Woot Wine : One Week, One Wine (SM)

Yes, this blog post is later than usual, but don't blame Peter - the delay is entirely Woot's fault.

For What It's Worth - Tue. July 8, 2008

Dan Berger, one of the more interesting wine writers around, would occasionally list various production costs when talking about wine prices. Some were very accurate, but others out of line with each other, e.g. cheap glass with expensive corks. In light of recent discussions on the w00t forums about price, quality and value, I thought it might be interesting to list our costs and some idea of the range of various costs.

Dan always gave the most detail about bottling costs, so I'll start there. Most of our bottles run around $9.00 a case, with a range from $7.50 to $12.00. Industry ranges are < $5.00 to > $20.00. Our corks are around 30¢ each ($3.50/case), with an industry range of < 10¢ to > $1.00 each (there are also low cost alternative closures). We use tin capsules, at 17¢ each ($2.00/case). Polylaminate, PVC, heat-shrink plastic and other alternatives run 2-10¢ each. Front labels @ 7¢ and backs @ 4¢ adds another $1.40 a case for us. Label cost is probably the biggest variable in packaging costs because there is a tremendous economy of scale; small runs of ornate labels can cost a dollar a label. Mobile bottling is around $2.50 a case. If you have your own bottling line (a large capital investment) costs are considerably lower. Bottling labor for us is around $0.60 per case. We spend $19 a case to bottle our wine. Big wineries can get it done for $7-8, high end “vanity labels” may spend as much as $50 a case or more.

Grapes are the biggest cost in Sonoma and Napa wines, but not in the Central Valley. Cabernet averaged over $4000 a ton in Napa in 2007, but only $330 in Lodi and $260 or less in the rest of the Central Valley. The average grape cost in a case of Cabernet is over $60 using Napa fruit, and less than $2.00 using Kern County fruit. Growing your own grapes can be a lot cheaper than buying grapes. In 2006 our own grapes cost us $1160 a ton, our purchased grapes averaged $2040 a ton. Our grape cost per case averaged around $26.

French oak barrels are $1000+ a pop. That means $20 a case for a winery that uses 50% new French oak, a common practice for high end Napa and Sonoma Cabs ($80 a case for Caymus Special Select @ 200% new oak). American oak is $200-350 a barrel; staves, chips and sawdust range from pennies up to $2 a case or so. We average $4 a case for oak (ranging from $0 to 20, depending on the wine). Other winemaking and lab supplies add up to a dollar or so.

Large wineries realize tremendous economy of scale with winemaking labor, often spending less than they do on bottling labor. Counting labor overhead and a portion of my salary, our winemaking cost is $7 a case. I won't consider consultant's fees here, but some vanity labels pay “superstar” winemakers six figure fees to create cult brands.

Overhead can be quite variable depending on renting vs. owning, taxes, depreciation, loan interest, etc. We spent a buck a case on utilities before we installed our photovoltaic system, now we have to add both the accelerated depreciation on it and the interest on the loan to our “book cost” for IRS purposes.

I won't make you do the math. Our direct cost per case is around $57. Two Buck Chuck probably costs about $9-10 a case to produce, and an elite Napa Cab might cost $140-200. Add a bit of tax, warehousing, marketing (can be a huge expense) and overhead and you get to the winery cost of sales. Assuming sales through the three tier system, markup will be 100% between the winery and the store shelf. Hence Two Buck Chuck and $40-50 Napa Cabs.


Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - Thu. July 10, 2008

Dry lightning started over a thousand fires in northern California on June 22nd. Even though none of the fires were in Sonoma County, we were inundated by smoke for a week. One night the smoke detector in our bedroom went off at 3 AM. When I sulfur dusted on the 27th I didn't even realize the sun had risen until I noticed a pale red, moon-like circle above the mountains. I had Sam wash the solar panels when things cleared up last week – they were coated with ash and dust. I wish I had looked at the electrical output before washing; I'd be curious to know how much generation was compromised. After a week of blue skies the smoke returned Monday and has been getting thicker every day. There are still over 300 fires burning 18 days after they started, with 20 described as major fires. It's also been over 100°F all week, making for burning eyes, throats and lungs. I feel like I'm breathing with my body uider water; I can only imagine what it's like for people with respiratory diseases.

There's been speculation about diminished sunlight slowing ripening or other fire effects on grapes, but I don't think it really makes a difference right now. Light is rarely the limiting factor in photosynthetic rate. Heat determines rate of photosynthesis, with a maximum rate around 90-92°F, dropping to virtually no activity below 50° or above 105°. We have had a cooler than average year so far, and harvest may start a little later than average. I also saw mention of a company that can remove “smoke taint” - aromas from wildfires adsorbed by the grapes. I'm guessing that may not be much of an issue with these early season fires, but certainly could be if there are similar conditions closer to harvest.



The Circle Goes Round And Round  - Wed. July 16, 2008

We're getting closer to harvest and closer to the end of my year of (mostly) voluntary servitude - blogging. I think my last blog may come during September, so if you have any burning questions, ask now or forever hold your peace. Besides, I'm worried about running out of cheesy cultural references for titles and headings – I'm down to Buffalo Springfield, The Platters and Joni Mitchell this week. We've finalized all our blends for this year, with the last bottling scheduled for Aug. 19th & 20th. The Sonoma Valley Zin is 14.3% alcohol, with 7% Durif (PS to you, Loweel). The Duke is 44% Zin, 28% Merlot, 16% Cabernet sauvignon and 12% Petite Verdot. We've started to re-taste the 2007 Cabernets and other Bordeaux varieties. Now that they have 9 months or so of barrel age we can confidently select candidates for Victory trials, and start blending other lots for the bases of our varietal and single vineyard bottlings. We'll do a few more tastings before harvest, then take a hiatus until December.

I've only got a couple of sulfur dust applications left (no need after veraison), and there's no more mowing – the permanent cover crops went completely dormant very early this year. After that, there's just irrigation and watching. We're starting crush plans – ordering yeast and other supplies, looking for crush help, making barrel plans, visiting vineyards. It's also time for Sam, Lynda and myself to take pre-crush vacations and make sure our batteries are fully charged going into harvest. I've got a one week sales trip planned just before (I hope) crush begins.

From: Mildred Gilkey, concerned citizen

Dear sirs and/or madams and/or other:

I am writing to bring to your attention a scandalous loophole in the laws concerning children and alcohol. As you know, Americans can proudly claim some of the most restrictive alcohol laws in the free world. Decrepit failed states like Ireland, France, and China wallow in anarchy and chaos, permitting children to drink at age 18 or even younger. Only the U.S.A. follows the time-tested maxim: “Just because we trust you to fight in a war and vote for the president doesn’t mean we trust you with a glass of wine.”

All well and good…but what about making that wine?

It has come to my attention that one Brian Benson of Paso Robles, California allegedly began making wine at the tender age of 12. As if that weren’t bad enough, he began this illicit activity under the tutelage of his very own father. While I possess no evidence that Brian actually drank any wine, for a child, merely being in the presence of wine is bad enough. Studies show that children who are placed in the same room with alcohol for even ten seconds inevitably become drunks, winos, hobos, punk rockers, pornographers, and Chicago Cubs fans. I can’t remember which studies, but believe me, they were shocking.

While Brian is no longer a juvenile, he continues to flaunt his ill-gained knowledge with his very own Brian Benson Cellars line of wines, begun when he was just 19 years old. Now he is 25, which means his current activities are unfortunately legal. But one taste of his Syrah will prove that there’s no way he could’ve learned this much about winemaking in just four years.

The Brian Benson 2005 Syrah Denner Vineyard scored 90 points from Robert Parker, who called it “an impressive example of full-bodied Syrah possessing terrific minerality”. The previous vintage was also full-bodied and bursting with fruit and berry flavors tempered with a dash of earth and spice. Note, please, that these grapes must have been planted when Mr. Benson was not yet of legal drinking age. While grapes on the vine are not alcoholic, they were clearly planted with alcoholic intent.

Science proves that on a person’s 21st birthday, a tiny switch is thrown in his brain, making him immediately more mature. The scofflaw Brian Benson’s outrageous behavior flies in the face of our reasonable, reality-based alcohol laws, and I demand he be punished. It may not be illegal to make wine before you turn 21, but this case is urgent enough to warrant casting aside our laws. May I suggest putting Brian Benson in stocks in the Paso Robles town square, so the populace can mock and abuse him? It would be for his own good. If we have to destroy our children in order to save them, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

Please, won’t you think of the children -

Mildred Gilkey
concerned citizen

There’s a reason Zinfandel isn’t at the top of our list of favorite grape varieties. It’s because our list isn’t in order of preference; it’s alphabetical. It seemed the only fair way to arrange it. Trying to put them in order of how much we love them gave us that feeling that parents get when their children ask which among them mom and dad like best.

What, you think that’s overstating it? You think it’s hyperbole to compare our love for mere wine with the love a parent has for his or her child? Well, taste these Zins and see if you still think so. These wines will punch your tickets on the express train to taste nirvana, non-stop direct, and every passenger gets an aisle seat and a hot towel.

Chase Family Cellars have engineered a potent fruitsplosion here, replete with intense raspberries, cherries and blackberries. These wines are bright, ripe, elegant, balanced—and smooth as a buttered billiard ball. Brace yourself for a deep purple experience to rival Ian Paice’s.

For sippers in the know, the specialest thing about this wine is that it’s sourced from the Hayne vineyard, a highly esteemed producer of Zinfandel—a Zinyard, if you will. No? OK, you’re right, that’s dumb. Planted in 1903, Hayne’s gravelly soil on 60 gently sloping acres is known for nurturing the region’s most robust and expressive grapes. They’d be the grape Honor Roll of Napa Valley High.

There’s only one other winery that grabs its grapes from the Hayne—an ultra-cult operation of which you might have heard. We won’t name it here, but its favorite sit-com character is Laverne’s best pal SHIRLEY. And its favorite Stooge is CURLY. And its favorite basketball player is Bobby HURLEY. And its favorite Austin Powers girl is Elizabeth HURLEY. Ours is Beyonce Knowles, but that’s totally beside the point. Anyway, that winery’s wares will SURELY set you back 75 bucks a bottle. Our deal’s priced to make you much less SURLY.

You’ll get two vintages of this wine, each more delicious than the other, in apparent defiance of logic—but taste them, and see if it ain’t so.

Everyone has heard “you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” But really, who wants a bunch of flies? Cavedoni Botte Piccola Imported balsamic vinegar is for the high-class fly-free gourmand who knows there is such a thing as “Vinegar and Ice Cream.”

In case you’re one of those who don’t know, we’ll let you in on the secret. Real balsamic vinegar is very very very different from that sixty-nine cent bottle of clear Heinz in the supermarket. Balsamic vinegar is a transcendent experience, and it can change what you’re eating in a most exquisite way. A good tomato and mozzarella sandwich can, with just a bit of balsamic, reduce a hardened mob hitman to tears. And balsamic and strawberries at your quiet picnic for two will make you look like Romeo. Or Juliet, depending.

Botte Piccola is the pride of the Cavedoni family. It’s seven years old, high viscosity, naturally sweet with no caramel, and has the spot-on balance of acidity and sweetness only found in the very best balsamics. That’s because each 250 ml of Botte Piccola is completely natural. Lesser balsamics punch things up with added sugar or caramel giving an artificial sweetness. There’s a mind boggling difference between this balsamic and the cheaper kind.

The Cavedoni family has been making balsamic for five generations, since 1860, and they take quality very seriously. That could be because they come from Modena, in the heart of Balsamic country. Imagine how you’d feel showing up at Skywalker Ranch dressed like a Klingon. That’s what lousy vinegar would be to the Cavedoni family. Unthinkable.

The barrel aged Cavedoni Botte Piccola Balsamic Vinegar has only recently entered into the United States, and sales have previously been limited to some of the finest restaurants. Here is what Nash Cognetti, Executive Chef of fabled Napa Valley’s Tra Vigne Restaurant says about Cavedoni Botte Piccola. “We have chosen this great balsamic because its perfect balance of acidity and sweetness makes it ideal for so many dishes. Now we are featuring it on fresh strawberries, grilled pork, fig pizza, and it turns our beautiful fresh heirloom tomatoes and house-made mozzarella into a star.” And when a guy named “Nash” tells you something, you darn well better listen. If you know what’s good for you.

The $34.99 price tag is just what those fancy places would pay for a top-shelf find like this, but is way under what speciality retailers will be charging. Treat yourself, or treat a friend – or both! Comes complete with a dosage stopper and in a beautiful presentataion box. Learn the well kept but heavenly secret of Botte Piccola Balsamic Vinegar. And leave the honey outside. It’ll distract the riff-raff.

From this valley comes the wine we are pouring
We really dig the bright fruit and sweet nose
You can taste the Sonoma County sunshine
That makes these exquisite grapes grow

Come and sit by my side, if you’re thirsty
Do not hesitate to drink a little more
Just remember the Russian River Valley
With these Chauteau Souverain Pinot Noirs

We’ve been waiting a long time, my darling
For a Pinot Noir this earthy and rich
Now here’s a glass full of ruby-red contentment
With mild tannins and a lingering finish

Come and sit by my side, if you’re thirsty
One bottle of ‘05 and two of ‘04
Just remember the Russian River Valley
With these Chauteau Souverain Pinot Noirs

Well the ‘04 is ripe and dark and complex
With fruit-driven flavors of berry
But the ‘05 is a just little bit jammier
With spices, plum, and black cherry

Come and sit by my side, if you’re thirsty
Drink all you want – they’ll make some more
Just remember the Russian River Valley
With these Chauteau Souverain Pinot Noirs

El Brujo - Fri. June 20, 2008

It’s official, this has been the driest spring in N. California recorded history. It’s also been one of the coolest, so the vines aren’t showing any signs of moisture stress yet. Shoot growth is well below normal for this time of year in all the vineyards I’ve looked at in Sonoma Valley and bloom is later than usual. It’s been a lot windier than normal, too. Farmers always talk about the weather anyway, but it sure has been a strange year so far. I don’t have any idea of what’s in store for the rest of the growing season because I don’t have my own personal weather forecaster anymore.

Enrico “Joe” Gallo sold us our vineyard in 1986. His father-in-law, Ben Biehler, had planted it, starting in 1892, and Joe started working with Ben when he married Ben’s daughter in 1933. Joe lived in wine country all his life, and right across the street from our winery from 1935 until his passing ten years ago. I have never met an American who was more in tune with the earth than Joe. He knew which doe had given birth to twins the previous year, when and where certain mushrooms would appear, etc. He paid attention to bird, animal and plant behavior and used that, along with other signs, to predict both short and long term weather with startling precision. Several of the old-time growers in the area asked him regularly for predictions. His predictions made the NWS look like they were using a ouija board.

Over the years Joe taught me where the worst frost spots were, ripening sequences, soil variations and how to identify all the grape varieties. He offered wisdom, opinion, a lot of history and lore, and his two cents worth on politics, sports, sex and religion. He was individualistic and open-minded and had strong moral values that combined very socialistic left wing ideas with a bit of far-right libertarianism. He doused wells, including ours (seemingly unlimited), scared away government employees, and, best of all, predicted the weather so well that my vineyard guys took to calling him El Brujo.

Joe used to come over and tell me it was going to rain on such and such a date, and I only half way paid attention, thinking it was just the ramblings of my retired, somewhat bored neighbor. After a couple of years I started paying more attention because it seemed like he was often right. Once I started writing down his predictions I realized he had abnormal abilities and was pretty much always right. Time after time he predicted rain weeks in advance, to the day, or, at worst, one day off. Droughts, floods, date of last frost – he didn’t predict, he knew. I’ll never forget Oct.3rd the year before he died. He drove over on a very warm, cloudless afternoon (he wasn’t walking much at that point) to apologize for the mistaken prediction he had made in late August that we would have our first real rain of the season on Oct. 3rd. A storm had passed well north of Sonoma and was headed over the Sierra Nevada on its way east. The NWS was predicting clear and warm for the next week plus. Oct. 4th we awoke to heavy rain; in a rare occurrence the storm had come back from the east. I once asked Joe, very diplomatically, if he would consider sharing his methods with me, passing them on to another generation. He had already told me of 3 day and 7 day cycles, moon phases, watching the migratory birds and the oak trees, but I asked him if he might describe how he integrated all those factors. He came back the next day and said he had started to write stuff down but got to the point where he realized “ultimately it comes from here” (touching his heart). I still miss you, Rico.
 

Take My Wine, Please - Tues. July 1, 2008

Thanks to Penkauskasd for the following questions: “I'm particularly interested in your distribution channels and the regulations you struggle under. Who can you sell to? (distributors, restaurants, direct to consumers, w00t, retail stores, etc,) Why would you sell in that channel? What are the regulations? Why do the regulations differ? Who benefits from restricting your channels?”

In California, our state winemaking license allows us to sell retail (from a maximum of two locations), direct to restaurants and retailers and to distributors. When prohibition was repealed by constitutional amendment in 1933, the states were directed to write their own liquor laws, including drinking age limitations and how, when, where, and by whom alcohol could be sold. Naturally, in every state, distributors “influenced” their legislators to write laws that gave them as much of a monopoly as possible under the law. Illinois is the first state to reverse this policy at all, with a “self distribution” law that went into effect June 1, 2008, allowing small out-of-state wineries to sell direct to restaurants and retailers. Until the Supreme Court decision a couple of years ago, we could sell direct to consumers in only 11 “reciprocal” states, most without restriction. Many of the states have had to rewrite their laws in light of the court decision, and this has opened up a number of states for retail sales and shipping. Ironically, some of the former reciprocal states have become more restrictive and controlled.

Direct to consumer is generally the most profitable venue for us, but shipping is much costlier and less efficient for small amounts than larger shipments to distributors. Also, distributors actively market our wine in their states, resulting in much higher sales volume, albeit at a lower per case return. Cult wineries like Williams-Selyem or Screaming Eagle can sell almost all their wine at retail, but most of us need to sell to restaurants and retailers, and to use distributors to do so.

The federal government’s greatest interest in the alcohol industry is revenue collection (the ATT collects more money per dollar of its budget than any other govt. agency, including the IRS), and that is an important concern for many states as well. We have a lot of reporting and tax paying to do for most states where we distribute or sell direct.

Finally regarding who benefits from restricting our channels? The national wholesalers’ organization spends a huge amount of money lobbying against any law changes that would lessen their control of wine sales. It does put a lot of small wineries in a bind because there aren’t enough distributors for all the brands now in existence, and alternative channels still don’t exist in many states.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a guy to unwind, maybe sit out on the screened-in porch and to quaff the kind of lush, fruit-driven potation to which a wine.woot account entitles him, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that he should declare the causes which impel him to the indulgence. Of course, it shouldn’t really be any of mankind’s business what a guy enjoys in the privacy of his screened-in porch, but you have to pick your battles.

We hold these truths to be self-evident. First, that anybody trying to balance the demands of being a politician, author, gentleman farmer, university founder and stone cold playa is entitled to a little “me time” once in a while, particularly during the July 4th weekend. Second, that not all wines are created equal, that they are not all endowed by their creators with the qualities that make wine worth drinking, that among these are vibrant berry aromatics, bright berry flavors on the palate, and a rich, seamless texture.

Boy, this one is endowed in a big way, though. And why wouldn’t it be? It’s made grape-to-bottle by the Corley brothers, who oversee the process from start to finish with unrelenting scrutiny and firm discipline. That kind of authoritarianism usually rubs me the wrong way, true, but in this case the proof is in the hasty pudding, so to speak. It even impressed my boy Lafayette—and I love the guy, but he can be kind of a wine snob.

I, therefore, as just one representative of guys on their screened-in porches everywhere, do, in their name, but by no particular authority, solemnly publish and declare, that this Monticello Presidential Red is tops. It’s perfect for enjoying before, during, or after—but not instead of—a meal. (Wine’s relatively modest caloric content is no substitute for a balanced diet, after all.) And for the support of this Declaration, which I tried to keep short, but which no one is very likely to read all the way through to the end anyway, I pledge to you my life, my fortune and my sacred honor. Some restrictions apply.

Sincerely,
“Two-Dollar” T.J. “The Monticello Fellow”
Class of ‘76
Have a cool summer, good luck with the girls, ha ha

Here’s Donati again, to carry us to the end of the week on a wave of white wine.

White. Pristine, austere, antiseptic white. Color of purity. Color of sterility. Color of John McCain’s hair and his voter base. Color of lots of things, really. But not the color of these wines.

Yes, they’re what are known in the oenic parlance as “white wines”, but hell if we know why. Any idiot can see they’re actually golden, or amber, or something else along yellow lines. Was everybody color-blind in days of yore, or what? When we were younger, it was this sort of thing that made us think that the world depicted in black & white movies was actually black & white.

Still, Donati could call these “plaid wines” and it wouldn’t detract one jot from their refreshing summer-friendly pleasure. The Donati 2007 Pinot Blanc even has the French word for white in its name, so it’s lying in two languages. But its distinctive minerality and tangy hints of vanilla and apple tell a greater truth. Grown from 40-year-old vines on a 5-acre smidgen of Donati’s Paicines vineyard, this silky seductress is ready for seafood, shellfish, or sushi. Wait, aren’t those last two covered under “seafood”?

Not that it matters. Not when the Donati 2006 Pinot Grigio gives us something so much more interesting to talk about. Descending onto your palate from a high-elevation vineyard at the crest of the Paicines Hills, this is lusher, more riper, and just plain better than the run of the mill PG. It’s those cooling afternoon breezes, you know. Or maybe it’s the slow, cold stainless steel fermentation. The result is a rich, nutty white that’s just perfect for all that pistachio biscotti you’ve got laying around.

Some may consider Chardonnay the training wheels of the white wine set, like a Fisher-Price My First White Wine or something. These unnamed cynics clearly have never indulged a gulp or ten of the Donati 2005 Chardonnay. Allowed to thoroughly ripen on a steep, gravelly, limestone-laden hillside, the tiny, concentrated berries produced a Chardonnay that you won’t find on the menu at Denny’s. Flavor and acidity intertwine in such a delightfully sensual way, you may even feel a little embarrassed – like watching those two snails in Microcosmos. You’ll enjoy it with roasted chicken, salmon steaks, grilled summer vegetables, or just about anything else with char lines burned into it.

Maybe, way back when, they couldn’t agree on exactly what shade of yellow this kind of wine is, so they just said “screw it, white is close enough.” Or maybe there’s a more duplicitous motive. Maybe the early yellow winemakers didn’t want their product associated with the color of urine and cowardice. But the whole kerfuffle makes us realize that as long as we’re being plied with spectacular wines like this Donati three-pack, we don’t mind being lied to.

Red is the most passionate of all colors. The color of love. The color of sin. The color of lobster. And the color of these three Donati wines. Well, really, if you saw these wines in a box of crayons, they wouldn’t be called “red”. They’d probably be something more like “red-violet” or “carmine” or “deep ruby”. But they’re in the red family – the passionate, loving, sinful, lobster-hued red family.

Take the Donati 2004 Merlot. But don’t take it all, because we want some, too. This isn’t the blah Merlot that we all heard about in that movie we’re all sick of hearing about. This is grown in ideal conditions in the Paicines Hills, barreled immediately after pressing, and raised with all the advantages that you and I never had. It’s matured into a richly expressive, deeply fruity, robust wine that honors its Bordeaux heritage, both by its faithful Merlot character and by dressing up in traditional costume and performing folk dances during Bordeaux Heritage Days out at the county fairgrounds.

n00b tip: don’t try to get all continental and pronounce Claret “clair-ay”. Everybody will immediately know you’re a poseur, and may even try to sell you elevator passes. The word should rhyme with “ferret”. Yeah, it looks French, but it’s a made-up British word. Fortunately, nothing else about the Donati 2005 Claret is even remotely British. This blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot was put together with emphasis on fresh, forward fruit – these grapes will whistle and howl at any attractive woman who passes by. (Get it? “Fresh” and “forward”? Hey, they can’t all be gutbusters.) Those rich estate-grown fruits are run through a regimen of classic winemaking techniques and barrel-aged to full-term. Unfined, unfiltered, unfettered by any narrow definition of what a red should be, this drink-it-now red promises substantial rewards for early withdrawal.

Vineyard Manager Matt Donati’s three daughters are the nominal inspiration for the Donati 2004 Sorelle Per Sempre (“sisters forever” in Italian). It’s a similar blend to the Claret, but with a couple of fewer wines and a bigger share of Cabernet Sauvignon. Its lush berry fruit flavors and hints of toasted oak on the nose make it an ideal pair for hearty cibo d’Italia. Buy it now before some soulless ATF agent decides it’s illegal because the guy named it after his kids.

Scarlet letters, red badges of courage, capes waved in front of angry bulls: such is red’s power. These three Donati reds share the fiery passion and passionate fire of red. Or of red-violet, at least.

What’s Going On - Wed. June 11, 2008

We had a grafter (not a grifter) here for the last four days. This winter I collected Roussanne budwood and ordered Malbec budwood with the idea of t-budding some Merlot (thanks Miles, you *;;-ωλ!). I planned to do four rows of Roussanne and two rows of Malbec, with the idea of expanding the Malbec a couple of rows a year. After bad late April frost damage in part of the Merlot the potential crop was very small, so I decided to do more grafting. We now have six additional rows of Roussanne, four rows of Viognier and nine rows of Malbec. The man who owns the grafting company, Salvador Presciato, told me his business is way up this year due to the frosts. People who were planning to graft next year or the year after decided to do it this year. This type of grafting (changing varieties on mature vines) typically costs you about 1½years of crop, and it makes sense, if you don’t have much crop anyway to have this be the no-crop year.

We finalized the blend of our Meeks Hilltop Ranch Zinfandel today, after eight tasting trials. All four of us had the same favorite, over other blends that only varied slightly in their make-up. The “winner” was 11 barrels “hilltop” block, 2 barrels “front yard”, 2 barrels low alcohol “front yard”, one barrel “over the hill”, and 25 gallons of Durif (the grape variety commonly known by the misnomer “Petite Sirah”). Final alcohol will be around 14.8%. Next up is the Sonoma Valley Zin; anything that doesn’t go into that blend will be used in a non-varietal blend (The Duke).

Another price increase: dusting sulfur went from $0.19 a pound to $0.44. I use roughly 1000 lbs. a year, so it’ll only cost me about $250, but still, a 131% increase? PG&E just asked the PUC for rate increases due to fuel costs, so at least I can be happy that our solar power is “saving” us even more money.
 

If You’re Not Part of the Solution, You’re Part of the Precipitate - Fri. June 13, 2008

I coined the above (I think) when I was an undergrad in the early 70’s (too many chemistry classes warp one’s sense of humor). We just lost one of our best restaurant glass pour placements because of all the sediment in our 2003 Sonoma County Cab. It really presents a quandary. I don’t like to treat wines more than is absolutely necessary. We do filter most of our wines tightly enough to insure against growth of Brettanomyces (“brett”), but we don’t fine or cold stabilize. All red wines will throw sediment with time, but some of ours tend to do so within a year or two after bottling, and a couple of them have formed alarming amounts of “muck” in that time.

And Now For Something Completely Different

I’ve been sharing an article from the June 3 NY Times with lots of people because it gives cause for great optimism. Futurist Ray Kurzweil makes predictions using what he calls the Law of Accelerating Returns. He has predicted when a computer would beat the world chess champion, when a handheld device could read a book out loud, and other technological advances, all with amazing accuracy. The cause for optimism arises from some of his current predictions, including: all our energy will come from renewable sources within twenty years and life expectancy will be increasing one year per calendar year fifteen years from now (making us statistically immortal!). Fun stuff to think about, and a welcome respite from the doom and gloom in most of our news.
 

Three Faces of Eden  Tues. June 17, 2008

When I was growing up we used to visit family friends who had a walnut orchard in Napa. As far as I was concerned it could have been Appalachia (sorry if this offends anyone). I thought the locals were real hicks, goin’ fishin’ barefoot down by the crick, etc. Napa County was populated mainly by farmers and blue-collar workers. There were cattle ranches, dairies, cherry and walnut orchards, and, oh yeah, old vineyards. I can remember feeling sorry for native Napans starting about twenty years ago – they had become second-class citizens because of all the new money moving into their own hometown.

Santa Rosa was even smaller than Napa when I was a kid. It was a two-hour drive from San Francisco (longer on summer weekends) because the freeway only went about 8 miles north of the Golden Gate. Santa Rosa’s population has grown about twenty fold in 45 years while Napa’s has only tripled. Santa Rosa is much more accessible by freeway now, and most of Napa Valley has been protected from development since the late 60’s. Santa Rosa isn’t dominated by wine like Napa is, but I did see a Riedel billboard on the freeway there on Sunday.

When I moved to Sonoma Valley in 1971, it was still a quiet, out-of-the-way small town with little local economy. There were no commuters, and only a few tourists came to look at the Mission and taste wine at Sebastiani Winery. There were a lot of retirees and “hippie refugees” from the Haight Ashbury. It seemed like half the people in the grocery store used food stamps, and it was rare to see anyone of other than white skin color. At one time or another I was told by various people that Boyes Hot Springs (my current home) had the highest per capita rate in California of: a) paroled felons, b) venereal disease, c) heroin addictionJ

Sonoma is so different now. It’s not as gentrified as Napa, but there is a lot more class distinction than there ever was before. House and land prices have been driven sky high by newcomers buying “lifestyle”, and there is a large, predominantly Mexican, immigrant population that fills most of the lower paying jobs: restaurant, retail, factory, house cleaning and childcare, gardening, and vineyard and winery production jobs of course. There are locals who “blame” the grape and wine industry for the influx of Hispanic immigrants, but it really is a national phenomenon, not a local one. Most of the riffraff have moved away because it’s expensive to live here and hard for them to get jobs, so maybe we’re a little better off in terms of STD’s, ex-cons and smack freaks.