New Season of Promise

Like newborn children so comes the new season. Like the vines I've been dormant in my posting, the last being January 13, 2010. Now that the buds are beginning to push out, I find myself rejuvenated and find the need to write once again.

What's happened since our last meeting? Well, at the Little Ranch in St. Helena, a trellis system was put up on the Cab block (about 3 acres). The frost of last year gave the large orange tree at the ranch a rough time of it and the fruit wasn't juicy but very dry. We lost a family member, my uncle Ike and we learned my oldest son Zeke and his better half Kim are expecting another child in June/July. Aribela will be one year old this month on the 22nd. We learned my son Rick and his family are relocating to the east coast (he got a great job). The good news in that is that Omar (Ric's son who'll be one year on 4/29) will be closer to his other grandparents Hilda and Manuel. My son Albert and his better half Kami are doing well and looking into buying a house up in Calistoga. Ana and I are doing well.

Now a little bit about this years preparations for making wine:

1. I will be refurbishing the corking device I used last year. That means I will be sanding it down and painting it.

2. I haven't done much on finding out what it would cost to make the crushing device operable but it is my intent to do so.

3. I'm still looking for another two five gallon containers because I plan to make at least three dozen bottles of wine. I will be making both a Zinfandel and a Cabernet from the second crop. My first year I made a small amount of Zin and last year I made a small amount of Cab. My thought is to make roughly 15 bottles of each so that I can make a blend of both using a fifty fifty approach and getting 10 bottles of the blend in addition to the bottles of Zin and Cab.

4. Remember last year I mentioned that I wanted to cover the cork on the bottle of Mis Ninos with a red wax. Well I tried and it didn't come out very well, so I have last year's production with a great label "Mis Ninos" (My children) but no foil or other cover for the neck and cork.

5. I've rethought the introduction of a commercial yeast. I am going to go with the natural yeast on the fruit. Why? Because I've tasted the fruits of our labor.

This will bring a smile to your face, I sampled a bottle of the Cabernet from last year and I presented my brother Cio with a sample to get his impressions. He thought it had great fruit, good color (deep ruby), and pleasant fruity aromas. He also picked up a little spritzer element. His guess was that it might be that there was some fermentation that took place in the bottle. His next question was if there were any corks pushing out (it's what you would expect from fermentation taking place in the bottle). No corks have pushed out, nevertheless he expects the spritzer element will go away with time in the bottle.

If there is anyone who might know what that spritzer element is, let me know. Until next time we touch basis, be sure and spend time in the bottle.

Steak and Zin

I'm a lover of T-bone steak and I am also a lover of Zinfandel. Over the weekend I had the once again opportunity to have both. Ana and I, along with our dear friends Chico and Sessy, stopped at the Harris Ranch off of I-5. Ana and I had been there many years ago but this was the first time for our friends to try it out.

From my opening line you know what I had. The only thing in addition to the T-bone and Zin was garlic mash potatoes and vegetables. I choose the 2007 Harris Ranch Zinfandel only because I wanted to do a whole Harris Ranch thing. I wasn't disappointed with my choice of wines. It was aromatic with sweet fruity tones, the color was clear and sharp ruby. The taste was equal to the aromatic tones and I picked up light black berry and what I think was black currant. The only disappointment in the wine was the lack of any lengthy after taste. I enjoy more the wines that linger in my mouth. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy this particular wine, I did. I'm only saying that I was disappointed in that the aromas and flavors that I was experiencing wasn't staying long enough.

I hope you all have an opportunity to stop and eat at Harris Ranch and try their Zinfandel. Here's to all of us in this new year. Cheers!

Wine Rating, what do you know about it?

Personally I know very little about wine rating. So I, like always, jumped on the internet and did a little research.

Well after my brief research I'm still mystified. The bottom line...it's personal. From personal it's easy to picture all kinds of issues and one common thought is that how impartial are the ratings that are given. There was even one suggestion that the rating can be or might be influenced by the amount of advertising you take out in the rater's magazine.

I have a suggestion, to get away from personal, personal needs to be diluted. How do you dilute "personal"? By use of the greater numbers. Put together a group of tasters (50) who are willing to taste a given wine. All tasters are to score the wine using the same approach and rating system. You then take the average of those tasters' scores to come up with the given rating. This approach would give little impact to those ratings (in your group of raters) on the outskirts. The problem with this approach is that it would be hard to find many people who would like to participate.

One way around that problem might be to assemble a pool of as many wine tasters as possible and each month send out a list of wines for that pool to taste. Have them submit their scores as to each wine they were able to taste. Rate only those wines for which you have at least 50 results and then publish those results. Under this approach you would constantly have to be recruiting your pool of wine tasters but people just getting into it might enjoy being part of a larger body of wine tasters.

What are your thoughts?

Lindeman's 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon

Tonight, the 11th of December 2009, Ana and I eat at a small restaurant in Noe Valley on 24th in San Francisco. We had Bernie's Special Burger. Ana ordered from the small wine list and she picked a Lindeman's Cabernet. The list didn't mention a year, just the name. Ana was very pleased when she tasted it and eagerly shared it with me. We found it very pleasant, so much so I asked the attendant to bring me the bottle.

It turned out to be an Australian wine; a 2008 Cabernet from Lindeman's Vineyards and it was the bin series. We found it had a pleasant fruity nose with a deep regal ruby color. we picked up a deep smooth blackberry taste, after a short while I took another taste and I was able to pick up a slight hint of mint. Ana was the first to pick this up and she related it to a roast her mom makes in which she uses spearmint leaves. All in all it was a very good wine that went well with our hamburgers and the cost per glass was very reasonable at $5.50.

When I got home I looked up Lindeman Wines and their Cabernet Bin series from Australia. I was surprised not to find the 2008 for sale. The youngest one they have for sale on their site was a 2006.

Let me know what wines you've been trying, so that I might expand my horizons.

Egelhoff Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Last night Ana and I had a bottle of Bob Egelhoff's 2004 Cab. It was a good cab that was smooth for only being four years old.

The color was a clear deep amber. It had a fine fruity aroma as well as a hint of soft smoke. Upon tasting the wine I immediately picked up a robust black berry flavor and it was very prominent which I liked. The after taste was subtle yet lasting.

It went well with our skirt steak. I believe this wine will become even better in two or three years.

Bob is a good friend of my brother Cio. Bob's been making wine for himself and others for many years now and this was the first time that I tried one of his wines. I'm certainly going to be consuming more if the one last night was an example of what he can accomplish.

Wine tasting ideas

About a year ago, my brother Cio (the wine maker) brought a small group of us together for a wine tasting. The specific reason of this wine tasting was for the purpose of seeking input and comments as to his yet to be released 2003 Zinfandel. He was putting the finishing touches to his back label and was hoping to derive from this tasting, others' description of the wine.

Great reason to come together, wasn't it?

That brings me to today's topic, one in which we all can create an opportunity to bring family and friends together: Wine tasting ideas.

As an amateur wine maker (I believe I can say that now with one year's production under my belt) I find I treat my wine (be it only one bottle in 2008) like my children, only I don't drink my children. Let me put it another way; I have a great deal of pride wrapped up in the process of creation and in the outcome of that process and I want everyone to know about all my children (isn't there a t.v. soap by that name?). What a better way to share than with family and friends.

Have a wine tasting to share the wine you've personally made; you could accomplish numerous things. You can get others' response to your wine providing you with descriptive words that you can place on your home-made label. You can bring family and friends together in a different setting where they can share their stories and comments giving each one the opportunity to perhaps learn something new about one another.

As an example of this last insight; at the wine tasting held by my brother, I had met or knew most of the people there but what I learned was so much more. I learned one person has written books, including working and commenting on the works of the famous writer Jorge Luis Borges (an author at the time I was unfamiliar with). This kind man struck up a conversation with my wife Ana and they had a lot in common one of which is they both speak fluent Spanish. That wasn't all, he gave her as a gift, a book he worked on "Labyrinths" by Jorge Luis Borges. From that all to short occasion I have taken away not only memorable moments but my eyes were opened to a new author.

Now back to reasons for a wine tasting...

You can have each of your short list of friends invite one of their friends and in that way bring new people and new thinkers into your contact environment. Say you invite six close friends or family and they in turn invite six people that are new to you; what an opportunity to learn.

Here's an example of a simple wine tasting that would be fun.

Have a wine tasting to share your favorite wine and purchase two more wines of the same varietal (If your favorite Zinfandel is Perez Family Estate Zinfandel 2000, then buy two more Zinfandels from other producers but the same year 2000). Invite six to twelve of your family and friends over to the house, set out crackers and cheese and a glass of water at each setting. Let every one mingle before the tasting, and then address them before the tasting (an opportunity to improve your public speaking skills and to a small group is ideal) letting them know the process. You can either have the wines already poured (three glasses per setting) or blind pour each wine one at a time, using only one glass per individual. By blind pour I mean cover the label and/or the bottle by putting the bottle in a small paper bag. You have to jot down the order you pour the wine to keep them in track. Have the wine tasters mark down on a sheet of paper the numbers 1, 2 and 3 at the top of the page. On the right side of the page list "color" then two inches down "nose", then two inches down "taste", and two inches below "Score 1-5". You may want to make this score sheet on your computer and print it out beforehand but I think the more involved your audience is the better experience they'll have.

In filling out their individual sheets they are to start with color. Have them jot down any descriptive words that describes that color to them; ruby, straw, yellow, sunset, light, dark, clear, bright, brilliant etc.. They don't have to limit it to descriptive words in the manner one usually thinks of; one might describe the color as an emotion such as moody, calming etc.. The same step should be taken with "nose" and "taste". In that tasting my brother had, one of those present when it came to describing taste said that it reminded her of a time long ago when she was on a beach. My point is wine's description for any one individual isn't necessarily defined by descriptive words; sometimes it is described by certain memories. After the first wine go to the second and complete the steps before going to the third wine. After the three wines have been tasted in this fashion, go around the table and starting with color ask each participant to share with everyone their comments. Then take "nose" and do the same circle of contributions and then go to "taste" and then to "score".

My advice at this point is to simply to have a go at it i.e. sit them down and begin the tasting.

My last thoughts on this short post is don't limit yourselves to a wine tasting, try a wine pairing. You'll find that the benefits and reasons simply multiply. Share the load by asking others to bring their favorite wine and favorite food.

Enjoy!