Cab 2010

Well, needless to say but I'll say it anyway, It's been a while since my last posting.  I want to bring you up to date on my cab for 2010.

We harvested in mid November.  What we harvested was the second crop of Cabernet from the family's small vineyard just outside of St. Helena.  This was the third year for me producing wine.  The first year was a Zin, again the second crop, and it was from the same St. Helena property.  My second year was a cab from the same vineyard that gave me my current production.  I use production losely here since I produced just over ten gallons in 2010.

In my second year I created a wine lable 'Mis Ninos'.  I still have a few bottles of the 2009 production but was able to give my pickers (my grandsons) several bottles to put away and hopefully open when they turn twentyone.  The 2009 is a decent cab although it has an almost carbonated quality to it.  If I let it sit awhile this carbonated quality goes away.  I'm not sure how this came about or what caused it.  Nevertheless, the wine has good deep ruby color and strong black berry nose.

My 2010 cab hasn't been bottled yet and I will keep it in the glass 10 gallon container for at least another two months.  After harvest I let the pulp sit with the juice for nearly a month.  After the fermentation process was complete, I pressed the pulp off and placed the wine into the 10 gallon container.  I put the additional wine in small jars.  After a month, I racked the wine and placed it back into the 10 gallon container.  Currently there is about 1/8 inch sediment at the bottom.  As a comparison, the first racking had about 3/4 inch of sediment at the bottom.  My intent is to rack the wine again at the end of February and then again at the end of March and at that time I will bottle my wine.

This 2010 cab has a deeper color than 2009 because I left the skins on for a longer period.  I think that for this reason the fruity nose is more pronounced.  At this time there is no aspect of carbonation.  I had my brother, the family wine maker, take a look and taste of the 2010 in January.    He was impressed witht the color, nose and ripe berry flavors.  His comments gave me a proud smile that I still have today.

Till next time.

A Tasting and Comment on Rios Solovino Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Last night I had an opportunity to try a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon from Rios Wine Cellars.  The name on their label is 'Solovino'.  'Solovino' means, 'he came alone'.  I purchased the bottle the previous weekend up in Calistoga at the Rios Wine Tasting Room.

It was there that I spoke with Albert Rios, the youngest of the Rios brothers.  Albert's two older brothers are Manuel and Rafael; Manuel being the oldest.  The Rios family seem to all have their hands in the wine industry in one form or another.  The pride they take as a family in grape growing, wine making and all round wine production is evident in the bottle I had last night.  It was excellent!

Albert shared with me that there 2005 Cabernet is from a single vineyard and is strictly from the 2005 harvest.  No blending from the previous year and no blending with fruit outside the particular vineyard.  You'll see this approach most likely in the smaller wine producers, who are not out to make every year of any given wine the same as the year before.  They focus on that year's fruit and focus on producing the best wine that specific fruit has to offer.  The result is that each year you necessarily have a different wine and often that difference is noticeable if you were to conduct a vertical tasting.

Getting back to my personal tasting experience, I found this particular wine excellent!

The clarity and deep ruby color is the first thing that you will notice.  When you put your nose to the glass you immediately pick up perhaps a tint of chocolate which is immediately replaced by ripe dark blackberry.  When you take it into your mouth and coat your tongue, you will pick up not a sweet chocolate but more of a dark chocolate.  As it lingers the fruity blackberry tones come forth. I didn't pick up oak but I was pleased with that.  Why?  I think the oak takes away from the pureness of the natural character the fruit has to offer which is different year after year when the winemaker believes in the single vineyard, single season approach. 

I wonder if that's how the Rios family came up with the name 'Solovino'?  I'll have to ask them.

If you have time I would encourage you to visit the Rios Wine Company web site at www.rioswinecompany.com .

Let your congressional representative know: Oppose HR 5034

This is a short but very important post about HR 5034, a bill that would allow states to discriminate against small wineries who import into their state in favor of that state's distributors and their local wine industry.  For a good legal analysis of the bill click here.  At the end of that article/analysis, their is a link to notify your congressional representative about your opposition to the bill or you can just click here and go directly there.

Remember it is for the generations who follow that we need to keep a vigil on our future's course.