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.

Traditional ports are massive sweet wines with loads of structure that are far from soft or smooth– but smooth is what consumer studies and competitions such as Lodi’s Consumer Wine Awards last year show year after year.  While most of us in the trade are conditioned to think that everybody wants bone dry wines or complex ports that is simply not the case and we are likely discouraging folks from being able to enjoy what they drink . If I were new to wine I’d be either intimidated or insulted or both!

The folks who are drinking a Desaronno on the rocks could just as easily be a wine drinker if they were’nt embarrassed to ask for a sweet red wine over ice.  But even if they wanted it they can’t order it… At least not in the US. They can get sweet Shiraz in Australia. A common and wildly popular bar drink. But not here because obviously they only “think” that they want a sweet wine…

And that leads me back to my original question. What shall I do with my port program. Well maybe I’ll pitch some fining agent into my port barrels to knock out the tannins.  It’s totally against conventional wisdom but really, where has that gotten us?

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.

Rioja, Ribera, Bierzo, Priorat… this place has ‘em all.  And the lady who owns it is friendly and knowledgable too.  Check them out. Tinto Fino at the corner of 5th Street and 1st Avenue.

Me:      ”Hey guys, this wine has aromas of lychee nut and warm wet
               gravel”
Them:  “Sure Stew, whatyever you say.”
Me:       “I swear I’m serious and Ill prove it to you– just give me a
               moment to heat up some water and get some gravel out of
                the goldfish bowl…”

All kidding aside,  I’m looking forward to getting this weekly tasting program under way.  I hope you are too.