Newsletter June 2009

Various Degrees of Wonderful!

I love this time of year here on the North Coast. The air is clear, and the sun is bright, while temperatures are still cool and dry—perfect conditions for cultivating the Burgundy varietals we love.

Nature is putting on a show of vitality around here. It has been a cavalcade of color with the roses, apple trees, grapevines—everything it seems—blooming and stretching for the sun. For their part (and at the risk of anthropomorphizing plants, which is almost impossible for a winemaker to avoid) the vines are very happy! And why shouldn’t they be? After what appeared to be a scary, drought-prone winter, late spring rains provided just enough water to saturate the soil, but not enough to inhibit root growth. In turn, spring has been cool, but with very little frost. Simply put, the vines are getting exactly what they need, exactly when the need it.

The vines appear to be growing with purpose and determination this year, getting on with the season in a very orderly and organized manner. Bloom has just finished under what by all accounts are fantastic conditions. Not since 1997 have I seen vines bloom so consistently and completely. This should make for full clusters with lots of berries and heavier cluster weights than normal. This also means we will have to do lots of thinning and crop adjustments to achieve a proper balance between yields and vine vigor, with the ultimate goal of ensuring good concentration and density in the wines. Fortunately, our growers (people like Larry Hyde, Lee Hudson, Charlie Chenoweth, the Martinellis…I could go on) are the best in the wine business, with decades of experience, and they will have no problems getting the crop levels spot on.

The perfect bloom season should also make for very even ripening. When the vines flower together they also tend to ripen together. This is important, in that we want even maturity in the grapes. We don’t want some berries overripe and others underripe; we want all the berries to be ready together. This should make for good clarity of vineyard character and balanced levels of acidity. It can also potentially mean a hectic harvest, as many vineyards become ready for picking at the same time. This said, our new winery is a huge help in dealing with this eventuality. Our new Chardonnay press and all of our additional new Pinot fermentors, mean we can pick and crush exactly when the grapes are ready—as opposed to waiting around for tanks or presses to become available (which can age any winemaker prematurely). Just as important, this allows us to work on the grape’s schedule as we follow Mother Nature’s cues.

Switching gears from an upcoming vintage, to one beautifully coming into its own, now is a wonderful time to come by our tasting Salon for a visit. We are just starting to pour our first releases from the 2007 vintage—wines that I feel are across the board some of the finest we have ever made. Absolutely, beautiful!

James Hall
Owner-Winemaker