The Pulse interview Part 1 (right click and open in new window or tab)

Part 2

Part 3

Since this is a brand new vineyard (3’rd year vines) I’ll be spending a significant amount of time discussing and observing viticultural techniques with the owner.  The soil is sand and granite with excellent drainage.  With close attention to quality and low yields, this may very well end up being one of the top sites for high elevation Spanish varietals in the state.

As many of you know, my vineyard site’s well ran dry a few years ago.  We didn’t know at the time how that would affect the vineyard or if there would still even be a vineyard. There has been a learning curve in ways to handle the water issue. We built cistern to collect runoff and rain water. We upgraded to fanjet drip emitters to reduce water waste and where once we got 3-4 total yield per acre which we now grow in the 2 ton range. Ultimately we may change over to sub-surface drip irrigation to conserve even more water. I can say now that the vineyard is, if not actually thriving, it is at least healthy.

This year, in part due to the uncharacteristically cool weather, the yield will be cut back (a process called cluster thinning) by roughly half– partly to accelerate ripening and to assure that I’ll still get the quality that I’m hoping to attain.  We are looking at it from the point of view of long term vineyard sustainability.

Right now the clusters are still uniformly green.  That means that veraison has not yet begun.  The term refers to two processes in the final stages of grape development.  First, at least in red wines, the green berries get their color (turning red) and second, the berries (both red and white) soften.  After veraison the grapes rapidly increase in sweetness. Generally one can figure that harvest will occur about 6-7 weeks after the color change.  One of the cool things this year is that we can now electronically monitor soil water density right at root depth (called the rootzone) at approximately 30-36 inches.  This is exciting because it allows us to precisely quantify the amount of irrigation necessary to stress the vine to improve flavor development and concentration in the berries while making sure that the vine has enough water to remain healthy.  Until these were installed we could only make educated guesses.  Sometimes with less than desirable results…

 
Stew “That vine looks kinda spindly”
Dave “Maybe we should’ve put more water on it”
Stew “Oops”

 
Anyway, not that bad really but you get the point.

Well, today I am over at the Papagni winery with Tony, their cellarmaster, who is helping us out since our well pump isn’t working at our winery.

Now, Tony has been working in wineries for over 26 years– he started at Paul Masson way back when. So he dug out a really old but really cool barrel washer. This thing is just plain awesome. That’s the thing in the front of the photo. This washer, that’s probably older than I am, does a better job than a state of the art James beard machine…

• 4 chicken thighs (skinless)
• 1 tsp Spanish Pimenton (Paprika) smoked works best
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 8 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• pinch of salt
• fresh chopped parsley (garnish)

First, cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and season liberally with the smoked pimenton (Hungarian paprika works too but add a bit of red pepper).

Heat the oil in a large saute pan and fry the garlic slices for about a minute. Remove the garlic and set aside on a paper towel to drain the oil.

Now add the chicken pieces to the pan and cook, turning occasionally, for about 10 minutes until the chicken is browned on all sides.  Add the wine and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for another 10 minutes or so until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Add the fried garlic pieces, mix well then season with the salt.

Serve it on a plate and sprinkle the chopped parsley on top.

As a more robust variation, instead of the parsley you can add warmed chopped green olives.

We hope to have the 2007 Tempranillo ready to release by the first week of February.  Also in February we plan to blend and bottle the next Cabernet which has been residing in several gorgeous Vicard Distinction  barrels. I’m a bit of a geek about barrels…

This morning at the winery when we picked up yesterday’s mail we found a letter from 2011 SF Chronicle wine competition. This year there were a staggering number of entries, 5,050 from 23 states which now makes this the largest wine competition in the U.S.

I am absolutely delighted announce that we won a Silver Medal for our latest Tempranillo!

An actual bottle of Alicante. WOW . Nobody really sees this wine about anymore and that’s a real pity because any wine with the mouth-feel of a Syrah combined with the intensity of a Petire Sirah is a winner in anybody’s book. Years ago it was widely planted in the Central Valley of California and was a major player in the massive zinfandel based field blends up in Sonoma. Sadly by the early 1990′s it was all but gone. Topolos used to make one as did Ridge. There are a few folks like Kaz still doing it too.

If you’ve never tasted an Alicante it’s definitely worth seeking it out… You’ll thank yourself!

BTW, it turns out I tasted a Papagni Vineyard Alicante from the 1980′s. Seems this is a grape that ages very well.

Happy reading!

http://catavino.net/spains-greatest-wine-vega-sicilia-unico-2000/

But I have a new love called Verdelho that’s makin’ its way to a store shelf near you.  Now I can already hear y’all ask “What the *#$@ is Verdelho?  Well its a white wine from- you guessed it- Spain and its sorta like an exotic Sauvignon Blanc without the grass.  Think mangos and melons and tart acidity.  Molydooker of The Boxer fame makes one called the Violinist and Scholium Project’s Naucratis is quite possibly one of the most intriguing wines to cross my lips this year.