% Petite Sirah, that produced an amazing wine. We bottled every thing up, and this blend is always the first one friends ask for.
posted by mrsleep @ 5:08 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
let's hear it for good old American ingenuity. Well done!
I just read through your previous posts, and it sounds like a great project you have going there. You mentioned you lost your first year's crop to the birds - that happened to me too, in the suburbs of WDC, but not only the birds, also the deer, squirrels, and black spot from the roses. It's humid there, so that didn't help. Damn deer would eat all the roses just as they were about to open.
Did you start your vines from clippings? Do you do all the work until the harvest yourself? And is it a full time occupation? Do you need to turn the ground over the winter?
I'd love to do something like that here in combination with olives and oranges and herbs, when I can afford some country land. The Alicante D.O. turns out excellent wine for under $1 per bottle, so obviously I wouldn'd be doing it for the money. :) So for now it's rooting clippings of my favourite plants on the terrace.
Reading your posts reminds me of Voltaire's "Candida". In the end he finds the meaning of life in tending his garden.
Hey, you say 2005 was a great year - does this include napa in general, or only specific regions? I've got some friends going over to NYC and will request a few bottles of reserve to store if you have some recommendations.
Cheers!
Damn lost my post.
2005 was a great year across California, however you won't see anything for sale for the next 6 - 9 months. Target Sonoma Wineries, as Napa is too overpriced.
99% of my vines come from nurseries, with rootstocks designed to do well in my soil type.
Nope, don't turn my soil over, but I do add amendments during the Winter to help the vines prepare for Spring.
Being a good farmer in my mind is much harder that being a good wine maker.
This is just an expensive, time consuming hobby.
Haven't read Voltaire's book. An interesting read for you to explore is Wine and War. It's about the French Wine Industry during WWII.
So you're using grafted stock then, like they commonly use for fruit trees, if I understand correctly. Of course that makes perfect sense. Interesting.
Many thanks for the advice on Sonoma and reading material!
Lost another post!!!
Some winery's to check out as a start. Sonoma. Richardson's, and Cline. Both focus primarily on Red Wines. In the Gold Country, near Placerville, check out Boeger, Sierra Vista and Youngs.
All but three of my vines are grafted. I have three that I have grown from cuttings. There is a broad range of various rootstocks.
You know, I don't want to dominate the comments in your blog, but I need to say that I think that the USA became great from being a nation of farmers. Small scale farmers can't afford to be closed minded. Things like experimenting with rootstock and cuttings, tinkering in the barn with the machinery, measuring pH, and making use of every last resource - regularly doing things like that develop the imagination and sense of innovation, or common sense. It's refreshing to read about it in action.
One last question for now: how high do you keep the canes that are going to produce from the ground? I've seen all kinds of recommended heights.
Don't worry about visiting too often. I have very few posters that come by very often, however I will post more on wine and less on Politics in the future. That may draw a broader audience, and frankly, it likely will be a more enjoyable discussion.
Ok, a Spanish Wine lead for you. Exceptional wine. 2003 Artadi, Vinas de Gain. Inexpensive, relatively. Under 20 Euro's. Maybe 15 - 16 Euro's. If you can afford it, get your hands on a case. Drink one now, and enjoy it, then save the rest. Maybe treat yourself to two bottles a year.
My wife and I visited Spain last May. Spent 10 days in the Andulasia area. We relaxed in Marbella. Spent a day in Gibraltor. Spent a couple of days in Ronda, and visited a number of White Villages. Went up the Grenada, and visited Alhambra. Got hooked on Spanish Olives, and Spanish Olive Oil. I spent 4 days on Business in Barcelona in August.
Ok. How high to grown the vines? It really varies. No more than a Meter high for the cordon, probably a bit lower. Maybe 30 inches or 75 centimeters. I have seen vines trained as low as maybe 18 inches off the ground. I've seen this in the Epernay area outside of Paris. The individual growth shoot or vines grow off from the cordon. I allow them to grow up 4+ feet from the Cordon, then I pinch the ends of the vines to stop the growth. The overall leaf structure of the vine trunk, vine cordon, and vine shoots is called the canopy. Too vigorous of a canopy provides too much shade and inhibits air flow around the grape clusters. This can allow moisture to build up on the inner leaves, and grape clusters, and then the vine is prone to develop Powdery Mildew, which is a significant problem. This means you have to closely monitor growth, pull leaves in key spots to ensure airflow, and have sunlight directed at the grape clusters.
There are different way to train the vine from a pruning stanpoint, and how your design your trellissing system.
You're right - grapes beat politics any day. So then it's all about finding the sweet spot where the cordon stays as short as possible to provide the most efficient nutrient transfer, while providing just enough air flow. Reminds me of guitars. The best sounding and playing classical and flamenco guitars are built to be just strong enough to hold together.
I first came to Spain 11 years ago and went from Madrid to Valencia on a solo trip. I had never tasted anything like the Valencia oranges, nor the olives. I met some really nice people considering my butchery of the language and customs.
10 years later I had hit my 40s and felt a need to decide to move to a place where I could see myself living long term, instead of just until I had saved enough money to retire. That is to say, a place to live with more priority on living making money. So when I sold my house after the real estate market had started to boom, I found myself back in Spain putting together a new life. I'm north of Andalucia, on the mediterranean coast, but well connected to the rest of the country and Europe, in a humble atico apartment in a thoroughly Spanish city. It's not too hard to get to know people in other parts of the country, and they put you up when you visit, introduce you to their friends, and show you their favorite restaurants and sights. I'm not a normally party person, but in Andalucia you just get swept up in the current. Between the super fresh seafood, the sun, the music, the beach, and the fun-loving people, they really know how to live. That's the way to see Spain on a budget. I was in a constant state of shock in Barcelona, with the sense of creativity and architecture. I could see myself having some kind of place there as my life progresses. It's like the place calls out to you, saying THIS is where you need to be. The capital of the mediterraean. I'm looking forward to seeing the Alhambra and Sevilla for the first time, and returning to Madrid and Barcelona in late June/early July. I now have contacts in Barcelona as well, so I'm really looking forward to that part of the trip.
I will go down to the bodega after my Spanish exams next week and see if I can find some '03 Artadi, Vinas de Gain. Thanks again for the tips.
You hit the nail on the head about partying and Andalucia. When we vacationed there, we never had dinner before 10PM. Marbella flows with money. I saw a lot of young, young women on the arms of pot bellied men, with cash to burn.
There definitely is a harmony to grape growing.
Wine Making and Farming grapes are a combination of art and science. You learn the science part fairly quickly, and the science part is a repeatable activity. The Art part is not necessarily learnable. Every year is different. In many respects you are presented with a blank canvas each year.
My wife and I enjoyed Spain a lot, but we are not City people, or night life people. We enjoy the countryside, hiking, small towns, quieter times. We will be back.
I can't put Alhambra properly into words. All I can tell you is that it is sensory overload. The best advice I could provide to you, is to try and do it in two days. I would bring a backpack with you, a bottle of wine, some bread, cheese, olives. At some point your brain and senses will become overstimulated, and you will need to grab a bench in a garden, and sit and reflect. Have a picnic, and just let it soak in.
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