Friday, February 20, 2009

Brushfire Fairytales

Morning Ya'll,

Well it is another blustery day on the North Fork. The weather for the past week has been quite nice allowing the guys to move along in the vineyard. Most of the pruning is completed with the exception of the Pinot Noir and Syrah. The crew is more or less split between finishing pruning and pulling the brush from the wires. The "brush" is what the guys have cut from the vine. They place the "brush" in the middle of the rows where it will be chopped into mulch that will return to the soil as nutrients. In years past many vineyards would burn their brush, but now it is pretty standard to mulch it.

When the pruning is completed we will begin tying the canes to the fruiting wire. These canes will provide the new growth for the upcoming year. I am very excited about the upcoming growing season. Now having the experiences of two vintages I feel a greater relationship developing with the vineyard. Vines are much like people and each variety behaves in different ways. Also, each variety depending on where it is in the vineyard and when it was planted will change vine behavior. Now I begin to sound "hokie", but good vineyard managers and winemakers listen and pay close attention to their vines and wines. It is these subtle nuances that when noticed or possibly ignored can and will make significant differences in wine quality.

Cheers,
Juan

Friday, February 6, 2009

Turn of the Screw

Morning Ya'll,

A cold morning it is. I cannot believe it is Friday. I have been busy this week between checking things out in the vineyard and winery. This week we received our Stelvin caps. "Stel" or Stelvin is the winemaker/geek way of saying, "screwcap". Stelvin more specifically names the company that developed the technology. We do this often in language with things like Kleenex and Band-Aid. These more specifically name a brand rather than the product itself. However, these become so synonymous with the product that we call all brands by such names.

A year ago when I was looking into screw cap's they were only two companies that were producing. While cork suppliers are a dime a dozen, screw cap suppliers were few. While at Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento I noted several new producers.

The guys in the vineyard are cruising along with pruning. They are finished with the white grape varieties and have finished all of the Merlot. They still have Cab. Franc, Cab. Sauv, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Pinot Noir, and Syrah to complete. Our crew has some pretty serious arctic gear when they are in the vineyard, but when temperatures dip below 25 degrees with serious wind chill factors they do not work. I will say it many times...As a winemaker we often receive all of the credit, but any winemaker is only as good as the guys in the vineyard.

- Juan.