Wine is a Farm Product

Good wine starts in the vineyard.  Simple.  The better the grape; the better the wine.

It takes the entire seasonal cycle to produce that grape.  While Harvest gets most of the tourists' attention, it is just one phase in the life of the vine.  In February, here in the Dry Creek Valley AVA, the vines are enjoying a time to recharge their energy banks!

I took this photo yesterday, Feb 11, 2016.  The Sun was out and it was pleasantly warm.  In the background is a local landmark: Geyser Peak.  Notice the Olive Tree in the foreground.  Many of our local wineries are producing their own olive oil.  You can also notice the little puff of smoke...it being a "burn day" and the discarded grape canes from this years' pruning are being recycled. 

The life of the vineyard never stops.  Point is that it's always a good time to visit the wineries and vineyards of Dry Creek Valley!

Yes, Virgina, it rains it California

The wine grapes we are familiar with, vitis vinifera, had its origins in the high desert of the Middle East.  They're a desert plant.  They don't require tons of water.  As a matter of fact, many vineyards are, "dry farmed" without any inrrigation!

That doesn't meant they don't need water.  They rely on winter rains to soak into the ground so they can go looking for it.  Grape vines are the second deepest rooted plant on Earth.  If they are thirsty enough they'll dig down 30 feet!

The short story is that too much water makes for lazy grapes.  Lazy grapes don't taste great.  So growers know that if the vines are a bit "stressed" then they will produce taster grapes.

"We don't dry farm in order to save water," Leeds (a Rutherford grower) said. "If we thought we could have more productive or healthier vines, we'd water. Yes, we're concerned with the environment, but we make more flavorful grapes and more flavorful wine by farming organically and dry farming."

Zinfandel

Old Vine Zinfandel

Zinfandel.  It's a red wine grape with a long tradition here in the Dry Creek Valley AVA.  Now after years of speculating just where this mystery grape came from, DNA testing has located its homeland: Croatia!  You have to admire the European farmers that lugged this vine halfway across the globe to find a perfect location to grow the best Zin.

As a part of that tradition is the unique training of the vine called "head trained."  I call it the Afro of vines.  When you visit DCV you will notice many vineyards where the vines are not neatly trimmed on wires, but rather just gnarly stumps sprouting out of the fields.  These likely will be zinfandel vines.

Just so you don't think that the old-timers were just lazy, there are reasons that this style of pruning works with this vine.  It has a lot to do with how the grapes are shaded from the Sun.  Some of these vines have been running "wild" for over a hundred years!

Pack Your Bags

I've been in the wine tour biz long enough to know that most people chose the "High Season" to visit wine country.  Yet for someone like me that lives here, I can tell you that the magic never stops!


Wine comes from vineyards, after all, and they have a life of their own.  Simply put, you can't have a Harvest without a dormant season.  It takes a great effort to produce that lush fruit that we adore, and it doesn't come without a little rest and rehabilitation!

Personally, I enjoy the quiet days of Winter when my "little soldiers" stand bare in the fields.  The smell of the mustard assaults your scenes and takes you places far away.  The limos are all parked and the snakey back roads are all yours.

So do yourself and favor and plan your next visit to wine country during the "Off Season", you won't regret it!

A Nose by any other Name

From The Wine Spectator:
"Traditionally, “bouquet” is used to describe a wine’s aromas when the wine has aged in bottle and has begun to exhibit  “secondary” notes ."

Am I smelling an aroma or a bouquet?   And does it really matter?  My answer is that, no, it really doesn't matter what you call the scent of the wine you are sniffing.

However, I think it helps to make the distinction between a young newly released wine and an aged wine.  It's all a matter of what your mind is looking for.  In younger wines the flurry of aromas are still a more separate experience.  

Let me put it this way, when someone brings in a bunch of flowers into a room, the air is full of separate smells from the individual stems.  Pull one flower from the bunch and you get an aroma.
Stick your nose into the bunch and you get a bouquet.  After time, the surrounding air melds all those separate smells into one beautiful vapor.  A similar event takes place in the wine bottle as it ages, all the separate smells meld into a delightful whole.

Practically speaking then for the wine taster, knowing the age of the wine allows you to look for different qualities of aromas in the wine.  Hence, when you have a thirty year old "Cab" you don't look for distinct separate aromas, you enjoy the "bouquet."  

Wines That Taste Good

You may recall the Charley the Tuna ads from years ago.  I like to apply this Media Wisdom to my choice of wineries.

I am looking for wineries with wine that "tastes good" not wineries that "have good taste."  Personally, I look with a healthy dose of skepticism those wineries that try their best to impress you with their facade.  Beware fancy building offering mediocre wines.

Of course, it all comes down to actually tasting the wine, which rarely lies.  It just seems to me that I am often disappointed with wines from "fancy" wineries.

The upshot of all this is that the public often picks the wineries that they visit on the basis of how grand the property is.  I simply advise that great wine and great chateau don't always match.

I actually seek out my wineries in the very opposite way.  For me, the tiny little barn with barrels and equipment laying around holds more promise of outstanding wines than the sparkling marble tasting room bar.  The theory goes that without the pressure to impress with outward edifices the winery can focus on the wine.  

You've come a long Way Baby!

Often I find myself inspired to share my passion for wine via the internet.  Usually somewhere near the half-way point of some outstanding local wine.

It may be hard to convey how fortunate I am to live in what is truly a wine paradise.  Yet what is still more amazing is just how brief  our wine history is here in Dry Creek Valley.

You must put in prospective that, as far as our recent "modern" history, we are talking about a mire 43 years ago that the first post-prohibition winery was established here.

Yikes.  My son is that age.  We have a long way to go to boast of a generational wine dynasty. 
As I put it to my tour clients: We in America are at the wine culuture age of a post-teen.  So much to learn.

From the 1950's:  "Few housewives who pride them in the appearance of their home will leave it without flowers, however modest the bouquet.  For very similar reasons, the master of the house will see to the proper care and stocking of his wine cellar.  In both cases, it is knowledge and skill in selecting that makes the difference between and ordinary home and one brightened by a touch of color and harmony and the reward is the pleasure of sharing one of the joys of life."

We are still learning.   Men can create floral arrangements and women can, certainly, chose a good wine!!