Tasting Notes, Nueva Casa de los Padres

In the latest offer letter, Paul quoted me as saying “really good raw chocolate”.

We had been tasting the wines for the current release and I was just saying whatever popped into my head.  What I actually said about the Nueva Casa de los Padres, was that it reminded of artisan chocolate.  And then I retracted the words as quickly as I spoke them.  Why?

Because like a zillion other people (do a google search on “artisan mass produced food”), it occurred to me that the word artisan has been diluted…by Burger King, Pillsbury, Domino’s, etc.  It no longer carries the weight of what it was supposed to mean.

Ok, for you guys on the mailing list and reading the blog, you would get it, you would know what I meant, but then I thought, maybe you would think I was being trite.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but on our last trip to Chicago, I spent $98 at Fox & Obel on chocolate.  Yes, chocolate.  Really good, small batch, hand made, artisan, bla bla bla, chocolate.  And it was gooooood.  So good.

When we tasted thru the wines, the Nueva Casa reminded me of a couple of those chocolates, the really raw and natural tasting ones without all the additives and thickeners and junk that “kid chocolate” has.

–side bar on “kid chocolate”–

My very first job out of high school was at The Dime & Dollar in Oakland.  My boss and owner of the store, Hunter McCreary, clued me in to the difference between “the good stuff” and “kid chocolate”.  Because we were a dime store, there was a giant candy section with the usual sweets.  Then, when Valentine’s Day would roll around, he set up a grown up chocolate area on the counter by the register, out of reach of the school kids.  They were pricey chocolates, but bittersweet and oh so good.  I was too young to know it at the time, but he would be a significant personality in my life guiding me toward future foodie geekhood.  He was a great first boss, mentor, and lifelong friend.

2012 Crimson Clover Vineyard Harvest

El Toro at sunrise on Saturday September 22nd at Crimson Clover Vineyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul harvesting the first row before the sun reaches the far end of the vineyard, it’s 56 degrees outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul smiling as he brings in the first of the picking bins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More grapes coming in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cows on the hill, oh wait, I’m supposed to be paying attention to the grapes coming in!  The fruit was extra clean this year.  I pulled out one earwig, a handful of white spiders, and not much else.  Dried tendrils were the only ‘debris’ I sorted out of the picking bins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three full bins ready for crush!

 

I Win! Or..something like that

I was feeling pretty smitten with my Silver and Bronze medals for the 2012 International Women’s Wine Competition…right up until I scrolled through the list of all the other winners.

https://www.enofileonline.com/CompAwards.aspx?compID=65

Anyway, I took pictures of the wines from the current release and used the medals from last year as props since I don’t have the 2012 ones yet.

We earned a Silver medal for the 2009 Chaine d’Or Cabernet Sauvignon  & Bronze for the 2010 Haut Tubee, always nice to be recognized, but I don’t take it very seriously at all.

Oh come on, scroll through the link and see for yourselves, Gallo Box Wine took GOLD!   *sigh*

Cheers!

Fall Release Offer Letters

Last week I was able to print, sign, fold, and stuff the offer letters and get them in the mail…no small task while we ramp up harvest and crush activities.  Paul got home from the day job and I sat him down with a pen to sign letters while I folded and matched up the envelopes to the order forms.

As I was preparing the letters and reading the content, it occurred to me that I have a really hard time keeping up with the winemaking notes.  I’m grateful for Paul’s notes and think I’ll start my own wine journal this harvest.

The thing that I struggle with is that the letters are about wines we harvested two years ago, but only two weeks prior to printing the letters we racked all of the 2011’s, so those notes are fresh in my mind.  Then, just in time to really mess me up, we’re harvesting and bringing in new fruit for 2012 and I’m focused on that.

Without good notes, it’s hard to remember year over year all the details of each wine.   We’re close to or past 30 bottlings now and I’m certain I will refer to this website for the notes, thank you Paul for posting them!

By Friday of this week the letters should have reached your mailbox.  If you are on the mailing list and looking forward to ordering wine this Fall but have not received a letter by this weekend, please send me an e-mail and I’ll take care of it.

Cheers!

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Next Up…pics from harvest and crush 2012