VineSugar Wine Articles

SanTasti. World's first palate cleansing beverage

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:11:53 +0100

While tasting in Paso Robles, the person pouring wines behind the counter introduced me to a product that simply blew me away. Its one of those products that when you hear what it does, you�re skeptical but clearly understands why the product exists in the first place. The best part is that actually does what it sets out to accomplish.

My write-up on SanTasti will likely come off sounding like a sales pitch but I assure you, I�m in no way getting kick-backs or am related to the founders in any way. The reason for my excitement is because I�ve tried the product and it works. It also solves a very real problem I�ve have while wine tasting but could never adequately solve.

Quite simply, SanTasti is the world�s first palate cleansing beverage.

Imagine it as a sparkling water but with a little extra magic that rids your palate of unwatered sugars, tannins or flavors. Its made up of carbonated water, sugar, pectin, citric acid and cellulose gum. What�s great is that it tastes like nothing. Thats actually a REALLY good thing. It doesn�t leave any flavor or residue behind. It simply cleans your palate leaving it refreshed and renewed.

Its application is simple. After sampling a wine, sip and swish SanTasti around your mouth to cleanse the palate so your NEXT wine sample will be fresh. Of course, SanTasti could be explained in a myriad of food or other beverage examples but we�re wine folks and the part that makes the most sense to us is palate fatigue. It�s best proven example is tasting a big red wine, sipping SanTasti, then tasting a delicate white wine. I�m partial to big, jammy red wines but tasting those all day long doesn�t allow any expressive white wines to show their true profile since the tannins and compounds left in my mouth doesn�t let delicate whites or Pinot Noirs stand next to these bigger wines.

I�m also a fan of this product for the winemaker in me. Sampling batch after batch, or barrel after barrel takes it�s toll on my palate but this product allows me to see the subtle nuances from batch to batch. I can imagine the professional winemakers could really use this since they�re tasting dozens in a single day!

The story of SanTasti is as one of those �feel good� stories that makes you want to see them succeed. Founders Andrew Macaluso and Nicole Chamberlain were students at Cal Poly studying viticulture and enology together. This product was the result of their �senior project� after much studying and realizing there was a great need for something like this. After much praise and encouragement, they went into competitions with it and won. The money they acquired went straight into funding the first production of this product and starting their own business. Again, using the money from their winnings, they packed up their van with their first �vintage� and headed to Northern California wine country to sell 30 wineries in 30 days which they did with ease.

The possibilities for this product are really endless. I�m sure you�re going to see it more and more popping up on the judge�s tables at wine competitions, wineries will be offering it between tastings, restaurants will offer it between courses and even Joe Consumer can appreciate its use when touring wine country on the weekends or even at home.

Like a gun in it�s holster, I�m going to arm myself with a bottle each time I head to wine country tasting along the back roads.

For more information on SanTasti and to purchase their products, please visit www.santasti.com. I�m sure they would love to hear from you too.

Posted by Ryan ODonnell on Nov 16, 2009 5:11 pm

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Small Scale Winemaking with Morgan Twain-Peterson

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:55:21 +0100

Imagine growing up in California's wine country when the state was making a name for itself. Your father was one of the few at the forefront trying to get people to drink and enjoy wine all the while educating them about single varietals. For Morgan Twain-Peterson, this is his reality.

Morgan is the son of Joel Peterson, founding winemaker of Ravenswood in Sonoma. Morgan has been making wine since he was 5 years old when his Vino Bambino Pinot Noir was being served at high-end New York restaurants! Today, Morgan is making his wine under his own brand called Bedrock Wine Co. where, like his father at his age, is hitting the wine scene with forceful gusto and of course, wines that turn heads.

I met Morgan at a small, converted chicken's coop where he now store his barrels and makes his (red) wines. Morgan and I discussed his obsession with French oak, his love of the mixed black field blends, his own winemaking techniques and his plans to help rebuild and bring back to California the lost art of planting a field blend vineyard.

You go into incredible levels of detail when it comes to choosing oak barrels: the cooper, the forrest, the aging, the grain type and density... How do you begin determining what you like?

I had a really good mentor in Jeff Cohn at JC Cellars who probably knows more about oak than anybody I've ever met. I was able to taste through the barrels at Rosenblum. Obviously, I grew up at Ravenswood, so I know the favorites there, having friends in the industry helps and just asking to taste barrels when they're going through trials. You get a feeling about what will probably fit with what you're making, but then a lot of it is just experimentation.

Part of my theory with coopers is that they a lot like wineries. Based on the conditions they're stacking the wood outside for seasoning; some years are wetter than others, some years are drier. Perhaps some of the grain that they pull out of the Vosges or the Betranges forest might be a little lighter than normal some years. So it's not like you can guarantee quality from cooper to cooper, year after year. But there are coopers that tend to outperform others, in my opinion, based on the style of wines I make. So I'm beginning to focus a little bit more. Ermitage and Rousseau are the two main elements behind most of my wines, at least behind the Zinfandel blends and the Syrahs, but I also have puncheons from Remond and Seguin-Moreau.

With my Zinfandel blends, the heirloom wines, I really like to go for the perfumier, higher toned barrels with less tannin impact. I really hate overt oakiness on top of Zinfandel or Zinfandel blends, but I like the sculpting element of oak and the sweetness it gives the mid center along with the spice, and so I found barrels that really work well for that. Then with Bordeaux it's like a whole separate thing. There are certain ones that work better and just figuring it out has been really fun. And now the white wine that I make is even more fun because I'm working with Bordelaise Coopers that make barrels specifically for white wine and that's a whole new adventure with the white wine as well.

I also sort of live off of the fat of Napa. Like these puncheons, there's a big demi muid that I have some Hudson Syrah in. These cost like $2,000 dollars apiece and a very prominent winery in Napa used them for 30 days for fermentation and then were selling them at four to five hundred. They've got 80% of their flavor in them and I'm paying a quarter of what they paid for them. To the winery, their purpose was served because they were only there for fermentation, so they knocked the heads off, fermented in barrel and then they don't want them. The puncheon doesn't factor into their normal barrel regime.

What is barrel fermentation? "You knock the heads off and you barrel ferment," which I'm assuming is you tip these things right side up, remove the flat, circular head and then ferment as you would?

Exactly. It's an open top fermentation. I'm amazed with the bigger barrels, like the 400s and 500s, I did a few of them this year with the Hudson Syrah and also with some smaller 220 standard sized barrels and you can actually get really good heat. I was actually in the 90s, which is where I want to be. They've got good insulatory capacity, it starts to refine the oak character a little bit earlier and it has the effect of color stabilization. A lot of people add neutral chips at the fermenter. I actually add neutral chips to everything just because it stabilizes color earlier. It makes no impact on the flavor, but you get more stable anthocyanin and the resulting color is better in the long term. It's a two fold process. I learned about it when I was visiting Jean Michel Gerin in Cote Rotie. He would taste these wines 16 months later, the ones that had been fermented in puncheon then the ones that received standard, pigeage in open toped stainless steel and the oak was just so much more refined. You didn't get as much of the hard oak tannin on the back end. It assimilated a little bit better and it let the fruit shine a little bit more, which I like.

Is barrel fermentation only effective with small batches of wines then?

Oh god, it would be such a nightmare otherwise. It costs a lot of money to pay somebody to put the heads back on. I can pay somebody in wine, but it's still a logistical pain then you've got to worry about if you don't get the heads put back on immediately making sure the barrel stays clean, getting it ozoned, making sure that you don't have VA build up because you've got all that petri dish of stuff that wants to start growing quickly. It's great fun and if you have a new barrel I think it's well worth it for small lots.

The home winemaker may face challenges trying barrel fermentation. How can they achieve similar results?

You can achieve much the same result, though, by using chips in your fermenter. Even if you are going the chip route, there are really high quality French oak chips out there now that I think are quite good. And as I said, I use neutral chips in everything, but I would imagine that you would be able to achieve a similar, albeit probably not quite as refined effect, by using toasted chips in the fermenter but you would still get better color. Particularly when you're doing small lot fermentations, you're really concerned about getting the heat up high enough. In macro bins, I can't even get fermentations up or in the t-bins, I can't get them up past 80 to 85 and I want 93-94. If you're not going over 90 you're leaving something on the table. You're not really pulling everything that's there. So you can stabilize some things by adding chips in a way that you might miss out.

You seem to love very specific French barrels. How important is barrel selection?

It's one of the main factors as a winemaker we can control. There's so much out there that's not in our control whether we think that we can or not. It's harvest decisions, pump over punch down regiment. But that's not even big compared to cooperage selection. Cooperage can make or break the wine. With all due respect to Paul Shaffer, who's a close friend, I hate American Oak. I cannot stand their elements on those wines. I think that it really takes something back from those wines for me that even if you had these neutral oak barrels, I would far prefer it because I've just been coating the black tone dill component. It drives me crazy.

Is there something that American Oak is good for then that you would pair it with?

Planters. Cut them in half. I would use French Oak staves before I would American Oak barrels. That's a very strong statement but it's something I personally really, really hate. Some people hate coriander or cilantro. It's just one of those things where I just have an acute reaction to it that's really is hard for me to bear .

Is Hungarian oak the cheap man's French Oak?

In a way. I think the problem is that the quality control in Hungarian oak is not as high. The raw product that's available in Hungary might even be better than what's in France in terms of grain tightness. The oak that grows way up north where it's really cold, stony and rocky, just grow incredibly slowly and in an incredibly tight grain. Theoretically, those should make really, really great barrels. But I think sometimes the craftsmanship and some other stuff's not there. I experimented with a Hungarian barrel last year and I've seen other people do it. You still get some of the greener tones out of the back ends but they're certainly far preferable to American Oak. I'm not a point where I need to cut costs . So I'm going to continue to use the barrels that I like.

Do you play with any enzymes?

I played with some enzymes in '07 and found that the lots I used enzymes on lacked as much varietal character. I can hear the representative from Scott Labs saying you need to match the enzyme properly. I'm sure if I were larger I would play with it a little bit more, but my initial experience using Vinozyme and a few others wasn't awesome but they seem to be a really powerful tool. Particularly, since I tend to use a lot of whole clusters in Syrah, I don't want to be ripping out any more green tannin off those stems than I'm already getting. I want the spice, but I don't want the green tannin added that can sometimes accompany the whole cluster fermentation stuff. My fermentations are really straight forward. I typically add two pounds per ton of neutral French oak chips, decide on my percentage of whole cluster then de-stem everything over the top of that. I use a little Zambelli de-stemmer, but by the time it comes out the end of the hose, it's pretty well mashed up. I use all native yeast fermentation, so just an initial hit of about 30 parts per million of sulfur just to quell all the bad stuff. Whenever I can I use all native malos as well,. Every once in a while I'll have a lot of Barbera or something that's super low pH and high alcohol and I have to inoculate it with some heavy-weight malo enzyme.

Your wines all started with native yeast fermentation. Is using the wild yeasts as dangerous and unpredictable as some folks say it is?

No. The yeast industry is like the pharmaceutical industry. They're trying to sell you something you don't need. Ravenswood has been using native yeasts since 1976, they still do for everything and they have fewer stop ferments than any other cellar that I've worked where they've been using inoculated yeasts. It doesn't really matter on which vineyard you come in. We've done experiments at Ravenswood where they go through and take a bunch of clusters out of the vineyard and analyze them. On some of the clusters there's no yeast that's there to do the fermentation, but on other ones there is. As winemakers know, in fermentation, one yeast does not do all the fermenting. You've got one yeast that sort of starts it off, you've got another that hits its threshold in terms of alcohol or heat and it falls off. So, even when you inoculate with yeast, you're really only accounting for the first 8-10 Brix in terms of loss and you've got something else finishing it out. Everybody's using native yeast whether they like to think they are or not. It's another mechanism by which I think winemakers can keep themselves employed by telling people that there's all these differences between the yeasts but I'm really not convinced that there are. I worked at Hardys Tintara and they probably spent $20,000 a year on yeast and they have more stuck ferments, more H2S issues, more crap in their fermentations than I've ever seen. As long as you stay diligent on native yeast fermentations; do your DAP adds, your Fermaids, tailor it correctly, monitor your temperatures, they're a piece of cake. I don't have stopped fermentations. I have ones that will finish slowly in barrel eventually, but every winery has that.

Some winemakers inoculate with different yeast strains then blend batches for complexity. Is that a bunch of marketing crap or is that a legitimate technique?

You might think that it does. I think it's BS. I don't see the need for it. The ideal goal of winemaking is to translate whatever is out there in the vineyard with your own personal little imprint on it so, it seems to me that if you're using the stuff that comes out of the vineyard, it's a better expression of what's actually out in the vineyard than if you're bringing in some yeast that was cultured in Montpellier. So it seems a little bit silly to me.

I've seen more stuck ferments, typically, in places that are all about which yeast to inoculate with than I do elsewhere. A lot of it has to deal with nutrient levels. How you manage the fermentation in the fermenter. If you give a fermenter a lot of love, it typically is not going to stick on you.

How quick do your native yeast fermentations start provided you're adding the correct nutrients?

I don't add DAP or Fermaid until after the fermentation begins. You have to let that natural culture build up because there's some stuff, like Calcara and some other crazy yeast strains that if you feed them immediately, will take off and they will cause VA issues. I typically hit it with 30 to 40 parts per million of sulfur and then just wait. Typically it takes three to four days for it to start, which gives me the effect of a cold soak because I've gotten an extra few days of maceration in there, and it's ambient aqueous extraction rather than alcoholic extraction, which is the good type of extraction. Once it gets going and I'll inoculate with DAP depending on what varietal it is. If it's something that's come in late-- Syrah or Mourv�dre-- I know the nutrient levels are going to be way down. If I'm really worried, I'll run a YAN on it. I'll see how much is in there and then I will add DAP and Fermaid typically in about equal measures. This last year, I used these Gusmer time release micro essentials for both minerals and yeast nutrients, yeast hulls, all that good stuff and was really, really pleased with them. They seemed to break down well. Then if necessary, I'll do a re-up of DAP and other things at about 10 Brix just to make sure that it goes all the way through. I don't want to add DAP too late because I don't want to feed the other stuff that's lingering in there that can cause VA. You don't want excessive food in there for whatever else might want to do something after primary fermentation is done in that really tender stage between the end of primary ferment and the end of malolactic, which for me can be very long. Malos will essentially not move for a couple of months when it gets really cold and then this time of year they finish up.

Do you send your lab work out or handle it yourself?

They're pros and I'm not. I really don't mind doing it, but I'll screw it up because I'll be tired and not do it right. Limit your testings to things like malolactic and every once in a while run a pH and VA to make sure that you're not going crazy. If there's a spike in VA then I'll run a Scorpion analysis on it just to see what's in there, and if necessary, I'll take more dramatic measures, but I leave it to the pros to do that type of stuff.

Some winemakers seem to only care about pH so they know how much S02 to be adding. Knowing total acidity is like a rearview mirror more than anything else. Would you agree?

Yeah, although you can add TA into the barrel. My issue is that when I add TA at the fermenter, I do a lot of whole cluster with it because there's so much potassium in the stems that there's this strong buffering effect so that TA will just drop out anyway. It's a matter of taking all the potassium out, because it'll buffer out and then eventually will get to a point where you can be adding TA later. I have done some post harvest TA adds in the Syrah and finally got the TA to stick because it' wasn't going down. TA is important in Zinfandel blends because Zinfandel has a damnable tendency to both be high TA and high pH. It's not like Syrah where your pH might be 4.1, but you're typically looking at five grams or five and a half grams total so you've got some capacity to up it if need be. But with Zin sometimes you can add TA but it's going to become screeching evil bitter stuff and then you're faced with the specter of adding potassium carbonate to take that acidity back out later. That's the hard part with Zinfandel in particular. The last couple of years, pHs have been really high in '06, '07 and '08 for whatever the reason. I don't really know why.

Most of the field blend vineyards in California were ripped out for one reason or another. There also seems to be a trend of bottling single vineyard wines. But now I'm starting to see more and more folks appreciating field blend wine and their complexities, but you don't see farmers planting it that way for the most part. Rumor has it, you're working on a field blend vineyard of sorts...

I just took on the Stellwagen Vineyard, which is a 100-year-old vineyard in Sonoma. The Stellwagens approached me and my vineyard manager to start farming it. It will be straight Zinfandel, although there's about 400 vines that needed to be replaced so we're actually going to put in Alicante, Petite Sirah and Carignane to reinvigorate the field blend. I'm a very strong believer in the field blend.

I think the problem was that there was a focus on finding varietals. Some wine consumers were differentiating Cabernet from Merlot from Zinfandel which was a big first step for them to take because they were coming from California Claret, or California Burgundy. Then we went into the era of white Zinfandel and that took at least ten years of reeducation in the ZAP program to try to get people to acknowledge that Zinfandel is red. It was only five years ago I was at a tasting for Ravenswood and an old woman came up and was accusing me of adding food coloring to the wines because "Zinfandel is pink" she proclaimed. But I think people have finally gotten to the point that they can now comprehend Zinfandel, old vine Zinfandel and then there's field blends just like in Ch�teauneuf du Pape, just like in Chianti Classico. These are tried and true things. Look at the ones in Marseille and Alsace. Those have 13 different varietals that are planted. There's clearly something to it, and for a lot of people it just allows winemakers to finally come out of the closet and admit that there's 20 percent mixed blacks in their vineyard to begin with and they just didn't want to rip them out back in the day. Look at Ridge Geyserville. That wine has been BARELY 75% Zinfandel since 1973 and Old Hill is the same. Old Hill is an amazingly complex vineyard. That vineyard is a true grand cru of California. Will Bucklin is actually one of the people that is planting the old blends back. He's now taking cuttings from his vineyard and for the Bambino mixed block blend he's not doing the blind interplanting, but he is planting a row of Alicante, a row of Carignane, a row of Petite Sirah, a row of Zinfandel, a row of Grenache and going from there...

All through Ridge, interestingly enough, one of the old grandfather blocks up at Geyserville had like 19 varietals interplanted, all the crazy shit, Lenoir, Grand Noir de la Calmette, Pellerson Negrete, or Pinot St. George as it's also known, all the crazy stuff. Paul Draper was telling me they have replanted the identical field blend in another lot next to that portion. On Fifth Leaf, the wine from those young vines make the final blend which they had Zinfandel blocks planted 15 years ago that still have never made the final blend, planted on equally good soil.

It's interesting. There is a strength there and something that's coming back in that regard, and that's really cool. Sort of polygamist viticulture is cool, or as Will calls it, viticulture promiscua. Promiscuous viticulture is really awesome.

Anytime you're picking a mixed block vineyard you're like, "All right, well the Zin's clearly ready to go," that's pretty much when you decide because that's the majority factor. In a year like '03, which was a really hot early year, you'll have certain varietals that do better. You'll have Petite Sirah that might do well, but then you have later ripeners like Alicante Bouch� or Syrah or Pellerson that will not be quite as ripe, but they'll be acid adds in that case and then it can be sort of vice versa. You've always got these little insurance policies throughout the vineyard.

There's field blends that are somewhat tailored to location. If you see mixed black blends in Russian River Valley where it's a little cooler, you tend to get a little less color out of Zinfandel so you see a lot more Alicante Bouch� out there. Dry Creek where it's really warm you have a tendency to get Zin has good color, but lots of alcohol, not a lot of tannin but good spice so you see a lot more Petite Sirah out there because you get a little bit more structure from that. So you can tell that they've been tailored to the locations based on these dudes that planted these vineyards way back when, which is kind of cool. They took something from the old world and applied it here and it seems to work pretty well.

Are we seeing California looking to old world ideas? California was always the "new guy in town" to winemaking but are we're starting to go back a little bit in some of the techniques and methods?

There is a look backwards. I think it might be tied into the impulse towards an increased look at biodynamics and organics. As my vineyard manager Diane says, "There's two types of organic people. There's farmers who choose to be organic and then there's organic people who choose to farm" and the results can be very, very different between the two. I think that it's an acknowledgment of what's already been out there and what works.

At least with the field blends, these are our oldest most sacred vineyards in California and the vineyards that are mostly uniquely Californian in that they're based on Zinfandel and that they had a unique mix of field blends. The combination of us being able to talk to people also motivates the winemaker to go back and say, "Okay, now we can really figure out what's out there and I don't need to be so worried about talking about Zinfandel. I can talk about all this other cool shit that's out there." If you taste the Zinfandel out of Old Hill by itself, it's very good but it's not nearly as complex as what you get when the mixed blacks are added back into it.

In Ch�teauneuf du Pape, they've always embraced the field blend. I think Chateau Rayas is the only known 100 percent Grenache wine out there and some skeptical people might even suggest that with Rayas, it might behove them to use a little bit more of the mixed blacks. Not to chomp on the sacred ground of Rayas, but you see a lot more out there so there's a contribution there.

Historic California vineyards can't be producing nearly the tonnage that a typical modern vineyard is.

Typically no, although old vine vineyards doesn't necessarily mean it's good. Ravenswood has some vineyards out on the flats of Russian River Valley that are 90 years old and they still crop at five tons an acre, because they're on these super fertile, heavy soils. The great spots, Geyserville, Old Hill, Pagani Ranch, Bedrock, places like that, it's one to two tons per acre. These are old, old vines that are grand-pappy vines. They're not putting out a lot of clusters per vine, that's for sure. Last year we got .9 tons per acre out of 38 acres of 120 year old vine Zinfandel field blend. That's small.

If you were to throw that into a normal winemaking matrix you can see why a lot of the vineyards are ripped out because when you can be cropping Cabernet at five tons an acre. Even if you're only making $2,000 a ton you're still making more than what we're making at $3,000 dollars a ton on .9 tons per acre, and it's harder to farm. There's certainly a labor of love and expense that is involved with it.

You use redwood fermentation bins. Why do you like them?

They're in storage back at the vineyard but they're just open top Redwood tanks. My dad used them for 20 years. They've got enough insulator capacity that you can get your ferments warm enough. About two tons and above and they're good. They're a pain in the ass to keep clean, like any wood product.

For my one ton lots, I bring in a lot of vineyards that I have multiple clones of. I use insulated saeplast, one ton blue fermenters, the wide ones. They're insulated so if anything, I need to worry about the fermentations getting too warm. Depending on whether I have a lot of whole clusters and if I can spread out the cap, I'll get good skin contact and good punch down capacity or good pump over capacity.

If there's a heavy percentage of whole cluster in it, I do pump-overs because I think it's less extractive. I don't think that you're beating up the steams quite as much. You get a little bit more of the defacto, carbonic maturation within berries because you're not beating up the berries quite as much. If it's not, then I do just standard punch down if there's normal clusters in there. In '07, I did punch downs on everything.

I was actually talking with Wells Guthrie up at Copain and he's moved towards doing a lot of pump-overs. He's the master of whole cluster fermentations as far as I'm concerned. What works for him is going to work for me because he makes some really, really killer wines. The pump over will vary based on where it is in fermentation. I'll get longer pump-overs the higher the brix level and the lower the alcohol. As we get lower down, I basically just want to circulate the cap over to keep things like acetobacter and other things down.

Tell me about your press and a typically press day.

Everything gets manually basket pressed, which is long, slow, dirty work. Unfortunately, I don't have three phase power here . My press rackings are way less but I get pretty supple, nice juice out of it and that's a perk.

I've got a bar meter on there, but it's different on every wine. Frankly, I can't generate enough power out of that thing to ever get to a point where it's going to be too extractive. There's physically no way that it works based on wood plates in there. There's always going to be a little bit of movement with the wood on top. You're generating some substantial force but it's not like one of these automatic basket presses that you can just squeeze the bejesus out of the grapes. So they're a little bit gentler in that regard.

I've hear two schools of thought, the basket press gets good extraction but it you'll get more harsh tannins because you're pushing the juice through to the bottom as opposed to a bladder press, which goes out the sides. Either one better than the other?

I think that you might generate more micro solids, which might just make it harder to tell when to make the press cut because if there's a bunch of micro solids in there making things tannic, then it'll be harder to tell where it is. I think that is an issue. When I worked in Australia, we had a couple of big basket presses that could generate so much force that at the end, you got just thin astringent, pretty mean pressed juice that you just don't see out of a bladder press unless you are really just squeezing it all the way down to the last drop.

The press plates, I typically will wax before they're used. We use lube-grade paraffin on it. You have to be a little bit gingerly going down to make sure you don't knock some of the paraffin off because it's pretty soft. It just gives you an added layer of protection so it's a way of quasi sanitizing. I'm not sure if it works completely but it makes me feel better. I haven't had brett'd shoes, so whatever's going on is working.

What's your position on having Brettanomyces in the winemaking process?

I avoid it whenever I can. I don't mind Brett in other people's wines most of the time. I just don't want it in my wine. Certain wines have a greater affinity for Brett. I think people have tasted so many Brett examples from the old world that they might be able to add a little bit of complexity. But, the problem with Brett is it's something that you can't control and you can't control what strain you have and how much 4-EP versus 4-EG it's creating. With 4-EG, you add a ton of value just in the tin, Band-Aid, aspect. While with 4-EP, sometimes a little bit of the barnyardy stink is not the worst thing in a wine. But I would just prefer not to have it.

Do you think most consumers have tasted wines that have Brettanomyces unbeknownst to them?

Oh, by all means. In fact, I saw somebody's dissertation a few years ago. They basically lined up a panel and tasted them on about 15 Syrahs. And the consumers actually found wines that did not have a threshold amount for brettanomyces to be deficient in varietal character. But it was a double edged sword because if you got up to 1,500 anagrams or 2,000 anagrams then it was found to be bretty. It was killing the fruit and it was considered a flaw. So there is this small area of acceptance. The problem with brett is you're not going to control it. If you've got any residual sugar or if you have a high percentage of malic acid in your wine, there's just all sorts of things that brett can metabolize in and turning wine stinky. When it's really bad, it just turns your wine fizzy.

The problem is that it also really is hard if you let a wine leave the winery that has brettanomyces. You could have something that was stored perfectly and totally its entire life and it had very little bloom. And then you have something that sits in a hot warehouse for a couple days and it complete spikes. So I mean it's one more variable, like, you can't control out there. If you taste Clape Cornas, there's no brett in those wines. They're incredibly complex and wonderful wines. By the time you pick them up at Kermit Lynch and bring them home, they are stinky as hell. So it's very known, there's something happening in that process where you think this is not the same wine. At least it's Syrah and the core product is so good to begin with. I mean Clape Cornas is one of the archetypes but still, it just makes you wonder�

How many times are you racking?

Typically, I don't rack until bottling. Unless there's a wine I feel like needs a little bit more or less oak. Then I will typically try to transfer a barrel down. Just gravity feed it down through a new barrel or an old barrel or something like that.

After press, your wines go straight to barrels and sit on the lees... even the gross lees?

Depending on the wine, yeah. I'll stir through malo as well to build up some core structure on the pallet. I think it also builds up the mid pallet in wine the same way that if you stir lees in Chardonnay, it has a distinctive effect in adding a yeast component to the wine. You can add something in terms of the mouth feel particularly in white or red varietals like Pinot Noir. The lees acts a little bit like a sponge for oak. Wines that are left on their lees and new oak have a tendency to show less of the overt oak components. You get better integrated oak, which I like. I use a healthy percentage of new oak in most of my wines but I certainly don't want anything overt so the lees aid in pulling out some of the excessive, harsh tannic components that you can sometimes get with wood.

What's your practice to keeping wine stable with SO2? If you're racking it once, when do you decide that you need to start stabilizing things along the way?

I take an overall analysis. It's not like I have 100 barrels of any given lot. The most barrels I have is eight of one lot so I can take a representative sample and see where the malolactic is standing. Once malo is done, sulfer everything across and then I'll keep an eye on it. There's a movement towards fewer rackings, which people are starting to do particularly in the realm of high pH winemaking where everybody seems to be pushing pH to the upper limits. You don't get the protection from sulfur that you normally would get because every time you rack, you're introducing a huge amount of oxygen into the wine, which is binned in sulfur. If you already have to add 50 parts free SO2 to get anywhere close to a molecular sulfur level that would protect the wine and you still have to be adding ton. Eventually, your total sulfur is going to be obscenely high. You do get a bitter component on the end of the wine when you get really, really high total sulfur. So for me, where some of my pHs are on the higher side, I think it's a mechanism by which I can keep my total sulfur down and just make sure that I'm on top of topping and doing all that good stuff, keeping oxygen out of the wine.

Are you racking straight to bottle or do you try fining the juice before bottling?

No, racking into a tank and then letting it settle. With red wines, I have not fined with anything at this point. But I'm not categorically adverse to it, I just haven't found the need. With my rose I made this year, I did use a small amount of gelatin in it just to try and bind some stuff to have it fall out.

I'm not adverse to fining. I have my strong views about how I think wine should be made. But if my views lead to a wine that's undrinkable or is just face-ripping in terms of tannin, then I'm not going to want to do it. I'm going to make some adjustments there. I'm not categorically opposed to anything in winemaking it if I think it would help. But I really think that you have your core mechanisms by which you make wine and then you can make some adjustments on the sides if you deem them necessary. The same goes with filtration. I typically go unfiltered as long as Scorpion assay shows there's no brettanomyces or anything that's really evil in there.

What does your father say about you making a rose? "No wimpy wines", right?

Oh, he loves it. He drinks it. It's a true rose. Basically, it's a 120-year-old by Mouvedre that we pick at 23.5 Brix. Crush it, put it into the press, just taste off typically four or five hours later and then just press it off.

The problem with rose is you also have to distinguish it from White Zinfandel. Even now at tastings, I still get-- particularly, from older generation people that had a nightmarish relationship with White Zinafandel for 10 years, they see something pink and they would coil from it. They don't understand how awesome rose can be, and what a seriously good food wine it can be. On certain hot days, there's just nothing that refreshes more.

People in the last four or five years are rediscovering dry rose. There's a lot of really good examples that are coming from the south of France and from all over the world now. It's going to reinvigorate people's interest. My concern is that there's a lot of bad rose on the market that is made from Saign�e juice from grapes picked at 28 bricks. That's outside of the spirit of what rose should be.

Look back at when your father started making wines to where things have progressed today and in general for all of California. Now another generation is moving in. What are some of things you think will be considered part of the new movement? Where you see California winemaking going?

I think the diversity of wine in California is only going to get greater. The generation before my dad's really ushered in the nation. The Andre Tchelistcheffs of the world and the Schoonmakers, really ushered in modern wine making practices and quality wine making practices to the California wine industry. I think my dad's generation further refined it. They were able to reach out and find a whole new group of consumers that were moving away from spirits and discovering wine. Then, our generation has the most wine consumers of any generation in American history. Not only are they really into wine, they also are very educated and they typically care a lot less about scores and prestige. The 80's and 90's were much more about the lifestyle of wine. But what's really cool is I think people are getting beyond that a little bit. As long as winemakers have an audience that's interested in wine and are interested in trying something completely different, then they're going to be able to experiment more. That's a luxury I don't think that my dad had. He spent 20 years jumping up and shouting until people would listen about that fact red Zinfandel could be good wine in California. And now, there's been an enormous movement in the last 10 years. As a result, we're going to be able to do really, really cool things like, planting unknown or forgotten grape varietals.

Where do you find inspiration? Growing up in all this, your trials and travels, how do you wrap all that and focus that into what you're doing today?

If anything, the amount of time I've spent abroad and studying, being raised in the industry and meeting the vibrant personalities that I've known in the industry makes it that much more special when you really hit upon a wine that makes you say "oh, yeah, there's something there" and I strive to make that. Those are the ones that I strive to make and I have very strong ideas about things that can be done better. I don't make varietal Zinfandel, I make Heirloom wines because I think that they're California Chateauneuf du Pape. I don't make Chardonnay. I make Bassac wines because I have access to a 100-year-old Semillion and there's no 100-year-old Chardonnay anywhere. I'm trying to make the wines that make me say, "Yeah,I nailed that." That's a really, really good feeling, particularly, when winemakers have a much higher standard to hit now. When my dad started, he got away with not making very good wine until the first four years. He had things like 100 percent whole cluster Cabernet from El Dorado that still rips your face off in terms of tannin. Frankly, the true inspiration is that as a winemaker, you can't have a better lifestyle. You get to have access to the food and wine culture. You get to be out in the vineyards some days. You get to be creating things. You get to interact with these elements that come from France, from Indiana, from Italy. There's a whole global melting pot even in a cellar and even in like a chicken coop with nine foot ceilings like this is.

Are you ever satisfied with your own product or do you see and taste the things that could have been different?

There's always things I want to change in my wines. But at the same time, I am pretty pleased with most of the stuff that comes out. And it's even more pleasing to see it when people like the wines. So that's important.

Any rituals before getting started every year? Any habits that you always do before harvest or crush?

No crazy celler habits at this point... just shear and utter terror. Hoping that we make it through the last two weeks of August without huge heat spikes like we had last year in '08. But really no real rituals. I just try to make things cleaner, more sanitary, more efficient than they were the year before. That's really about it.

You're one of the few winemakers who blog their experiences. Are you enjoying it?

I'm getting tons of shit from people but it's a good sign that people are reading it. I'll keep talking about it as much as I can. Selling wine is as much about demystifying it and I've been in the industry way too long to be pretentious about wine. I feel like I charge a fair price for the wines. I'm just out to have a nice lifestyle for myself not to get rich in this industry. The blog is a great way to demystify things. I encourage people who have questions about the wines they're drinking to ask me because I think that's really what's going to help right now. It sets the winery as being congenial and giving people access into the details. If people are inspired enough by a bottle of wine that I've made to ask me a question, then I feel like I've already won even if it's like "why the fuck did you oak this so much" or something like that. I'm happy to explain my rational whether they agree with it or not.

Plus I'm tiny. I don't have a sales force and I don't want a sales force. There's only so much time I can spend out on the road so it's an effective means to reach a broad base of consumers that I wouldn't normally wouldn't be able to.

Posted by Ryan ODonnell on Aug 31, 2009 10:55 am

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Kent Humprey shares his start with Eric Kent Wines

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:55:10 +0100

Eric Kent Wines is the byproduct of an obsession turned into a profession. Kent Humphreys was once a hot shot in the advertising world but traded his ladder-high status for the title of "cellar rat" so he could learn the nuances of winemaking in California's wine country.

Quite simply, he enjoys drinking and making California fruit and wants his wines to be expressive of that. Not one to mask the grapes into something it's not or try and submit it into something it could never be. He works closely with the families and persons managing the vineyards where he acquires his fruit then works his magic at a local, custom crush facility that's like a toy store for the winemaking kid.

Kent was kind enough to meet me one afternoon for a tasting of his only wines currently bottled and available then barrel sampled a variety of batches currently in the works. We talked about art and its influence on his winemaking process, making the career change, future plans in winemaking and why he's not planning to own a winery any time soon.

You're front label is actually your back label. That is, you feature art on the front label and your logo and wine details are actually on the back. You're probably the only I know that does that...

Exactly. We've got photography, collage, even sculpture. We'll put poems on smaller run bottlings because they don't necessarily, on a shelf, grab attention. When we began this, Colleen, my wife and painter, knew a bunch of artists whose work we liked, but nobody ever got to see it. We thought how can we help them get an audience? And that's why we don't put our logo on the art side-- it's all about the art. We put their names on the back and how to get in touch with them. Roughly a third of the artists have sold reproductions or been offered show space, or commissioned to do originals of the painting on the wine. When we began, we figured-- unknown name, great way to get noticed on a store shelf and would stand out. Now, people come in looking for us so shops started stock them with the back label facing out.

As a small production winery, what are some of the things you're striving to achieve?

To just reach the point where we can hold certain wines back six months longer. There's a business reality that keeps us from doing that immediately. But we're on our way to getting there.

Do you intend to stay small production or are there plans to expand?

We produce about 1800 cases of wine. I'd like to get to maybe, twice that.

You have no formal training despite producing some top-notch wines. Where does your winemaking background originate?

I mean this as an honest answer, not as a flip one. I always tell people I started out with about 17 years of drinking. But the reason I say that, it's a funny answer and yet, I say it in truth. I really got an idea of what I liked most. I got an appreciation through buying wine for many years, cellaring it, sharing it and drinking it with family and friends of the immense variety that could be out there. It just gave me a chance to develop a-- I won't even say a hyper critical palate, but a palate, none the less-- that I had a history with. I started studying the wines I was buying and cellaring. It turns out they were, more often than not, made by people who did not have a degree. That didn't make me think anything less of the degree. It merely pointed out that it didn't seem to be essential to making wines I really liked. I've since worked with a lot of people who do have a degree, and I have immense respect for it. What the degree does is help you understand what's going wrong. It's not something that tells you how to make it the way you want. You have to go through the process and get the hands on experience to be able to do that.

This one industry has all these ancillary businesses supporting it. So even if I were a great chemist, at my small production, I can use a lab like ETS who will have results that in most instances, I would trust more than my own. I still have to read the numbers and every now and then, you get a sketchy one, and you say, "Can you rerun that one to make sure?" But it's very similar to having a mobile bottling line come in. These people bottle wine every day, all year. They know their equipment better than I ever could. If something's not quite dialed in, they know how to tweak it with greater refinement than I ever could. Labs are very reliable in that respect.

But working with other winemakers is the only way I learned how to make wine. Asking way more questions than anybody ever wanted to have to answer.

It's great to have a deeper understanding of the mechanism that's going on. But the amazing part is the deeper you get into the study of what we DO know about wine, the more shocked you are to recognized how much we DON'T know. The debate around bottle shock... it wasn't that long ago that professors at Davis would've denied it existed. We still don't have an understanding to what's causing it in some wines more than others, and some wines, seemingly, not at all. Now, there's consensus that it is a real phenomenon which exists. I'm sure there are more theories than I'm aware of, but we don't have enough understanding to cure it and get rid of it for everybody.

How much influence do you have with the growers to harvest fruit the way you want?

We work with seven vineyards and most of them are small. As long as I'm flexible and good to work with, they usually are, too. I haven't had any issues in terms of when we want to pick, or splitting the pick up into a couple of dates. If you go at it from a cooperative standpoint then people are willing to meet you halfway.

Its more difficult to accommodate a bunch of small buyers than one big buyer. But there are benefits to working with smaller producers. They may be more willing to give you a vineyard designate. They may not try to negotiate as much. The bigger the buyer, the more leverage they yield and the more pressure they may try to exert.

The California wine industry has to recognize that it needs to be a good viable business for everybody. You can't just squeeze your margins out of the growers. Otherwise, there's no incentive to grow good fruit. Besides that, I left the advertising industry so I could work in a field where I got along and where its all about a common goal: producing this good product.

Do you use commercial or native yeasts for primary fermentations?

All our Chardonnay are native yeast fermentations. Sometimes, Syrah too. The best answer is that anytime someone is a proponent of only one thing, I tend to see that as close-minded. Let's explore all of it and find out what we can learn through our own practical experiences. I've recognized that a native yeast fermentation can be very dangerous if you've got must that already presents a lot of challenges. If a native yeast fermentation begins and everything seems healthy then, sometimes, I'll just let that go and figure that wine will be a lower alcohol wine. Or maybe, the vineyard has a history of doing beautifully with native fermentation. Nobody can tell you whether you're getting the lead yeast in your native fermentation from the vineyard or from the winery. And I think it makes perfect sense that you end up having some of each in there. The question is what dominates and finishes your fermentation. You can't really say.

My biggest fear with native is, ethyl acetate or brett, neither one of which do I like. There are many variations on brett and so you hear people say, "Well, is it good brett or bad brett?" And I would say, in most cases, brett is just unpleasant to me. It robs the wine of something else it would have otherwise. With that said, every now and then, I'll open a wine that has just a hint and it makes it more interesting. I am not a trained organic chemist in any sense so I can't say that I've looked into the different strains of brett. Historically in Napa, people have cultivated it on purpose. But what strain you get and where you find it is unanswerable to me. In general, I would try to prevent it. I don't appreciate it as a characteristic in wine.

Do you play with a wine's chemistry by adding anything to compensate for ripeness or low acid?

Ripe enough is very relative. In the coastal areas, in Freestone for instance, people call it extreme west county. People get nervous about whether it's going to get totally ripe or not, but they're learning how to farm it so it gets ripe enough to make really nice wine most of the time.

I'm not opposed to adjusting the acid level in a wine. If you don't have to, that's even better. It's preferable to have quality fruit that doesn't require it, but it's also preferable to make that adjustment than to not, because the end product is better than to refuse to do it because of dogma. If you have a winemaking philosophy that says, "I do not add acid to my wine," then sometimes you might make a very flabby wine. If you do that in a balanced way, most trained palates would have a very hard time discerning wine when that had been done.

People who are making small production wines are almost entirely about making the wine to their palates and their styles as best they can. I won't complain about any procedure if I believe it's making a better wine.

Ultimately, finding better vineyard sources, being more careful with the farming, choosing your harvest dates wisely. That stands a better chance of making your products better wines, but how great is it that we have the ability to adjust something if it's not coming in perfectly?

Do you work with any enzymes to emphasize the fruit more?

No enzymes. Enzymes are an arena that I haven't delved into because I haven't felt the need to. I try very hard not to be biased against an idea, just because it seems either traditional or new world, manipulative or purist. I try to stay open minded and just explore all of the approaches, because there's something to be learned from all of it.

Enzymes right now just don't seem to be a necessary endeavor. I don't have trouble getting fruit qualities or finding color. I don't care if the Pinot is not as dark as the Syrah. I don't need to add an enzyme to make it black. I think through careful fermentation management, you can get the extraction you're looking for. You can manage the tannins without having to use an enzyme.

That said, I'm not going to condemn somebody for using them. Everybody has to look at their own situation, their own fruit sources, their own practices and decide if that's a good tool or not. At some point, I may discover a great use for one. As of yet, there hasn't been any, and I'm not going to go out and do it just to play with it.

Do you aim to push must to dryness before press?

That depends on the wine. Some wine is all about managing your tannins. There's a block of Syrah that if I leave it until complete dryness, it's going to be a tannic beast so that gets pressed off a little bit earlier. Ironically, with cooler climate Syrah, we do a larger percentage of whole cluster and they're not as tannic. They can stay on the skins a lot longer. With Chardonnay, we press immediately...

But there is no precise formula. It's a lot like cooking. You have to have good ingredients or you can't make a great dish. People don't think about cooking as chemistry, but it is. When you caramelize an onion, you're changing the cell structure. As you study cooking, certain spices can be incredibly flavorful independently. Then you put them together and they cancel each other out. Somebody who is a professional chef doesn't cook by a recipe. It depends how fresh the ingredients are. They'll treat the ingredients differently depending on how they arrive in the kitchen.

That's what we do as winemakers. We have an idea but if you just follow a recipe, sometimes, you'll nail it, and other times you'll grossly miss it.

What's your barrel regime?

I keep trying to experiment with some new ones. But we work with a variety of, probably, six. What you discover is that every cooper has their own seasoning process and their own approach, skill set, method. One person's medium plus is someone else's medium�

We don't move the barrels to a different wine but in higher evolution of the wine, it will be the same set barrel. Whenever it is we decide to do the first blending, whether that's before or after harvest, we'll blend the wine into a tank, take those existing barrels, clean them, get rid of the tar trays, whatever is in the barrel. Then, we'll go back to use those same barrels.

There'll be a certain percentage, some higher, some lower, of new barrels in any lot. Then you learn that one vineyard really enjoys being in a particular kind of barrel, whether it's a cooper or a forest or a toast level. Every now and then, we'll say, "Wow. This new barrel really doesn't agree with this wine." And that won't go into the blend. For the extra barrels that don't make a particular batch, hopefully, you find a home for it in a blend. Like, our Chardonnay doesn't have a vineyard designated right now. I have some leeway, because I'm putting together two blends. So the hope is if it's not a nice component of one, it might be of another. But there's also the bulk wine market, so you can sell there. Sometimes, another producer is happy to take it.

Do you daydream of having property with a gate emblem "E-K" in the center, a barrel room and tasting room perhaps...

Sure. That's a gorgeous idea but I don't want to destroy any illusions. Wine is mysterious, wonderful, romantic and all that, but making wine isn't. It's dirty, hard, and expensive. Land around here is through the roof expensive and you need a sizable amount of capital to start a winery or own a vineyard.

People lament the fact that we'll pay a good chunk of change to the custom crush facility every year. They say, "That's like renting instead of owning. And why rent when you can own? You get to a certain production level and you can cover a mortgage on your own facility.� And while that's true, it's also a little bit simplistic. Because that's not all that's involved. With your own facility, you have to buy your own equipment, take care of that equipment, service that equipment. If you have your own facility, more often than not, you realize you'll need somebody else to help with the facility. You have to hire employees. It's not just the monthly rent payment that we would be giving to a custom crush place. It's everything else involved in being an owner. It doesn't mean I wouldn't ever like to have a facility, but I'm not in any hurry.

I love making wine here. It's a really supportive place. This is an idea center with 20+ other winemakers. You could check in with everybody about frost damage. Or better yet, smoke taint, because of all the fires last year, smoke taint was a relatively new thing. Not a lot of people, if anybody, had had to deal with it. And certainly, the services to help correct it weren't out there in the past so you had everybody putting their heads together. There's a huge amount to be learned that way. Its also fun. In the craziness of harvest, there's great camaraderie. I don't feel like we're competing for the same buyers. In fact, we discover customers through each other. It's not about protecting trade secrets. Everybody figures, "Let's all make the best wine we can. And that's going to be good for all of us."

It's funny you say trade secrets. I think, the general public, when they think about the romance of winemaking and the wine industry as a whole, that there's some �magic wand� that winemakers and wineries try to keep it to themselves. But in reality, there is no magic wand. There's no secret ingredient that's added which takes a wine from quaffable to transcendent, so to speak.

No. I don't think so at all. That gets back to your question about how I got started. I identified that I liked wines coming from Sonoma so I started working to make wines that I'd had a long history of drinking. At least, I had an idea of what I wanted to make. Then, you have to get good fruit. It doesn't really matter how talented you are or lucky you are. If it's not good fruit, it's just going to be average. You hear people say, "The winemaker's job is simply not to mess it up." There's some truth to that. But every time somebody tries to encapsulate the whole of the process in one simple statement, its oversimplified.

As these two Pinots we're tasting clearly indicate, they are the same clone, same soils, same vineyard management. The only difference in the material is about 20 feet of elevation but they're noticeably different wines. That's not just not messing them up. That's deciding-- let's try to enhance certain characteristics of these because, clearly, they lean toward being one style over another. You make a decision to try to either force them to both be the same, pay no attention to the differences at all, or enhance the differences.

Do you have high hopes for Syrah in California?

The feeling on the street, right now, is definitely not. We like the wines, but not so much so that we don't ever want to stop making Syrah. If I were to predict anything, I think, it's going to be a slow road. Syrah can grow just about anywhere and the result is very different, depending on where. You can have an incredibly fruit driven, not even tannic wine. Or you can have a very minerally, smoky, lean, high acids, like northern Rhone that needs tons of time. That's confusing to people. There are other theories about Syrah being a masculine wine or a feminine wine. But I think it's a personal comfort level, and that takes time.

Have you started doing any blending?

None, not even official trials. But when we're in here and a tasting is over, sometimes I can't resist. I say, "Wow. I wonder what that would be like if I just put 60% of that and 40% of that together?" I've done that a couple of times. And it's enough to let me know that it does make a better wine blended than they are separately. But nothing official yet.

What is your blending process? How do you go about it? How long does it take you?

That really depends on the wine, and whether we go through trials. Some years, your first round of trials are thrilling, and some years, you just think, "Boy, we haven't hit it yet."

What I tend to do is rely on help. I come up with the blends that I'm interested in considering. Then I work with Dan (my assistant winemaker) and my wife. Dan is in the winery making wine, and he's got a great palate, but comes at it from a winemaker's point of view. My wife has an amazing palate, but she doesn't make wine. I think it's really great to get both sides. Ultimately I have to decide what the final blend is going to be.

Everyone's palate is different on different days. If I had to only trust myself, I would be a little nervous about it. I'm sure I could do a fair job, but it's great to have different input from people who I know really do have developed palates, but who come from totally different perspectives. One of the dangers for winemakers is to get interested in something that tastes different. They pursue the difference. Somebody like Colleen will remind me that if that's not pleasant to anybody else, then maybe that's not the way to go.

And then my sister, who does our wholesale and distribution, she's developed a really good palate. So if she's around when we're doing it, we'll get her take on it as well. That's all we really need to put together a good blend. Beyond that, it's really great to get somebody who's not even asked to evaluate very often and just say, "Try these two. Which one do you like better?" It may not change how we do the blend, but I think it's valuable. It's great.

Obviously, having the big scores helps push bottles and get exposure, so is there a desire to balance making wine you know will get the big score, versus wine that you like?

That's a hot topic out there right now. I think the most balanced answer has a couple of problems to it. There's a debate about whether winemakers are doing that or not. The answer is yes, clearly they are. I think it's erroneous to say that all of them are. I feel very fortunate in being a small producer. We can find enough buyers for our wines that we don't have to take that approach. But I have all the sympathy in the world for somebody whose job it is to make 50,000 cases of wine and they need it to sell. And the difference between an 88 and a 91 is the difference between that wine selling or not. Do I lament the influence of the scores? Yes. Do I appreciate it when we get good ones? Absolutely. Do I make the wines to get those scores? No. But that is only because we are fortunate enough to sell through our wine without needing to.

It's too simplistic to be down on somebody for taking that approach when its a recognized approach to helping their business succeed, or a necessary component of keeping their job. But it is a reality that everyone has to wrestle with.

When we began, we did not submit our wines for reviews, but we decided that if somebody asked us, we would happily say yes. We submit the wines to anybody who asks to review them and we put all reviews on our website, good and bad. We've got 83s up on our website and we've got 94s up there. When you put them all side by side, it allows people to self select whose palate they're most in tune with. It also makes the point that the same wine tasted at different times by different people can really show itself differently. It depends on what other wines you're tasting it next to, whether you have a cold or not. It depends on a lot of things. But ultimately, the job of wine criticism is to help consumers find something they like.

I like you say your wines are �proudly Californian�. There's a nice little jab in there. You're not trying to be something that you're not. It sounds like you have that approach with winemaking. It's very open and honest.

I'm just most comfortable that way. If we can make wines we like, help people discover them, because it's the kind of wine they like, and we can sell all of it, then we don't need more than that.

I say "proudly Californian" because-- I always have to preface this: I think anybody should be not only allowed but encouraged to pursue making whatever style wine they want to make. I think the battle between what's good wine and bad in terms of new world and old world is very silly. You can have well made wines on both sides of the spectrum.

I sort of chuckle when someone in California says, "I'm making this wine like a Burgundy," because even that individual, when pressed, would have to say, to make a genuine Burgundy, you have to go to Burgundy. You can be influenced by Burgundy. You can strive for a style that you grew to love because you were drinking Burgundies, but you're still making a California wine. If I were in their shoes, I would moderate it and say, "I'm making a California wine, but I'm trying to coax out of it what I enjoy from Burgundy."

I say "proudly Californian" because I'm not trying to fight our sites. They're in California, so they're not going to be 12.9 percent alcohol wines, or even 13.3. People can make California wine that way, and if you find the right sites, you can make gorgeous wines that way. But in Sonoma County, most sites aren't going to produce that without sacrificing something else.

To me, what California does best is emphasize the fruit nature in a wine. We are either blessed or cursed that nine out of ten years, things do get ripe enough and the result there is a certain fruitfulness in the wine, and I'm going to celebrate that. Hopefully, we can make it complex and interesting too, but I'm not going to dumb down that fruit so that it is old world, or whatever label you want to give it. As each vintage progresses, I am more interested in making the best balanced wine I can make, that is typically going to have a lower alcohol to it than a higher. But I'm not on the trajectory of trying to get away from a proudly fruity California wine. I like this.

What are you drinking when you're not drinking your own wine?

Mostly a lot of small local producers. It's almost entirely California. I do enjoy Spanish, Italian, French, some New Zealand wines. But there's a great group of small California producers that I can trade with, I'm happy to support, and I really enjoy their wines. I really like Radio Coteau-- Eric Sussman makes a really nice wine. There's some producers here. I've been on Carlisle's list forever. Hauteur is a small label made here, and Dan, our assistant winemaker, also is assistant winemaker for them.

Do you favor certain varietals over others?

I really like variety so when we do branch out of California, I'm looking at things that aren't as common. But for California wine, I even hesitate to say this, but because we started as such big Cabernet drinkers, I now think we have moved away from that somewhat. That isn't to say that I don't like Cabs but when I first started getting into wine, a great Cab was great wine, and if it wasn't a Cab, it wasn't a great wine. I don't feel that way at all any more. In fact, Cab is now something we have far less frequently than others. But we do drink a lot of Pinot, Chardonnay, and Syrah.

Any plans of your own to venture out into other varietals?

I don't see that happening soon. I can make better Chardonnay, Pinot, and Syrah, so I want to stay focused on making these better wines. As a winemaker, I would love to. I could see eventually doing something else, but I haven't chosen what varietal that would be.

The way it would likely play out would be to get some Grenache or Mouvedra and work that in as part of a Syrah blend. The intention wouldn't be to do a separate bottle of all Grenache or whatever. If a wonderful site comes along and it's too good to pass up then we might consider it. But from a business standpoint, I'd like it if we didn't get past maybe 12 different wines. If we release wines twice a year, then that's six different wines twice a year. From a consumer standpoint, that seems like enough or more than enough already.

Barrel tasting with Kent Humphrey...

Stiling Vineyard Pinot Noir (barrel)

What we'll try first is a Stiling Vineyard Pinot which is on Vine Hill Road, in the middle of Russian River Valley. We work with two blocks of fruit which I try and allow them, or even persuade them, to be noticeably different from each other. This block we're tasting is 20 feet lower in elevation and in a small valley in the vineyard so it harvests almost three weeks later. So when the cool air comes in at night, it pushes all the warm air up the hill. So this is just a cooler site, even though it's the same vineyard.

This 40% whole cluster and came in at around 24, 24� brix. I try to enhance the earthy, minerally, herbal quality of this block. Then, the hillside blocks that harvests at higher sugars really is just begging to be big and fruity. So I try to let it be. Then, by working with both of them, and encouraging them to be different, I've got pieces to work with for the final blend.

The hillside blocks always have less acidity. When you get to higher brix, it's not uncommon that you're going to see lower natural acidity. This one tends to have pretty decent acidity on its own.

Whole clustered fruit gives you more tannin which doesn't come naturally to Pinot. So a little bit at this stage, I think, is great because there's going to be that structure. The final blend is never going to be a tannic wine, in any respect. But having some in this block, for the structural side of things is really nice.

The hillside blocks harvest three weeks earlier, it's got higher sugars, lower acids, and we only did 10% whole cluster. The aromatics on the lower valley blocks are enhanced and driven by the larger percent of the whole cluster. This one has more weight and is fruitier. They're both nice by themselves but when I put them together, it makes a more complete wine.

Freestone Region Pinot Noir (barrel)

Let's try a couple different regions. This is a couple of vineyards in the Freestone area. If you take Highway 12 out to Bohemian Highway, it's where Bohemian Highway shoots off of Highway 12. It's a much cooler area. This harvests 3-5 weeks later than the Stiling vineyard and has a real signature to the area.

Out in Freestone, quite literally, if you cross the street, you're in Sonoma Coast and it really is more reflective of a coastal wine. This will harvest in late September or even pushing into October. It's still California, and it's still fruity, but it has an herbal component. And, also, sort of a-- I can't stand unnecessarily flowery wine terms-- but there is something to the concept of forest floor. With a mix of moisture, leaves, pine needles that evokes an aggregate-- all these different smells that come together that are recognizable some how. That's something that is just inherent to the site.

I think that area is a fascinating place. Admittedly, it may not be for everybody. It's definitely distinct and I'm very excited to be working with it.

Greywacke Vineyard Syrah (barrel)

California Syrah is just a dark wine. Pretty much, whatever approach you take to making it, it tends to be a darker wine. This is a new vineyard called Greywacke. Greywacke is an element in the soil and it's at a really high elevation. It's actually two Alban clones co fermented. Then we'll taste a 470 clone from the same vineyard harvested the same day. I created this controlled experiment to see if the clones really expressed themselves differently... and they do. They're quite distinct. On the palate, the differences are night and day. It's not quite as heavy. It's a brighter red fruit, instead of a black fruit and a nice spice component to it.

You can enhance a certain spice not with whole clusters, but as these two demonstrate, the Alban really didn't seem to have that characteristic inherently in it. I'm sure I could throw 60 percent whole cluster in there and pay a little bit more of it. That also depends on the conditions during harvest. People talk about stems being ripe or not, or just the fruit. You can actually bite them, taste them. You can see the difference.

Dry Stack Vineyard Syrah (barrel)

Dry Stack Vineyard is cooler site harvest label. This was a 40% whole clusters. But it's remarkably different from the 470 clone in Graywhacky. Some people aren't as immersive of this clone, but I really enjoy it. I think I'm just learning how to work with it. This is just a piece of the blend. It has so much rhubarb. Rhubarb is not, if you've had a rhubarb pie, it's sweet, but that's because you've dumped a whole bunch of sugar into it. It's actually kind of a bitter root that you can enhance a fruit characteristic in it by sweetening it up.

This 877 clone is about two years away from being released. Then I'll probably tell people give it a year after that. This is three years away from being even presentable. It's similar to the Alban from the Graywhacky. The 877's darker than the 470. Less spicy, more dark fruit. When you put these two together, because I've already played around with that, it makes really nice wine.

Dry Creek Valley Syrah Noir (barrel)

This is a monster. It's a piece of a blend, probably no more than 20%. It goes into the Kaylen blend. This is Syrah Noir from Dry Creek Valley. It's warmer up there. I've tried every year to make the wine differently and it just really wants to be a big wine. I haven't been as successful in trying to make it something it isn't. So the approach is to tame it by blending. It gives us a cornerstone for something really bold to start with. Then we add nuance and complexity and pull it back in terms of its mass by blending in 80% of other things. This turned out really well this year but I could never have a glass of it on its own. It would be too much but as the cornerstone of a blend, it's going to be great.

Russian River Chardonnay (bottle)

This will show up in stores in about three weeks. It's shipped out to our club already, but we told everyone, give it six months or so. It will open up much sooner than our Sonoma Coast, which we're holding back for six months. This is three different clones. It's 50% Rude clone from Styling vineyard, 30% Seas, also from Styling vineyard, and 20% Robert Young clone from Windsor Oaks vineyard up in the Chalk Hill area. When we did our blending trials, we did about 18 different blending trials. This one just stood out as having a good balance, but the Rude clone gives it a sort of tropical component, which makes it somewhat unique, not a typical Russian River profile. It needs more apples, pears, a nutty quality maybe, certain mineral component is more typically associated with Russian River. So I like the tropical note that comes in from that clone.

Small Town* Pinot Noir (bottle)

This is the '07 Freestone, which we can't call Freestone. Turns out that Freestone is the name of a town. It is also trademarked in conjunction with wine. That was an honest mistake on our part. We didn't know. Once we were alerted to it, we agreed to call it something else. So the next vintage will be called something else other than Freestone. If you look on our website now, it's called Small Town, because that's what Freestone is.

I would say wait until Thanksgiving at least. Give it nine months. Ideally, give it a year, a year and a half. That said, it's already revealing itself to my taste as a wine I really enjoy. Going back to what we were talking about in terms of that herb and spice and forrest floor that complements the fruit. I find it very strawberry and bay.

One of the things we like to do is through blending and vineyard choice and clonal variety, make each of our Pinots and each of our Chardonnays and each of our Syrahs be identifiably distinct from each other. That's part of the fun of wine. We go to great lengths to have our blends stand out as unique from each other, so much so that invariably, people will say, "Well, now that wine, I really like, and that other one's not my style." There is a stylistic continuity in terms of the wines we make, and I think that's found mostly in the acidity level. I'm not a fan of a wine that is too heavy or too cloying. I'm striving to have a certain acidity in all the wines. It doesn't mean it's the same acidity. There would be that commonality across all the wines, but outside of that, I'm really interested in letting them be as different as they can be. It would be sad if one of them appealed to nobody. But we haven't faced that yet. And obviously we have to like them all. We have to appreciate each. I wouldn't intentionally make a wine I didn't like just to be different.

Posted by Ryan ODonnell on Aug 31, 2009 10:55 am

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Tom Rinaldi shares his secrets and passion for Sauvignon Blanc

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:54:53 +0100

Just the name Tom Rinaldi conjures thoughts of magnificent Merlot and complex Cabernet Sauvignon perfected over 22 vintages at the Duckhorn Wine Company. Ninety-plus ratings are commonplace for this Napa Valley, veteran winemaker. But now, Tom finds himself crafting wines with a new venture, Provenance Vineyards also in Napa Valley, with a familiar line up of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. But after spending some time one early, rainy afternoon, I discover Tom's new obsession: Sauvignon Blanc and it's endless possibilities. Getting behind-the-winemaking-scenes with Tom was an absolute thrill that I'm giddy to share with the world.

Do you do wild yeast or you typically use a commercial use?

Sometimes we don't even add yeast. We have such culture here in the cellar and a good one too. But 95% is commercial use. I'm not a fan of so-called wild yeast and I think people who do quite often lie to you. They say, "it's good, I've had very good success" but I've also had some downright close to disasters.

It seems like trying wild yeasts is risky operation even if you know what you're doing.

You better know what you're doing. You better have a microscope because you're dealing with mold; yeast from mold. And quite often, in early days of that must is sitting there, you'll get a blanket of what looks like penicillium; just a variety of these colorful critters. They should not give you comfort and joy as a winemaker. The potential of volatile acidity just going crazy, especially going right straight to acidic acid because of the lack of bacillus, should be very disconcerting for most winemakers.

You think winemakers are saying "wild yeast" more as a marketing ploy than actual method?

I know there are some. But there are also some to my knowledge who have been very successful and I don't believe they're cheating at all. They have a good thing going. They put that same pumice back in the vineyards and they're breeding a culture that they know and understand and can live with. I'd say one in particular would be Ridge Winery. I don't believe they've ever added yeast (but I'm not sure). I remember discussions a long time ago and it seemed to me that they're on top of it well enough. I know in the old days at Flowers and a couple other wineries on the Sonoma Coast, Greg La Follette in particular; he'd understand the PH. He'd understand the cleanliness of the tank and all the biochemistry that goes with sanitation procedures and understanding what your must looks like; what your fermentations should look like. He could live on the edge. He just has it built into his genes I think.

How do you select the yeasts to use for your wines?

We definitely have our favorites. You have your tried-and-true for so many times that we know that these guys will get us through and we don't have to worry about certain lots. But we also are trying to get a little more "dynamics" so we're constantly trying new designer yeast. They have these catalogs... it's the darnedest thing... it's like dating-- "would you like long legs? blonde hair? tremendous flavor profiles and will ferment up to and beyond 16% alcohol" ...and these other crazy promises.

Do you use multiple yeasts on batches to blend for complexity?

Oh yeah, absolutely. That's the name of the game. We do the same thing with barrels. We'll have heavy toast, French oak and we'll have some relatively greener barrels that just add some complexity. Not very many of them but we find certain French barrels without toasted heads have unique characteristic. The toasting of the heads is a weird thing anyways... It's like toasting tacos or bread. It isn't really a toast; just zapping the outside of the barrel. You're not developing the same way you do with a fire in the internal part of the barrel. So all those are adding complexing agents and making them a little more difficult to put your finger on.

Do you work with coopers to develop barrel styles and toasting levels specifically for your wines?

Absolutely. Yes. And varieties of forest, but the toast levels, the artisans that pick out the wood, those are all key to our success with the barrels. It's a big, big deal. It's sort of like talking about herbs to a chef. You can really blow it or you can really do it just right. We're aiming for just right.

I can imagine when President of Chalone wooed you over it was much like a "kid in the candy store" moment?

The vineyards were pretty much established. The exception is here. This winery was a very fortunate find. We purchased Chateau Beaucanon in 2002 and August �02 was the final, "here's the keys" moment. We did the harvest of �02 right here. Before that we were a virtual winery. We were going to build a facility in South Napa up in the hills but it became very controversial. It was going to be very difficult to pull it off to tell you the truth so this find was a Godsend.

First thing I did was get rid of all the Chardonnay and plant Sauvignon Blanc which has been just phenomenal. This is heavy clay, Maxwell series soils and the only thing I know that does well is Sauvignon Blanc and its close cousin, Semillon which seems to be doing very well and we're even putting a little Muscat too as a matter of fact. All the vines along the railroad tracks is Semillon. Any time you see a new growth, those are unofficial but those are Muscat. I've only done it one time, in how many-- 25 at least, Sauvignon Blanc vintages of adding just a little bit and it can be a magic bullet. Otherwise, we have some Muscat to play with. That's kind of fun stuff. You can make dessert wines out of it... I don't remember what they call it. We made something but I don't even know where it is. It's something like 25% alcohol. It's been hidden. We're going to find sometime a big enough party and try it out...

Are there any plans to do any other whites aside from the Sauvignon Blanc?

At this point in time, no. We tried to make a varietal Semillon and it was a dud. So far it's been a disaster. I don't know that it could really do well on its own. The State of Washington gets away with it. I don't know of anybody in Napa Valley consistently can make a Semillon that would be appealing. We're just focusing in on Sauvignon Blanc.

You said you're currently blending the Merlot. How's that going?

We're putting together the final blend. We already had it tasted and make decisions: boom, here it is. We have the opportunity once it's blended to see about tweaking it a little bit. So far it's been unbelievable. We've gotten away with making 100% Merlot. All the Napa Valley Merlot we've made to date have been 100%. Whole time I was at Duckhorn, 22 vintages; I never made 100% Merlot there. Always felt we needed to put Cab Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec; something in there to keep it exciting. But we're getting away with it. I know we're very pleased with the 100% Merlot.

What makes the distinction for you when you decide to go 100% one varietal, one vineyard?

It's certainly the vineyards; they're the key. Of the entire Napa Valley, we're in two spots and those are in the Carneros region, Las Amigas and then Oak Mill right on Orchard Avenue. They have very well drained soils, they're muscular, straight forward. The way we've been pruning and cropping has been very advantageous to color and richness and potential for aging too. I always say Merlot ages like a cat. They zip through life 3-5 times faster than people. They're kind of like watching a movie in fast-forward. You see the development in a shorter period of time which makes them exciting. It also makes them a little like a time bomb. But I don't tell people to get out there and make 100% anything. I think you're cheating with Pinot Noir if you throw in Zinfandel or something like that. But with the Bordeaux varieties, you can go ahead and blend and have fun about it.

You're back to your roots a bit making Merlot from Three Palms Vineyard?

Yeah, the '06 will be coming out very soon which is a blend. That one we've always blended and will continue to do so. It all comes from Three Palms-- 88 acres and all varietals within there. They have Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Cab Sauvignon as well as Merlot. Those all seem to fit very well together but we have to do minimum 75% of Merlot for label distinction.

The distinction used to be 51%. People were putting a lot of Thompson seedless in Chardonnay and that was a turn off. A couple lawyers down in San Diego got upset about it and then they managed to make the rules, bringing it up to 75%. The only time where it seems to take away a little bit of a possibility for great wine is Sauvignon Blanc. Most of the great Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc's are about 60% to 65% Sauvignon Blanc and the rest is Semillon. A little more Semillon we've found gives it a little more fleshiness, less of that citrus and grapefruity characteristic that we get.

Does adding Semillion let you push the Sauvignon Blanc chemistry a little?

The Semillon will tone down the acidity. It's very hard to keep acids in ripe Semillon. It's very hard to get the alcohol up too, or the sugar. So consequently the alcohols are tending to be less but you get the fatness and age-ability and it's spectacular. I've had Sauvignon Blanc that was older than me back when I was still pretty old and it was surprising alive-- Chateau Carbonneau. It was a year older than me and a half bottle of all things! It was wonderful. They were testifying that it was Semillon that kept it alive. I've made two versions in my career of 100% Sauvignon Blanc that were 100% "Oops, shouldn't have done that." First vintage at Duckhorn was 1982 and the first vintage for Provenance of Sauvignon Blanc, which was 2003. Both of those, we didn't have any Semillon at the time and didn't feel the need. But now it's a requirement. Some percentage of it.

What's the blending process like for you?

It's rare that we're worried about the numbers. The only time to be worried is if you're trying to keep it within a county, vintage or within the legal standards. The most important thing to know is that you can blend but you can't unblend. So once you make the decision, once you make that move, you're done. You've made that decision. We don't take that lightly. We're approaching it looking at the pieces to a puzzle. If you have a problem and you're trying to disguise a problem, that's one thing. If you have something really wonderful and you're trying to enhance it, well that's another thing all together. You don't just blend willy-nilly and start stirring in all these chemicals and see what happens. You have good color, a wonderful finish, pH considerations, high/low acidity, tannin, all these different parts of the puzzle that are going to help you or they're going to mess you up. You really want to know what you have and where you're trying to go. Then start mixing and matching. We do it here blind and typically it'll be 2%, 5%, 12%, 20% of something. It's trial and error but at the small scale of 250 to 500 milliliters, its no big deal.

Is the Hewitt Cabernet Sauvignon 100%?

It's 100% from the vineyard. It's 60 acres, of which we get about 60%. We share it with Beaulieu Vineyards still. They were originally exclusive owners and when Chalone Wine Group bought Hewitt Vineyard, that's when I came on board. I was excited about being the first winemaker to make 100% from that vineyard. That was real exciting, real enticing. BV was blending it in their Private Reserve. They were trying to assure Mr. Hewitt, who wanted his name on the label, to just tell your friends it's in there. I don't think that was good enough for him personally. He passed away and that's when the vineyard became for sale and that's how it all came to be. It was my desire to absolutely make sure he got his name on the label.

What is it about the Hewitt vineyard that excites you so much?

Well, it's a lot to do with the drainage. We call it a vertically challenged hillside vineyard. Absolutely wide area of sun dispersal, warm, ideal climate. Then the vineyard is in five blocks that are all quite different from each other, different rootstocks, different years of planting, different row orientation. Right out there you have this variation within the vineyard so you have the opportunity to make creations that are unique. We go out there probably minimum ten pickings just for our portion of the 60 acres. We're making very small batches and we're still trying to figure it all out. It's a huge puzzle. It's going to be exciting.

Are you out in the vineyards pretty often then?

Yes. It's nice and convenient here... great on a mountain bike too riding up and down the rows. It's fantastic. I don't carry a refractometer with me when I'm out in the vineyards. All by flavor, appearance and just feel. We are enhanced with the NDVI-- the overhead photographs of the vineyard taken generally and around August. You can see the stress areas and the variant spoiled areas. All of those are part of our tools, very important tools.

What's the one tool that's indispensable to you as a winemaker?

Palette. Your schnoz. Those are life and death. That's the only one that is most crucial. We're unable to chew on the oak barrels and stuff but you can get an idea from the appearance and from the aromas pretty quickly what direction you're going.

Do you do much lab work?

We do a lot of lab work. Generally it's a rearview mirror. You just want to know what's going on here to make sure you don't have certain problems. We do tests for TCAs, for brett, for these weird bugs that can possibly come into your life, especially when we're working off campus. If we had everything right here, I'd feel a whole lot more secure. We want to know, especially close to bottling time, if we're dealing with any bad guys.

Some folks like brett in their wine. You try to keep it at bay?

Correct. If I had a choice, I'd have zero. That's my feel. We're pretty close to zero. We've had a couple of blooms coming out of the clear blue sky but it's something we try to avoid. I don't know what most winemakers think; they're playing with fire. I've heard of unnamed individuals even adding it for complexity, to get Robert Parker to fall in love with their wines. It's silly. To me, it's a spoilage. I prefer not to have it around. But even volatile acidity is a desirable aspect. It can be a complexing agent at sub threshold levels, it just is. It just adds more of that bite and feel and has that complexing aroma that kind of makes you want to know what the heck that is. That's sub threshold levels.

Winemaking is a sanitary environment. We are sticklers on sanitation. We start with clean tanks, clean hoses, clean equipment. The flare comes in the oxidation process, in the yeast, in the malolactic, in all the microbes that are just around anyway. Even the soil, we don't wash the grapes when they come in. That's part of the game. So all of these things are part of the flare, part of the dynamics of the wine. We don't need to bring in "bad actors". We don't need to go nuts with adding stuff. I don't like even adding acid unless I have to. The only thing we want to do is add nutrients for the yeast, make sure they're fat and happy. They're the real winemakers, the guys that are going to convert those sugars into alcohol and complex sugars into esters and make this stuff taste and smell wonderful. If you keep the yeast happy, you keep the winemaker happy. You're taking care of 90% of the battle, maybe more. If you screw that up, you've got yourself a problem.

Have you ever had stuck fermentations here?

We've had sluggish fermentations. But they're extraordinarily rare. We will have residual sugar hanging around and slow secondary fermentations too. That's been an ongoing process so that normally when it starts warming up again in the spring time, they'll finish once and for all. But those are exceptions to the rule, very rare exceptions.

Many years ago, more than 20, when I was trying to do no SO2, I was playing with fire. It was, in retrospect, a mistake but it was just part of that experimental, "let's see what happens" mindset. Some of those "experiments" got to be pretty good sized. Fortunately in the long run, we have tools to deal with that and people in the bulk market who buy them up. I've yet to bottle anything I regret, I'll say that much. Maybe the 100% Sauvignon Blancs, maybe not. They were good when they first came out but in the long run, they weren't. In general, we've taken care of all the situations well before it's time to bottle.

Do you work with enzymes or other additives?

With the Sauvignon Blanc we've been utilizing enzymes just because we don't crush it. We go directly to the press. Semillon must in particular, have these pulpy, snotty messes, we use enzymes in order to just get some juice out of them. For color enhancement, no. It hasn't been a necessity. Having better vineyard practices are more important for color enhancement and development. I've been fiddling around with mega purple and all these other little tools that are available. Occasionally, we'll just toy with the idea but we've been going as natural as possible. And I'm not saying that they're bad or they can't work. But for me, it's better to start with sound fruit, have a good, clean, sound fermentation and then utilize heat, oxidation, temperature, oxidation and micro-oxidation particular to let these wines evolve and grow.

How long is the fermentation on the Sauvignon Blancs typically?

Sauvignon Blanc can be a long time, more than a month sometimes. We have cold temperatures, below 60F if possible. Generally, we have small vessels of Sauvignon Blanc. The smaller, the better so that you don't get a core of heat building up in the larger vessels. We try to get them to go all the way through but Sauvignon Blanc tends to really slow down in the area of 3-2 brix. But that's natural and normal for me. Generally, we're not really worried about volatile acidity. We don't do ML if at all possible. I've had a couple of batches that seemed to have taken off on their own but we've caught it. In general, the Semillon will go completely to zero, even below zero, just dry, bone dry and that's also an enhancement. Just a little bit of residual sugar in there is a benefit. We have already bottled our '08 as an example. It's a quick process. By Christmas or January, we're done all but the clarification, we know what the blends should be, where the problem lots might be and what needs to be called out or worried about. By mid Feb, they're bottle ready.

What are some of the clarifying methods you use here?

Bentonite. We don't fine our reds at all. No egg whites. No gelatin. None of that nonsense. That's something we haven't done. We haven't had to fine any of our reds today, other than one we did as an experiment and I don't know that it was so wonderful. I won't even name the wine. But it was a head-scratcher wine. Bentonite is a wonderful clarification. We chill the tanks so that we'll get that titrate control, not complete stabilization but control. Then we will send it through a 2.45 filter so it's sterile filtration. Since we don't know about malolactic or even some sporulated yeast that might be in there, we don't want to take a chance at those levels. The wine, by the time they go through the filtration, they're clear. Not brilliant but they're certainly brilliant by the time they're released.

We historically have not filtered at all but with our big lots now, I'm a real believer in filtration. So we will make sure that they're at least yeast-free filtration, if not all the way to at least .65 micro. We've done trials in the past and I've done trials for the last 30+ years. If it's done properly, filtration will be a better wine in the long run than the not filtered almost every time.

Do you press at dryness or let batch go into extended macerations?

There is a certain period of time when its tasting severe. We'll go through and taste daily and there's a certain point where, "Whoa, there it is." And what you do with the free run as opposed to what you do with a pressed run should become crucial. I would recommend for any home winemaker, just press at dryness, just get it done and you don't even have to keep them separate. Post dry is starting to be another world altogether.

Do you filter out stems, seeds and raisins?

That's where you're starting to mess around with fining. There's a way but you're going to take out some of the good with the bad. It's better, given an opportunity, to not have to worry about that sort of thing. Stems is a good example: you got a bunch of stems in the tank, they're going to add a phenolic flavor pretty rapidly, so that's something that you're going to want to filter those out. I'd keep the free run separated from pressed wine in that world.

I'm almost always looking at the seeds. I want them to be dark. Vinified seeds are really important, if you got little green stripes in there, that's trouble because then you're leaching out more and more of the potential raisins, that's something I don't want to deal with.

I've seen some winemakers that have thrown whole bunches with stems and all, is that just a stylistic preference?

Yeah, I've seen people do it especially with wimpy wines to add a tannin profile, but it's a green tannin, it's a harsh, ugly tannin. We're finding that a little bit goes a long way. A little bit can actually be better than none at all. But I think with Pinot Noir, that's a trick that came up and is still relatively popular, and yeah you can get away with it. Personally, we avoid stems unless we're talking Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon going into the press, and then they're helpful for channeling the liquid through.

You're owned by the 800-pound gorilla of the wine industry. Is there pressure to make wines that are stylistic to getting the high reviews?

There was a very brief period of time where you were getting evaluated according to your Spectator scores, and it was like the lottery or just throwing a dart at the board. It fortunately came and, to my knowledge, it's gone. I love getting a good strong Spectator score, I'll say that much and Parker, generally speaking, just seems to ignore us, which is fine. I don't really make any wines for that purpose. For me it's the marketplace, the people themselves who try these wines that get excited about them. We're not doing a lot of advertising, it's really bottle by bottle that we get a fan base and a lot of people loving the wines. I'm trying to make wines that are restaurant friendly. Most people can't wait five years, ten years until a wine is approachable. They want something tonight, and so do I. They want something tonight, this week, or for this year. Take it home and have it tonight with meatloaf or, your anniversary party. And that's important to me, much more so than making these you have to genuflect before. I'm not trying to make a cult wine. It just doesn't fit into my personality. It doesn't fit into the level of wines that I make, the amount of wines, volumes if you will. Admittedly we're in some incredible vineyards and I'm trying to enhance those the best I can so...

I guess what I worried, at least from a consumer standpoint was, was there going to be pressure to stray from the winemakers stylistic point of view? And at what point would there be a clash?

Na, there won't be not as long as I'm here, I can promise you that... there's been nobody ever looking over my shoulder, not even suggesting, There have been some ideas to go into a direction that I personally didn't favor. I want to know the breed, the history, everything about it. I want to be in the vineyard. That's why we're trying to make sure that we know just the volumes we're aiming for.

Provenance isn't trying to make wines for everybody. We're definitely in the elite or the high end, but their hand made. We're not cutting corners, we're not cranking it out. Everything goes through our sorter now. Every red grape that we bring in here is going through this monotonously slow hand sorting tedium, but it's crucial and we're taking out things that we don't want in there and it's making these wines much more refined, much more consistent. And that's important for us, the track record.

How can a winemaker can make a wine consistent year after year?

We're not making Budweiser. We're not trying to make them consistent in the same flavor every year. We're trying to enhance. We want to show off the varietal, the area, the region, and then the vintage. If the vintage is a challenging one, there's going to be characteristics in there that we're not going to try to disguise. We're going to be honest about them because it turns out that some of the weakest vintages or the ones that got thrashed and trashed in the press, are the most age-worthy. If you have a bottle of '97 and compare that to a bottle of '98, the '98's going to kick butt. So it's one of those things that you don't want to dictate the future. It's a dangerous practice to say "this wine is not going to last, it's a wimpy wine, and so forth and so on." Some of these are very balanced, they will surprise you over a long period of time. And I've learned it dramatically and done comparative tastings after considerable periods of time and the results are usually stunning.

So we're trying to have a thread of similarities; we want this merlot to be merlot, we want Cabernet to be Cabernet, but we also want Oakville to say Oakville and Rutherford to say Rutherford. There's to me a huge difference in the profile of those wines, cherry berry versus mocha and leather. That's what we're looking for when we're putting the blends together, just an enhancement of that. Very difficult to express that in exacting terms, it's just something you-- feel.

Thank God we have years and years of memories for vintage after vintage that "don't freak out that's it raining today, don't worry, it's all right. Hey, you got a long way to go." And the same thing at harvest time. People go nuts because they think they're missing this very tiny window... it a very large window. We're talking days and days of time unless you get this horrific heat wave or this gigantic storm coming through and that's pretty rare. You build up confidence when you've been through it a few times. It's never exactly the same but there are patterns that start to come forward and we have the tools.

I'll never forget, it's 1983 and I had a tankful of very expensive fruit and it smelled awful. I called my buddy Rick Foreman, "Rick you got to come down here. I got a disaster. I got something you got to see." And the top of the tank was all white and moldy mess and it smelled like mold. It smelled like bad strawberries that you went on vacation, came home and you found this elephant waiting in your refrigerator and he smells it he goes, "Ah, this is it! This is Bordeaux." I said, "What are you nuts?" And he goes, "No this is it. This is the smell you get from Bordeaux." "I don't want Bordeaux, I like wine." He replied "No, what's going to this when the fermentation goes, it's just going to get gobbled up. It's all botrytis. And it'll get gobbled up and it will clarify and you won't have any of that smell by the time the fermentation is done." And sure enough that by the time it got to about less than five bricks, four bricks in that neighborhood, man it was clear, it smelled berries, cherries, strawberries, lovely. And there was not a hint of any of that disgusting mold. It pretty much was whatever that mud and leaves on the bottom were and I was ready to take a vacation or pass on the reins. It was pretty early in my career, but that was a real eye opener, just to have that kind of flavor and characteristic in must that was horrible and to have it turned into this wonderful wine. And that's '83 vintage which again got kind of beat up because it was a wet vintage, but so what. It's always wet in Bordeaux and those guys get all the benefit of the doubt almost every year. So our reign in Napa Valley is heat. That's a big problem that we have. It's heat and it'll move these things towards raisins and you don't want that.

With California heat, you get high sugars, but then low acids, right? But you don't like adding acid which gets a little bit dangerous, right?

Correct. You have to trellis, you have to take advantage of the leaves on the vines. Out at George III vineyard, that place is a jungle. We could hide that fruit and let it develop. We can crop it accordingly too, larger crop and get a little lag in there. It's a game. And given a choice, I'll take heat over rain, thank you.

We're getting challenges now that we didn't get before. The late 70s early 80s out in Carneros were a nightmare trying to grow Merlot and get rid of that green peppercorn, brussels sprout flavors. And now, the warming patterns we've been getting, it's a disaster for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. They have a very hard time, it's too warm for it but the Merlot ripens very rapidly and very early, fully ripens. So you have to take advantage of the situation. And I think growers are doing that very well. We certainly are taking advantage of it. Some of our cool climate Merlot seems to me, just right.

You've been making wine in Napa Valley since graduating from Davis, any daydream of experimenting in other regions?

Sonoma Coast... a Pinot Noir... a little Chardonnay... just day dreaming. Sitting in a rocking chair, mail order only kind of operation. 20 barrels of this, 5 barrels of that, whatever. Just be a hobby. You don't have to do anything with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, you don't blend those things. Just get a great vineyard and your work is half done.

What are some of the surprising things that you've seen taking shape here in the Napa Valley. You've been making wine here for a number of vintages, so what trends, directions or methods strike you most since you've started?

Some of these things we're falling in love with are so labor intensive and you wonder if you're getting bang for the buck, barrel fermentations in reds. I would not have understood that 10 years ago but now its become relatively common place. And we do it here. It's a real nuisance. The guys are getting good about popping the heads off and putting them back on.

I'm very pleased with the advances in laboratory feedback. It's incredible that you can get down to such very tiny numbers and reassure yourself good and bad. I'd say the technology of the equipment that we have available to us is astounding and making life easier. There's home winemaking and then there's real modern winemaking which is standing on top of a tank pumping it over, something I did for year, after year, after year, the previous millennium. I mean, all though the 1900s. But now I don't think anybody does that, punch down maybe, but it's all these irrigators now with cruise control.

The troubling aspect, I went to a place and the wines are being "synthetically produced", if you will. They produce these wines but the micro-oxidation units and the submersion of oak planks into the wine and so forth, I don't know if that's troubling but it's almost like robotics that the wines are being prettied up into patterns and it's also troubling that people are trying to mimic these high-scoring wines. And there's these freak wines out there that somehow were produced and mimic that by a fingerprint.

But I'm also seeing a pattern where a lot of modern equipment coming in. I don't like having a 14.0 percent and above becoming desert wine. I think that's silly. It should be 16 percent and above. It's something that yeast normally don't ferment to. So it isn't something we're adding spirits to make this desert wine, a port or a sherry or some other form of those wines. And the numbers we're using are all based on GLC now, gas liquid chromatography, and they're taking to the 100th decimal place. So it's technology helping and it's also holding us back because people don't want to pay the taxes, so all these wines that are $10, $12, $15 are sent through these machines, spinning cones that reverse osmosis to drop the alcohol out and make sure that you're under this make-believe number of 14.0. And you get all these wine writers that say, "Oh, my God, look at this thing, it says 15 percent. We never used to have these wines." Yes you did, you didn't realize it, we just told you otherwise. We'd have a day like today when it's starting to rain, you've got this barometric change and you're comparing the boiling point of water to boiling point of water-wine mixture and you're going to get some freaky numbers there and this is the time you record them, and yeah, "I'll be darned, it's 13.9 woohoo! We made it under. I don't know where we came up with that 14.6 that I didn't write down before, but..."

Where do you find the inspiration in making new wines?

You know, I think it's just trying to do it again. That's the biggest challenge for me is try to gear up for one more. I'm excited about the potential of the upcoming '09. We have so many opportunities to make decisions and take advantage of opportunities, but they come and go and hopefully I'm there to see it and I'm feeling the inspiration. I'm excited about being part of Napa Valley. It's a real privilege to be here and I'm just having a good ride.

Do you have any rituals or habits before the harvest begins?

Oh yeah. Either sparkling wine or champagne to kick it off, drink some, pour some on the grapes, that's a given. We have a meeting with everybody, generally it's a pep talk to get everybody excited. If you're not excited and not loving it, or you're here for the money, you're in the wrong business. We encourage seeking inspiration-- you want to do some trials and errors especially if you have a little bit of time on your hands, here's the place to try it.

Geography, availability, price, all that aside, if you could make wine from any varietal, from any region, anything pique your interest?

Cabernet is really hard to pass up on. Merlot is something I make it because I know that there's a big following, there are people that love it, it's something you don't have to really take too seriously.

But I'm loving Sauvignon Blanc. It's wonderful, exciting, much more dynamic than I'm allowing myself to see. So the great potential for that stuff in so many versions that we could make, that's exciting. If I'm going to do the dream come true, Sauvignon Blancs, we'll probably have about five ranges. Some would be machine crushed and processed in that way, some would be nonclarified, some would be barrel fermented, all 100 percent wood, from France or California, God knows from where, but some high quality oak fermentation. And then the others would be theses little stainless steel tanks.

I'm enjoying trying other people's Sauvignon Blancs. Not as excited about New Zealand ones because they all seem to be cookie cutter. There's a characteristic that they just can't seem to shake. I don't know if it's because of that real cool climate or what.

So what do you drink when you're not drinking your own?

That's rare. I love Champagnes, sparkling wines and I love how far California has come compared to the French-- it's spectacular. I drink a lot of Pinot Noir from Sonoma Coast, Anderson Valley and Santa Lucia area. Burgundy, when I can splurge. Somebody else's wine... That's one of my favorite wines: free wine!

I just really want to thank you for taking the time. I've been a huge fan of you wines-- Provenance Vineyards has been one of my default stops when bringing friends through wine country. Your wines are beautiful expressions of the skills and passion you put behind them. Again, thank you.

Posted by Ryan ODonnell on Aug 31, 2009 10:54 am

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Blind Tasting with Tim's Reds

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:06:25 +0100

The one thing our family does well is consume copious amounts of good wine. Our obsession with wine started over a decade ago and is now at a point where the family motto is �life�s too short to drink bad wine� But how do we know what�s good, avoid it, or �run out and buy this wine by pallet load� ... we do blind tastings at random.

Blind wine tasting is a great way to educate yourself as to what you really like. Not what you SHOULD like, but what your personally preference actually is. In blind tastings, you taste wine objectively, not knowing cost, region, varietal or brand. Sometimes we�ll theme the blind tasting stating the wines are �all Cabernet� or �all California whites wines� but usually it�s just as simple as �all reds� or �all whites� and we�ll have to guess the details.

The goal of blind tastings is simple: which wines did we like? which would we buy?

My brother (and Chief Propellerhead of VineSugar) brought over three red wines he wanted me to taste blind. He brown-bagged them, labeled them A, B and C with a Sharpie and poured away. The results, as always, were surprising:

Wine A
This wine had a great, classic Cabernet aromas, I thought. Dusty cherries, licorice, sweet leather and tobacco notes. It offered nice, bright fruit flavors, approachable entry and had nice full, round tannins in the finish. Hints of espresso, vanilla and wood spice. It then started to open up and released earthy qualities, herbs and big helpings of sweet oak nuances.

I liked this wine very much. It didn�t have an overly transcendent quality but it pleased in every sense of the word. It had everything I want in a good Cabernet. I rated this 4.5 to 5 stars. My initial thoughts were that is was an older (mid �90s) Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley.

I was kinda close. Turned out it was a 2001 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon from Alexander Valley, Sonoma $60 retail ... prob around $70 by now.

Robert Parker gave it 90-92 points: The 2001 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignons reveals a saturated ruby/purple color in addition to a lusty, sweet perfume of cassis, spice box, licorice, and lavender. The wine is ripe and medium to full-bodied, with low acidity, abundant glycerin, wood, and alcohol, and admirable texture as well as length. It will be at its finest between 2003-2014.

Wine B
The color on the wine was intense. It was dark, inky and the aromas were wafting before my nose could come close to the glass. Exotic, sexy, alluring scents... rose petals, mixed red and black berries, jammy, ripe fruits with nuances of vanilla, cigar box and freshly cracked pepper. Creamy smooth entry, with fruit bombs exploding black, jammy berries through a finish that wouldn�t quit. Plush tannins that amplified as it lingered with gobs of blueberries and spice. This was a big wine made in a very elegant fashion.

Immediately, I thought this was a California Zinfandel worthy of at least 4 to 4.5 stars.

Again, I was damn close. Turned out to be Frank�s Family Vineyards Reserve Zinfandel from Napa Valley. At 15% alcohol and retailing around $40, this low production wine was a hit. Tim also mentioned that he opened it the day before and let it decant since then so clearly, this is a big wine that needs time to open up.

Wine C
This threw me all off. This wine was tight, offered little fruit but had incredible depth that led me to think this was a young Bordeaux that needed time before it would shine. There were lots of black licorice, vanilla spice, big chewy tannins and oak and cedar note that linger well after the finish. It definitely had an old world quality to it especially after drinking the two previous fruit-bomb by comparison. It was very interesting and had some serious potential but my guess was that it needed 3-5 more years before it would drinking well.

Again, so close... yet so far. It wasn�t a Bordeaux but in fact a Barolo. The 2001 Prunotto for about $55/bottle. What really surprised me, aside from the fact that this was my first-ever Barolo to taste but how, even though it was 2001 vintage, that I STILL thought it needed another few years before it reveal all it had to offer. Truly amazing that wine is still made in a fashion where patience reigns supreme.

Quite the mix of red wines indeed. Tim and I had some good laughs over all this and were amazed at the results. We re-tasted the wines after knowing their identity which is always another eye-opener of an experience. It�s always amazing how we as consumer are so swayed by brands, packaging and preconceived ideas... this couldn�t be more true when it comes to wine.

We then poured ourselves a healthy glass of the Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon, bellied up to the kitchen table and chowed down on chicken nuggets, green beans and wild rice. Because... well, why not?

Posted by Ryan ODonnell on Aug 5, 2009 11:06 pm

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Interview with Matt Michael of Baldassari Family Wines

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:45:52 +0100

Some people get excited when they meet an actor or athlete. That's fine and I get it... but for me, its the winemaker who produces wines I really enjoy. I'm absolutely serious too. Sweaty palms, dry mouth, stuttering... yup, that's me. Totally weird but its true.

Regardless of the stammering, I love talking "shop" with them. They always provide the honest truths behind their wines as opposed to the tasting room staff who regurgitate the marketing spin from the winery's website -- as they should, of course. But the winemaker looks at the end product in a much different light. Often, they see what should have been different during fermentation, smell the result of too much time on the lees or taste the extra days of barrel aging before bottling.

Hearing these little stories makes me fall in love with the wine all over again. Because its through these nuances that I truly appreciate the effort that went into the bottle.

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet and speak with Matt Michael of Baldassari Family Wines and assistant winemaker at Sebastiani Winery. Matt and his father are still in the early stages of bringing the family name to the public. But in just the past few years, Matt is proving to the wine world, one bottle of Syrah at a time, that he's a man with the passion and the skills to be one of the valley's "winemakers to watch".

My excursion began with meeting Matt at Sebastini, and then heading into town where we enjoyed lunch at the El Dorado Kitchen. Afterward, we continued our chat over a vertical review of his '04, '05 and '06 Syrah.

My interview with winemaker, Matt Michael:

Q: So why Syrah?

We like Sirah, both of us a lot. And looking at it right, there's only a few people that are doing it up here. It's a good standalone varietal; it's not something that we're going to need to do a lot of blending with. And we kind of liked the Bennett Valley area, for that cool climate, which we did in '03 and '04. And we're back there in '06. It's really, really supple fruit.

Q: You don't see a lot of people focusing JUST on Syrah, especially in this area.

Syrah is going to have it's day. I just never thought that the Syrah market would fall so flat so quick. When we started it in '03, people were much more in tune with trying Syrah than they are now.

Q: Why do you think the Syrah market here in Northern California is weakening?

I think its because of the Australian Shiraz craze. They're squeezing out the $20 and under bottle, and the proliferation $20 and above small production Syrahs, it's all come to this price range and people are unwilling to try them unless they have a score attached to them. At least that's what I'm hearing from people in the shops.

Q: So how important to your success is obtaining high scores?

I think the product speaks for itself. But quite frankly, when trying to sell to stores and four or five other Syrah winemakers all have scores and ours doesn't, it's hard to compete.

I hate to say that, but that's the reality of the situation. That's the way we have to come to the table. There's a few guys out there that are willing to take the wine because they like it and they trust their own palates. They don't want to have the score sell the wine for them. But then there's a lot of guys that are not willing to do the work.

"This isn't going to sell for me, so thanks but no thanks." is what I hear when I go out there. It's hard because I wish it wasn't like that. But they're in business to make things easy on themselves. Most people want to sit behind a counter and have customers read a shelf talker, "91pts Robert Parker", "Oh, I'll take three of these". That's what I've found to be more of the norm than less.

Q: What are your ultimate goals for the Baldassari brand? Are you looking to stay niche?

We're trying to stay niche. We don't want to get above 500 cases any time soon. We want to concentrate on Syrah but we're branching out. In '08 we're making about 30 cases of Petite Sirah. And there's probably going to be a Zinfandel next year or so.

Q: You speak so highly about Sonoma's fruit but in your '05, it was a 50/50 blend of Napa and Sonoma fruit. Was that the original intent?

What happened is when we got a good remarks on our '03, the person we bought the fruit from forced us to bid back on our deal. They had interest because we put the vineyard on the label but they received other interest and higher offers than what we agreed upon. They're a new grower and was the second year of fruit producing so maybe they had some bills that were staring them in the face and needed to pay it down.

But it put us in a really uncomfortable position, because it was two months before harvest. I scrambled to pick up this Napa fruit which I really liked a lot. It just didn't go along with our kind of overall vision. I mean, I'm very happy with the wine. I worked my ass off to make it but it just didn't go with our vision. And maybe someday down the road I'll try it again.

Everyone asks me that too. "Why did you do that?" Honestly, I could make up some fancy story, but the reality is that the two wines on their own weren't as good as the blend. That's the real reason. I'll sacrifice having "Napa Valley" on the label, because I want to put out the best wine. That's all I really care about.

Q: How did you go about blending? Did you blindly combine them or was there a methodical process?

We whittled it down in a series of threes, because it gets overwhelming if you do too much. In the beginning, I looked at each one individually and then the blend. We did triangles with it to make sure that we weren't fooling ourselves. And every time it was the 50/50 blend. So I said, "Okay. Well, maybe we're onto something here, but before I jump the gun, let's do 75/25 Napa then favor the Sonoma 75/25. Let's look at 50/50 again." So I said, "All right, let's look at a closer range, 40/60 this way then that way." Every time, it was the 50/50 blend so that was obviously saying something. And you've got to trust that.

Q: Explain what "triangle" tasting is.

A triangle tasting is when you have two wines that are the same and one that is different. You have to see if you can detect which one is different. If you can't, then there's no statistical relevance. You do that throughout the process and it keeps you honest. It's a very civilized tasting. We'll do a round of three, then we'll come back a week later. You want to have time to digest the results and make sure that what I was thinking and what I was tasting is the right thing.

Q: How do you go about finding the right fruit?

There's a vineyard out in Russian River that I really like their fruit, but I have to convince them to sell me some grapes. The problem with what we're doing is that no one who has good fruit wants to sell just one or two tons because they could more easily sell all ten or fifteen to someone else. I have to convince them. "This is good for you. Since it's a single vineyard, I'll put your name on the bottle. You can get recognition and charge more for your fruit. It's going to be a beneficial relationship. Yeah, it's really easy to unload your fruit to someone for the county average but your fruit's good. Why not let someone do something good with it instead of blend it away?" So it's challenging. I have no leverage whatsoever.

Q: So an even bigger problem is growers aren't willing to work with small time winemakers like yourself?

Most people want to unload it all because it's a pain in the ass for them. For instance, I like to hang my fruit out there, make sure it's ripe. If the grower has five or six different winemakers buying and they all have different ideas eventually, the grower gets to the point where it's just a huge headache.

When I meet with them, I sit down and let them taste my wine and explain what we're about and how I like to make wine. I explain, "It's going to require these things and are you on board with that or are you not?" That usually will weed out 65% of growers. It avoids all the confusion down the road like, "Well, you never told us about this and you wanting to hang it out; we're losing crop here."

I learned this the hard way. You've just got to find guys that are on the same page as you.

Q: At the end of the day, when you bottle and taste the wine yourself, how satisfied are you?

Never. I'm being honest with you. I never am. I never think it's good enough. But I guess that's what keeps you going.

Q: Explain your methods for using oak barrels

There's actually a good wallop of oak on here [we're tasting the '04 Syrah] but I've found that if your grapes are good, the oak seems to integrate really well. If the grapes aren't that good, then the oak really stands out.

I used one new American oak barrel and then all the rest is one-year-old French. The wine stayed in its barrel the entire time until its time for blending and bottling. I only buy enough barrels to store the wine that I have. No barrel rotation program here.

Q: What's your typical fermentation look like?

I do as much cold soaking as possible. It's just a feel for me. Usually, I do everything in one ton bins and I'll ferment there. I try to ferment really warm... very hot, like up to 95 degrees, which is pretty hot for some people. You get better extraction, better color. You just have to be mindful of your yeast and the nutrients that are there. I use a Rhone isolate yeast called D21 - pretty standard.

Q: Any enzymes, additives or additions you always turn to?

I just use a color enzyme when I start but I don't use heaps of it. It breaks the chains down. I use it in my cold soak because they're more water labeled than they are ethanol label. It's fine and works for your color during fermentation but they don't want to come out as readily once you start forming alcohol. I try to encourage it to come out during cold soak. If the must is sitting on CO2 pellets, I mix it up everyday. Once I start to see good color, then I start fermenting.

Since I'm harvesting ripe, I don't want to add a lot of tartaric. I've also got higher PH. You don't want a lot of spontaneous craziness going on because then you lose the aromatics. If you get all these weird microbial activity, then you lose all the pure fruit and aromatics that you get.

Q: What's your percentage of whole berries to crushed grapes?

It's a lot. It's probably 75% whole berry. Completely de-stem but no crush. So the whole bin looks like a big thing of blueberries when it's done. It breaks open during fermentation pretty readily, even during cold soak with the enzyme. I know the enzyme people areshaking their heads but for me I'm looking for color extraction upfront. Color extraction is two things; it's enzyme work and it's heat. By the time you get to 95 degrees, you've already got a lot of ethanol in the wine so you're not going to get the anthocyanin in wine to come out as much as if you were early onset.

Q: Tell me about press day

I press to one bar, which is just one atmosphere -- or about fourteen pounds, I think? Then everything else goes to hard press and in the stainless steel kegs.

Usually, I get off one ton and about 15 gallons of hard press. I'll fine the hard press because it's usually tannic and the pH is a lot higher so I'm treating that a little bit differently. I want to be able to incorporate it back but want to make sure that it's reflective of the other stuff.

Q: So you're an advocate for fining?

I'm a tannin freak so if I feel like if the wine has tannin issues, then I'll deal with it by fining. I have no problem fining but people have this huge problem with it. In Bordeaux, if you look at some of the classic literature, they'll fine some of their finest barrels up with up to six egg whites per barrel-- that's some pretty heavy fining. Fining isn't your enemy. Fining is simply if you have excess tannin, sometimes it's just never going to be good unless you get rid of it.

Different vintages extract differently so you have to evaluate each year differently. I don't come in with a formula. I first assess the grapes to be good and ripe. I'm not going to have to ferment nearly as hot as I would with extraction. On a cool year, I have to handle it completely different; have to ferment way hotter. Usually when tannins aren't as ripe, it's much harder to get them out of the skins.

Q: How long do you let it sit in bottle?

I like to give it at least a year, year and a half bottle age; at least. I think that the wine industry is doing this thing where they've got to release asap but really, after you bottle, I find the wines usually drink the best starting about a year and a half out. It's been my experience, whatever winery I've been at has been like that.

You shock the wine during the bottling process. You have this juice that's been subjected to very little amounts of oxygen towards the later stages of its life. Then even if you are the most diligent you can be getting it out of barrel and to tanks to go to bottle, you're picking up a lot of dissolved oxygen along the way. For a wine that's been that closed up to be super-oxidized for a brief period and then go back, it has this period where it just shuts down.

Q: Do you favor more of the art and the craft of winemaking versus the lab work and science?

I like the winemaking aspect of it by far. I mean, lab work is essential just to make sure that things are in line but I think really the winemaking side is what fascinates me. What I've found is that if I do everything right and don't monkey with the wines too much, then it turns out okay. If you start monkey-ing with the wines a lot, you lose the aromatics. You still have aromatics but they don't seem as pure, as rich. It's hard to explain. It's just missing that. You blow it off the more you move it so I try to be minimalist in that approach.

Q: How often do you rack?

I only rack twice a year. First off the gross lees then about half way. Usually the second time, I incorporate egg whites to fine the barrel. That's it. That's by design. I want the aromatics to develop. I've noticed that with Syrah. It's a fine balance because you can get the pure fruit if you keep them clean off the lees. A lot of the ones that smell real meaty and kind of reduced, those are the ones that usually sat on the lees for a while. Syrah doesn't typically do every well in lees. You can get some healthy lees but typically they start getting this kind of funky, animal, reduced smell. Stylistically, I'm just going with what the vintage is giving me and I'm not trying to stamp my signature winemaking mold on it. I could try to make these more uniform but I don't want to.

Q: Any intentions of making a white wine?

I would like to. The problem is that if I did, it would have to be something that was barrel aged since there's no tank availability for me right now. Maybe a Sauvignon Blanc on oak... that would be edgy.

Q: Where do you find inspirations? Who is it? Where is it? What guides you year to year to learn more and try new things?

That's a good question. I don't know that I really look outside. It's always been something that's kind of been in me. I'm a laid back guy but I'm also internally very driven. This sounds stupid but I've never looked for outside sources to inspire me. I kind of inspire myself, if that makes sense. I don't go home and go "Yeah, I'm going to make a good wine." But I get pretty excited when I try the wines and they come out good. I never say, "Okay, I'm fully satisfied." Because I'm not, but I get excited when I think that I've made a good end product. It inspires me to do more the next year. It's a hard thing though because other than guys like you or something that says, "Hey, we like your wine." You don't get a ton of feedback. People don't say, "Great job. Keep it up." You just don't get it.

Q: Do you have any rituals or habits before you embark down making a wine?

Not really. I'm pretty boring. I just try to not lose focus on what I'm doing. I tend to freak out if I think something's not where it should be. In the past, it's proven to be totally erroneous behavior. It's because I'm so hard on myself that I think that, "Oh my God. This is a total disaster. It's a train wreck. I should bulk it out." I'm just overreacting. I've learned to slow down and just say, "Okay. Let's revisit in a month. See if you still think it's a train wreck. Then if you do maybe we'll incorporate other people and see if they think it's a train wreck." My first year, it was like that. It's just because I want it to be the best product I can deliver.

When you start tasting other people's wines, you're your own worst critic. You're always thinking your wine is shit.

Q: What made you even get into winemaking?

I went to Davis. I had no intentions of doing wine at all. I looked through their catalogue and saw the fermentation class. What intrigued me first was beer, not wine. I started taking wine classes and I realized there is way more depth to wine, not just as a beverage but as a whole industry. Most breweries don't have their own barley fields. The biggest connection you have to where you get your stuff from is where it's stamped on the burlap sack when it comes in. Brewing has its own set of problems but the main difference is that brewers brew year round. Wine has a harvest period.

Winemakers have three months to not screw it up until the next three months, nine months from now.

Q: Geography, availability, price; all that aside. What varietals would you make?

That's a hard one. What intrigues me, which is probably totally stupid because the Cal-Ital time passed, but Sangiovese has always intrigued me. No one really had any success with it here. It's this clumsy grape that's high tannin and low color. No one knows how to do it here. They've gotten to the point where they say, "It doesn't work." I don't think it doesn't work. I just think that no one has come up with a way to make it work. They've been doing it in Italy forever and do a good job with it. So I can't believe that it's the only place in the world they can grow that grape.

Q: If we go to your house right now and there's an open bottle, what is it?

It's a bottle of my '05 Syrah sitting on the counter. I tend to drink a lot of my stuff but I drink everything. Right next to it is honestly, a bottle of Italian. I don't even know what it is - I got it at Trader Joe's. I don't discriminate against anything. I'll try it. I might not like it but I'll try it. I've been surprised a lot.

Q: You really have three vintages that speak for themselves...

I don't want to force anything in any direction. I tend to be a minimalist. I get involved where I feel I have to get involved. Other than that, I just let it go and enjoy.

Posted by Ryan O'Donnell on Mar 2, 2009 9:45 pm

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Learn to Buy the Wine Not the Bottle

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:43:30 +0100

Imagine yourself at a local grocery store, taking a look down the wine isle. It can all be pretty intimidating. I know that's how I felt when I first started shopping for wine. The wine isle felt more like a wall of wines, top to bottom and left to right, filled with red, white, and other types of wines I had no clue about. How could I ever decide upon one wine? Out of the corner of my vision I see a familiar site, the beer and liquor selections. And I think to myself how much easier it would be if I would choose anything else but wine. Well, in this expose I will try to dispense with smoke and mirrors that seem to cloud wine and I will advocate that wine is well worth the effort to learn about and that the wall of wines can be easily conquered.

First and foremost, let's dissect and take down that wall of wines. All grocery stores have a minimal or generic type of organization when it comes to the wine isle. At least the wine will be organized by grape varietal, like a different section of merlot, zinfandel, chardonnay, and cabernet sauvignon, etc... Some grocery stores will take the organization even further by organizing which country the wine is produced from and/or a specific region like Sonoma County, Napa County or even Northern California which encompasses these two regions and many others. From this point, it's really up to you the wine shopper to start putting in some effort and start exploring.

Keep in mind that wineries are like any other business; they produce wine in order to turn a profit. And like another industry, the wine industry has some really exceptional wineries, some extraordinarily bad wine producers and some in the middle. This is where the "bottle" or marketing side comes into play. Wineries spend tons on money on creating wine labels, advertising in magazines and wine competitions and positioning their wines (in the eyes of the wine consumer) as a high quality, good/great wine. An interesting and insightful fact is that all wineries want their wines resting at eye level in wine isles. You guessed it, those wines are easier to notice and more often than not are purchased over other wines. That's why I want to encourage you to search of the beaten path, as well as the eye level wines in order to get a complete idea of what wines the grocery store offers.

Back to the heart of the matter, marketing doesn't make the wine bad but it is very confusing. I want wine shoppers to be able to focus beyond the "bottle" and end up buying the wine. With a few easy steps and your willingness to retain information, together, it can happen.

Forget the name of wineries you may have heard of or even tasted. I'm starting off with a clean, an impressionable slate. Don't miss interpret that first sentence though, after everything is done and tasted, names are very important, but only when the wine not the bottle is purchased.

Know what type of wine you want to buy. Do I want red wine, white wine or maybe a dessert wine? This first question then leads to what varietal of wine you want. Do I want a zinfandel or chardonnay?

Understanding wine labels is the next key. I already know what varietal of wine I want, lets' say a zinfandel. There are some general points to look for on labels. Where the wine is produced (what country)? This is important because certain wines from certain places, you can expect a certain type of flavor and smell.

How specific of a location is the wine produced from? Again you can expect a certain level of quality or a certain type of flavor even more localized. For instance, the zinfandel I want to buy just comes from Sonoma County rather than anywhere in California. I find that most of the time, the more specific the area, the higher quality the wine will be.

Lastly, look at the year or vintage. This is not so important now and days, because the level of technology as increase so dramatically and that has down played the importance of how good or bad the weather was during a certain year. In the olden days, the wine buyers new which vintages had the best weather and which years had the worse, weather affects how grapes are grown! Think of it this way, wineries can produce a good or bad wine from good grapes, but cannot produce good wine from bad grapes.

Once the "perfect" wine is found for that particular night, don't hesitate to try a different wine another time. One wine leads to another and then another, soon you will easily look past the headaches of labels on the bottle and instinctively understand your own personal preferences when it comes to wine. So the next time you shop for wine, you may not realize it, but at this point, you just bought the wine not the bottle!

Posted by Caleb Neeper on Oct 13, 2007 6:43 am

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Interview with Big White House Winemaker John Evan Marion

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:49:04 +0100

Livermore Valley's young winemaker is calling the shots at the ultra premium winery of Big White House and is now concocting cult wines under a new label.

John Marion is a busy guy to say the least. For the past two-thirds of his life, John has been making wine. It's been part of his family for generations and John isn't about to let this knowledge pass by. He is also studying chemistry at Cal Poly, San Luis Opisbo, works on web development projects, dabbles in construction and is working on a patent (but don't ask him about that, he won't tell you a thing). His knack for engaging customers and story telling during wine tastings in the winery's tasting room is a gift one should experience first hand.

John is heavily engaged with the production of Big White House wines. He's now adding to the load his new lineup, John Evan, where he's got a few wines under his belt. His latest is a Cabernet Sauvignon from Livermore Valley. "When creating a Cabernet like The Alchemist, I want to make a fruit-forward Cab with good tannin structure" says John. "To me, Cabs are often undrinkable, as I detest the bell pepper flavor found in so many otherwise delicious wines. But I have eliminated it from this cab! Alchemists of old strove to turn lead into gold using mineral acids, blisteringly hot temperatures, and occult rituals. I used somewhat different tools than the alchemists such as careful fruit selection, selected yeast, barrels with higher toast levels, and frequent racking. The old alchemists never succeeded in turning lead into gold but I have turned what could be little better than lead into a wine more valuable, and definitely more drinkable, than gold."

I caught up with John for lunch in downtown Livermore Valley. We split a bottle of Frank Family Chardonnay and spoke openly for a couple hours. John is one of the most personable guys around. See for yourself:

JM: What's this? I don't think I've had this Chardonnay... Wow, great nose! Oh, this is my kind of Chardonnay.

VS: What's your take on the no-Chardonnay movement?

JM: I like Chardonnay. I hate it when people say they don't drink Chardonnay. It can be made in such wide styles that saying such is an unfair statement. I like a full-bodied Chard with some creamy aspects. If I wanted a lightweight, fruity white, I'd order a Sauvignon Blanc.

VS: Can we expect a Chardonnay from John Evan?

JM: Maybe. We make a Chardonnay under the Big White House name already but if I come across fruit that would be up to John Evan standards, I would release it.

VS: How do your standards differ between Big White House and John Evan?

JM: John Evan wines are ones that I feel are the best wines possible. I must be able to say to myself "this is the best wine I've tasted for this varietal". It's not so much about standards so much as how I want to express myself through these wines. John Evan wines are very low production and I make them in a style in which I would drink. I'm not as concerned with making a pleasing wine for the public so much as I'm making a wine I'll enjoy for years to come. I just happen to sell some to the public too. The Big White House wines have a more pleasing aspect for general public consideration. While we put our spin on each wine, we're not doing anything crazy that the general public would find offensive.

VS: Being a young winemaker has to have perks. The ladies must love it!

JM: Actually, I wouldn't know. I certainly don't use it to it's full potential. I'm actually rather shy. When women find out I make wine, it certainly helps keep the conversation going but after that is what I need to work on. I enjoy talking about the nuances of winemaking but most people don't care about that level of detail.

VS: How does the Livermore Region stack up against Napa?

JM: Napa does a much better job at marketing. People, even here in Livermore, always think of going to Napa when going wine tasting. They don't realize they can do it their backyard and save themselves the hour and half drive. I think overall, Livermore wineries make wines for the everyday consumer to enjoy today for any occasion. Napa makes wines to receive high scores from Wine Spectator -- they're in it for the score. We in Livermore are in it because we love to make wine. Most of the wineries in Livermore were started as hobbies and have flourished. They have more character and personality -- and our wines are great too!

VS: So what are the wines you drinking these days?

JM: I don't drink that often but when I do, it's usually my own stuff. That's just it. I make wine I enjoy and when other people enjoy it too, even better. Business and profits aside, I make wine that I like to drink. It's definitely nice being able to make wine you enjoy because I can't afford the stuff on those shelves!

VS: Screw cap or cork?

JM: I would choose screw cap every time if I could. The proof is there and it's the obvious choice for sealing wine. The simple reason we don't use it yet is cost. The machine to make that little groove around the bottle to hold the cap down is thousands of dollars; just for a small groove! We're not ready to make that financial leap just yet.

VS: What can we expect from John Evan in the next 2-3 years?

JM: I don't know. I guess whatever grapes I get my hands on and what they turn into. I like to dabble and see what happens to the grapes over the process so as long as the grapes keep coming in, I'll continue to make wines. I think I'll be overseeing more and more of the day-to-day of both wine labels and taking on more responsibilities throughout the winery. I don't see us growing any bigger than we are today but if sales continue to do well, who knows. I'll definitely be working more and more at the winery and less on side jobs.

--

John Evan wines can be tasted at Big White House Winery which is open Saturday and Sunday from Noon-4:30pm. Visit them online at www.bigwhitehouse.com.

Posted by Ryan O'Donnell on Sep 17, 2007 7:49 am

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Wine 101 for the Rest of Us

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:22:41 +0100

The continually growing interest in wines has sparked ever more questions about the basics of wine tasting, storing and serving. Let's get to the basics:

Knowing a Wine by its Color

Many factors affect a wine's color. A few more important ones are grape variety, winemaking techniques and age of the wine.

Grape variety can make the color more or less intense. For example, the thin-skinned Pinot Noir grape yields lighter colored reds than the thicker-skinned Cabernet grape, simply because the color comes from the grape skin.

A winemaker decides on how long grape skins will be soaked with the fermenting liquid and at what temperature. For red wines, the color will deepen with longer and warmer soaking times. For white wines, such as Chardonnay the color will deepen into a golden yellow when it has been fermented and/or aged in barrel. Unoaked whites are often pale yellow in color.

Wine changes color as it ages. Whites become more golden, eventually turning orange, and reds get tawny, taking on a brownish tinge. Keep in mind that very few wines on the market benefit from aging, and long aging is reserved for the very finest vintages in the world.

When It Comes To Wine, Nothing Knows Like The Nose

Wine is the delight of many senses, and none of them more so than our sense of smell. That's why we swirl wine in the first place, to release the aroma and bouquet. (Aroma, speaks to the grape varietal, bouquet to how the wine was made and aged.) Swirling is easy. Simply place your glass on an even surface, put the pads of your index and middle fingers on the base, and move your fingers in small, even circles. A big-bowled wine glass helps release aromas even better and prevents you from swirling wine out of the glass.

After you swirl and before you taste it, breathe in a wine's aroma and then try to identify the first thing you think of--an association with flavors you sensed before. Smells are often associated with vivid memories... Strawberries? Chocolate? Maybe orange or anise? Whatever you smell helps to set up your taste buds for what happens next. And that makes the whole experience richer and more sensual.

Tasting Wine

Many of the flavors smelled are also the ones you "taste." In addition, you'll taste sweetness (or the absence of that), acidity and bitterness. Texture is sensed at this time, which includes the body of a wine, which ranges from thin and water-like to thicker more viscous liquid. The quality of the texture may feel like velvet, or be oily, rustic, open or closed textured, or fine and coarse grained.

Finally the finish of a wine is sensed and a long finish (if it's pleasant of course) is desirable. A judgment often occurs spontaneously- good/not good, but try to evaluate the wine in more detail by asking yourself questions such as: Is it a sound wine (no off-flavors), Does it taste like the grape from which it's made, Is it complex? Balanced? Is it a good value (quality-price ratio)?

Decanting Red Wine - There's More to it than Meets the Eye

Nothing shows off brilliant red wine like a handsome decanter. Yet, that's not the only reason to do it.

Decanting younger reds helps them breathe and release their bouquet, and may help soften their tannins. You can also aerate wine by swirling it in a large, big-bowled glass. Letting wine breathe by merely pulling the cork is highly overrated, however, since it only exposes a small surface to oxygen.

Decant older reds to separate them from unattractive and somewhat bitter-tasting sediment. Sediment slowly forms in wines (after 10 years or so). Sediment are tannin polymers that drop out, taking small particles with them and settling on the bottom of the bottle. To decant, the point is to pour as much as possible from the bottle to the decanter leaving the sediment behind.

Pour slowly from the bottle to decanter, stopping when you see sediment appear in the bottleneck (a candle held under the neck helps illuminate this process.) Remember to decant just before drinking, as older, fragile wines oxidize easily.

The Best's Second-Best When Selecting a Bottle

Many of the top winemakers in California, France and Australia offer less expensive wines in addition to their high-end signature wines. Most are made by the same winemaker and are often just a notch below in quality but a big step down in price, making them tremendous values. Look for a renowned winery and ask your server or your wine merchant for their more moderately priced bottles.

Cooking with Wine

Never cook with a wine you wouldn't drink. Cooking, and the process of reducing a sauce, will bring out the worst in an inferior wine. Avoid using "cooking wine" found in supermarkets. Use fruit-forward wines without too much tannin or oak flavors. A lesser quality version of the wine you intend to drink with the meal is a good rule.

Storing Wine

Everyone knows you're supposed to store wine on its side to keep the cork moist and the seal airtight. If you want to age wines, the ideal cellar temperature is around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity is also a factor. Less than 50% humidity can cause the cork to dry out, ruining the seal and allowing oxygen into the wine. For this reason, some premium wine makers in the United States, Australia and other countries are turning to screw caps which provide a more reliable closure. If you intend to store wines for just a few weeks or months before drinking, temperature is only as crucial as to keep the cork from expanding and contracting and letting air in. In other words, consistent temperature is more important than the "correct" cellar aging temperature.

Storing Left-Over Wine

If you drink one or two glasses of wine with dinner, you are left with half a bottle of wine. If you think you'll drink the rest of it the next day, you probably don't have to do anything but put the cork back in the bottle and store it in the refrigerator. This is best for all wines, white, red and pink.

If it's going to take you a few days to finish the bottle, you have three options:

A vacuum pump comes with its own stopper, and takes most of the air out of the bottle to create a vacuum. Little to no oxygen means the wine won't turn to vinegar.

Another way to stop oxidation is to replace the air in the bottle with an inert gas (mixture). Spray the gas in the bottle and reseal it with the cork.

With all these methods, store the bottle in the refrigerator--lower temperatures slow down oxidation. Most wine will keep for at least a week.

A third way to preserve your wine is to pour it into an empty half bottle. (This only works, of course, if that is how much wine you have left.) Fill the half-bottle to the top and seal it with the cork--no air, no oxidation.

Posted by Marian Jansen op de Haar on Sep 17, 2007 7:22 am

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La Luna Friday's at Murrieta's Well in Livermore Valley

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:00:32 +0100

I haven't found a better wine event in the Livermore Valley to welcome the weekend then Murrieta's Well La Luna Fridays.

The jist is simple: $50 gets you all you can drink, all you can eat, live music and a fabulous setting in wine country... that's if you can get in because they limit the number of guests to keep it intimate.

The details make this event irresistible...

Murrieta's Well is one of the best producers in the Livermore Valley. Named after the legendary gold rush-era desperado, Joaquin Murrieta, who camped by the artesian well on the property on his way to Mexico to sell wild horses. Previously owned by Louis Mel, this historic property was brought back to life in 1990 by viticulturalist Phil Wente and winemaker Sergio Traverso.

The old stone winery building is a gorgeous example of early California architecture. Local timber and rustic concrete made from gravel gathered from the nearby Arroyo Mocho Creek were used in the construction.

They're still very much focused on their Spanish heritage and are making some of the finest examples of Tempranillo and Meritage blends I've tasted. The ownership by Wente allows them to blend the benefits and resources of both wineries while staying true to their experimental and Spanish roots.

The food and tapas are by the award winning restaurant at Wente Vineyards. Each event is a different theme - one night was Cuban inspired, this time around it was Portuguese. You're given a small plate with a notch to hold you wine glass. Filling it up with the delectable dishes is easy and going back for more is necessary.

The wines they were pouring were a nice variety and went fantastic with the foods. The 2005 White Meritage, 2004 Zinfandel and the 2004 Red Meritage. If that wasn't enough, at 7:30 the open up the winery and for $5 you can 2-3 library wines - again, very healthy 2oz pours here too. This evening, they served the 2001 Red Meritage and a Portugese Port. While I was hoping they would pour the Tempranillo, these wines were great in their own right. I don't have notes on the library wines but I remember liking the 2004 Meritage (more fruit) better than the 2001 and the Port was fabulous!

Getting a table can be tough so arriving early is key. Otherwise, you may be lucky to find just a chair to sit or you can hangout on their garden walls or steps. Sitting among the grape vines with endless food and wine is the best way to usher in the weekend.

The guest cap makes it a perfect relaxing stop and helps justify the high cost in my opinion. It doesn't get too busy to where you're waiting in long lines for wine or food.

It really is an intimate setting with great food and great wine.

Watch their website for the next La Luna Friday's event:

www.murrietaswell.com/events.asp

Murrieta's Well

3005 Mines Road

Livermore, CA 94550

(925) 456-2390

Posted by Ryan O'Donnell on Jul 23, 2007 9:00 am

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