Bad wine is a headache!

Some wine is made from a formula.  It's a chemistry project to get the numbers just right.  Then, you get the "Budweiser" of wine...the same every year....boring!!

 The authentic wine experience is from smaller wineries that don't have to meet budget goals, but rather simply translate the bounty of the vineyard into a work of the vintners skill.

Thankfully here in the Dry Cree\k Valley AVA, many of our wineries are getting it right.  As the saying goes: Good wine is made from Good Grapes.  The job of the winemaker is not to screw it up.  Mother Nature gives us different grapes every year.  The premium winieries don't try to appolgize for this by masking flaws with chemicals.

The time to make adjustments is in the vineyard.  If you are successful farmer then you can make great wine.

Bad wine is a headache!

Some wine is made from a formula.  It's a chemistry project to get the numbers just right.  Then, you get the "Budweiser" of wine...the same every year....boring!!

 The authentic wine experience is from smaller wineries that don't have to meet budget goals, but rather simply translate the bounty of the vineyard into a work of the vintners skill.

Thankfully here in the Dry Cree\k Valley AVA, many of our wineries are getting it right.  As the saying goes: Good wine is made from Good Grapes.  The job of the winemaker is not to screw it up.  Mother Nature gives us different grapes every year.  The premium winieries don't try to appolgize for this by masking flaws with chemicals.

The time to make adjustments is in the vineyard.  If you are successful farmer then you can make great wine.

Machine vs. Man

Harvest is winding up here in the Dry Creek Valley AVA.  It's been a good year! 

You may wonder how all those grapes are harvested.  There are two choices: by hand or by machine.  The choice often comes down to what kind of wine you are making.

Most premium wines are hand harvested, giving much more control over just which grapes end up in the fermentation tank.  Often a grape vine will have grapes in various states of ripeness, some berries can still be un-ripened while others may have "raisined" and be shriveled.  A skilled harvester can pick the best and leave the rest behind.

Not so with a machine harvester which shakes the grapes off the vine taking whatever falls off.  The winery could have staff that sorts through it all, but that is costly and time consuming. 

Given all this, you can expect that you get a better quality harvest from hand-picking vs. machine.  And better grapes mean better wine.

France for Spring 2017

Many of our local Dry Creek Valley wines have their origin in France, and specifically, the Rhone.  There, the Syrah grape rules in the Northern area and the Grenache shines in the South Rhone.

I am offering to guide a group of wine enthusiasts that are interested in exploring the Rhone wine region of France.  This will be the second visit to the area, the first being a visual experience as we spend along in the TGV (the speed train) and a day in Chateauneuf du Pape.  I am anxious to return for a detailed look at the area.

The dates are open.  Ideally the week long visit would be in the Spring of 2017.  Contact me thru my website for more details.

Tiny Bubbles

Wine can truly be called "phenomenal"!  While most of us know this simply by enjoying a nice glass of wine, the fact is that we are made aware of just how delicious that wine is by the phenolic experience it provides.

Well, that's a mouth full (pun intended).  In a word, the grape contains many flavor compounds that our noses can sense.  It is these chemical compounds known as phenols that create the magic in wine.

As most of these chemicals exist in the skin (up to 300 different compounds) it follows that red wine contains more "flavor" than white wines that are not fermented with the skins. 

These "tiny bubbles" are what we smell when we swirl and sniff our wine, and why the use of our nose is paramount in the enjoyment of wine.

Update from the Vineyard

Take a good look at this photo.  Notice the leaves on the ground?  Have you ever wondered why they do this?

This activity in the vineyard is called "canopy management" and serves many purposes as explained in this quote: "The purpose of leaf removal is to open up the interior of the canopy to light and air to help promote fruit ripening, reduce disease pressure and increase spray coverage. If conducted correctly, the benefits to grape quality can be dramatic as exposure can enhance fruit and wine flavor, color and wine texture."

The point of all this is to produce the tastiest grapes from that vine.  When water is plentiful the vines make more leaves, but we don't want that.  If the vines are happily making leaves they are neglecting their fruit.  By pruning the extra canopy growth the vineyard manager is forcing the vines to get serious about the grapes which is all about improving the taste!

Why Wine Makes Us Happy

While a bit of alcohol can make us "happy",  the real mystery of wine is that it is in the aromas that wine gives off that the true experience of wine comes thru. 

Grape skins contain hundreds of compounds (phenols) that mimic many aromas found in Nature.  Wine then becomes a complex memory recall beverage.

For instance, many of us have a sensory memory of walking along a country road and eating black berries off the bush.  Yum!  So when I "get" black berries aromas in wine, I get a smile on my face.  I have made a connection between my own experiences in Nature and the wine I am tasting today.  Now if you add in some good friends and a beautiful setting (Say, on one of my wine tours!) you are making another great memory.

Finally, when you have a chance to taste that wine you just had at a latter date, you create a circle of happy memories.  Moral of the story is to listen to your past while in the present with your wine so you can find better times in the future.