Wine-geeky and wine-wonky; day-to-day, week-to-week, sometimes month-to-month postings on growing world-class grapes and running a small artisanal winery in the Sonoma Valley.
Say hello to Westwood’s new label. Thanks to California Assembly Bill 1798, a new law passed unanimously by both the Assembly and Senate and expected to be signed by the Governor, “…any wine bottled on or after January 1, 2014, labeled with an American Viticultural Area established pursuant to federal law that is located entirely within a county of the 19th class, to bear the designation “Sonoma County” on the label… in a type size not smaller than two millimeters…”
Um… no. Continue reading →
We had a heat spike last week. Monday it was over 90°F, Tuesday it nearly reached 110° and Wednesday it got to almost 105°. We haven’t cracked 80° since then, but the damage was done. I was hanging out with some winegrowing friends on Friday when I got a call from Jean-Marie: he was seeing evidence of some sunburn at our Estate vineyard.
We started to hear from others (and in the media) that the sunburn caused by this hot weather was pretty awful – I’ve heard of at least one Chardonnay vineyard where 100% of the clusters were affected. Yesterday I took a small VIP group for a vineyard tour. It was hard to be upbeat when I sort of just wanted to hang my head and cry. Continue reading →
No pictures today — I can barely get myself interested in another set of shots of grapes only part way through veraison; dear readers must be bored to tears. Jean-Marie and I met at the Annadel Estate vineyard today to assess crop loads and make a plan to get us to harvest.
The good news is: one, there is color everywhere — every block has at least scattered veraison. Two, the crop load is moderate; perhaps lighter than we thought earlier in the year. Three, canopy growth has slowed dramatically even though we have started to irrigate. Four, compared to other North Coast vineyards we have minimal mildew. And five, we still haven’t trapped any adult European grape vine moths (EVGM) nor found any larvae in the clusters.
The bad news is: it is flipping August 19th Continue reading →
It’s my blog and I will use it to promote the winery if I want to. The Wine Spies are at it again, today featuring Westwood‘s 2005 Sonoma Valley Pinot Noir. Our internet-direct pricing is $45.00 but today only the the Wine Spies are selling bottle one at $33.50 (click this link to take you to the sale details). The guys at the Wine Spies really like the wine, and they are great at order fulfillment. They just don’t ship to every state. Call or email Westwood if you are located in a State they can’t ship to — you will get the same price on the wine direct from us today only.
This is me, doing my job. Al least part of my job — the part that does not involve grapegrowing, winemaking, or the rest of the admin of running a business. I really like pouring our wines for friends, friends of friends and new acquaintances. It’s work, but it’s often pleasant work. Most of the time this part of the job does not suck. Sometimes it is a little better than others… Continue reading →
Walking with Jean-Marie in the Annadel Estate vineyard on Monday we saw a few splashes of color. Jean-Marie said dryly: “Well, I guess the grapes didn’t forget to do that after all.” I’d think he was being facetious if we weren’t looking ahead to yet another week where the forecast is for nighttime temperatures in the high 40s to low 50s and daytime highs struggling to get out of the 70s. Continue reading →
Westwood’s Annadel Estate Vineyard has been around a while. In days long past someone planted black walnut trees along the border of the property that fronted a road which would eventually become Sonoma Highway (State Route 12). They are old — over 100 feet tall — essentially untended and mostly healthy.
A couple of weeks ago we were discussing the vineyard with Gillian Ballance (sommelier at Santi) and her partner Nash Cognetti (chef at Tra Vigne) at the Westwood Salon when the subject of these walnuts came up. I can’t recall who said it first, but one of them said “Walnuts? Have you ever thought of making nocino?” Continue reading →
After trading a few emails over the years, I met and tasted with Rusty Gaffney (who writes the PinotFile newsletter) at Pinot Days 2010. In a follow-up email he asked me to describe “what to look for in the different Dijon clones, and in particular the single Dijon clone Pinots now being seen in the marketplace.” Good question. I don’t consider myself an expert on Pinot clones but I’ve made decisions on what to plant at the Westwood Estate vineyard based on on a substantial amount of reading, interviews, and tasting. Before I get into specifics, a little background: Continue reading →
Are you as tired as I am of all the whinging over high-alcohol wines?
Yes some, perhaps many (but not most) wines over — what? — like, 14%-14.5% alcohol by volume? — might strike some tasters as “out of balance.” Certainly any “high alcohol” wine is a risk to drink too much of when one has driven to dinner. But then so are wines with less alcohol, or beers, or cocktails. Yesterday Jon Bonné added to the drone of high-alcohol criticism in his posting to the “Thirst” column at SFGate… Continue reading →
Early this week we had our first temperatures of the year in the 90s — three days in a row. Yesterday I went out to check on the young vine Pinot, to see how the vines were dealing with the heat and how the crew had performed with training them. Minimal signs of water stress, though we have yet to irrigate. Most of the vines are up the stake and tied, and some are ready to be topped.
This year I noted the start of bloom in the vineyard early in June. Continue reading →
