In The Cellar

In The Cellar, December, 2008

This is a good time of year for a winemaker.  The vintage is in, there is still a long list of work to do, but unlike during vintage it is simply a long list rather than a long list that has to be done today before tomorrow's fruit arrives!  Currently we have finished evaluating the quality of the 2008 Whites and have already assembled these blends.  These will be bottled in February of 2009.  The Chardonnay's are currently ageing in barrels with a portion in Stainless Steel tanks as well.  We have begun the process of "battonage" on these Chardonnay barrels; the practice of rousing the yeast lees up from the bottom of the barrel, bringing them into contact with the wine.  This brings an excellent texture and nutty, or "biscuit" quality to the wine after a few months.

The red wines from the 2008 vintage are just finishing up their malolactic fermentations in barrels.  As they finish, we are racking the wine from the barrels and then returning them for long term ageing.  No commitments have been made on the blends of these yet as it is difficult to get a firm grip on their character and quality at this tender age.  The barrels of 2007 Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc on the other hand, are ready for evaluation and we are currently working on the various blending options for their homes.  Early indications are that we will have a 2007 Fifth Element, and the 2007 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon releases will live up to expectations generated by the 2006 releases.

I've been asked often on my overall impressions of the vintage: It reminds me very much of the 1997 vintage; relatively cool, with a fantastic long fall to allow late ripening, - very solid.  The stars from the vintage that I see so far are Syrah and anything white.  This is not to put down the rest by excluding them, but these are the stars.  Generally I think the wines from this vintage will age well as their acidities and tannins are pronounced and well balanced.

Michael Bartier,

Winemaker

Farm Work (End of Year)

This is the last intallment from the vineyard for 2008.

All grapes came in on schedule.  Our last was, as usual, the old block of Chenin Blanc and that was November 3rd.  The final result for our grape quality this year - fantastic.  I use the descriptor with all honesty.  Our farming attitude and methodologies coincided with a cool and balanced growing season, and overcame a late start to the season which resulted in an ideal growing year.  I asked Mike (the godlike winemaker-according to him) how he felt as he's had some of the juice since mid September and he told me he was thrilled.  He added that the whites for this vintage are especially outstanding.

This result and response are extremely gratifying as it confirms our beliefs which incorporate tons of hard, repetitive manual labour, a no-compromise attitude, lots & lots of crop dropped and last but far from least, constant walking through the rows, checking, monitoring and observing.

So right now myself, Trevor & Sebastien are feeling pretty good. Of course it doesn't hurt that our current duties mostly include only bum warming & flattening.

With that we will say goodbye for the year before your snoring starts to bother others.

Merry Christmas, the best over the Holidays and cheers for the New Year.

The Vineyard crew 2008

Farm Work - Harvest ,October 2008

Well here we are, clipping along as usual at this time of year.  Harvest is well along & starting to crest.  We started with Pinot Noir mid September, one week later than last year, followed by Chardonnay two weeks later than last year.

That is the common refrain on this year's harvest & some fruit is suffering the consequences.  Those areas, farms and varietals that are borderline for ripening and those growers who have hung too much crop or not done enough work in the vineyard are seeing a lot of poor fruit, ie: unripe, unbalanced, rotten.  We are not one of those growers.  We were taught by Richard Cleave of Phantom Creek Vineyard fame, (Sandhill's, small lots is where most of his grapes go and arguably he is the dean of viticulturists in the valley) to farm hard and to a high standard.  That standard demands low cropping levels, thorough and aggressive pruning and multiple leaf removal and shoot and bunch thinning passes.  All this means tons of hard, repetitive work under a hot sun and never losing  concentration.  This results in a greater potential for the best fruit that the year's weather will allow.  So the rules and methodology that Richard continues to guide us through, has let us escape the consequences that are plaguing a lot of vineyards this year.  Earlier this week we picked our third-leaf Riesling and Syrah blocks at the Home Vineyard and the grapes were spectacular.  The Riesling was lite yellow and translucent, the Syrah dark purple to black and both packed with character.  Apart from due diligence with our farming practices, the major determining factor in getting this quality - 4 bunches per plant.  That is a lot of expensive fruit to not produce, but the quality has to be there if Mike is expected to do his job in the cellar and continue to be nice to us peons.

So we still have fruit to come in, both from our own farms and from the few friends we contract with.  For ourselves we have one small block each of Chardonnay and Syrah then it's only Riesling and Chenin Blanc, both of which are late, hopefully by November 5 - 10th as freezing temperatures shut down the ripening and dampens our enthusiasm for being out there.

Cheers,

Mick, Trevor & Sebastien

2008 Okanagan Fall Wine Festival Awards

Three Gold and Six Silver Medals for Road 13!

Gold:

2007 Old Vines Chenin Blanc

2006 Merlot

2006 Fifth Element (December Release)

Silver:

2007 Chardonnay

2007 Jackpot Viognier

2007 Jackpot Chardonnay (December release)

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Jackpot Syrah (December release)

2007 Jackpot Pinot Noir (December release)

(We are taking orders for December releases: call toll free: 866.498.8330)

FARM WORK

This is the first update from my year opening March 1/08 Farm Report. I have delayed updating sooner, as was my intention, because the weather has not co-operated in moving us along. We have been experiencing unseasonably cool temperatures and what was expected 2-3 weeks ago is just happening now.

So the days are finally getting nice, in the 20 C. range, and the nights as of last week getting above freezing. On the Golden Mile Bench we’ve been 3-5 C. warmer as usual, which gives our plants an edge with less frost damage and a quicker start to the season versus all the other parts of the valley. This week there has been a noticeable increase in the number of swelled buds and we’re seeing the first buds bursting just the last few days. This means we are now about to start hopping. Starting in a week to 10 days we’ll be shoot thinning and won’t stop to take a breath until into July.

Other Happenings:

COMPOST- Have spread initial treatment, in lieu of granular fertilizers.

• Took delivery of chicken manure and will compost into the late summer before using as a nitrogen supplement.
• Are shipping grape pumice/must (skins, stems etc from the crush pad) from Andres site, for composting and inclusion in this falls program. Pumice has some unique properties and results when used as compost. Like all compost it adds humus to the soil (for nutrients like nitrogen), for groundcover (to limit transpiration/evaporation), for pest management (habitat), for weed control (high acidity poisons weeds and herbicides are not required), and to decrease soil PH (and therefore grape PH which requires balance with grape acidity). It’s our magic ingredient and our road to being “green”.

PLANTINGS- Seems the endless task. We farmers are just not happy unless we’re pulling stuff out and making changes. So we replaced 2.25 acres of Ehrenfelser at the Castle with Pinot Noir. The Ehrenfelser makes a wonderful wine and is easy to sell, but it is labour intensive to farm and is more of a sipping/beverage wine than the more serious food pairing wines we are trying to create. So not as much challenge for Mike in crafting the wine and a superb site for the clone 115 Pinot Noir that thrives and soars on our soils at the Castle. We also completed the last acre planting at the “Rock Pile” on the Black Sage side of the valley. This is our Rhone vineyard, planted last spring, but we had to wait for 2 varietals because we couldn’t get the nursery plants we wanted last year. So an acre of Mourvedre (for a total of 2+ acres) and 1/3 of an acre of Rousanne complete the picture. We plan our first Rhone blend, heavy to Syrah, from our 2009 vintage, so released in 2010/2011?

I have one last bit of education for you and will then go away. We had a soil scientist, Scott Smith, from the Summerland Research Station, come to the farm to discuss the specific soils and their content/character. He prefaced the details with the fact that the Golden Mile has the only native soils in the entire Okanagan valley. It turns out that our ground originated on Mt Kobau and slid down the hillside to form our current configuration. The rest of the valley is alluvial material that has been pushed, pulled and dragged by glacial action from northern BC. So if you are trying those “other” wines, keep in mind Chetwynd, Ft. Nelson etc!

Regards,
Mick

FARM WORK

Where have I been? This is my belated farm report, initiated when I realized the growing season is in full swing & then some & I hadn't updated this. I commented in the second paragraph of the May report that we wouldn't be stopping to take a breath 'til into July. Well, I'll take that back, because this is that break now. So...

We finally got caught up & can stay current with a 5 day week. We also just changed from a 5am to 6am start as it's staying darker later and we can accomplish what we need to by 2pm & still miss most of the heat.

While we had a late start to our season, we have now mostly caught up & might be one week behind at most. Veraison has begun in our Pinot Noir & one of our Syrah blocks, which signals a new round of functions for us & for the plants.

For the plant this is the turnaround from vine & bunch growth to bunch ripening. So the canopy pretty well quits growing to concentrate on the fruit.

For us, we are completing one function while gearing up for several more. Any fruit thinning needs to be accomplished by the end of veraison, for us say 2 weeks. We are completing that now & could be done today (depends how fast I write). Next is a final lateral (cane) & secondary (bunch) pull, followed by our tractor-mounted leaf cutter. This thins & airs out the canopy prior to netting.

Ah, netting! Veraison not only colours the grapes it signals the start of the sugar build-up that attracts all the wildlife - birds, bears & bees. If the bees are bad we put out traps, but it is the birds whose larger volumes & appetites can cause significant loss. So we net.

When our Black Sage "Rockpile" vineyard is in full production next year we will be hanging 30m/42km of nets by hand, on each side and going around again to secure the bottoms. And may I say "and" again... we take them down the same way! Sounds inefficeint & hard, but no and only a bit. Did I leave out the bears? that's when I like to go inside.

The nets will complete the crew functions for us until harvest, leaving us with all the general housekeeping functions. Things like scheduled organic mildew sprays, irrigation status and fruit development monitoring.

What takes a lot of time & is the most important thing a grape farmer can do, is to get in the vines & look. Constant monitioring is required for assessing pests, water stress, fruit development & the general health & vigour of each block & variety to catch problems early.

So that's it for thes edition, I'm now out to complete the Chenin thinning & play with the rattlesnakes!

Cheers,
Mick