I think that one of the most intriguing things about wine is not the wine itself but people’s reaction to it.  And I think the range of wines available is just about as wide as the range of palates you find.  This has been a new experience for me as I stand on the other side of the bar or the table at a wine event and listen to people describe the wines.  I have had everthing from the simple…”that’s good” to ….a description of multiple aromas and flavors …..to a full description of how the wine would pair with a particular dish that they create on the spot as the taste the wine and pair the flavors in their head with their culinary expertise.  One of the most interesting experiences happened just recently at the REAF benefit in San Francisco.  One of the dancers from the show came to taste at the after party.  He very definately described the wine but interestingly enough didn’t really use any words.  Instead he used movement, his method of expression.  I guess it’s really not surprising that we all use our own methods to describe wine or anything else for that matter, but I still find it interesting. 

Even writers and wine experts taste their own unique things in a wine because as much as the wine is the same, everyone’s palate is unique to them.  Just revisit with me some of whats been said about our 2008 Old Vine Zinfandel just in the last month……”Oodles and Poodles of thick, sumptuous, black velvet canvassed flavors suggesting luxury chocolate with swirls of vanilla”….”fresh blackberry pie cooling next to some homemade fudge”….  “campfire in the bottle”…..”berrylicious”…….”leaves you screaming for S’mores”.    I’m not great at pinpointing and describing but I very definately know what I like and don’t.  Whatever it is you taste in it….all that really matters is if you like it and the flavors you find in it, not whether you can describe them or not.   And judging from the sales of our newest Old Vine Zinfandel, so far, most of you LIKE IT!

REWARDS & AWARDS
Well…it has been a very busy last couple weeks at the winery.  Organizing glass, labels, capsules, corks, etc. to prepare for bottling day. Then this last week was filled with final blending and filtering of the wine.   All this in preparation for bottling on last Friday…..which took about 6 hours total.  Lots of preparation for the final piece in the winemaking process.  But each little piece is so important to getting the final product right.  I do have to say that it is very rewarding to see the wine come off the bottling line.  Such a relief to know that all the pieces have come together finally.  And even better when you are excited about what’s in the bottle….which we are!!!  This bottling included our 2008 Rose, 2007 Old Vine Zinfandel and, for the first time, our 2008 Albarino.  The Rose and Albarino should be ready to release in the next couple months.  The Old Vine Zinfandel will cellar a little longer first.  Can’t wait!!!!

There have been new awards to brag about too.  The Lodi International Wine Awards held last month brought us some more “bling”.  Our 2006 Petite Sirah tied for Best of Class and our Primitivo received a Diversity Platinum, which means it took GOLD in all three tasting groups!  To round it out the 2006 Old Vine Zinfandel received a Diversity Tri-Medal and the Tempranillo took a Diversity Tri-Silver.  This is an interesting competition that aims to match the consumer with wines that will be appealing to their particular tasting sensitivity level.  For more information visit www.lodiwineawards.com.

Most recently, we were notified that our 2006 Old Vine Zinfandel was chosen as one of the “12 Zins of Lodi”.  This is quite an honor as we all know how great Lodi Zinfandels are!!!!  We are excited to be included in such a great group of wines and excited about the exposure this will bring!  To read more about the judging see the article in the Lodi News Sentinel.

Cheers until next time!

A couple of months ago, we discussed whether we should start entering some wine competitions.  We came to the conclusion that we had nothing to lose and honestly felt our wines would hold up pretty well.  So we entered the SF Chronicle Wine Competition, as it was the first one that came up once are wines were ready.  It is a huge competition with over 4,000 wines entered.  This was our first competition and I had read the results would be published in February in the Chronicle.  We knew that judging was taking place last week because Lodi Winegrape Commission Executive Director, Mark Chandler, was out of the office as a judge.  BUT we really had no idea when to expect the results.  SO…..on Friday afternoon when we got an email blast from Lodi Wine Country that the results were in…I couldn’t wait to scour the awards.  First I searched the Zinfandels in our price category.  Wait, I thought, that can’t be OUR wine listed.  Close your eyes, scroll the page again.  Yep, it was still there under the GOLD medal winners.  At this point, I couldn’t contain myself.  I called Kyle and shared the news as I searched for the other wines.  Petite Sirah…I missed it the first time through.  Okay, I checked again.  GOLD for the Petite Sirah too!!  Unbelievably surreal.  Then, the Tempranillo.  There it was listed.  SILVER medal which was given a class where no GOLD was awarded.  WOW!!!  The word spread quickly amongst ourselves and then close family and friends.  I know lots of wineries have won many awards but how sweet the victory is that very first time!  We’ve joked about hanging some of the kids swimming medals around the neck of one of our bottles and see how long before someone noticed.  Now our wines will be collecting a little bling of their own!  To view all the results go to www.winejudging.com.

Click for Winemaking Slide Show

I’ve been raised in a winegrape growing family but I have to admit that winemaking was a little baffling to me. I knew the grapes went to the winery, got crushed, fermented and bottled…..end of story. I had no idea until recent years how much care really goes into handcrafting small lots of wines. So, I thought you may be interested in the simplified version.(Chad-our winemaker- still loses me when he starts talking chemistry.) If you click on the slide show above you can see a little of what goes into it all.

When the bins come out of cold storage they are inoculated with yeast and begin fermentation. The fermenting grapes are punched down 3 times daily extracting tannins and color from the skins. Each day the temperature and brix (or sugar) are measured to monitor the progress. When fermentation is completed the grapes are put into the basket press and then put under pressure to pull out the juice (or actually wine, at this point). This wine then goes into a 500 gallon tank to settle out the yeasts and any other solids before being put into barrels to begin aging.

And that’s an abbreviated version of just the first 2 weeks of a red wine’s life!!!! But it’s a start and it catches you up with about where we are in the season. Below is the PROOF that our wines are really hand crafted. Cheers to the 2008 harvest!!!

Monday, August 18th we started harvest by adding a “new kid” to our lineup! Albariño will be our newest addition to our wine portfolio. We’ve always hoped we would have something that would appeal to everyone. Albariño fits nicely into the mix, giving us a light, crisp white wine that will pair nicely with food. And as luck would have it….it’s one of my favorite white wines as well!

So, Monday, the Albariño had quite a day! It was harvested early in the morning and then it was crushed and pressed. (The picture shows the juice running out of the press.) You thought your Monday was a rough one! Then the juice was left to settle in cold storage for almost 2 days. Yesterday, the clear juice was inoculated with yeast and put into barrels to ferment. The juice was beautiful straw color and the flavors were fruity yet crisp. Even Rex (the puppy) agreed apparently. Kyle had a hard time keeping him out of it.

Can’t wait to see how it turns out! And luckily we won’t have to wait too long as it will probably be bottled early in 2009. Anyone else looking forward to its release? Let’s cross our fingers that we can open it in front of the fireplace at the Harney Lane Tasting Room!!!!!!

We’ve successfully taken another step in this crazy process. Saturday, July 12th we bottled all our 2006 reds and the 2007 rosé with the mobile bottler. It was actually a great day and went quite smoothly! We had around 20 people arrive bright and early at 6:30am to help us work and celebrate this huge milestone. With all this help it made for light work for almost everyone. (Sorry to both Tom’s and both Dad’s) Hopefully everyone is moving without pain again! Seriously, the day was a great one! It was surreal to see 2 years worth of winemaking and over a years worth of packaging planning finally come together. It was even better to share it with family and friends!!! I can’t think of a better start—a day filled with love, laughter, family and of course wine!

In case anyone is concerned that I haven’t mentioned the wine…..no worries! It’s being taken very good care of too. The 06’s and 07’s have recently been racked and are now resting snuggly in their French and American Oak barrels! Our winemaker, Chad Joseph, was especially impressed with the’07 Old Vine Zinfandel from Lizzie James Vineyard. Can’t wait to see what another year of barrel aging will do for it. While the wine has been “resting”, we have not been. We have our first bottling date set for July 12th so we have been busy finalizing labels, corks, capsules and glass. There are so many pieces to put together and learn this first time around. For instance, “how many holes do you want in your capsule?” What?….. The answer, after checking with the bottler is…..2 to allow for easier application on the bottling line. Who knew?! It’s all very exciting though. Finally, in about 1 month we will have product in the bottle. And even more exciting……it should be ready for consumption a couple of months after that! The pieces are all beginning to come together for the beginning of something wonderful. A new tradition of love, laughter, family and wine. Cheers!