themostrighteous wrote:winemaker's notes for the 2006 Syrah Rosé (Dry), Flora Ranch Vineyard, Chalk Hill:

We whole fruit pressed only ¾ of the juice in order to minimize the astringent influence of the stems and seeds.

Stems and seeds, I hear, present problems wherever they go...

DonaldWilliams wrote:$1.25 per bottle x 4 = $5. Shipping based on pack of 4.

I meant the standard shipping, not woot

jwhite6114 wrote:Anyway, just curious as to the real impact of time of day the grapes are picked.

of course you are being a smart-ass, but you wouldn't be you if you weren't, now would you?!?

googled it.

1. several sites quoted this same text: "The first step in making wine is to have the grapes just ready. They need to be picked not only at the proper time in their life cycle, but also at the right time of day to ensure the acids and sugars are all at the right balance for the wine."

2. another site had this to say: "Another important option is the time of day that harvesting takes place. For obvious reasons, it is only practical to harvest at night if a mechanical harvester is used. Nighttime picking is often employed in warm winegrowing regions so that the grapes are cool when they come into the winery; this saves on energy and decreases the likelihood of juice oxidation, phenolic extraction, or unwanted microbe growth."

so now I'M really curious about the science behind selecting the time of day that the grapes are picked. w/out being a smart-ass of course. that just wouldn't be me!

Winedavid39 wrote:guess we better labrat these.

We love you WD!!!

darisgin wrote:Stems and seeds, I hear, present problems wherever they go...

well, you mean stems an seeds, yes? (can't link up the Urban Dictionary definition for fear of getting schooled by the w00t gods.) yeah, those are definitely a problem... i hear.

I wasn't going to... but I promised myself to try more white varietals and definitely get into the roses... And I definitely wanted to try Semillon. So I guess I was just doomed. Still in time for rattery, if WD decides to (I know, I won't get it cuz I got the DC... blah blah blah)

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speedoo wrote:And what if WD sends me the Rose? We could have a labrattage gathering to have a number of NYC tasters sample these lovely wines.

Is that an offer WD could actually refuse?

Well I'd be happy to share my labrattage duties (if called upon) with any Chicago area tasters who'd want to stop by as well ;)

oppsie wrote:I'm definitely going to need pairing advice for these. I think I've had one or two roses in my life (or my wine-drinking life, aka the past year or two), and never semillon, although I do have one that I'm cellaring at the moment. And one of those two roses was horribly paired with a TJ's chickenburger+guac.

Ugh, in for one. Next week better be resistible.

I've always enjoyed a nice rose with a garlicky dish, like a garlic alfredo with chicken. The rose seems to balance the garlic well. This gives lots of options.

Jeff,

Hope your kidney stone is all gone and you are feeling better. My BF got his stone while we were on a hike in Death Valley, hours from the nearest narcotics. That was fun.

My question about the Semillon: How much, if any, Oak do these see? American Oak? Will it taste Oaky at all? (sorry if this has been posted somewhere...I didn't see it and clearly I have oak issues.

Winedavid39 wrote:guess we better labrat these.

WD, I'll be away this weekend, so no la'bratting for me.

Imagine4vr wrote:Well I'd be happy to share my labrattage duties (if called upon) with any Chicago area tasters who'd want to stop by as well ;)

I am in Chicago and would be happy to taste with you. About ready to jump on these, but I think I will have to wait until tomorrow when I receive my paycheck.

I'm in - I love white for summer! It'd be awesome to be picked for the labrat honors.

cbecer wrote:I am in Chicago and would be happy to taste with you. About ready to jump on these, but I think I will have to wait until tomorrow when I receive my paycheck.

If you're in Chicago you've already missed 3, THREE wine.woot tasting parties! And we've missed you! Be sure to check out the world of wine.woot threads for our next gathering on Palate Tasting.

And if I should be LaBratted, I'll be sure to post an invite

too tempting to pass up on.

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Thank for pointing out those threads about Chicago tastings... I will be in next time, sounds like a lot of fun. I am a bit of a wine noob, but I do love juice.

JudyL1118 wrote:These I have to try! So I pushed the stupidly large gold button...my question for Jeff is: What is the best drinking temperature for these wines? And, please tell me they're ready now?!? I really enjoy lighter wines in the summer, slightly chilled, but since I've never had either of these two, I'd like to make sure chilling won't "kill" them. Thanks!

Hi JudyL1118,
Both the Semillon and the Syrah Rose are ready to drink and would be great for the summer. As for as temp over night in the refer is great. When the temp is up I tend to like them cooler then most people.
Jeff

Jeff,
We all hope you're comfortable soon.

I am really looking forward to enjoying these. It is so hot here in NOLA I kept debating and ultimately (and very sadly) passed on the first offering - I just couldn't bring myself to subjecting those lovely wines to our dreadful heat, but could only hold off for so long. Hopefully some creative shipping can get these here in good shape. UPS had my last shipment all weekend in town and delivered warm and toasty on Monday afternoon.

jwhite6114 wrote:Question for Jeff:



So, sure I'm being a bit of a smart-ass here, but at least two of the "winemaker's descriptions" for this week have mentioned picking the grapes in the "cool early morning". Does this really affect the wine that comes from the grapes, or is it more about not being stuck in the field under the midday sun? Or is it prose ?

Anyway, just curious as to the real impact of time of day the grapes are picked.

I’m a big believer in keeping the fruit cool, it helps keep the more delicate elements of the wine and if you don’t let it get warm you don’t have to cool it down.
Jeff

First wine.woot purchase but I just couldn't pass this up based upon all the positive feedback for the winery and Jeff.

JOATMON wrote:Ow! Ow ow ow!

Been there, done that. I've been told kidney stones pain is comprable to childbirth and stab wounds. I'm going to take their word for it; I'm not going to do the comparison personally (and, in once case I'm incapable).

Good luck with that, and I hope they figure out what you can do to avoid it in the future. Me, I drink lots of water all the time, and try to keep my potassium citrate consumption up (Crystal Light).

I'll try the Crystal Light thing - thanks

OK, this is it for the summer. In for 2. I just don't have any more room.

Too much wine, not enough time.

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oppsie wrote:I'm definitely going to need pairing advice for these. I think I've had one or two roses in my life (or my wine-drinking life, aka the past year or two), and never semillon, although I do have one that I'm cellaring at the moment. And one of those two roses was horribly paired with a TJ's chickenburger+guac.

Ugh, in for one. Next week better be resistible.

Both wines go great with summer salads and seafood. The Semillon is perfect with oysters on the half shell or scallops. Most importantly they go great with a day off.
Jeff

Hi Jeff!

love your Moon Valley Wine Club. which raises the following question: how does this 2007 Cricket Creek Semillon compare / contrast to the 2007 Casa Santinamaria Semillon (which i appreciate is a field blend that includes Muscat among other varietals & which is sitting pretty in my cellar)?

thanks!

nmsoonergirl wrote:Jeff,

Hope your kidney stone is all gone and you are feeling better. My BF got his stone while we were on a hike in Death Valley, hours from the nearest narcotics. That was fun.

My question about the Semillon: How much, if any, Oak do these see? American Oak? Will it taste Oaky at all? (sorry if this has been posted somewhere...I didn't see it and clearly I have oak issues.

Sorry you got to be part of your BF stone fun.
Both the Semillon and Rose have NO OAK and were cold tank fermented and sur-lies aged in tank.

themostrighteous wrote:Hi Jeff!

love your Moon Valley Wine Club. which raises the following question: how does this 2007 Cricket Creek Semillon compare / contrast to the 2007 Casa Santinamaria Semillon (which i appreciate is a field blend that includes Muscat among other varietals & which is sitting pretty in my cellar)?

thanks!

The Cricket Creek Semillon has more of a fig, pear, ripe melon and less white blossom/citrus then the Casa Santinamaria.
Jeff

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I'm in! And in time for possible-labrattery! And if get ratted for the Rose I can do a fun compare-and-contrast with my last bottle of Epiphany Grenache Rose. (fingers crossed)

jgaffner wrote:The Cricket Creek Semillon has more of a fig, pear, ripe melon and less white blossom/citrus then the Casa Santinamaria.
Jeff

thank you. that sounds beautiful & a must-try. so i will.

WD, if i may, allow me to plead my case to you for labrattery duties:

1. apart from being gaga about PS, White Bordeaux & straight Semillon are my favorite whites, bar none (which, again, is one of the reasons why i love Jeff's Moon Valley Wine Club).
2. i am MOST definitely available tomorrow to labrat this baby.
3. temps are expected to be beautiful (wine-wise) in Chicago tomorrow so there is little risk that this baby will be cooked on its way to me.

so, PLEASE, pretty please, consider my case for labrattery!!!

Drawn in by the oaklessness and the overwhelming number of recipes that call for white wine. In for 1.
Will wootleg to Colorado Springs as it will be about 10 degrees cooler there for the next 10 days, so no labratting for me this week.

jgaffner wrote:I'll try the Crystal Light thing - thanks

For anybody sqeamish, skip to the next message...

Did you capture the stone? I do the potassium citrate thing to modulate the acidity level; if the acidity level is wrong, certain kinds of stones can form. But, you may have a different kind of stone, and thus potassium citrate may do you no good.

Your doctor would hopefully know.

cheron98 wrote:I wasn't going to... but I promised myself to try more white varietals and definitely get into the roses... And I definitely wanted to try Semillon. So I guess I was just doomed. Still in time for rattery, if WD decides to (I know, I won't get it cuz I got the DC... blah blah blah)

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cheron98
Good for you. Semillon is one of the world greatest wine and most Americans have no idea.

Last wooter to woot: cheron98

jgaffner wrote:Both wines go great with summer salads and seafood. The Semillon is perfect with oysters on the half shell or scallops. Most importantly they go great with a day off.
Jeff

More importantly, do they come with a day off?

In for one, even if they don't. I am really enjoying buidling up such a variety of wines. Thanks WD!

jwhite6114 wrote:Question for Jeff:



So, sure I'm being a bit of a smart-ass here, but at least two of the "winemaker's descriptions" for this week have mentioned picking the grapes in the "cool early morning". Does this really affect the wine that comes from the grapes, or is it more about not being stuck in the field under the midday sun? Or is it prose ?

Anyway, just curious as to the real impact of time of day the grapes are picked.

It has a big effect on quality, particularly for whites. Pressing hot (or very warm) grapes extracts a lot more harshness. I cringe a bit when I see 20 ton truckloads of white grapes on the road mid-afternoon during harvest. I always think "I'm glad those aren't coming to us". It also is easier on the work crews. A lot of machine harvesting takes place at night, and people even get big portable lights to hand harvest at night. We always start as soon as you can see the grapes - a few minutes earlier for blacks than for whites.

themostrighteous wrote:thank you. that sounds beautiful & a must-try. so i will.

WD, if i may, allow me to plead my case to you for labrattery duties:

1. apart from being gaga about PS, White Bordeaux & straight Semillon are my favorite whites, bar none (which, again, is one of the reasons why i love Jeff's Moon Valley Wine Club).
2. i am MOST definitely available tomorrow to labrat this baby.
3. temps are expected to be beautiful (wine-wise) in Chicago tomorrow so there is little risk that this baby will be cooked on its way to me.

so, PLEASE, pretty please, consider my case for labrattery!!!

Shameless! ;-)

TMR and I discussed the first Saxon Brown Zinfandel just Sunday, during the Chicago Tasting Part Trois. We both agreed that it was exceptional and I was THRILLED when I saw SB being offered again Monday morning. Coincidence? Fate? Dionne Warwick? Who knows and who cares. I was in.

While normally I would have looked at this morning's offer (I bought mine 2 seconds after Mill, d'oh!) and shrugged it off, being SB I figured if I'm going to give any type of Rose or Semillon a try, it might as well be these. The description didn't hurt either!

Cheers!
Ashe

eric9tx wrote:Thanks as usual for your timely post. However... do you have the shipping figured for 4 bottles (as the offer) or 2 (as the spreadsheet says)?

Shipping figured for four bottles, not two. I am trusting the name of the offer (four pack) over the variable entered for the number of bottles. I also entered 2 as the number of bottles of each wine offered from woot. Based on the price, it cannot be anything but 4 total bottles.

Edit: I see woot has fixed the front page to properly reflect two bottles of each wine.

DonaldWilliams wrote:$1.25 per bottle x 4 = $5. Shipping based on pack of 4.

I think he was talking about shipping costs from SB directly. Direct shipping from the winery on this, to the East Coast, is $40 for four bottles (flat rate for 4 - 6 bottles), $40 for 8 bottles ($5 per bottle for orders over 7 bottles), and $60 for 12 bottles (again, $5 per bottle for orders over 7 bottles).

Ooh. Sémillon! I've never had a dry one (only experience is in Sauternes or similar style dessert wines) so I'm interested in how this comes out.

And a good summer rosé from a Syrah master can't be a bad thing!

Mr. Gaff, would the rosé be more of a Provencal style, a Spanish style (admittedly with a different grape), a "New World" style, or something totally different?

themostrighteous wrote:of course you are being a smart-ass, but you wouldn't be you if you weren't, now would you?!?

googled it.

1. several sites quoted this same text: "The first step in making wine is to have the grapes just ready. They need to be picked not only at the proper time in their life cycle, but also at the right time of day to ensure the acids and sugars are all at the right balance for the wine."

2. another site had this to say: "Another important option is the time of day that harvesting takes place. For obvious reasons, it is only practical to harvest at night if a mechanical harvester is used. Nighttime picking is often employed in warm winegrowing regions so that the grapes are cool when they come into the winery; this saves on energy and decreases the likelihood of juice oxidation, phenolic extraction, or unwanted microbe growth."

so now I'M really curious about the science behind selecting the time of day that the grapes are picked. w/out being a smart-ass of course. that just wouldn't be me!

Thanks TMR! See, some of us have jobs, which we blow off enough so that we can spend all day posting here. Others of us (you) have the luxury of going beyond posting and doing some actual work in getting answers.

And whoever told you that you were not a smart ass was lying.

Imagine4vr wrote:Well I'd be happy to share my labrattage duties (if called upon) with any Chicago area tasters who'd want to stop by as well ;)

And for DC'ers planning on going to #5 on 7/26 the rose would be a perfect wine to bring.

jwhite6114 wrote:I think he was talking about shipping costs from SB directly. Direct shipping from the winery on this, to the East Coast, is $40 for four bottles (flat rate for 4 - 6 bottles), $40 for 8 bottles ($5 per bottle for orders over 7 bottles), and $60 for 12 bottles (again, $5 per bottle for orders over 7 bottles).

I guess I should have been more clear. In the blue "notes" area, it says shipping for 2 bottles. No biggie. I'm not raggin' on ya. We appreciate the effort. BTW... don't you ever sleep?

jgaffner wrote:I’m a big believer in keeping the fruit cool, it helps keep the more delicate elements of the wine and if you don’t let it get warm you don’t have to cool it down.
Jeff

Thanks! So between your answer and TMR's google'ing, it seems that the major reason is about efficiencies in keeping the grapes cool between picking and pressing. It is not so much about some magical benefit to the wine by having the grapes picked during the right hour so that their chakra aligns with the Earth's mood and a harmonious spirit is raised in the field, which seduces the winemaker and becomes the his muse and thus he is inspired to produce the most incredible wine of the past century.

I mean, this might better explain why we are so ga-ga over your wines. Otherwise it just comes down the mundane excuses of talent, care, and good fruit.

themostrighteous wrote:WD, the man has a wicked palate (you should taste his gelato - it's to die for!), and i'm willing to vouch for it! my vote counts for nil, i know, but i'd make Walstib a rat most bodacious in a jiffy. you would not regret it!

I'd bribe WD with the Gelato if I were him.