As I type this, over on Twitter, Dr. Vino, Steve!, and lord knows where else, folks are rehashing—with considerable vitriol—arguments on the merits of 100-point wine ratings, or lack thereof. This got me thinking about what it takes to assign meaningful numerical value to a wine’s attributes—something I have had some experience with at points in my career where I was responsible for various research projects. In light of the current “discussions” surrounding the validity of wine reviews and point scales, I thought it might be of interest to explore what it takes in the research setting to evaluate wines to the objective standard that some feel wine reviewers should aspire to. Continue reading →
Research-Grade Wine Evaluation
Consumers Finally Ask About Alcohol Levels
There’s little need for me to rehash the back-and-forth in the wine media regarding alcohol levels: in short, the wheel has turned and we are back in the 1980s when it was fashionable to criticize California wine for having high alcohol.
Here we are again. The difference this time around is that there is a hard number on the lips of the critical: 
The narrative being pedaled suggests that wines over this level generally are problematic, inferior, out-of-balance, not true-to-type, lacking: terroir, focus, complexity precision, nuance, etc.
I disagree.
And I’ve commented here and elsewhere that I have noted zero interest in the topic among the visitors to our Tasting Salon. But the “over 14% sucks” meme has a life of its own, it’s out there, it won’t die; sort of like “the President is a foreign-born Muslim.”
Because of this persistent media attention, I figured that it was bound to happen—sooner or later—that one of my guests was going to comment on the “high” alcohol levels on the labels of my wines. Continue reading →
2011 Vintage—Not That Bad!
“I have never seen anything like this…”
I heard this sentiment expressed by more growers and winemakers during the 2011 harvest than ever before in my 25 years of doing this. I said it myself any number of times. It’s not that any one thing about this vintage stood out on its own as unusual or unprecedented. What was unusual was the additive effects of the sheer number of unusual factors. I brought experience to bear on the problems we faced. Also, I was very lucky. Our wines have turned out well. So as we sail into 2012 here is my look back at the wild, wonderful 2011 (n.b.—long post ahead). Continue reading →
Natural Wine Myth
Tom Wark recently posted a criticism of the “natural wine movement” on his blog, titled “Authentic Wine and Mistaking the Tail For the Snout” where he says:
In many ways the “Natural Wine” and now “Authentic Wine” movement is well behind the curve. Winemakers the world over have long embraced the notion of exposing terroir and connecting a wine to the plot of land from which it derives. Sustainably farmed vineyards proliferate all over the globe. Minimalist cellar techniques are common place. Native Yeasts have long been favored by many winemakers without even knowing there was such a movement as “native wine”.Those currently pushing the idea of “Natural Wine” think they may be on to something transformational and important when in fact what they have done is mistaken the tail of the dog for its snout.
I commented the following, and felt it sufficiently cogent to re-post here, with edits for clarity and some elaboration. I don’t think the “natural” wine promoters are the tail wagging the dog, or that they are behind the curve. The natural “movement” is marketing, pure and simple, and marketing is myth-making – myth-making as in: “creating an appealing narrative from whole cloth.” Continue reading →
Wine Aeration Fail
A while back I did a post titled “To Decant Or Not” where I expressed opposition to the idea that decanting (other than to remove a wine from sediment), aerators, or blenders improves wines subjected to that treatment. In my post I suggested that “improvement” is relative, and that not everyone would agree. Writing for Smithsonian, Lisa Bramen picked up on that bit from my post and finished her piece with:
…if you want to try decanting, go for it. If you like the results, keep doing it. If you don’t, or you can’t tell the difference, don’t bother. Decanting, as with everything about wine, is a matter of taste.
Today Tyler Colman (Dr. Vino) brought attention to a piece on Bon Appetit where one of those aerator thingamajiggys was used on four different wines, which were presented in blind pairings with the un-aerated wines to a panel of three New York sommeliers. The take home message?
“The [device] definitely does something, but in three of four cases it turned the wines–each quite different stylistically–into less desirable versions of their former selves… This group of sommeliers unanimously agreed that the risk isn’t worth the occasional payoff.”
No this was not a rigorous trial, and there is no statistical significance to the results. But it is one more point in the meta-analysis, and one that supports my position–don’t decant or aerate if you don’t have to.
[Incidentally, I realize this is my first post in two months. Did you miss me? Hah! I didn't think so. Well, there was harvest, and then there was bottling, and then there was our first big Wine Club shipment to get out since February. Excuses, excuses. Anyway, unlike Jeff Lefevere I have not retired from writing (miss you, Jeff) and with the holidays upon us I have more time out of the office, and plan to wrap up and post several pieces I have in the works. Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! Happy holidays to all.]
The Greatly Exaggerated Demise of Syrah
For the past several years when I have shown our wines to distributors, brokers and retailers I have heard the refrain: “Pinot? Sure. Blend? Maybe. But I (we) can’t move any Syrah… especially not at your price point.” It seems to me that many (most?) critic types have piled on, at the very best damning with faint praise many examples of New World Syrah, and parroting the laments of the middle tier.
Not So Fast
Simply put, in my experience these people are out of touch with our consumer demographic.
I admit that I responded to the despair of wholesalers and retailers over Syrah, and cut our production in half from one vintage to the next. Well, surprise—the current vintage sold out last week, months before we had anticipated. We had even imposed a 15% increase to the retail price. Paradoxically, this increased the rate of sales on the wine in our tasting room. Since then we have been selling the previous vintage without pause.
I sort of saw this coming. Back in April we were pouring our Estate Pinot, Rhône blend and Syrah for the SF Vinters Market at Ft. Mason. To our astonishment, visitors to our table asked to taste the Syrah first, by a margin of 3- or 4-to-1. At the time I thought it might be relevant that the crowd seemed to trend younger than usual for these events. Since then I’ve concluded that age is not a factor—my observations suggest one does not have to be a Millennial to appreciate our particular expression of properly-aged, no-new-oak, cool-climate Syrah.
So, hey gatekeepers! It’s past time to give up the tired “Syrah doesn’t sell” meme. Syrah DOES sell. You guys are just a day late and a dollar short to realize it.
Here Comes The Rain
Here comes the first rain of the season. The radar loop shows a slow eastward progression; most of the motion is southwest to northeast. Forecast total rain accumulations have increased from yesterday’s projections. Dislike.
2011 Vintage – Quick Harvest Update
Sunday afternoon; outside the overcast is increasing and westerly wind rising as the first of a series of cold fronts approaches the area. Rain on tap for tomorrow and then for Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Forecast has advanced the timing and decreased the amount of rain expected from the system.
We really don’t have anything ready to pick at the Estate vineyard. There is some Grenache at 21.5° Brix that I could pick for a customer who wants some less ripe for Rosé but finding a crew to do the work is impossible just now.
The reason we can’t get a crew is that everyone around us is panic-picking. The coming storms have been forecast for over a week. A lot of folks realized that their fruit would not hold up under even a little rain. Much North Coast Zinfandel already had Botrytis in it from the rain we got at the end of June—right before bunch closure in this variety. One friend told me he sorted out at least a ton of Botrytis clusters from a 4-ton Zin pick today.
Apparently some Russian River Pinot has the same problem. And in Carneros many growers did not do any leaf thinning to open the canopy, nor put out any sprays to protect against Botrytis, before the threat of rain materialized. It seems that every available crew in the area is working around the clock, picking anything that’s even close to ripe, then moving to the next block to leaf-strip before the tractors move in to spray.
I think we are in better shape. All our varieties are really clean so far this year–no mildew, no Botrytis. We opened all our canopies over two weeks ago, and then protected with Elevate®. Most of our varieties have really open clusters, especially the Syrah, Mourvedre and Pinot—even the Grenache. Counoise and Tannat are tight, but these are thick-skin varieties—less susceptible to rot.
My Rosé customer was going to bring in his own crew to pick tomorrow, but has had to reschedule because the receiving winery has zero tank space available as they filled up with all the Chardonnay thay have brought in. No worries. Our stuff will still be beautiful on Thursday. The forecast is for a return to our normal dry pattern. And Jean-Marie thinks his crews will be available to pick for us. I might even bring in some Syrah.
Biochar & Yeast Nutrition
I love Twitter. For example, biochar would not be on my radar today if I was not following @RandallGrahm on the platform. I remember reading an article on terra preta some time ago (might have been this article in National Geographic) but it is Randall’s sustained expression of enthusiasm for biochar as a vineyard amendment that has me thinking of it more specifically.
There is plenty of information on biochar available online to the interested reader. Briefly, biochar is a carbonized residue produced by pyrolysis of cellulosic biomass (such as crop residues–both field residues, and processing residues such as nut shells, fruit pits, etc.–as well as yard, food and forestry wastes, and animal manures) under conditions of limited oxygen. The products of pyrolysis are bio-oil, syngas and biochar. The first two products are combustible substitutes for petroleum-derived fuels. Biochar residue can be used to improve acidic and agriculturally-depleted soils. The feedstocks used greatly affect the utility and suitability of the derived biochar product for building or rebuilding any particular soil.
What got my attention was Randall’s tweet that application of biochar in the vineyard can increase the assimilable nitrogen in grapes. Continue reading →
2011 Vintage & The Rain
Sampled the vineyard yesterday, confirming that Syrah (approaching 23° Brix) is two full weeks ahead of Pinot (not quite 21° Brix) this year. Awesomely weird; feels like down is suddenly up.
Jennifer Thomson tweeted this morning that “Diageo reports they are bringing Chard & Pinot in around the clock for next 72 hrs. Anything 23.5° Brix + or close accepted.” There is a stench of panic in the air (or did the dairy guys just fertilize?). Rain is on the way. The latest NOAA forecast discussion predicts an accumulation of 1″-3″ in the first part of next week:
The main story of the forecast continues to be the early season storm system impacting the region next week. The GFS and ECMWF are in better agreement about the timing of this storm…giving extra confidence to the forecast. For now…the first round of rain will approach the north bay Monday morning and travel south through the region during the day. The entire region should see precipitation by Monday night. Tuesday will see mostly dry conditions…with occasional lingering showers in the area. The big day next week looks to be Wednesday…as both the GFS and ECMWF show the greatest accumulation of precip…colder temperatures…and possible strong winds. Other than a few showers possible on Thursday…dry conditions will prevail through the rest of the work week. Daytime high temperatures will also return to near normal values.
This is worrisome. But not the end of the world, or even of the vintage. There will be the usual wailing in the wine media asking “did you pick before the rain, or after?” as though it were definitive for wine quality. But there is so much else going on affecting wine quality this year a few inches of rain are just a minor distraction. For instance, Adam Lee posted this morning that one of their blocks of Pinot yielded just 1.5 tons off of 3 acres. That’s what is going to define this vintage, not rain.
I expect a compressed harvest and tank space issues. I’m off to Central Valley Builders Supply this morning to pick up some T-bins (fermenters) just in case.
