Tomorrow we will be in the winery getting ready for bottling. I’ll bring my computer along and see if we can get hooked up to the wireless. If we can I’ll try and do ‘live’ pictures like we did last year of bottling.
First up we will be filtering our Chardonnay and that involves moving it from tank to tank. Next we’ll put together the final blend for the 2008 Haut Tubee and get that into tank. That will mean that the 2008 Eaglepoint Syrah will also have to go into a smaller holding tank and out of barrel. We’ll check sulfur levels, and will make any additions we need to.
I will also be hand bottling 12 magnums of the 2008 Eaglepoint Syrah. The logistics of the truck just make it easier to bottle the magnums by hand and cork them with the hand corker. For now the 2008 Pinot Noir will stay in barrel. As we empty out a tank on Tuesday , I’ll get the Pinot into an open tank. We’ll check sulfur then and I’ll also hand bottle 12 magnums of the Pinot Noir.
We’re hoping everything will go ok. If we can’t finish on Saturday, we’ll come back up Sunday to complete the job. If not Sunday will be a hike and then the Sharks game.
Monday we’ll be back at the winery. The forklift arrives at 9AM. We’ll also bring all the corks and labels with us. The glass will be delivered between 10 and 1 and I’ll unload it with the forklift. The bottling truck should arrive about 2 or 3 and we will help get it backed in and level. That process takes about 3 hours. It actually takes longer to get the truck backed in that it does to bottle.
Then we are mostly done for the day. Matt from the bottling company will get the truck all ready to go that night.
Tuesday we will be in the winery about 7AM. We’ll have to hook the tanks up to the truck and clean all the hoses. Then we start bottling. It should be done about noon or 1 PM if all goes well. Then we will clean all the tanks and equipment and barrels! I’ll help Matt get the truck back out, which only takes about an hour (it’s only moving about 60 yards, but it’s a few tight turns).
If we are on time and on schedule the truck will show up from the warehouse about 3PM to pick up the bottled wine. If we are behind schedule at all, we’ll have to postpone the pick up until Wednesday. I’ll get as many pictures and updates in over the next 5 days as I can.
There is a real threat to wineries and winemakers brewing in Congress. Alcohol wholesalers have convinced lawmakers to introduce House Resolution 5034. If passed into law, H.R. 5034 would give states the right to ban wine shipping without having to defend themselves in court. In essence, H.R. 5034 takes state alcohol laws outside the orbit of the the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause, it is that provision of the Constitution that led the Supreme Court in 2005 to overrule the plethora of discriminatory wine shipping bans that existed across the country.
This bill would devastate wineries, particularly those that rely on direct to consumer shipping, and of course, it is an attack on consumers who merely want to obtain wines by mail that they cannot find locally.
In addition, if you are on Facebook I urge you to become a fan of the STOPHR5034 page to get regular updates on the bill: http://www.facebook.com/STOPHR5034
The proponents of H.R. 5034 work for the beer and wine wholesalers and are extremely powerful. They are working very hard to get this bill passed. Without an aggressive effort those that value free trade and the ability for consumers and wineries to interact with each other, many wineries will be hurt and consumer rights lost.
Stefania and I have worked very hard to build our winery from the ground up and this bill would be devastating to ourselves and other small family wineries that count on people like you to buy our wines.
Stefania has been hard at work pulling together all the moving parts. For those of you with some manufacturing in your background, this is ‘Just in Time’ manufacturing at its best. Here’s Stef’s summary:
Bottling Itinerary:
This Saturday, Paul and I will be there to filter and transfer the Chardonnay and prep one of the red wines into tank. Sunday we’ll be back up if there is anything else pending from Saturday, otherwise we’ll be back up again on Monday.
Nitrogen delivery tomorrow 4/27
Forklift 9a.m. Monday 5/3
Glass delivery from CWT before noon also Monday 5/3
Matt, Artisan Mobile Bottling, after noon Monday 5/3
Bottling 8a.m. Tuesday 5/4
Corks, labels and foils are now all on hand. Foils will go on the bottles that get the Chaine d’Or label. We’ll be bottling four different wines.
If I can get a network connection on Tuesday I’ll try and get pictures up every few hours.
The day went off pretty well. Just that little bit of traffic that slowed us down but otherwise no issues. Enterprise had TWO trucks for us this time, just in case something was wrong with the first one 🙂 I brought back a couple bottles of wine to thank the staff there. We were even able to return the truck early.
Stefania made us some Chowder to watch with the Sharks game:
4 red potatoes 1 leek 2 ears white corn separated 1 cup crab 1/4 c whole milk 3 TBSP olive oil 3 C Beef stock
Last year I posted a blog about the birds and the bees. Well guess what, they’re back! I’ve been waiting very patiently for them and finally, they made an appearance. The crimson clover is buzzing, literally and the little flitty birds that like to hang on the wires have been passing through.
It took awhile this morning to track down the Common Yellowthroat. I have two bird books here but neither had a photo that matched the little dude I saw with his black mask. Such a little cutie bird. Also looked up a really large orange bee that I’ve never spotted before. Turns out he’s not really native to this locale, more of a southern Cal kind of guy. After reading up on it, I think I’ve identified this bee as a male carpenter, except there were two of them chasing each other around….I kind of got the impression they were solo adventurers but there were definitely two of them.
When we got home the other day, a pair of baby cedar waxwings were splashing in the rain water that pooled in the gutter across the street. They were so little and cute!
This morning while I was peering out at the vineyard, a black headed Phoebe perched on the wire and peered back at me. She’s been a constant in our yard for months now. Usually we’ll hear her in the backyard about an hour before the sun sets and she gets her fill of bugs.
The photos are all stock pics I pulled off the web – the camera I have now would never be able to capture clear shots in my yard. While I was sitting up front the other day trying to identify the Common Yellowthroat I watched one of the crows that’s always hanging around chase off the Coopers Hawk. For a suburban neighborhood I get a lot of great bird traffic!
Isn’t that code for “pot’s ok with me”? 420Friendly? Well, yesterday was April 20th and I only wish I had been stoned for part of it.
Instead, Paul took one of his rare and treasured PTO days so that we could try again with the Ag Dept. appointment and rental truck reservations to move barrels. Woke up to heavy rain, groan, this is not going to be a fun day.
By the time we arrived at Enterprise the rain had mostly let up and there were giant billowy clouds with pockets of blue sky and bright sun (yay!). Transferred our stuff from our vehicle to the rental and we were off…right into morning traffic. We missed the carpool window and hit the road with all the other slackers that were late for work.
Made it to the Ag Dept, 45 minutes away, for a 2 minute appointment so Paul could sign some pesticide papers (gov’t agencies don’t have enough funding for fax machines I guess). Not to mention their office is in a sketchy neighborhood. I knew he’d be right out, but none the less opted to accompany him into the office where I picked up a couple of flyers about pest management for roses.
I have a monstrous hatred for aphids and would rather nuke them dead than try any sort of organic holistic approach like asking them to move on to other gardens. The advice on the flyer says “Choose rose varieties that are disease-resistant.then in the same paragraph)…No roses are completely disease-free, but many can be grown with minimal care.” Needless to say, I’ve had rust, black spot, powdery mildew, aphids and white flies at any given time during the year in my rose garden. The good news though is that Paul can spray the same anti-fungals and oils on my roses that he uses on the vines and I rarely have problems anymore…except for those pesky aphids. Maybe I should try getting them stoned.
Paul signs the forms at the Ag Dept and we head up and over Hwy 84 and take the Scenic Route to Big Basin Vineyards. And it was scenic. Twice I spotted the waves breaking on the coast and there were pockets of steam and fog rising all around us on the mountain. So cool. Ethereal.
We spent the ride bantering about Robert Parker and his scoring “system” and how it reflects on what people are buying and who he is persuading and who he is alienating. At one point, I said, for me, why would I be inclined to trust his tastes? We have nothing in common. I’m a stubborn, head-strong, female, and in my 40’s…how are his point ratings going to have any bearing on what I’m buying? They’re not and they don’t. Like all things artistic and subjective to personal tastes and preferences, it really depends on how much you can be honest and trust yourself.
I bought one wine one time based on a write-up in a subscription Paul has. I happened to flip through the section on Oregon pinots and read the tasting notes. There were 27 aromas noted, one of them being cassis. It was a maker I had wanted to try for a long time but was too timid to spend the money on it, “what if it sucks?”. Now I buy (er, Paul buys…) 2+ cases per year for my side.
Got to Big Basin, met Joe there and he loaded up our two barrels of Syrah. Tied them down, in a light rain shower, and got back on our way within 20 minutes. If you’ve ever driven through Boulder Creek, I’d say they are a lot 420 Friendly folks, some of them stoned more often than not. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, just a friendy stereotype I’m making about the area.
Retraced our steps back through the Santa Cruz Mountains to Chaine d’Or and unloaded the barrels into the winery. Popped the bungs, thieved out two samples (one new oak one neutral barrel) and gave it a whirl. Awesome! The Eaglepoint Ranch fruit is great to work with, and I love how it develops in the Seguin Moreau barrels, just awesome. I could have spent the rest of the afternoon thieving Syrah from the barrels.
Put the tailgate back on the truck and headed back to drop it off and get on with the day. Only something evil happened to me. I don’t know when or how I did it, but I re-injured the left Trapezius muscle. Oh wow, does that hurt.
Headed home, cleaned up and ventured out for a late snack and a beer (or more) at Rock Bottom. They were pouring a Scotch Ale from cask, so smooth, so creamy, so satisfying. Split a basket of chips and guacamole and a reuben sandwich. The whole time I could overhear our barmates chatting up the countdown to 4:20 and giggling about having some 420 on 4/20 at 4:20. Oh how I wished I could have been stoned and feeling no pain in my back. It’s medicinal you know, but I don’ thave a prescription.
Got back home and UPS had arrived and delivered a small heavy box. A good friend of mine had to put her kitty down earlier this year, he was 20 years old and she had named him The Dude. In honor of The Dude, I planted a Midas Touch yellow rose (not disease-resistant) in the garden and ordered the rock, it arrived on 4/20. I couldn’t have planned that on purpose if I tried….
We were out in the vineyard at 8:30 am. The project for the morning was the Sesson Vineyard in the Coyote Valley just south of San Jose. Jerry had already pruned the vineyard but it needed some technical work. It’s a young vineyard and many of the plants needed some retraining and repair from some issues last season.
It’s the type of work that Stefania and I really need to do ourselves. Each plant needs to be evaluated and a repair plan for it put together based on the plant strength and the position of the new buds. We are training Jerry to help, but it will probably take him a couple years to fully get the concepts down.
Once you ‘get it’ it goes pretty fast and the three of us were done by 11:30. I really like the potential of this site. The local geography is a lot like the premier and grand crus vineyards of Burgundy. It is on a gentle slope at the base of some very stony hills. There are several layers of soil down to the water table making for a complex mix. The weather is well suited for Cabernet Sauvignon and that’s what we’ve put in.
I’ve had my eye on this area for many years so we’re excited by this project and hope we’ll be able to make some wine from the vineyard soon. Below you can see Stef working away.
There is something though in the vineyard that gives my allergies a terrible time. I took several different drugs but finally had to head off to the gym about 3:00 pm. When my allergies get really bad 30-40 minutes on the bike at full speed really seems to help. I’m not sure what it is maybe just pushing all my blood really hard through my system helps.
That night Stefania and I were pouring at a Rotary Club fundraiser with a 1960’s theme. It was a good chance to bring out the tie dye. We poured for a few hours and finally headed home about 8:30.
Sunday we got to have a ‘Paul and Stef day’. That’s what we’ve started to call the Sunday’s we have with no work or obligations. We got up early again and headed to the beach at Pascadero. We walked the beach for about 40 minutes, then headed to Pillar Point harbor. A few years ago the harbormaster there started to allow the fishermen to sell directly off their boats. We bought three Dungeness crabs and a flounder.
We made civiche out of the flounder and Stefania boiled the crabs on the back patio. We lounged in the backyard all afternoon and enjoyed a Chardonnay from Sea Smoke with the fresh seafood. We’re still trying to keep Sunday’s clear and I hope we can head back to Pillar Point next week!
Flounder Ceviche:
12 oz very fresh flounder or other white fish 1 avocado 1 cup Jicama 2 green onions 1 mango 1/4 cup cilantro 1 small serrano pepper (diced very small)
Chop into bite size bits and mix in a glass bowl with:
$550! That doesn’t include the wine we’ll pour, and if it’s away from home, which they always are, the travel and hotel. I think I’m declaring that we are done with these events. We’ll still do charity events to support charities we like, but the ‘for pay’ wine event just does not make any sense for a winery to attend.
First there’s the cost. $550 is outrageous. The winery is the attraction, it’s the reason there is an event. No wineries, no event. So why charge so much? One thing these events always try and promote is that they are attracting ‘high income buyers’. Bullshit. I’ll say it. Bullshit. If you want to attract high income buyers, charge $50 not $10. $10 attracts drunkards.
Many events don’t even try and pretend about that aspect anymore. Instead they promote a ‘trade session’. The idea is it’s closed to the public and only open to ‘trade buyers’. Yeah, more bullshit. The big distributors and retailers give out the trade tickets to their employees and customers. They treat it like a free drinking party.
If I’m going to spend $550, 2 cases of wine and travel on a party it’s not going to be to get a bunch of people I don’t know or care about drunk. I’d much rather spend that money getting out and visiting personally with people who already buy our wine. Better yet I’d rather spend it entertaining them at the winery and our home.
So we are taking that budget money this year, and saying no to the public events. We’re hoping to have some travel plans together soon. We’d like to get to the East Coast, DC, Philly, NJ/NY and Boston. We also would like to get to Florida this year. It’s always better to pour wines for friends!
The climatic scene in Goodfellows came to mind today. In that scene Ray Liotta runs through everything he has to do in his busy day – “pick up his brother…make the meatballs…sell the guns…move the stuff….stir the sauce….catch the plane” and it all comes tumbling down when the ATF shows up on his front driveway.
Well no ATF in my driveway this morning, but a highly scheduled day fell apart pretty early. My PTO days are like gold. I only get so many every year from the day job and I try and save as many of those as I can for harvest time. When I do take one I try and jam as much into it as I can.
The plan this morning: Get up at the normal time 6:30 AM, coffee and paper in bed, then out quick by 7:15. First up Enterprise Rental Car. There I’d reserved a pick up truck for the day. Stefania would drive me over to Enterprise then we’d both head over to Skip’s Tires. The FJ Cruiser is in need of new tires, and since it’s our only car, the rental truck would mean we could leave it for the day with out worry.
Next we’d be off to the San Mateo Department of Agriculture to renew our operator ID number at 10am. For some reason, the Ag department thinks it’s easier for me to come in during a workday to spend 4 minutes getting a stamp on a piece of paper than figuring out someway to do it over the phone. So a 45 minute drive each way to a bad neighborhood in Redwood City for a 5 minute meeting.
Next it would be over to a rock supply company, also in Redwood City. We need about 400 pounds of rocks to replace some posts in the vineyard at Chaine d’Or. Normally it would be a good chore for Jerry B. to do, but I know trying to get all the steps to purchasing the rocks into Spanish, given my poor Spanish, would lead to mayhem. So I figured I’d pick up the rocks and then drive them the 20 minutes up to Chaine d’Or.
From there it’s a 50 minute drive through the mountains to Big Basin Vineyards. See if I have the pick up truck, I can load in the two barrels of 2008 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah I have at Big Basin and move them to Chaine d’Or for bottling. I had it all set up with Joe at Big Basin, and if everything went right we’d be back unloading the wine at Chaine d’Or about 2:30-3:00 PM. Then just an hour back to Skip’s Tires, pick up the FJ, then shoot over to Enterprise and return the truck before 5 PM.
Yeah, right.
I’m standing at the counter at Enterprise at 8:00 AM hearing about how there are no trucks in San Jose until 10am. I’m trying to send Joe a message at Big Basin on my iPhone when one comes in from Bradley at Big Basin saying Joe can’t do it today after all. Plans – done.
Skip’s was ready for us though. I’d gone in on Saturday to pre-order the tires I wanted and get everything set up for today and they were ready for us. Stefania and I walked about 3/4 of a mile to a bookstore to wait out the tires. They look great and should hold up better off road than the old ones did.
Here’s where you can currently find our wines locally:
Los Gatos
Cin Cin Forbes Mill Summit Store
Aptos
Deer Park Wine
Santa Cruz
Vino Prima Peachwoods Hollins House Vino Cruz
Davenport
Davenport Baker
Palo Alto
Vino Locale
Saratoga
Uncorked
There should be more coming soon and I’ll try and keep everyone updated. If you have any leads, send them my way!
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