Filed under: Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: Anderson Valley, Deer Meadows Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Rich Savoy, Russian River Valley, Wentzel Vineyard
Russian River Valley pinot noir arriving at the winery
It’s October 15 and we still are waiting for more pinot noir fruit to get picked and sorted in this 2011 vintage. Today, we sorted our Russian River Valley pinot noir fruit from the vineyard formerly know as Archer Family Vineyard (it was recently sold and new vineyard name is TBD). Usually RRV fruit comes in sometime in mid-late September.
The fact that you have Sonoma fruit getting picked in mid-October tells you what a crazy growing season this has been. Not only did the cool summer push back the phenolic development of the grapes, but the rains in early October caused ripening to stall momentarily. In some cases, it pushed back the ripeness, with sugars going down.
And then, when you get a region like Anderson Valley, where our grapes have come in normally in late September to early October, things are getting pushed back even further. We are still awaiting another lot of Anderson Valley pinot noir, with our Wentzel fruit scheduled for pick on Monday the 17th.
Evidence of a hungry bear at Wentzel Vineyard
And did we say bears? Yes, bears. A little visitor has consumed a few pinot noir clusters at Wentzel Vineyard, further challenging the final yield of the vineyard. Suffice it to say, we are lucky to get our little ton of pinot with all the challenges the year has brought.
Despite all the challenges or idiosyncrasies of the 2011 vintage, the fruit looks *and* tastes good. For growers overall, yields are down due to shatter, dropped fruit because of mold or lack of ripeness and general damage from the rains, but what remains after this close attention to quality are excellent grapes that hopefully are benefiting from an additional two to three weeks of hang time. As Bonne notes in his own 2011 harvest update, more hang time (and cooler growing conditions) means more complexity and more balance.
We’ll see – as Tom Petty growls in his hit from the 80′s, “the waiting is the hardest part.”
Filed under: Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: anderson valley pinot noir, Londer Vineyard, Mendocino County Pinot Noir, Oppenlander Vineyard, Wentzel Vineyard
Swan clone at Londer on October 2, 2011
At this point in October, we’ve normally harvested the majority if not all of our pinot noir from the different appellations with which we source fruit. As of today, we’ve only pulled in one lot of 115 clone pinot noir from Londer Vineyard, and we’re still awaiting the other clone from Londer, Swan, both from Anderson Valley. Nor have we picked our blocks from Wentzel in Anderson Valley, Oppenlander in Comptche and Vineyard 11 (formerly Archer Family) in Russian River Valley.
2011 has proven to be another cool year – similar to 2010, but with a couple of more challenges, or as we like to think about them, opportunities for distinctive wines. 2010 was a very cool growing year in Northern California, especially in the coastal climates, but there were a few heat spikes in August and September. 2011 has been consistently cool, with fewer and less intense warm periods. This has pushed harvest dates out further than last year.
Also adding to the delays have been a couple of rain storms that hit last week across California. If you didn’t get a crew to pick your fruit (often a challenge when everyone wants to pick on the same day) before the rains hit, you have to wait at least a couple of days if not more to let the fruit dry out and avoid any bunch rot. The last of the rains were on Thursday and the earliest we expect to get fruit is on Monday the 10th.
We took a whirlwind trip up to Philo last weekend, staying just over 24 hours, to check out our blocks from the Anderson Valley and Comptche vineyards. Our first stop was Wentzel Vineyard, where upon arrival it was misting rain. We checked in on our the small block called “the clos” from which we get a blend of Dijon clones (114, 115, 667, 777). The most recent measurement of the sugars in the grapes, measured in Brix, was just over 21 Brix. A target zone that we look for in Brix is 23.5 – 24.5 Brix.
Brian checking the berries at Wentzel
We’re not die-hard about the numbers, because you have to look at other important factors: acidity, flavor, color and consistency of the seeds, and finally your gut feeling. The berries tasted good and the seeds are starting to get crunchy, so it’s getting there. With the rains coming in and a slow, cool season, we are predicting the Wentzel will come in late this coming week of the 10th.
We took a drive over to Londer Vineyard, further West of Philo, on Sunday morning; clouds were breaking up and the sun was starting to shine. Londer has been partially picked, but the Swan clone usually comes off the vines last. The yield on these vines looks pretty good, despite some shatter (when a grape cluster doesn’t fully mature due to early season growing conditions like cold and wind) and there is a mix of clusters with small berries and some with large berries. The Swan clone is further along, around 23 Brix, and we were getting more flavors from these given that they are closer to ripening. We expect the Swan clone to come in early this coming week.
After a brief visit with Shirlee Londer (and their dogs, which kept our 5 yr old daughter entertained), we took the windy road up to Comptche, about 30 minutes north of the valley, to check out Oppenlander. In the past we have gotten 114 clone from Oppenlander, but we heard of the possibility of some Pommard and 115. We checked out all the vines, tasting berries up and down the rows, and Oppenlander is also looking good. Very minor puckering from the few warm stretches that we’ve had late in the summer. All the vines have a good canopy, which perhaps helped a little bit during the heavy rains in the last week. We will be getting a blend of 114, 115 and Pommard from Oppenlander on Monday the 10th.
Pommard clone on the vines at Oppenlander
Also on Monday, we’re likely to get our pinot (828 clone) from Vineyard 11 near Windsor in Russian River Valley. So it will be a busy couple of weeks at the winery with only one bin fermenting (Londer 115 on its native yeast) and 4+ tons coming in. After that, we’ll be pressing late into the month. We’ll keep you posted on how the rest of the fruit looks when it comes in in our next harvest update.
Filed under: New releases, Tasting notes, Vineyards | Tags: 2009 Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, Deer Meadows Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Rich Savoy
Pinot Noir grapes at Rich Savoy's Deer Meadows Vineyard above Boonville
It’s been a little quiet over here at ValleyFogBlog, but we’ve been busy behind the scenes at Waits-Mast Family Cellars this summer readying our 2009 vintage Pinot Noir wine for release in September. The busy stuff is the less-than-glamorous side of running a winery. Things like permits, licenses, label approvals and the like. It’s the long checklist of items that we have had to go through to get to releasing and selling the wines.
The good news is we are almost done with all that. A few last steps in the month of August, mostly focusing on revamping our webstore, and then we will be ready to release the wine in early September. So we thought we would take some time to revisit each of the five different pinot noirs we crafted in 2009, profiling a different vineyard each week leading up to the launch.
When you’re in the middle of harvest of any given vintage there is great excitement and anticipation for how the wine will turn out. We recall 2009 being a special year because the growing year was ideal – consistently warm and moderate across the summer – and we expanded our vineyard portfolio to take on some new and different Mendocino County vineyards. Back then we were about to burst – we just couldn’t wait to share these wines. And alas, they are ready.
Taking the 09 Deer Meadows Pinot Noir for a test-drive at Frances restaurant in SF
This week we are going to look at our 2009 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir from the Deer Meadows Vineyard. This wine is probably one of the best single-vineyard wines from a vineyard you’ve never heard of. Deer Meadows Vineyard is located in Anderson Valley and is owned and farmed by Rich Savoy, one of the best-known pinot noir growers in that region. The vineyard you may have heard of is Savoy Vineyard, which is down the road from Deer Meadows was Rich’s original vineyard (and is now owned by Breggo Cellars).
Deer Meadows is located at 1600′ elevation above Boonville, sitting above the fog layer and experiencing slightly cooler temperatures than the valley floor, give its altitude. To read more about our first visit to the vineyard back in September of 2009 and notes on harvest and winemaking, check out our blog post from October, 2009.
But let’s get to the most important part – now that the wine has been aged in French oak and in bottle, how does it taste? Here are our most recent tasting notes from the 2009 Deer Meadows Vineyard Pinot Noir:
The best word to describe this wine is exotic. Wonderful floral and earthy aromatics integrate with a slight caramel edge and Asian spice on the nose. The palate is brisk with bright cherry, orange peel and coriander. Intense red cherry and great acidity punctuate the finish. With such great structure, the wine will unfold after a few hours after being opened; with bottle aging, it will develop even more complexity over time.
Here are the details and specs for this wine:
- Clones: 115/Wädenswil
- Harvest/Brix: September 25, 2009 at 23.5 Brix
- Fruit: 100% whole berry (no stems)
- Fermentation: RC212 yeast
- Barrel aging: 17 months in French oak, 25% new (Cadus, tight grain, medium toast)
- Alcohol content: 14.2% by volume
- Bottled: March, 2011
- Production: 49 cases
Sound good? Oh yeah, it is. Wait until you hear about the next 09 pinot…we’ll look at the 2009 Oppenlander Vineyard next week.
Filed under: Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: 2010 harvest, Comptche, Londer jam, Mendocino County, Oppenlander jam, Oppenlander Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Shandels
Being Guided to the Oppenlander Vineyard in Comptche. Photo by J. Waits
After crafting such a delicious wine with Oppenlander Vineyard fruit in 2009, we feel very lucky to be working with them again this year. Brian first got turned on to the vineyard last year, after tasting pinot noir crafted by Phillips Hill and Baxter from Oppenlander fruit.
Owned by the Shandel family, Oppenlander Vineyard is way off the beaten path in Mendocino County outside of the town of Comptche. It’s about 8 and a half miles from the Pacific Ocean as the crow flies at an elevation of 250 feet.
Touring Oppenlander Vineyard. October 2010.
We visited the vineyard on October 10th, just a few days before our fruit was harvested. Owner Bill Shandel showed us around the family vineyard that he owns with his brother Norman and talked to us not only about the fruit, but also about the history of the land. They are 5th generation owners of the property, which was originally homesteaded in the 1860s by their ancestors from Denmark (via the Gold Rush in Australia). The site of the vineyard was originally a meadow amid the woods. Bill told us that his great-grandfather Charles Oppenlander bought the land and then sent for his girlfriend to join him by traveling across the Isthmus of Panama.
Vintage Truck at Surprise Valley Ranch
As we looked out across this hidden vineyard amid the woods outside of the town of Comptche, it was hard to not reflect on its history and on how remote the location must have been in the 1860s, as it’s still quite remote.
The property is now known as Surprise Valley Ranch and the Shandels produce their own Shandel’s Oppenlander Vineyard Pinot Noir from the vineyards, which they originally planted in 1997 (after a test plot in 1985). We’re sourcing our fruit (114 clone) for our single-vineyard Waits-Mast Pinot Noir from a section of the vineyard that was planted in 1999.
On the property we also saw lots of brambly berry bushes, from which the Shandels create wild Himalayan blackberry jam. Bill gave us a couple of jars of it after we wrapped up our vineyard tour, so we’re looking forward to sharing it with our family on Thanksgiving. Vineyard-owner crafted jam has become a holiday tradition for us ever since we first got a hold of Shirlee Londer’s raspberry jam. It’s an interesting coincidence that jam-making operations seem to go hand-in-hand with many of the vineyards that we are sourcing from this year; so we are eagerly anticipating our family’s Londer vs. Oppenlander jam tasting at the Thanksgiving table in a few weeks. In the meantime, watch this space for our next post, which will delve into the details of the Oppenlander harvest and crush.
Filed under: Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: 115 clone, 2010 harvest, Joseph Swan, Larry Londer, Londer Vineyards, Swan clone pinot noir
Londer Vineyards 115 clone
The 2010 harvest and crush craziness continues as we rolled through our next round of fruit from Londer Vineyards in Anderson Valley. We sourced two different clones from Londer, 115 and Swan. Different clones ripen at a different pace, and impart different flavors. The 115 came in earlier on October 5, while the Swan came in a few days later on October 8.
Ripening this year was a concern up and down the coast as this growing season was very unpredictable. With late spring rains and a very cool summer, dotted with a couple of heat spikes, it was unclear how well and when fruit would ripen. Veraison, the onset of ripening that happens later in the growing season when red grapes like pinot noir change color from green to purple, arrived later than normal.
As we began to adopt the stress that the winegrowers deal with every day, winegrower Larry Londer was great about keeping us posted with measurements on ripening as September marched on. We look at measurements like Brix, a measurement of sugar levels, and pH, a measurement of acidity. In a normal (ha!) year, target range for ripening can be at around 23.5 Brix or higher. But you can’t look at Brix alone. In late September at Londer, we were seeing the 115 go up past 25 Brix, but the pH was still at around 3.2. An ideal range for Brix and pH in pinot noir if you are looking for a balanced, integrated, and food-friendly wine is 23.5 – 25 Brix and a pH of 3.4 – 3.6.
In the end, while measurements are a guide, you have to rely on other factors: flavors – do the grapes taste sour or sweet?; seeds – green, brown, crunchy?; do the berries come off the stems easily and are they pliable when you squeeze them? chewing the skins; and then it’s just gut instinct.
At the end of September and beginning of October, Northern California finally got its summer and a heat wave set in. Temperatures in Anderson Valley were rising above 100 degrees F. The Londers did a fair amount of irrigation during this heat wave, watering almost every day, to allow the grapes to ripen at the right pace and not get burned or raisin-y. In early October, the 115 finally saw its acids drop enough (it’s confusing – pH goes up means acids go down) and catch up with the sugar levels and they got picked on October 5.
Jennifer and our buddy Bryce scrutinize the 115 clone
Waits-Mast Family Cellars has used the 115 clone in a number of our wines as the base clone, blending in 667, 777 or other clones with it. For some of the vineyards we have used, the 115 has imparted more of a floral, bright red cherry flavor. Londer told us that the 115 on their property yields more of a black fruit characteristic.
When the 115 came in on the 5th, the grape clusters were nice and uniform, small to medium sized berries and a tiny percentage of raisins that we pulled off during the hand-sorting process (the fancy new de-stemmer at the winery also de-stems the good berries and leaves the hard raisins on the stems that get ejected out the other side). It had awesome, rich flavors, which are carrying through, along with deep color, as we punch down during the fermentation process. This clone spent 5 days in cold soak and has been fermenting with native yeasts.
We chose the Swan clone because Larry advised that it would impart more red fruit flavors and spice that would balance out the dark fruit of the 115. The Swan clone, which originates from a pinot noir clone that Joseph Swan planted in his Forestville (Russian River Valley) vineyard in 1969, also ripens the latest in their vineyard, so we were intrigued to see how it would come out in a year where everything was ripening late.
Londer's Swan clone at harvest (photo courtesy of Londer Vineyards)
The Swan clone came in on October 8 and was picked at 23.2 Brix and 3.38 pH, less ripe in terms of sugars than the 115, but just as ready. Tasting the berries as they came in, we knew this would provide that bright acidity to the wine as we blend it in with the 115 later on.
The sorting of the Swan was probably the cleanest and easiest sort we had done this harvest. There were little to no raisins and the clusters were beautiful.
We took in two tons (four barrels) of Londer fruit, which is the largest amount of any vineyard we have produced. We are excited to have the extra flexibility with four barrels (vs. two) to blend in different cooperage, clones to create the final product. It all looks very promising right now and as we raise this wine, we’ll do our best to represent everything that Londer Vineyards has to offer.
Filed under: Vineyards | Tags: anderson valley pinot noir, Dijon clone 115 pinot noir, Greg LaFollette, Larry Londer, Londer Vineyards, Rick Davis, Shirlee Londer, Swan clone pinot noir, Wells Guthrie
A foggy morning in Londer Vineyards in late September 2010
When we went to our first Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival almost ten years ago, in addition to other consumer-friendly events, we decided to go to the technical conference. It’s a day for growers and winemakers, full of sessions about microbes, yeasts, phenolics and yet, there’s still a fair amount of tasting Anderson Valley pinot noir. We embraced it like the true geeks we are, and enjoyed it all, even though at the time, we didn’t understand half of it.
We sat next to a very nice gentleman who introduced himself as Larry Londer. We hadn’t heard of him, or his winery. He was very welcoming to us curious neophytes and he became one of the many growers and winemakers from this small community that we have gotten to know over the years.
At the 2003 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival we went to a winemaker dinner at the barn at Londer Vineyards featuring wines from Londer, Copain Cellars, and Roessler Cellars. Highlights included the dinner prepared by Wells Guthrie (winemaker at Copain) and the delicious Londer wines (they served a 2001 Gewurztraminer and a 2001 Pinot Noir). We continued to stop by the Londer barn at every subsequent Pinot Noir Festival, and quickly became club members.
The upper blocks, including 115 and Swan clones, of the Londer Vineyards
This year, almost ten years later, we are now making pinot noir from Londer Vineyards – another event that marks the continued crazy evolution from wine drinkers to winemakers for us here at Waits-Mast Family Cellars.
Larry and his wife Shirlee moved to Anderson Valley in May of 2000, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, after a three-year search for the right plot of land in this wonderful valley. When we first visited the vineyard the weekend of the winemaker dinner, we distinctly remember Larry driving us up the hill to show us the newly planted vines. They planted 15 acres of pinot noir and one acre of Gewurtztraminer. At the time, the vines were not yielding enough fruit and so to get the winery up and running, they were making incredible wines from other Anderson Valley and Russian River fruit with the help of renowned pinotmaker Greg LaFollette.
Years later, their vineyard has matured and their estate pinot noir, with the guiding hand of current winemaker Rick Davis, delivers incredible depth of flavor with intense dark fruit, layers of earth and herbs with a body that is still svelte and belying. Sound inspirational? You bet.
Larry Londer checks flavors on a late September morning
Beyond the quality of the fruit at Londer, it’s gratifying for us to be working more closely with Larry and Shirlee Londer. Ever since our first meeting they’ve been down-to-earth and welcoming and this hospitality has continued as we’ve embarked on our own winemaking adventures. So when we were approached by them this year to make our own pinot noir with Londer fruit for the 2010 vintage, we were thrilled.
Londer Vineyard is located west of Philo, California, on the south-west side of Highway 128. A few miles off the road, the vineyards are set corralled by forests of conifer, and benefit from foggy mornings, warm days, and cool nights. Most of the vineyard is on south facing hills with a combination of well-drained sandy loam covering an underlying clay loam. All of these conditions combine to create a perfect environment for the slow development of flavors and structure that makes for an excellent pinot noir.
In 2010, Waits-Mast Family Cellars is proudly making 100 cases of Londer Vineyards pinot noir, utilizing a blend of Dijon 115 and Swan clones. Stay tuned for our next post about harvest and crush of the Londer fruit.
Londer Vineyards Swan clone ripening in late September, 2010
Filed under: Vineyards | Tags: Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2010, Burgundy, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, Wentzel Vineyard
We have good news for our Wentzel Vineyard fans, Waits-Mast Family Cellars will make pinot noir with this wonderful vineyard once again in 2010. We are only allotted a small amount, but we’re happy to have the chance to make wine with this special fruit.
Wentzel Vineyard in Anderson Valley, September 2010
Our first commercial vintage was made with Wentzel pinot noir fruit in 2007, and it made quite a splash when it was named one of the top 100 wines of 2009 by the San Francisco Chronicle. So we were eager to have the opportunity to make wine with this vineyard again.
We visited Roland Wentzel this month to check on the progress of the pinot noir this growing season. We will be harvesting grapes from a small block that Roland refers to as “the clos.” Much like the small amount of land divided up amongst winegrowers in Burgundy, France, this block is unique and site-specific. It’s a tiny block –less than an acre – that consists of vines transplanted three years ago from a lower block that had poorly drained soil that promoted excessive vine vigor. The block has a south-west orientation, terraced up a steep hillside, so the grapes benefit from the long afternoon sunlight.
Roland Wentzel surveys his steep vineyard above Philo, CA
Helping to moderate that heat from the afternoon sun is the gap in the hills to the west which allows ocean breezes to blow inland towards the hill where the clos sits.
It is roughly 900 feet in elevation, which means it doesn’t get a lot of the low-lying valley fog; experiencing it only when the entire valley is fogged in. The vineyard is surrounded by towering pines, and not too far away are large, old-growth redwoods that feel like they are standing watch over the landscape.
When touring the Wentzel vineyard, one is reminded of other winegrowing practices from Burgundy. Another similarity to Burgundy is the concept of a “field blend.” Unlike in North America where pinot noir blocks are typically divided up by specific clones, in Burgundy a single block may have multiple clones, even within the same row. This is of interest because with clone-designate blocks, you can harvest an earlier-ripening clone before a late-ripening clone efficiently, because you are harvesting separate blocks at a time. It would be inefficient to go in and harvest row by row and pick only the ripe berries, then to return to the same row and pick again a week later.
This means that you may get a mixture of under-ripe, ripe and over-ripe grapes. In the end, it can serve to balance out the wine in the winemaking process. And with a good mixture of clones, you can gain flavor components of each clone. The clos at Wentzel Vineyard has Dijon clones 114, 115, 667 and 777 – all within a block that is less than an acre.
Pinot Noir clusters coming along slowly but surely at the "clos"
When we visited the vineyard on September 11, 2010, we were happy to see that the grapes are coming along quite well, despite the slow, cool growing season this year. Additionally, we saw minimal damage from the August heat spike, during which temperatures reached over 100 degrees. Clusters are nice and small to medium-sized and tightly-packed with small-medium berries. Right now, most of the berries are showing some nice sweetness and tartness.
Beyond all of these statistics and technical details, what really makes this little vineyard special is the care taken by its owners in fostering this magical place in the hills. Roland and his wife Barbara live on this wonderful 300+ acre forested property, living mostly off the land with lush vegetable and herb gardens, fruit trees, sheep, ducks, chickens and more. It is an idyllic, welcoming haven tucked away in the hillsides of Anderson Valley and Roland and Barbara are passionate caretakers of the land.
As we move into building more long-term relationships with grape growers, it’s important for us to learn more about the people behind the fruit and how their philosophies blend with our own wine-making goals. Walking the fields, making note of all of the stats, sampling the fruit on the vine, and tasting other wines from the vineyard all enter into the equation; but as in any creative pursuit, gut instinct and the feeling that one gets from meeting someone and seeing their land are critical pieces of the decision-making process.
After a magical weekend of not only seeing the vineyard, but also chatting with Roland and Barbara Wentzel, and exploring the nooks and crannies of their property (from digging through their worm farm to picking fresh strawberries for our breakfast), we’re even more thrilled to be working with them again this year.
Harvest at the Wentzel Vineyard is expected to be in early to mid October and we can hardly wait to get the fruit into our winery in San Francisco and get to work. Keep an eye out for other vineyard profiles through this month and next as we lead up to harvest and crush.
Filed under: Tasting rooms, Vineyards, Wine travel | Tags: Candia Vineyards, ice wine, New England wineries, New Hampshire vineyards, New Hampshire wineries, Wine travel
Candia Vineyards
We’re not necessarily fans of the well-trodden paths in wine country, so whenever we travel we try to find out-of-the-way wineries in places that aren’t necessarily on the radar of most oenophile tourists.
Last summer the challenge was to find vineyards and wineries in Ireland, and against all odds we succeeded in tracking down a few, notably Lusca Vineyards in Lusk. This year we stuck closer to home for our summer vacation, traveling to New England to visit family. Although there are lots of wineries within driving distance of our home base there of Boston, we’d never ventured to any of them before.
So, on our trip back to Boston from a visit to New Hampshire’s White Mountains, we decided to stop in at a winery in southern New Hampshire. We selected Candia Vineyards because not only was it on our route, but also due to the fact that it is one of the few vineyards in the area that makes wine solely from grapes.
Vineyards at Candia
We arrived at the winery on the afternoon of Friday September 3rd, just as bits of the then-weakened Hurricane Earl were approaching New England. Skies were grey and the air was thick with humidity and it seemed to be the perfect time to escape underground. Owner and winemaker Bob Dabrowski met us in his cellar, where he not only makes his wine, but also does wine tastings with visitors pretty much daily (by appointment).
Bob first starting making wine in 1981 as a home winemaker and ramped things up by opening his commercial winery in 1999. He talked a lot about his passion for making wine from grapes (somewhat of a novelty in the area, where only 2 or 3 vineyards craft wine from 100% grapes) and mentioned that in New Hampshire they are blessed with rich, vigorous soil.
Part of the tasting lineup
Bob offered up tastes of 9 different wines, which included Pinot Grigio, Viognier, Chardonnay, Marquette, Noiret (he was the first to grow this grape in New Hampshire), Classic Cab, Gewurtztraminer, Diamond, and Black Ice. Visitors to the tasting room are invited to try tastes of any 6 open wines for $4 and are allowed to take the tasting glass home with them. Retail prices for his wines range from $12 to $29 a bottle.
It was a treat for us to try some varietals that we’d never sampled before (like the peppery Noiret) and we were particularly taken by the just-released Black Ice. Bob wouldn’t reveal the blend of grapes used in this delicious ice wine, but to our palates it had a lovely sweet fig taste which we can hardly wait to pair with the perfect dessert.
Thanks again to Bob for his hospitality. We look forward to our next visit to New England so that we can sample the wines at other local wineries. There are lots to choose from, as the New Hampshire Winery Association website lists 18 members, including vineyards, wineries, mead and cider producers, and distilleries. Another great resource for information about wine in New England is the The New England Wine Gazette. In the issue that we picked up, there were a range of articles about the winemaking scene on the East Coast, including maps and listings of wineries in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Filed under: Vineyards | Tags: 115 clone, Anderson Valley, Boonville, Deer Meadow Ranch, Green Apple Books, John Winthrop Haeger, Philo, Pinot Noir, Rich Savoy, Wadenswil clone, Wine Spectator
115 clone pinot noir on the vine at Deer Meadow Ranch vineyard
As we often have written, we are fans of all sorts of pinot noir, from New World to Old World. There are many variations just within the state of California, and our portfolio of vineyard-designate wines celebrates this diversity of flavor.
From the romantic getaways passing through the valley to the geek-out technical conferences at the pinot noir festivals at the Boonville Fairgrounds, Anderson Valley, though, has always tugged at our heart.
Because of our great love for Anderson Valley, this year we decided to expand our offering of wines from that region. Brian started putting out feelers when he was at the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival in May and as harvest drew near, we had leads on a number of amazing vineyards with fruit to spare.
In mid-September we traveled up to Anderson Valley to take a look at a few of our vineyard options for the 2009 vintage and were quite pleased with our options. One of our first stops was Rich Savoy’s Deer Meadow Ranch Vineyard. It sits at 1600 feet above Boonville and it was quite an adventure getting there. We traversed a winding dirt road and were treated to commanding views of Anderson Valley along the way.
Rich Savoy has made quite a name for himself in the wine world and his grapes have gone into many highly regarded wines. He has two vineyards: Savoy (in the benchlands off Highway 128 in Boonville) and the Deer Meadow Ranch Vineyard high in the hills above Anderson Valley. Coincidentally, on the day of our visit Rich had just received a copy of the brand-new Wine Spectator, featuring their top ranked California Pinot Noirs for the year. There on the cover was a Savoy Vineyard Pinot Noir made by Roessler.
Before embarking on his wine career, Rich started out in the book business and was the owner of Green Apple Books in San Francisco, which he founded in 1967. Being fans of neighborhood bookstores (and Green Apple customers), we were happy to learn about this connection.
Rich Savoy prunes the vines as harvest approaches at Deer Meadow Ranch
Rich toured us around his vineyards and it was clear that he’s meticulous about his grapes. They are farmed organically and planted in a northwest orientation (approximately 22 or 23 degrees off north) in 12 blocks that make up about 9.3 acres total. We then retired to Rich’s kitchen to snack on apples and discuss the details. We were impressed with both the vineyard and Rich’s attention to detail in tending to his vineyards, so we were honored to purchase some of his fruit.
We prefer to use lighter, more floral clones like 115 as the base for our wines, giving us the option to add punch, structure and lift in the blending process. In making the decision to get grapes from Rich’s Deer Meadow Ranch vineyard, we went for a mix of 115 and Wadenswil. Wadenswil is a Swiss clone that was imported from the town of the same name in the 1950s. The clone has a little more tannin than 115, which will add structure to the wine, and according to John Haeger’s North American Pinot Noir, “is prized mostly for brilliant, high-toned berry fruit and impressive perfume.”
With our big decision behind us, we awaited the amazing fruit and on September 24th it was delivered and we hand-sorted both clones. We placed them in the same bin to go into a nice 5-day cold soak and to co-ferment to a temperature not to exceed 86 degrees Fahrenheit (so as not to over-extract the fruit.) The fermentation needed a little coaxing, so we inoculated with RC212 yeast, a yeast that we have used selectively with other wines with great results.
Pinot noir fruit from Savoy's Deer Meadow Ranch vineyard at sorting
After fermentation, we pressed the wine on October 5th and it has excellent promise. The first taste of free run juice that ran through the press was tart, showing a lot of acid. After pressing through to 1.2 bars, the wine smoothed out, showing amazing structure, creamy raspberry aromas and cocoa notes. All of these important components will integrate as the wine rests quietly in neutral and new (Cadus tight grain, medium toast) barrels. We’re excited to pay this wine a visit in a few months and see how it is progressing.
It was a great experience for us to venture out and shop around for new fruit sources and trust our own judgement (and the reputation of great wines as well) in expanding our portfolio of pinot noirs. We can’t wait to deliver our customers the results of this journey.
