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Ingrid pumping the Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon into the now clean and empty tank that held the Chardonnay.

The Stefania, Chaine d’Or Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon label.

Alice getting labels on all the boxes

Some misty fog hung over us and the vineyard most of the morning.

More glass being loaded on.

Ingrid had 6 barrels to get empty and then cleaned.

Everyone started to show off for the camera.

Eponymous 🙂 Stefania with Stefania

The last of the Chaine d’Or Chardonnay rolling off the line (See the capsule?)

Ingrid and Alice came to help today. Ingrid was in the winery most of the time prepping the wine for bottling. Alice made sure all the boxes got stamped with our Bond Number and a label.

The machinery adding capsules.

And more boxes being filled.

One lot done!

Bottles being filled and headed down the line.

The label for our first white wine.

Bottles rolling down the line, full and corked.

Jerry had the loading job today.

We started off with a good pace.

A view of the end of the line.

This line moves slow so only one person is needed to fill boxes.

And the first boxes hit the pallet.

The traditional starting picture. A very nice 62 degrees at 7:18 as we hit the road.

Getting the hoses ready for hook up to the inside tanks.

It’s tricky and you need a few special parts to get our 2 1/4 inch hose to the 1 1/2 line the truck uses.

The line ready to start.

First job on the line, loading glass. Chardonnay is first up.

Everything is in place

And the valve is turned to ‘open’. Wine is in the hose and headed to the truck.

It’s been a pretty busy day and we are still waiting on Millie to get electrical hooked up and Stefania is cleaning hoses right now.

Earlier in the day she took a break with the new puppy.

We also got the 2007 Chaine d’Or Cabernet Sauvignon into tank and prepared for bottling. In the photo below you can see the red wine in the hose.

I got the glass truck unloaded ok with no major incidents. We have rain in the forecast so Stef covered everything with tarps.

There are a total of 450 cases of empty glass now staged on the pad.

The truck showed up about 2:30 and it only took him 40 minutes to back into position. The hill is steep and the turns are sharp.

He’ll get everything hooked up and ready tonight so we can start first thing Wednesday morning. Normally he’d arrive the day before, but he asked if he could set up on Monday and leave the truck over Tuesday, which was fine with us. Stef should be finished with the hoses soon and we might get to leave before 6PM.

We arrived at the winery today at 9:05 for the second day of preparation for bottling. Greeting us was the new puppy Ghillie. Jerry is going to be here today also suckering the vineyard and just being around in case we need him.

I’m really just here because of this:

The forklift was dropped off this morning and I’m the driver. I brought it down to the crushpad and later today I’ll have to unload the glass from the delivery truck. It’s pretty scary for me. It’s not super hard, but I only drive a forklift a few days out of the year. Even today it should only take about 20 minutes to unload the truck, which should arrive around lunch time.

The rest of the day I’ll be working at the day job. Stefania is going to be prepping the 2007 Chaine d’Or Cabernet for bottling and cleaning barrels. We’ll try and have updates today.

It was cold and rainy when we headed off this morning for the winery. The clouds hang low over the mountains surrounding the vineyard when it rains. We started by unloading all the supplies we’ll need for bottling on Wednesday. Corks, foils (for the Chaine d’Or), and labels were stored in the dry room.

This is our first time using the filtering equipment. Jerry came down to help guide us through and get everything set up. The first step was to remove all the extra insulation from the chilled tank and get the second tank sealed up. I made sure to add some Argon to the second tank to keep the wine protected from oxygen as it transferred in.

The filter isn’t really too hard. Cartridge paper filters get inserted in and clamped down and the pump gets hooked up to the filter. Getting everything in the right order isn’t intuitive, but with Jerry’s help we got it figured out. Stef is getting the hoses straight in the photo below.

First we pumped through a mixture of SO2 and Citric Acid to clean and disinfect all the equipment. It also helps remove any paper taste and prime the filter. Then we ran through regular water to make sure there was no solution left. Finally we hooked the pump and filter up to the tank. At first all that comes out is water, then a wine – water mixture, so we have a large bucket that we dump into and watch until pure wine comes out. Then we stop the entire thing and hook it up to the empty transfer tank.

The actually filtering took about 12 minutes. Set up was about an hour, and clean up was about an hour and a half. Here’s Stefania hard at work inside the tank cleaning it and getting it ready to use again on Monday. I told her to smile and she said; “I have my mask on”. I don’t fit through the tank opening so Stef always gets this job.

Finally we headed out for a late lunch and the traditional after winemaking beverage.

The Chardonnay has turned out really good and we’re excited to get it in bottle this week.

There is an article in this months Wine Business Monthly proposing that forest location means nothing to the quality of a barrel and the tightness of grain is the key factor in oak quality. I haven’t worked all the way through the article yet but it got me thinking about our oak.

I use Claude Gillet and Sequin Moreau for Chardonnay. The Gillet is very subtle with slight vanilla notes and seems to bring forward pear, and fig fruit. The Sequin Moreau brings smokey notes and seems to get out more pit fruit, peach and pear. I like the combo of using both. I used about 60% new oak this past year, that seems about right. The Chardonnay is very low yield though with good acidity. If I had ‘warmer’ fruit, I think I’d use less new oak to keep from overwhelming it. As it is now the oak is in the background.

For reds I use Sequin Moreau, all French oak. I don’t much care for American oak for the style of wine I make. It adds an overt vanilla bean flavor and an ‘ice cream’ texture I don’t care for. I have a total of 6 bottles of Spanish and Aussie wine in my cellar right now – so maybe not making a wine in that style is more a personal choice than anything else. I don’t like to drink it, so I don’t make it like that.

I like Sequin Moreau due to it’s subtle vanilla flavor and it brings a nice spicy note. The fruit is not as ‘pure’ in new oak, but it does round out the wine and take some edges off. The tannins are smoother and the fruit usually seems fuller and not as sharp as in old oak. Sequin Moreau is one of the more expensive barrels you can get but I like the balance and subtle flavor it brings.

The percentage of new oak used varies by grape and vineyard. I use no new oak on the Haut Tubee most years, and up to 75% new on the Chaine d’Or Cab. It just depends on the wine, vineyard, grape and vintage on how it’s going to handle new oak. The Chaine d’Or seems to suck it up and beg for more. After 5-6 months in new oak it’s hard to pick out any ‘oaky’ flavors. The wine just seems smoother and rounder than old oak versions but no overt oak flavors. On a wine like that I’ll use more new oak.

I think you do need pretty intense fruit, to use a lot of new oak and not overwhelm a wine in oak flavors. I think of it like salt and pepper. You add a little of each to bring out the flavors of a dish, but too little or too much and you either fail to highlight the flavors or dominate the wine with them. You also have to be aware of what the wine needs. The Eaglepoint Syrah is pretty intense fruit, but Syrah seems to get too smokey and sweet with a lot of new oak. I usually use 20-30% new on Syrah.

Sequin Moreau has never sold oak based on forest location, it’s always been about grain tightness, so I guess I’d say I agree with the article. We’ve tried other barrels, and tasted wines from different producers using different treatments. This seems to be what works best for us. I experiment from time to time, and usually try at least one new thing each year, but in general I’m happy with the oak treatments we’re doing now.

We have three more local events scheduled:

Friday night May 15th we will be pouring at the Silver Creek Country Club to help support: Parents Helping Parents and Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence. The event runs from 6PM until 9PM and tickets are $75: http://svbta.org/

Saturday May 16th we will be pouring at VinoCruz in Santa Cruz from 3PM-5PM. Tickets will probably be $10 and they usually refund that if you buy a bottle. We will be pouring our 2007 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah, 2006 Uvas Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon and 2006 Chaine d’Or Chardonnay. http://www.vinocruz.com/newcontact.htm

If you are planning to come to that event please let us know in advance. The drive back to San Jose at 5Pm kind of sucks so we will probably stay for an early dinner in Santa Cruz and maybe we could put together an ‘after party’.

It is also time for our annual Friends of the Winemaker Dinner. This years dinner will be held over two nights; Saturday May 23rd and Sunday May 24th. There will be just 16 seats each night. The event starts at 5:30 PM and will feature our wines paired with 4 courses prepared by Paul and Stef. Tickets are $50 for FOW members and $60 for non members.

http://www.fowca.org/home.shtml

It will be a good chance to check out the new mini vineyard and see the growth of our new Mourvedre plants.

I know I shouldn’t post right on top of Paul’s blog so soon, but I can’t help it.

Over the weekend we got some together time in the vineyards and it was a blast. It’s silly and a little goofy, but I love to sucker the vines. (it’s especially fun because we get to hang out, kind of like a day off, but it’s really work)

It’s a lot like when I talk about pruning, it’s something we do opposite each other down each row and the mindless work lets us hang out. I really enjoy it, even when he gets ahead of me or jumps to the next row. There is something therapeutic about walking at a leisurely pace, thinning the upper spurs as necessary and bending over to nip off any suckers. It kills my back for sure, so the chiropractor yells at me, but it’s great for my thighs and buttocks, so the trainer at the gym cheers me on. It’s very Yin and Yang.

One thing I like about this task is that it lets me view each plant and get an overall feel for the vineyard for the upcoming year. The first shoots of spring are very indicative of how well yields will be and how healthy the site is. Paul mentioned doubt about the new pinot site we are taking care of and after our visit over the weekend, we’re both feeling confident about the grapes we’ll raise there.

The plants had been poorly maintained last season so we did an aggressive pruning to help bring them back to life and to a more “normal” state of training – and it worked. I’m not getting too far ahead of myself I don’t think, but I’m confident we’ll have plenty of quality fruit for our next Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot.

As for the “estate” vineyard in suburban San Jose, it’s doing fantastic! I’ll do more photos in another few weeks, after the shoots make it to the cordon wire. At least now the wire farm looks like it has a purpose finally.