2005: Oaked vs. unoaked

Perhaps there is a possibility that more of California’s Chardonnay will be tank fermented and tank aged (e.g., “un-oaked”) this year due to the big harvest. For those who’ve complained of late about too much oak in California’s Chard, this will possibly be a vintage which they can draw more wines which exhibit “terroir”.
I’d say that's quite possible, though the issue of what “terroir” itself is hasn’t been resolved, so perhaps it would be better to say that these un-oaked wines are more “true to varietal typicity”, though that’s a mouthful.
Un-oaked can be rather interesting, but for my money I like some oak influence in my Chard. I just find it more complex – though I will be honest and say there’s a limit, and it's gross when winemakers use too much & the result is nothing but wood for the nose & finish.

Anyway, here’s a look at a view that seems to take this "un-oaked" idea a little to the extreme: [Caymanian Compass]
“We look for medium bodied wines that are easy to drink, and with less alcohol content,” said Mr. Richter, who added white wines should be crisp and fresh with very low acidity and the red wines should not be oak barrelled (sic), but fermented in classic metal barrels. [my emphasis /St.Vini]
“…classic metal barrels”, eh?…and that would be what…?...a stainless tank, perhaps? Drums and kegs? And I don’t see how they could be considered “classic”…

This harvest, many coastal wineries were faced with shortages of barrels due to the “extra” tons that appeared on the vines, causing many to buy whatever barrels they could find. Personally, I think part of the problem of these “extra” tons was a fault of the vineyard teams not really watching what was going on – really, how can anyone justify being off the mark by 30~50% with a vineyard estimate? 10% low is possible, maybe 15% would be the farthest I’d be willing to accept as just a “natural variation”…but 30% low? 50% low?
Get real…they were just guessing blindly…


Long story short, this put the wineries behind the 8-ball when it came to fermentation room and storage of these new wines, and both barrel cooperages and used barrel brokers found business brisk – just as it was back in 1997 when we had another huge harvest [link to Wines & Vines article from ‘97]. The next big harvest was 2001, which of course wasn’t as severe for the wineries, mostly because the barrels were on hand from the previous years, and the large & long harvest was anticipated, where 2005 wasn’t – for whatever reason. There was the down-turn in the wine markets from 2001 to 2004, which left many wineries reducing their harvests accordingly – as well as their capacity. Barrels were soon in vast surplus, and the value of used barrels plummeted.
But harvest 2005 turned that situation around quickly, with many cooperages finding they couldn’t fill new orders fast enough, and some wineries are still waiting for their new barrels today…tanks being the choice of storage in the mean time.

Another facet of this is the custom crush facilities (or even wineries which had extra capacity they weren’t going to be using). Any tank that vintners could find was filled – sometimes at ridiculous prices. This again was a sharp turn around for a segment of the industry which had recently fallen on harder times, due both to their clients increasing their own capacity & reducing needs for their services, as well as the downturn in the market which also reduced needs for their services.
As with all things in the wine industry, the demand for these services is cyclical & dependent on the growth fluctuations of the industry as a whole.

Anyway, I’ve probably gone on with this long enough. As a side note - here’s another good article from SFGate.com which has a refreshing look at some of the 2005 bargain wines. It also has some snobbishness from a few professional wine critics, as well as some down-to-earthiness practicality.

For those who want it, there should be plenty of opportunity to sample "un-oaked" California Chard this year, as well as possibly less oak influence as a whole.

Flooding didn't materialize

It's good to be wrong sometimes, and this was one of them!

Flooding along the Russian River in Alexander Valley, and flooding in Napa on the Napa Creek and Napa River didn't occur to the degree the NOAA/NWS had predicted.

Even so, the Norrthern California coastal areas are still facing potential flooding due to saturated ground and a number of large storms off the Pacific coast.

[link: California under flood watches]

Even more bad news...

FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA
430 AM PST WED DEC 28 2005
CAC097-281700-
SONOMA-430 AM PST WED DEC 28 2005
* CONTINUES THE FLOOD WARNING FOR THE RUSSIAN RIVER AT HEALDSBURG
* THROUGH THIS EVENING

* AT 1 AM PST THE STAGE WAS 13.1 FEET

* FLOODING IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN THIS MORNING AND BECOME MAJOR BY THIS EVENING.
* FLOOD STAGE IS 19.0 FEET.

* FORECAST...FLOOD STAGE EXPECTED TO BE REACHED LATE THIS MORNING...WITH A CREST NEAR 24.5 FEET FORECAST TO BE REACHED THIS AFTERNOON.

* AT 24.5 FEET...MAJOR FLOODING CAN BE ANTICIPATED ALONG THE ENTIRE REACH FROM CLOVERDALE TO HEALDSBURG...INCLUDING SOME FLOODING OF HOMES...BUSINESSES AND SECONDARY ROADS IN THE LOWER SECTIONS OF HEALDSBURG AND EXTENSIVE FLOODING IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTIONS OF THE ALEXANDER VALLEY.

Won't affect the vines, as they're dormant right now, but could be bad for houses and vineyard buildings today and tomorrow...

Thursday's supposed to be drier - though that's to be short lived. Another strong storm forecast for Friday and the weekend....

Dude! Where's my vines...?

It's been raining so hard it's difficult to see the vines planted out past the tractor shed...

To date, I've recorded more than half the average year's 32 inches of rainfall, and we've not even into the "traditional" wet season yet which usually runs from January to March. I stand at 17" so far in my rain gauge, and that is only from 1st November to present...

This could get rather nasty!

Currently the NOAA/NWS has issued ~
...A FLOOD WARNING IS IN EFFECT WEDNESDAY FORTHE UPPER RUSSIAN RIVER AT HEALDSBURG. A FLOOD WATCH IS CURRENTLY IN EFFECT WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR THE LOWER RUSSIANRIVER AT GUERNEVILLE AND THE UPPER NAPA RIVER AT ST HELENA.

ALSO OF CONCERN IS THE NAPA CREEK IN THE CITY OF NAPA WHERE THREE INCHES OF RAIN IN A FEW HOURS WILL CAUSE FLOODING AS WELL.
HEAVY RAIN WILL MOVE INTO THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS LATER THIS MORNING AND CAUSE FLOODING AND POSSIBLE MUDSLIDES.

* ONE TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN ACROSS THE NORTH BAY COUNTIES DURING THE PAST 12 HOURS. AN ADDITIONAL 2 TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN IS FORECAST THROUGH MIDDAY WEDNESDAY...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS IF THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING.

* THE GROUND IS ALREADY SATURATED AND SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS HAVE BEGUN TO RISE. ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN WILL RAPIDLY RUN OFF AND RESULT IN POSSIBLE FLASH FLOODING. THE PERIOD OF HEAVIEST RAIN AND GREATEST POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING IS FROM 4 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING UNTIL 10 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING.

So, what's this all mean to a grower?...and how will it affect next year?
Hard to say exactly what it'll mean for the coming growing season, it's just way too early to predict anything there...
From the viewpoint of a grower - if you haven't pruned the vines already, you're probably not going to be able to get a crew out into the vineyard for a few months due to the saturated conditions. I'm planning on a late pruning, say maybe the end of February if we don't have a few weeks of dry weather to keep the mud down.
That could extend to the very earliest of March if the weather doesn't cooperate...

Mind you the considerations at this point are twofold - one, that you don't have workers literally stuck knee deep in mud, and two, that you don't cause excess erosion by having people breaking up the soil when it's as wet as it is right now. Certainly any disturbances you create right now will lead to more of your topsoil being carried off by the rainfall into the local streams and rivers.

As a side note, the storm which is off the coast right now is producing some BIG waves and swells - swells reported as 18'~21' (6~8m) and almost 30 seconds apart (that means really powerful)...add another wind generated wave of 7'~9' (2~3m) and you've got yourself waves of almost 30' (10m)!!!

Last time I remember something like that happening it was back in 1986, a year when there was record flooding on the Russian & Napa rivers from the massive storms.

Sonoma Wine train blues

A (wine) train?...in Sonoma? There’s been some newspaper discussion and campaigning for a rail service restart in Sonoma County and the adjacent Marin County for the past few years, including a few ballot measures. Some have even proposed that there could be a Sonoma Wine Train service to rival (compliment) the Napa Valley Wine Train (NVWT). (see these links: News in brief from the North Coast, NORTH BAY New debate over light rail for North Bay, HEARINGS IN JANUARY ON MARIN-SONOMA RAIL LINE EIR) The commuter rail service is possible…but no Wine Train for Sonoma County… It’s probably not going to happen, although I’d love it if it did.

First of all, the idea is to reduce road traffic by starting a commuter line from Cloverdale to Larkspur – which really doesn’t fit in with the vision of a slow moving, bucolic train ride through a pristine vineyard setting.

Secondly, there’s only one set of tracks for most of that distance, so a tourist train occupying the line while the commuters have to wait on a siding (or vice versa) would detract from the experience for either. It’s not impossible, but not practical for the commuters (who should be the ones to get the first benefit from the local Marin-Sonoma taxes that’d be raised for the project), and I don’t think it’d fly with the voters getting anything less than first dibs on the service. I think one of the main reasons that the NVWT prospers, or even possible for that matter, is/was due largely to the fact that there is no conflict with other rail services – especially those funded by public taxes (I’ll mention conflicts with neighbors below).

Thirdly, while Sonoma County is arguably as pretty and romantic as Napa Valley, the Sonoma rail line doesn’t transect as much vineyard as does the NVWT, although the run North of Santa Rosa to Cloverdale does, and is quite nice. Expanding such a run further into Hopland or Ukiah would be even more attractive – if you could keep the rail line maintained. Alexander Valley would be a picture perfect view from the rail...

Fourth, there’s the issue of tracks which haven’t really seen too much service in the last decade (Sonoma County in general), or are abandoned or removed (Vineburg into Sonoma and Glen Ellen, and Kenwood too), or just hard to maintain in general - due to damage from winter storms (Hopland, Willits, Ukiah). The length of Sonoma Valley from Vineburg in the Carneros, to Melita Station just South-East of Santa Rosa, would be the most breathtaking, but would be impossible as the tracks through that entire passage were removed years ago. The visions of slowly rolling into Kenwood station on Christmas Eve with all the lights on is something to imagine…well sadly, it won’t ever happen – the track is gone. Period. Unfortunate, too, as the HWY 12 road is just one lane in each direction, and routinely gets clogged with tourists and commuters both vying to use it. Removing a portion of either of those groups from that roadway would be helpful – but again, impossible because that track’s been removed for decades. The longer these tracks lay silent, the more disrepair and removal we will see...until nothing of it remains at all.

Lastly, but most vocally in nature, would be the opposition of the neighbors to the increased noise and inconveniences. Most people don’t recall when there was daily routine rail traffic in Sonoma County, and many of the homes built or purchased in the last 20 years haven’t had much impact from what has essentially become a dormant line. Now I’m well old enough to remember train service into Sonoma County, though even by my childhood that service was freight based and no longer carried passengers. I still recall all the vices of a kid near a large moving diesel engine – putting pennies on the tracks so they’d get flattened, waving to the engineer & conductors, secretly climbing onto the freight cars when they’d be parked by themselves…even jumping off a trestle in the early summer into the water of a creek below. But even though I wouldn’t mind seeing the trains back again, it would have some negative impact on the home values nearby. I don’t know how this would be mitigated, or even how much traffic congestion the rail is supposed to relieve from the busy 101 corridor, much less whether it’s a realistic estimate. The vociferous opposition of the neighbors in Napa still rings out in my memory…I don’t need to see or hear that again.

The Sideways Hangover

So everybody has already talked about the "Sideways Effect" and the resulting increases in Pinot Noir demand and sales, but have you heard about its repurcussions? Shall I call it the "Sideways Echo"? How about the "Sideways Hangover"?

According to AC Nielsen, Pinot case sales for the year to date are up a whopping 77% over the same time period last year and up 82% in revenues! This moved Pinot past Zinfandel for the #3 red position (long way to go to get #2 Cabernet, which is up just 3% and still 5 times the sales of Pinot). Of the top 100 brands only a handful show 2005 declines over 2004 and some, like K-J, Mondavi Private Selection, La Crema, Mirassou, and Estancia, are up big time, some doubling last years sales.

So what's the problem?

Well, if you know anything about growing Pinot, you know its a particularly ungenerous varietal, with small fruit clusters and yields per acre often half that of Cabernet or Merlot. Couple that with the relatively fickle nature of the varietal (both in the vineyard and in the cellar) and you've got a low-producing wine with much larger quality variations between vintages and growing sites than sturdy Syrah or Cabernet. Add to that the lack of new plantings in California (less than 3% of California Pinot has been planted in the last three years meaning the supply won't grow to meet this new demand) and you have the "perfect storm" for a Pinot Hangover.

But it won't be a supply/demand problem, it will be a quality problem. Right now, domestic Pinot producers are looking abroad for all the excess Pinot they can find as domestic sources have either dried up or have become too pricey. The are looking for Pinot from the Languedoc, Italy, Chile, Australia - all of it excess supply in those countries and most of it of low quality, will soon be in the domestic market as suppliers try to catch the last Pinot wave before the trend blows itself out.

If you've had a <$10 Pinot from California, you probably know what I mean. Inconsistent quality, some true stinkers, are only the rare gem here and there (Pepperwood Grove's 2004). If, however, you stick to known producers and vineyards, you should be able to stay "above the fray" as the masses abandon the flavor of the month and drift back to their "f*cking merlot".

"Terrroir-Driven" Wines vs. "Style-Driven" Wines

There are some interesting and divergent positions on wine style that I have been reading lately. Thanks to Caveman/William for stimulating the discussion.

Terroir-driven wines are often associated with wines of a "natural" style. By "natural", proponents mean wines with limited human intervention. That is, no additions of acid, tannin, concentrate, etc. Thus, the terroir (as it relates to the effects of climate anyway) remains unmasked.

Style-driven wines are wines where a winemaker strives to create wine of a certain style - typically a "New World" or riper style. Wines of this type are more likely to have less variation between vintages, utilize technology and post-harvest additions like those described above. These wines are also thought by critics to reveal less of their terroir as those subtleties are masked by the intervention.

If we were to count this as an election and votes equaled purchases, the Style-driven wines would win hands down. I mean would you want to buy apple pies from the lady at the farmer's market if you didn't know for certain if this week's batch would be as good as last week's? On the other hand, are terroir fans enjoying something that the rest of the masses are missing out on?

I've written about my feelings on "natural" winemaking before. Frankly, I don't think there is much "nature" left in a process that entails taking vines, long selected and bred for certain desirable characteristics, grafting them onto compatible rootstock, forcing them to grow onto a wire trellis, pruning them, pulling their leaves, blowing sulphur onto them, guarding their fruit from birds, plucking their ripe fruit, squeezing it, adding yeast, putting it into containers made from tree trunks, sometimes arresting fermentation to leave sweetness, and putting it in a barrel stopped with tree bark.....whew! Anyway, by this point I think wine is pretty much an artificial construct, even at its most basic and "natural" level. To start to split hairs over adding acid is, in my opinion, a bit much.

As for ideas like “[v]inification is the afterthought, it all happens in the vineyard”, I can say I have never met a vintner who believed this. Certainly what fruit you start with & how you grow it will be fundamental to your success, but if you’ll allow the simile of an oil painting - what you do in the vineyard will determine what you have to work with when you bring the fruit (oils, paint) into the cellar (canvas). But even so, vinification is the art (style, experience & ability) - it is the action which produces what we call ‘wine’. As an artist you want to procure the finest pigments and canvas that you can afford, and work very hard to see your fruit mature to it’s loftiest condition…all work is geared toward the final moment when all of it comes together, when we commit ourselves to the canvas…nothing – NOTHING –is an afterthought, regardless of which style you choose to follow. The ‘terroir driven’ wine is similar to abstract painting, while ‘style driven’ wines are more like realistic panoramas (some may insert 'fantasies' here). But each still involves some interpretation from the vintner to translate it into the final product.

Ultimately, however, I think this again boils down into another art vs. profit debate, and, as I've said before, if you're going to make wines to sell for profit, you will suffer the whims of the market. If you want to make wines of "integrity" - go for it - but don't complain later that you're not making any money at it. Do it for the "love of the game".

Go WEST young man, go West...

What a great article!

All except all those parts where the writer places Sonoma East of Napa, and about how Sonoma has 58 miles of beaches to the East of Santa Rosa…

Otherwise the placement of the E&J Gallo Winery in Napa stands out as an obvious error as well.

It’s doubtful many readers in North Carolina would appreciate the difference that would make – unless they wound up in Lodi or Davis while looking for the Sonoma Plaza.

***
Reminds me of a story I heard quite a few years back about a Sonoma resident who – while out in his yard – had a car of tourists from the bay area stop to ask for directions.

“Where,” they honestly inquired, “are the gold mines?”
“What gold mines?” he replied.
“Well this is Gold Country, isn’t it?” came the next question from the car…
“No,” He said, “this is Wine Country. You’re looking for Sonora, and that’s about two-and-a-half hours East of here in the Sierra foothills.”
…at which point the couple in the front seat started arguing over which turn they should’ve taken an hour ago and drove off.

Really, quality grape growing is all about location.
I won’t put the good people of the Rocky Mountain Telegram to task for it entirely, but they should’ve at least looked at a map before they went to print…

A few name changes, some time off...

Well, for those of you who've found me here, I thank you...

Perhaps a note of explanation: I gave up the other name (/huge) for a couple of reasons, one being the weird anti-blog itellectual-property conflict that Tom @ Fermentation (nee FermentationS), and the Cinci Wine Garage suffered of late - both having to change their blog names...or face some legal actions (yikes! this is supposed to be a fun, part-time thing!)...

To me, that sets a rather strange climate.

My change was due to several hits to my blog page, which seemed to originate from one of the publishers of the Hugh Johnson's literary works on wine, which gave me quite a shiver. And an email I received was from another publisher wondering if I could review a manuscript for them...I was pretty certain that they weren't looking for ME, but for Mr Johnson.
Strange though, I'd have thought they'd have known how to contact him...

Now my spoof of the name is legally defensible in the U.S. under the First Ammendment protection of satire & parody, but the real Mr. Johnson lives in jolly old England, along with some of his publishers, which has no First Ammendment (one of the reasons we Yanks threw them out 229 years ago). And also, I thought that since the term 'huge johnson' - American slang meaning of 'large male genitalia' - would be fairly transparent as a joke, and certainly there would be no possible confusion between my humble ramblings and the artistic works of Mr. Johnson.

Whether he or his publishers would agree with that is somewhat arguable...

So I'd changed my blog name to plain "Huge's World of Wine", thinking that would be less offensive, but after a few more hits from the publisher decided to take a new name all together...

Zinquisition was a name I'd fumbled upon one day and seemed to lend itself here.
Please take note that there will be no thumbscrews or torture allowed here - as this blog is in no way connected with the Inquisition by the Catholic church during the middle ages, or even about religious topics at all. To keep in character I've become St. Vini, and provided I don't start receiving emails from the Vatican asking me to drop the name, I'll continue on my path...

...and I'll try not to pontificate to much, as well...

Hoorary for Rosenblum!

While I realize that Wine Spectator's annual "Top 100" is more about rewarding wineries WS likes than a true ranking of the best 100 wines in the world (otherwise it would be mostly those 87-case lots that get the huge scores (and prices)), I'm glad to see Rosenblum getting #3 and #30 and both of them are Zinfandel! While zins from Rosenblum aren't surprising, see one ranked #3 certainly is. I, for one, am glad to see Zin getting its recognition with higher scores and wines that push the envelope of what this grape can be.