I’ve always been of the belief that you should love what you do for a living . . .or make some changes in your life. It’s a pretty simplistic concept, but one that I’ve always felt was worth living by.
I’ve got to tell you – I absolutely love what I do. Period. End of story. I come into work everyday as happy as can be – and feel privileged to do so. I’m fortunate to drive to work every day during harvest over a two lane road that runs through farm land – and offers not only terrific sunrise pictures each morning, but offers glimpses of coyotes, bobcats, cows and calves, horses and foils, and all other kinds of views as well. Absolutely stunning!
I get to work and am psyched to start my day. For example, I came in to work yesterday, my ‘off day’ at Fess Parker, to take care of some of our tercero fruit that came in on Saturday – syrah and greanche from Larner Vineyards in Los Olivos. The fruit was in impeccable shape upon arrival – great color and flavor, no raisins, no leaves – very little to do on the sorting table.
I decided to split the 2 tons of Grenache into 2 separate fermentation bins – with one, I destemmed the berries but left them mostly whole, choosing not to crush many of them. With the other bin, I decided to go 100% whole cluster – I did not destem any of the berries. I’m excited to be able to compare and contrast these two different bins and keep them separate hopefully for their entire ‘lives’, possibly blending them together at the last moment before bottling . . .or possibly creating two separate finished wines altogether.
One of the challenges with the whole cluster bin is that there was literally no juice in the box after all the clusters were dumped in – no berries had really broken and therefore it was necessary to do so. With a normal bin, I would simply stand on top of the bin and ‘punch it down’ with a metal punch down tool. But with whole clusters, this simply does not work – you cannot move beyond the very top.
Therefore, it’s necessary to go ‘I Love Lucy’ on the bin and get in and foot stomp. It is certainly tougher than it may seem – but it is very, very fun as well! I did this for about 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon before leaving work and then again for another 30 minutes or so yesterday . . .at 7 am on a Sunday. And guess what – I loved it! I was tired, it was my ‘day off’, but it was necessary to do this . . .and it was so cool to do so!
Now it’s early Monday morning and I have to get a few hours of sleep before going in and getting back to work . . .and I can’t wait! I hope all of you feel this way about what you do as well!!!!
Cheers!
Oct
14
As I type this latest edition to my blog, it’s raining outside – not cats and dogs, just slightly sprinkling. That said, even the slightest precipitation can seem like a torrential down pour, and quite detrimental, to some . . .
Just as oxygen is a wine’s enemy during aging (for the most part), rain is a grape’s potential enemy during harvest. Depending upon timing, rain can be a good thing during the growing season – vines need water for growth, and most will either get it via irrigation or rainfall.
That said, rain is NOT a good thing during the harvesting season. Rain can lead to mold on the grapes, and is especially detrimental to white varieties (thinner skins) as well as thin skinned reds. It can also be very detrimental to varieties that have very tight clusters, and to those plants that are holding a lot of crop.
I am fortunate this year –at least I hope I am (-: I have already brought in all of my white varieties (Grenache Blanc and Gewurztraminer) as well as the first of my red lots (Camp 4 Grenache and round 1 of Larner Syrah). My whites are pretty much finished fermenting and the two red lots are currently cold soaking, waiting to be inoculated next week.
All other grapes I have still hanging are going to be okay I believe. Though it is raining, we are expecting high 80 degree temperatures immediately following the rain, which is certainly a good thing. In addition, the rain has been accompanied by a decent amount of wind, which helps minimize water accumulation on and around the clusters, diminishing the chance of mold/rot buildup. And the national weather service is calling for continued warm temperatures, and no more rain, for the foreseeable future. And since the rain has not been too heavy, the water will hopefully help vitalize the vines and give them a little more ‘steam’ to keep rolling along – and keep my grapes maturing for the next few weeks!
What does this mean? What is the bottom line here? Only Mother Nature knows for sure . . . but it appears that harvest here at tercero will continue well through October and into November – and even possibly beyond Thanksgiving (and Christie’s birthday . . .) . . .
Cheers!
Oct
5
I am simply amazed at the lack of decorum some have shown recently on blogs and on bulletin boards that I frequent. The fact that it is becoming commonplace to go well beyond ‘constructive criticism’ and get downright nasty is just a sign of how far this medium still has to go . . .
I’m a true believer in free speech and have been for quite some time, having been in a nice tussle in high school over an underground newspaper a few of us put together – and had the ACLU come to our defense to try to keep publishing it . . .
But free speech without boundaries simply causes chaos. And many feel that there is a sense of ‘anonymity’ on the web and therefore can say whatever comes to their mind – no matter how hurtful and potentially slanderous it may be . . .
Where, might you ask, am I seeing this behavior? No, not on political blogs and bulletin boards where one might think that tempers would flare and people would be at each other’s throats. No, this behavior is taking place on wine blogs and boards – windbreaker and erobertparker to name just two.
This type of behavior simply makes me want to stop frequenting those boards and taking part in the discussion. It’s sad because I really do enjoy the give and take of many of the discussions that take place, but all it takes is one or two folks, and one or two discussions, to sour the whole vibe. . . .
I’m hoping this is a temporary ‘thing’ but I’m not so sure . . .
Have you also seen an uptick in rude web behavior in the past few months? Share your thoughts and comments please.
Cheers!
Oct
2
There have been a number of recent stories about wineries making changes of some sort in order to ride out the downturn in our industry. The most visible current story involves Pali Winery, a Santa Barbara County-based winery that actually has been proactive in trying to move wines.
A recent article by Reuters suggests that Pali has made choices out of desperation in order to ride out this downturn. In fact, though, Pali had already started earmarking fruit last year that did not meet its standards for its $50-60 single vineyard wines into lower priced appellation wines that retail for 1/3 the price. This is nothing new, though – wineries have been doing this for a very very VERY long time!
I’m not as old as others in this industry, but I can remember back two decades when wineries in Napa were starting to offer second labels for wine that didn’t make the cut for their best stuff. My first recollection was Hawk’s Crest, the second label for Staps Leap Wine Cellars. But that said, there have been many many cases of this, and most wineries have offered appellation blends, or other types of blends, for a long time.
It simply makes sense. If you have barrels of wine that simply do not live up to your standards, is it best to blend these with your better barrels and therefore bring DOWN the quality of your better wine? Or does it make sense to isolate these and create another wine that is made up of good but maybe not GREAT stuff?!?!?
A few other things I’ve witnessed this harvest:
Wineries choosing to ‘skip’ a vintage – not bringing in grapes at all – to try to keep their cash flow up and keep their doors open.
Wineries choosing not to bring in fruit from specific vineyards because of the cost of that fruit, and in some cases, the unwillingness of the vineyard owner to drop per ton or per acre prices.
Wineries offering ‘special deals’ to increase cash flow to pay for upcoming grape bills – ex. Buy one case at full price, get the second for a penny . . .
There is no doubt that the consumer will come out the winner in the end . . . assuming consumers have any money to spend, of course . . .
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this . . .
Cheers!
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Larry | 
10 28th, 2009| 
