Orange County Wine Competition Awards

We entered two wines into the 33rd Annual Orange County Fair Commercial Wine Competition and won!

Ok, we didn’t win BIG, but still!

The two wines we entered were:

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Uvas Creek Santa Clara Valley
2007 Syrah Eaglepoint Ranch Mendocino County

Both won Bronze Medals!

More Hiking

Last week we hiked the long trail at Calero Park. I carried in binoculars and my little camera while Paul hauled our snacks, water, first aid kit, etc.

We went back to Calero again today and did a shorter trail, only 6.2 miles (!). I carried my own pack again, only today I grabbed the rock pick, gloves, my phone (for the camera), and a pocket knife. Paul loaded me up with a couple gatorades too.

At first the extra weight from the bottles felt odd, but I got used to it right away. One thing I did differently today was I wore a wider straw hat, last week was a baseball cap, and I put on a tank top under my regular t-shirt. Once the fog burned off and it was hotter I took off the t-shirt and relied on sunscreen and the brim of my hat to shade my shoulders. I missed some spots with the sunscreen and I’m bright red and burned in a couple spots. It was a much better day though and I never felt over-hot.

We got a late start this morning. We had wanted to leave the house pretty early but Millie was coming by to pick up end posts for her home vineyard and I wanted to douse ours while it was overcast and cool. I ended up watering until 9:30, we got on the trail an hour later.

Go figure, the day I don’t bring the binoculars, we spot a bobcat on the lower trail. We were up above on the connecting trail and stopped to watch her for several minutes. There are signs of cats all over, and we’ve spotted one other bobcat at the park before, but this was the first time we got a good long look. We thought she might try to sneak up and attack a wild turkey that was nearby but she trotted past along a well worn path to a grove of trees.

Before I forget – diet is an important part of training and hiking. Last week we had a proper breakfast before heading off on our trek. This morning however… leftover potato chips from yesterdays pouring event, and spinach dip on crackers. Let it be known that we both noted the poor choice of calories as we ascended the first hill. We were both huffing and puffing and felt like slugs.

We made good time up and over the hill, and chose to do the loop clockwise. Our first stop was at the pond and I took a picture when we got there. The reason I took the picture was to remind myself to mention the bull frogs. They were making the most absurd noises; it was comical. They actually sounded like pigs grunting and since there are wild pigs in the area I wondered if they were opposite the pond from us and we just couldn’t see them. But then they frogs started to splosh and splash in and out of the water. Once the sounds started to repeat it was clear that’s what it was.

I took a second picture at the same spot of Paul, I was trying to get the hills in the background to show where we had just come from. Upper left actually…

The reason I grabbed the pick for this trail was in case we found any good crystals. This trail is known for quartz deposits and I’ve found some great rocks before that are loaded with quartz bands and crystals.

Paul has a rule about me and rocks. If I’m going to pick them up and keep them, I have to haul them out. My pockets came home with just a few little pieces today, all really great, and at least two that Paul picked up (I should have made him carry those!).

The last picture is of a boulder I spotted off the trail about 10 feet – way too big to carry home, but full of crystals and quartz. It’s awesome. I didn’t think the picture would come out, I actually thought it might be blurry, but it seems to have come out just fine.

We spotted two deer today, tons of butterflies and a hillside loaded with tiny pink flowers.

Trail time to day was just over three hours, and even though we had a poor choice of breakfast calories, we did pretty good.

Open Tomorrow.

We will be in the winery tomorrow from 11 AM to 3PM for our summer open house. We will have 5-6 different wines to try and I will be cooking hot dogs for anyone who would like them. The field has also been mowed and you are welcome to bring a picnic and enjoy the vineyard and view. Directions are at:

http://www.chainedor.com/directions.html

It is Vintner’s Festival but we are not participating in that event, but we wanted to be open for people who’ve come in the past on the one ‘open’ day we have per year. We will not be open on Sunday, Stef and I are doing another training hike for our Grand Canyon trip!

We will have preview pours of our next Haut Tubee release as well as our 06 and 07 Syrah, and all the current Cabernet releases. We will have wine for sale and I may do some specials.

Stop by and say hello and enjoy the view and some wine. As always the tasting is free!

Mourvèdre Vineyard

I keep promising updates of the suburban vineyard project, so here it is.

Below, a before photo during a rain storm before the vines went in.

Last November we removed the lawn, in February we “planted” the trellis (posts and wires) in March we put in the vines, and in April we put down the cover crop.

I tried to stand in the same spot to get the similar photo for comparison. This was just the other day and as you can see the crimson clover and wildflower mix is getting pretty tall.


Above, the street view from the corner during that same rain storm before the plants went in.

And below, the similar shot from the other day. I had Jerry help me move dirt from the far right under the windows (can’t see that in this picture) so that it’s level and ready for a redwood deck. Around the pathway I planted a bunch of lavender, pineapple sage, and rosemary. I’m still thinking about putting in thyme and oregano, but I’ll fill in with those after we build the deck (I don’t want it to get trampled).

I crossed the street to get the scale for you. Like, really, what does a front yard with a mini-vineyard in the suburbs look like anyway, right? It looks like this! I checked on my water bills compared to last year and the usage is up, but not a lot. I stopped watering the lawn last July when I made the decision to have it taken out to do this project. Even though it seems like I’m watering a lot to get the vines and cover crop established, I’ll still come in under compared to a lush green lawn.
In the street strip I planted sage, lavender and rosemary. Once those fill in it will look really nice.
The birds and the bees are loving my landscaping and I couldn’t be happier with it. The time spent puttering around is peaceful and I’m certain these will be the very best cared for Mourvèdre grapes in California!

Just for giggles, if you google our address; 564 Canton Drive, San Jose, the streetview photo is when we were doing some interior work and there is a dumpster in this view. Super.
Kind of cool though to see the original vines and Pauls raised planter bed that we took out.

Hiking

Paul wants to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (GC), stay overnight, then hike out. I think he’s nuts, but have agreed to sign up on this adventure. We’ve been gymming more frequently than before and got outside this last Sunday for a long hike.

We parked at the main entrance to Calero, an area we have hiked many many times before and decided to do the new back side. The Canada de Oro is a section of new property they recently acquired and we’ve only been over there a couple of times so far.
The weather has been relatively cool, a plus, and we got an early start (I thought). We got on the trail at 10:10 and had our first stop at 11. Paul said the suggestions for hiking the GC are to hike 50 minutes, stop for 10 minutes to rest and take in water. So we practiced that. Great advice actually.
Our first stop was a nice section of trail, not too steep a climb and mostly in the shade. I wasn’t thirsty enough to drink as much water as I should have, and I made up for that on the way back.
We got to the trail marker for our descent down the backside and I took a couple of pictures from there. The down part was pretty steep in some sections and I thought for sure one of us might lose our footing. Incidentally, I’ve been trying various shoe styles for hiking and I always go back to my tennies – they are lightweight, they let me wiggle my toes and grip if I have to, and the tread is malleable but decent. Just sayin‘. Boots don’t work for my feet, I want them to, but they end up giving me more pain than support.
We walked through an abandoned walnut orchard, you could tell by the grid pattern of the trees…Paul teased me a bit about that when I did my typical, “are you sure?” routine. Yes, Stefania, trees in nature don’t line up nice and neat like that… Are you sure?
At the bottom of the hike, we found ourselves at the other entrance to the park, a staging area for horses and trailers. They have a real bathroom there, not portables. We sat down at one of the picnic sites, ate trail mix and boiled eggs, slammed some more water and rested. We got back on the trail and had a nice stroll til we got back to the base of the hill and then I looked up.
From where we stood you could see the trail at the top of the hill. Brutal and it’s getting to the hotter part of the day, and we’re mostly exposed on this side. It was hot, dusty, and uphill, a lot uphill. Most of the pictures of Paul are the view I had, with him a good twenty feet up ahead while I tried not to die of heat exhaustion! I got a cramp in my left butt cheek that slowed me down, but I pressed onward and upward.
One of the pictures looking down has a scraggly tree in the center of the frame and the trail is right next to it, that shows a little bit of the climb in altitude if you can picture it. That was at the halfway point switchback. When we finally made the crest and turn to head back down we stopped again for water and stretching. There were three swallow tail butterflies flirting about when we got there. Very pretty.
Over the course of the hike we came across a family of wild turkeys and offspring, a young flicker just starting to show color in his tail, a whole bunch of people on horseback, two deer, tadpoles, a lizard, and buzzards.
We got off the trail at 2:20 and had a quick picnic lunch of stuff I threw into an ice chest before heading out. We stopped at the market before getting home and picked up a couple rib eyes, potatoes, and asparagus. I made a tomato and raw onion salad for a side dish and we gobbled it all down while the Giants game was on…couldn’t tell you what time we both passed out, but it was early.

Paul calculated the mileage we hiked and it was just around nine miles!

Bottling Done

The pictures are limited some by the fact I spent the entire time loading glass on to the truck 🙂

It had just turned 60 when we set out at 7:18 for Big Basin. We’ve had a snap of real cool weather over the past few weeks.

When we arrived at Big Basin right at 7:58, the temperature there was 51 degrees. Actually really great for bottling as the wine and glass would both stay cool during the 3+ hour process.


The three person crew getting ready to go. I took the picture from the glass dumping station. I picked up 215 empty cases of glass and started them on the line. Rachel, our Intern was at the end of the line taking the full finished bottles and putting them back in the cardboard cases. Jerry tapes the cases shut and stacks them on the pallet. When we get 56 cases he wraps them up and moves in the next set of glass.


Stefania is the stamper/runner. She stamps each finished case with the bond number and makes sure it has a label on it for ID later in the warehouse. She also moves empty cases so they are easier to lift and gets anything else done while the other three people keep the line moving.

Here she is adding labels as we got started.

And the cases start to fly. Since I was part of the crew this time I really could not take a lot of pictures. Things went very smooth and we finished up about 11:30. Enough time to get some lunch and drop off a few deliveries we had pending.

This is now our third run with this bottling company and we’re super happy we found them!

Bottling Day II

Tomorrow we will be up at Big Basin Vineyards to bottle our remaining 2007 wines. There hasn’t been much drama building up to this bottling. That’s mainly because Stefania did all the logistics and ordering at the same time as the bottling at Chaine d’Or.

I’ll bring my computer up, but I don’t think they have wireless in the winery, so I might not be able to post during bottling like last time. I will also be working the line loading bottles so there will likely be fewer pictures. I will get them up by Saturday though.

Joe is the assistant winemaker at Big Basin and he will be handling the forklift duties. That’s a great relief to me. If all goes well we should be done by 1 PM or so. Joe and Bradley Brown are racking the wine into tank today so we’ll be all ready to go. Bradley just checked in with me on final sulfur levels and that’s the last step.

It will be nice to have bottling behind us for the year and we will be free to focus on the vineyard from here to harvest.

Suburban Vineyard Life

This morning after Paul left for work, I poured myself a cup of hot coffee grabbed a scone and headed out front to the mini vineyard.

It’s cold and cloudy today, overcast with a minimal chance for rain. Feels good, like being on the coast in late fall. The air is crisp and chilly.

While I sat there munching and sipping, the phoebe came by with her offspring to feed on bugs. Another little bird that I haven’t identified yet swooped in and pecked around the base of the vines. The mockingbird did a fly-by and a couple of doves padded around in the gutter.

The other day, two hummers came in and buzzed all around the clover that is blooming. The wires are a popular attraction for them to rest on before zipping all over. Normally they are feisty about who gets to feed where, but these two were on their best behavior and sharing the space.


Last weekend, Paul and I were at Chaine d’Or walking the rows looking for signs of gophers (a few), and to check on the two owl boxes for residents (none yet), and to turn on the drip irrigation system (needed minor repairs).

It was a gorgeous morning, light fog rolling over the mountain and low temperatures in the middle 70’s. While we walked the rows I suckered here and there as needed – it was our third pass through for suckering and there weren’t very many at all. It was tempting to tuck the stray shoots flopping in the center of the row, but the Chardonnay was still flowering in some sections and the Cabernet was just getting going, so that task will wait just awhile longer.

Chance of rain this week, but we’re not worried about shatter – it’s a minor “storm” passing through and doesn’t have any wind coming with it.

Last night I grilled with charcoal! Alert the media!! This is news folks. I grew up grilling on coals and credit my dad for everything I learned. Then I discovered gas grilling and wine. No mess, no wait time, no handling of flaming coals, no problem. Drink a little wine, get a little fuzzy, no problem, just turn on a button, and voila, flame cooking. Yes, I acknowledge it’s not the same, that’s why I bring it up.
I used Kingsford Mesquite charcoal, built my OCD pyramid piles, a little splash of lighter fluid (the old man always used white gas…more on that another time), and waited for hot ash goodness before spreading.
The chicken went on, the martinis and cigars came out, and much enjoying of the back patio commenced. Great evening. Great food. Really good wine (Georges Vineyard Cooper Garrod) Awesome sunset…

All Hands in the Field – Except Me

Today everyone got to head outside and enjoy the nice mild weather. Everyone but me. I was off to my day job for a series of morning meetings.

Stefania dropped me off at work, we only have one car, and headed up to Chaine d’Or. She continued the work on the drip system. Jerry joined her up there and their plan was to have all the drippers checked out and repaired today.

Rachel came by the house at 8AM to pick up her supplies for the day. She would be working on getting up deer repellent which meant I had to search around to find the staple guns and staples. We staple up the fabric softener/dryer sheets on the end posts of the vineyards. I also picked up some cotton face masks for her since the soap smell can get to be a little much when you do it all day.

This is a time of year when it seems like there are more tasks than time to do them. I know I just need to be patient though and everyone will get through all the things we have to do. For Rachel and Jerry it will be a good month, their paychecks will be full.

Catch Up Saturday

We had a few things to catch up on yesterday and hit the road by 8 AM. We started with a visit to Vista Verde to check and see how Rachel is doing with her work. She had also reported seeing a deer so we needed to check for damage and see if we could identify the deer’s feeding path.

First up though was to turn off the drip system. We’d had it on for the last couple of weeks to get 25 new replacement vines started off. The new vines need the watering to get going and established. Not a lot of water though, it was just 20 minutes on the dripper, two times per week.

We found the deer damage pretty fast. It looks like one deer, coming in through some hole in the fence and moving down the vineyard to the creek. I’ll have Jerry look for the hole and see if we can’t patch it. We’ll also put up deer repellent on Monday. I’ll use fabric softener/dryer sheets again. Rachel will staple them to the end posts of the vineyard and on the upper section of the fence where the deer is getting in.

The soap smell is so intense to deer that they will avoid the area. Basically deer are creatures of habit, they follow the same path and feeding routes. What we’ll try and do is make the vineyard smell so unpleasant to him that he modifies his path and moves through another yard. It shouldn’t actually be too hard with the number of other feeding possibilities he has in the neighborhood.

Then we were on to Chaine d’Or. I’m planning on turning on the drip system here also. Problem is it hasn’t been on in a couple of years so it will need some work to unclog hoses, fix leaks, and repair broken drippers. My plan is to turn it on for a long soak. A single run of 4-5 hours which will mimic a summer rainstorm. Since it’s our second year of low rain, I’m figuring the plants will need the extra water. If we need to we will repeat the process again later in the summer.

This was the vineyard as we arrived. It’s one reason this vineyard is so great. The sun is already shinning on the vines, but you can see the fog in the background, keeping the area cool and preserving the acidity in the grapes.

We had Rachel cleaning the filters through out the system, which means a lot of time sitting on the ground. Stef and I tended to gopher trapping. It was just a couple of hours of work. Stef will return on Monday to patch broken spots in the system. As we walked the vineyard she made a list of the repair parts we’ll need to buy today.

By Noon the vineyard was in bright sun, but the fog still hung around the edges.


This also gives us a super long growing season. Grapes need 100 days from flowering until harvest. Normally after 100 days the sugar gets so high that waiting longer than that will drastically increase the alcohol in the finished wine, and drop the acidity. That can make the wine flabby and ‘hot’. Here we’ll hit the 100 day mark around September 20th, but we won’t actually harvest until the last week of October. That gives us almost 40 additional days. The fog will keep the vineyard cool though and both alcohol and acidity will remain solid as the flavors in the grapes keep developing.

We wrapped up the day topping barrels in the winery and checking on the progress of our 2008’s. It was a good chance for Rachel to taste the effect her work will have on the finished wine. We headed home pretty early at 2PM to have some friends over for dinner.