Summer 2008 Newsletter
It has really been a roller coaster around
here weather wise. Although there is no
such thing as an "average" year, if there
was, it certainly wouldnÕt be this one.
We had a lot of very cold days during
the winter that were very good for the
cherries and other stone fruit. They need
a certain minimum of chill days to have a
good crop and they must have gotten them
because our cherry trees were loaded,
making for some very happy birds and
raccoons. We also were on schedule for
an above average rainfall year, until good
old momma nature turned off the tap,
resulting in the driest March and April on
record. Although none of this was a major
concern as far as this year's crop was
concerned, we then got the big whammo.
Not content with cutting off the rain
and giving us a bit of a false spring, she
followed up with the latest spring frosts
since 1971. By mid-April we are usually
well past the danger of frost. What we
had this year was really one for the record
books. Of all the vineyards we deal with,
only Saralee and Rich Kunde's and our
next-door neighbor's, Trenton View, are
set up for frost protection. That usually is
not a concern. We prune very late, which
pushes bud break back enough so that we
are normally past any frost danger. In our
Estate vineyard we have enough elevation
that the cold air usually settles below us
and leaves our vines unaffected. However,
this was not the theoretical normal year.
A late season chill, very low dew point
and cold, drying north winds combined
to produce what I refer to as the Saturday
night massacre on April 19th. More
freezing weather followed the next night
and the following Wednesday. Although
not as severe, we continued to get freezes
into the first week of May. About a third
of the vines in the block next to the winery
were fried as well as all of the chardonnay
and most of the southeast block of pinot
noir in our Estate vineyard. I estimate that
about 80% of Mancini Ranch was lost.
Oddly enough Zeigler Vineyard, directly
across from Mancini, was virtually
unaffected. The short-term effect will be
a reduced crop as well as late ripening of
any clusters produced from the secondary
push of shoots that emerged after the
freeze. Because of the way our picking
crew works, we will be able to easily
differentiate between the unaffected vines
and the later ripening ones, eliminating
the problem of mixing mature with
immature fruit. Mancini Vineyard is
a special problem however. These old
vines are usually the last to ripen, with
harvest usually very late October to early
November. The issue this year may be
whether the vines will be able to ripen
their fruit before rain and frost cause the
vines to shut down for the winter. Beyond
this year we may see a reduced crop next
year as well. The freeze at Mancini was
so severe that a number of vines lost their
fruiting spurs in addition to the buds.
The severe cold was followed by extreme
warmth. In some locations the heat came
during bloom, causing shatter (when the
flowers don't produce grapes), further
reducing the crop. We seem to have
escaped that problem in our vineyards.
The prolonged heat in May (temperatures
in excess of 100 degrees) dried the soil.
We have had to irrigate where we could to
replace this lost moisture. At this point we
have returned to a more normal weather
pattern of fog in the evening and early
morning followed by warm comfortable
days. Hopefully this pattern will continue
for the rest of the growing season. It is
way too early to make any predictions
about the quality of the vintage, but I do
seem to remember that in 1970 late frosts
resulted in a very reduced crop. I also
seem to remember that 1970 was a great
vintage around here. Hmm...
Other news;
This spring has been busy with trips
to Florida and Texas with some great
winemaker dinners, participation in Barrel
Tasting, in March, at Pinot Days in San
Francisco, Pinot Family Reunion at John
Ash and Co. nearby, and at Sonoma-
In-the-City. We will be staying close to
home the rest of the summer but will be
participating in Grape-to-Glass again
this year, August 15-17. In addition to
the Hog-in-the-Fog BBQ (with fabulous
wine tasting) Rod will be on a panel of
pinot noir winemakers debating stylistic
preferences (old world vs. new wave).
Go to www.rrvw.org for event pricing,
program, and tickets. We also expect to
be pouring at the annual Sonoma County
Showcase of Wine and Food. This is a
three-day event with the wine pouring at
MacMurray Ranch nearby on Saturday.
The only possible fly in the ointment for
us is the possibility of an early start to
harvest. For information and tickets go to
www.sonomawinecountryweekend.com.
Cook Book in the
Works!
Trenton's Favorite Gopher Recipes! We
are hard at work experimenting with ways
of cooking this "mini rabbit" that has been
decimating our gardens and vineyards for
years. When you stop by we can let you
in on some of the secrets for hunting and
preparing these amazing delicacies and
our recommendations on the best wine
pairings.
Website Update
The most exciting news however is the
launch of our new and finally updated
web site. I am still providing content but
we will finally have a web site that is
current and functional. We will be able to
sell wine through it without the hassles of
Paypal. In the future we will be posting
the newsletters online, so we will not need
to e-mail large documents to those of you
on the mailing list. We will also be listing
occasional library wines for sale there
as well. We have completed an inventory
and have decided to cull the library a bit.
We will have changing selection of wines
available at the winery. A few are in case
quantities, however in most cases only a
few bottles are available.
Help us save a tree!
We are attempting to convert our mailing
list to e-mail. Not only will this save
on resources it will help us to get the
newsleter out in a more timely fashion. If
you would like to receive this newsletter
electronically, please send us your e-mail
address. Also, make sure that we are listed
with your spam-blocking program as
having permission. We get lots and lots of
returns due to spam filters. If you change
your address, please be sure to let us know
as we get lots of mail returns as well.
New Releases
Deciding which wines to release this
time was tough. With each release we go
through our un-released bottled wines and
taste them. From this we decide which
have reached a point in their evolution
where they are showing well enough for
release. They may be far from their peak
but they are at least drinking well. We
tasted a bunch and decided that most
needed more time. In fact, some of the
wines we are releasing will show marked
improvement over the coming months.
However, if we were to hold them all
back we would have way too many to
release in the Fall! I guess the solution is
to make fewer wines or to release them
regardless of their bottle development.
We don't plan to do either because 1) We
love the vineyards we work with and 2)
We just don't want to release wine before
it's time (do I hear an echo from an old TV
commercial here?).
2007 Gewûrztraminer, Saralee's Vineyard
Each year our decision on when to pick
the gewûrztraminer is based on flavor
ripeness and the absence of bitterness.
Gewûrztraminer and the muscat varietals
tend to have a bitter component. This is
not usually a problem in wines finished
with residual sugar as this will mask the
bitterness, but with wines that are finished
dry (meaning no sugar), you have to make
sure that the bitterness is not present. This
transformation usually occurs with a sugar
level that translates into 14% alcohol. In
2007 we were very fortunate in that it
occurred at a much lower sugar level. In
fact it was so low that I was concerned
that we wouldn't achieve 12%. In the
end it fermented to dryness a little north
of that, insuring sufficient body in the
finished wine.
The aromas are very typical for
gewûrztraminer; spicy lychee, with
hints of nectarine and rose water. In the
mouth it is less textured, but much finer
than the last couple of years due to the
lower alcohol. It has great acidity and a
fine minerality and wonderful length. It
is not only a great Thai/Chinese/sushi
wine, but I love it with tacos as well.
We are releasing it now as it will be a
wonderful summer wine but should show
positive evolution in the bottle, gaining in
complexity, for at least a year or two (we
are currently drinking the 2005 vintage). A
total of 99 cases were bottled.
2006 Chardonnay, Trenton Estate
We were quite fortunate in 2006 in that we
were able to make almost two barrels of
this wine! We only have a small planting
of the original chardonnay vines here
and they produce a paucity of very small
clusters each year. In some vintages the
set is poor resulting in so little crop we
are lucky to make a barrel. In 2006 the
perfect weather during bloom meant full
clusters whose average weight was at
least 50% higher than usual, making them
big enough to be considered small by
normal standards. The winemaking was
pretty standard; whole cluster pressing
followed by brief settling of the juice
prior to fermentation in french Burgundy
barrels (50%, or one barrel, new). The
wine completed malolactic fermentation in
barrel and was aged sur lies until bottling
without fining or filtration in July of 2007.
Pale lemon/straw color. Bright lemon,
kumquat, lime blossom, pear, and mineral
aromas with slight overtones of oak. In
the mouth it is quite rich yet the brilliant
acidity keeps it bright. Tightly wound.
Long finish. I would suspect that this one
will be around a long time. Pair with rich,
even fat dishes as the acidity will cut right
through it. 41 cases were bottled.
2006 Côtes du Rosa
This has long been a "go to" wine during
summer and fall for me. When we roll out
the b-b-q and cook up some mixed grill,
this wine seems to be a perfect fit. The
2006 will be no exception. Made from
80+ year old vines, each and every year
it produces something that reminds me
of the way they used to make wine in the
Southern Rhone Valley of France before
the pressures of selling to an international
market resulted in wines being made in a
"more serious" style. I don't know about
you but sometimes I just want wines that
are delicious and without pretension.
In any event, this year's version is a little
lighter on its feet with a little brighter
acidity than usual. The usual light berry/
cherry/ruby grapefruit character is there
along with soft tannins and nice body but
the brighter than usual acidity will make
it a more versatile food match than some
other vintages. It is drinking well now but
I expect it to continue to drink well for at
least five more years. Sadly, production
was very, very small this year due to a
very poor fruit set (these vines bloomed at
a different time than our other vineyards).
Only 60 cases were bottled in July 2007.
2006 Pinot Noir, Saralee's Vineyard
The 2006 vintage was an unusual one
for pinot noir. Very heavy late spring
rain followed by near perfect weather at
bloom resulted in vigorous vines with very
large crops. The perfect weather during
bloom meant that nearly every blossom
developed into a grape, a very unusual
occurrence. Not only were the clusters
large, the berries were large as well. As
they filled out and the berries increased
in size, portions of many of the clusters
were aborted due to lack of space. In
some cases we sent our crew through the
vineyard at thinning to pull these little
clusters of aborted, dried grapes out of the
cluster. In other cases we simply waited
for Mother Nature to do it for us. Despite
extensive thinning in many vineyards,
over cropping was a concern. We were
very fortunate that our thinning regimen
resulted in crops that were in balance with
the vegetative growth, insuring proper
ripening. However, the late rains created
another problem, botrytis, which bloomed
late in the season, While beneficial if you
want to make late harvest wines from
white grapes, it is very detrimental in
red wines, interfering with fermentation,
causing color loss and potential spoilage.
Fortunately we only saw a significant
amount in one vineyard but very careful
selection during harvest followed by
sorting prior to de-stemming kept it out
of the fermenters. The one big problem, if
you are hung up on color in red wine, was
the lower level of color due to the large
berry size (color comes from the skins.
Smaller berries mean a larger skin to juice
ratio and a deeper color). Since that is not
a concern to me (I often comment, that
of the sensory attributes of wine, the way
it smells, tastes and feels in my mouth
are far more important than the way it
looks), I didn't go to extraordinary lengths
to increase color. A couple of things we
could have done were to bleed off juice
or to shorten the fermentation/maceration
time. Bleeding juice increases color but
can overly concentrate the wine, resulting
in wines that lose the "prettiness" we
often see in some of our pinot noirs. Long
fermentations/macerations often result
in color loss, as pigment is reabsorbed,
but the trade off is a finer tannin structure
and improved mouth feel. In the end, we
simply took what Mother Nature gave us.
While we all love the 2006 Saralee's,
I was a little concerned about what the
public reaction would be because of its
light color, so I have been "testing" it by
pouring it at various times. The last was
the just completed Pinot Days in San
Francisco. Based on these tastings the
reaction could not have been better! My
fears that pinot noir drinkers wouldn't
"get" lighter, prettier wines were totally
unfounded. And, while the wine itself
appears quite light, in terms of aroma and
flavor it is anything but.
Pale rose color. Aromas of fresh wild
strawberry, red currant and flowers. In the
mouth, it is surprisingly rich and full with
flavors echoing the aromas. Refreshing
acidity and very fine tannins give it
excellent structure. Sadly, we do not have
any wild salmon here on the left coast this
year so I will have to drink this one with
halibut! Or quail, or a host of other things.
Just no salmon this year (sigh). 698 cases
bottled in September 2007.
2004 Zinfandel, Mancini Ranch
2004 was kind to this old vineyard.
Although production was down, the fruit
matured at lower sugar levels than we are
used to seeing.
Medium deep ruby color. Deep and
penetrating nose of perfectly ripe black
berries with slight hints of cardamom and
forest floor. In the mouth its rich fruit is
perfectly balanced by great acidity and
substantial tannin. The finish is quite long
but finishes with a bit of dryness from the
tannin, suggesting that a couple of more
years in the bottle will be handsomely
rewarded. I am quite pleased at the lower
level of alcohol in this wine (14.2%) than
we have had in the past. For my taste, this
is one of the best Mancini zins yet. 191
cases bottled, unfined and unfiltered, in
April of 2006.
2004 Zinfandel, Lone Redwood Ranch
This is almost always our most zin like
zin. Although the vines were near 50 years
old in 2004, it still showed that simple
pure berry fruit character more than our
other vineyards. Usually about 2-3 years
from bottling it starts to develop some
secondary complexity but the 2004 is a
little slower than usual. Enjoyable for its
pure unbridled pure berry fruit, perhaps
more elderberry than blackberry, with
nice richness and elegant tannins, it will
nonetheless develop more nuances in the
next two to three years for those who are
looking for complexity from age. For the
rest of you (and there certainly seem to
be more of you than of me, it is really
nice right now, especially with a couple
of hours of aeration. 149 cases bottled,
unfined and unfiltered, in April 2006
Shipping Update
As you are all painfully aware, the cost
of everything energy related seems to be
spiraling out of control. Our bottling costs
have increased about 50% and delivery of
everything has increased at an alarming
rate. We have been absorbing much of
the fuel surcharges the shipping company
keeps adding but will have to raise our
rates a bit from time to time to keep from
falling too far behind. Our policy is to find
the best shipping rates we can and to not
make money on it. To do this we utilize
a wine shipping company that picks our
wine up and repackages it into Styrofoam
containers. Due to their large volume they
are able to do this for less than it would
cost us for packaging and shipping alone.
They are also very cognizant of weather
and will do there best to ship only when
the weather is appropriate. However, they
have no control over how UPS and Fed
Ex delivery trucks ultimately do their
deliveries. In order to safeguard your
wine, we strongly suggest holding and
having wine shipped in the fall and spring
months. On the west coast, summer and
winter shipping is usually not a problem
as long as there is a 2-3 day good weather
window. For out of state, even if the
weather is fine in your location, the trucks
must traverse the country and potentially
encounter inclement weather along the
way. With this release, if you do want
your wine shipped before the fall, we will
upgrade your ground shipping to second
day air at no additional cost on all full case
purchases. The caveat is that it must go to
a commercial business address (residential
addresses often necessitate repeat delivery
trips negating the benefit of timely
delivery). Also, the shipping company
will still watch the weather to find an
appropriate delivery window.
Wine Club
Changes
In an effort to keep
shipping costs down
and to time releases
to coincide with more
realistic shipping
windows, we are going
to be changing our 2
bottle 6 times per year
club to 3 bottles 4 times
per year. We will be
notifying you of the
changes via e-mail.
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