Late Fall in the Vines

     I took the dog for a walk in the vineyards tonight to find some peace and quiet during this frenetic pre-Christmas season.  All the presents are purchased and vacation is just around the corner.  However, there is still so much to be done.  All our reds need to transfer to oak while our whites begin to cold stabilize. 

     The snow and sunset made for a beautiful shot so I wanted to share it with you along with my wishes for a happy holiday season.  Merry Christmas!

The Gold Standard

This past weekend I was privledged to sample the gold standard of late harvest Sauternes.  My first and probably my last taste of Chateau d'Yquem 2000.  I would agree that this dessert wine is the most amazing taste I have ever had in a bottle.  The idea of tasting this wine to help me better appreciate the  goal that we wish to achieve with our estate grown Vidal Blanc is a bit disarming.  If we can make a wine that makes someone even think of Chateau d'Yquem, we will consider our first late harvest a success.  The wine is proceeding as planned and the proof will be in the product.

Today I stopped the fermentation after more than 5 weeks at 11% alcohol.  Because the weather has been so cold the fermentation has been proceeding very slowly.  After a few more weeks of resting, I plan to transfer everything into a new French Oak barrel.  Next fall we should be tasting our first bottle of Late Harvest Vidal Blanc.

Decorated for the Holidays Inside and Out

       

   On Sunday we completed our decorations at the winery.  We are now ready for Christmas since we are decorated inside and outside.  The weather turned cold and snowy the day after the lights went up.  Several visitors stopped in to  see our decorations and taste ous seasonal warm, spiced wines.  Hope to see you soon.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Who can argue that this is not THE most wonderful time of the year?  All the wine is resting in tanks and we have not begun the weekly grind of pruning. We are still open and people are stopping by in droves to stock up on gifts and cellar (stocking?) stuffers. We get to visit and talk with our customers without feeling guilty about not doing a dozen other things.  The weather is cool but we have spiced wine and our cozy tasting room to keep us warm.  

I just love the Holiday Season!  Jody has the winery decorated and we are holding several small Holiday parties.  Unfortunately we only have room for 20 - 30 guests so we have to deny most of the requests.  However the small, office parties and groups of friends who gather to celebrate are another thing that makes this season special.  If you cannot make it out, please have a safe and happy holiday.  If you stop by make sure you say hello and Merry Christmas.

Chromatography test for Wine Acid

     

      Here is a picture of the new test tool which we just acquired to improve our wine quality.  Most of my biology students and any chemistry student  should recognize it as a chromatography assay.  While most wineries choose to send their samples off to a lab and have their results printed, Chris and I take satisfaction from actually running and interpreting our analytic tests in-house.  I have previously blogged about our refractometer, total acidity titration, free SO2 and density tests just to name a few.  Today's test was from a tool to determine what acids remain in our wines after our primary and malolactic fermentations.  As we have stated in our tasting room to any customer who cares to listen, we do not put our white wines through a malolactic fermentation or barrel age our whites.  However, we have begun to both malolactic ferment and barrel age our reds.  This chromatography test shows the results of our friendly malolactic bacterial inoculation.  The left 3 lanes are our standards and the lanes 4-8 are our tank samples.  Any acids that remain visible in our samples mean they are present in our wines.  Thankfully, our malolactic bacteria eliminated the sharp, acidic taste of our Cab. franc and Chambourcin.  Now, all we need is an 15 month rest in toasted French oak barrels.  The results of this years wines should speak for themselves.