Individuals who preserve journals have life twice. – Jessamyn West
The worldwide financial system is constructed on two issues: the inner combustion engine and Microsoft Excel. Always remember this. — Kevin Hector
In my first 4 years of winegrowing—i.e., the joint pursuits of tending vineyards, harvesting grapes and making wine—I saved an in depth journal of every harvest season and subsequent winemaking. I really like doing this journaling, and having an in depth diary of every yr has confirmed invaluable as I hone my abilities.
Nearly two years in the past I additionally began this article, and final yr I even did a day by day posting of harvest happenings on Instagram for over 30 days in a row throughout the peak of the season. However heck, final yr I solely harvested round 4.5 tons of grapes and made about 800 gallons of wine between my little yard vineyard and Magnolia, my industrial customized crush. That was too small to even qualify me as a “micro-winery.” So, all of the journaling about winegrowing nonetheless appeared as necessary—if no more so—than the precise winemaking itself.
This yr, nevertheless, is a unique story. I harvested over 11.5 tons of grapes and I’m making about 1,860 gallons of wine—name it 780 circumstances. What with retaining observe of ever-changing harvest schedules and logistics, discovering of us to assist decide, taking common grape samples for Brix/pH measurements as completely different vineyards ripened, after which coping with all of the fermentation analytics and changes as soon as the grapes have been crushed, it was simply an excessive amount of element to rigorously jot down in my Hemingway-esque leather-bound diary every evening, together with witty notes and observations.
And, fairly frankly, this yr I had no vitality on the finish of the day for what at instances felt like a self-indulgent ritual. As a rule I needed to be up earlier than daybreak the subsequent morning for the subsequent decide or press, and sleep was at a premium. So I did what I’ve at all times achieved when a mission calls for ongoing consideration to element. I tossed my ultra-fine-point Sharpie into the pencil jar and crossed over to the darkish facet into the Kingdom of Excel, the place I created a fundamental spreadsheet that I might populate with mundane however important information.
Did I miss the storytelling, the late-night wine-induced wordplay? Effectively, positive. However I missed sleep extra.
Nonetheless, I’ll be the primary to confess that making wine is way completely different than making different kinds of shopper merchandise, or manufacturing vehicles, or publishing books. It may possibly’t be absolutely or simply translated onto a spreadsheet. No place there for nuance.
Winemaking begins as farming in its purest sense—rising a fundamental crop like corn, or soybeans, or wheat—however with the added influences and challenges of varietal clones and rootstocks, terroir, winery structure and orientation, microclimates, water tables and levels of daylight.
The factor about making wine is that it depends on Mom Nature to a far larger extent than most different agriculture. And Mom Nature is fickle—and she or he’s terrible pissed off proper now. Fortunately we have been spared wildfires for the second yr in a row. However the grand outdated inexperienced gal threw down just a few thunderbolts within the types of continued drought, warmth domes (WTF?!), and a sudden deluge. These in flip disrupted my rigorously laid plans on a number of events.
This was a difficult harvest season. Not too many winemakers will let you know completely different. There was definitely a time or two after I questioned if I used to be actually as much as the continuously altering and sometimes complicated circumstances. Was I only a well-schooled, fair-weather oenophile with no grape grime beneath my fingernails, or might I pivot and make the essential, real-time selections wanted to save lots of the day within the winery and on the cellar flooring?
I assume I used to be about to seek out out.
One factor was clear. I used to be answerable for my very own future this yr, with fairly a bit of cash on the road, and, as I noticed it, all the way forward for the Tiny Vineyards Wine Firm at stake. Luckily, I had my not too long ago indoctrinated enterprise associate, Bruce, and my coronary heart associate, Deb, as sounding boards. Not a complete lot of winemaking information between these two, however each have been extraordinarily fast research with sufficient moxie to spur me on, gently apply the brakes if crucial, and speak me off the ledge after I began to doubt myself.
To paraphrase Nietzsche (who was set to music by the indomitable nation, pop, rock, R&B and gospel singer, Grammy Award winner, and inaugural American Idol champion Kelly Clarkson): “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
That’s form of how I felt this season. I dodged just a few bullets, received handed my ass a couple of times, however general I emerged with a heightened degree of confidence. It was loads of exhausting get-your-hands-dirty-and-your-muscles-sore form of work, however genuinely rewarding. Good juice, as I’m fond of claiming—a labor of the land, invigorating, intoxicating, and simply sufficient scary from time to time.
To convey it again full circle to journaling—winemaking IS all concerning the particulars, and the small print inform the story. So the story ought to be shared. And, since I appear to be borrowing from everybody, there’s additionally that outdated noticed a few {photograph} being value beaucoup phrases. You don’t see too many photographs embedded in an Excel spreadsheet.
I had mapped out a exact plan for the categories and tonnage of grapes I wished to reap in 2022, and the wines I wished to make. I supposed to observe it religiously. I used to be additionally dedicated to incomes the $100-a-ton low cost that Magnolia was providing to any winemakers who processed greater than 10 tons of fruit. The one factor I hadn’t accounted for was the unpredictable nature of… properly.. nature. As Woody Allen as soon as stated, “You wish to make God chuckle, inform him your plans.”
Right here’s the way it all actually went down this yr.
August 27 – Chardonnay harvest for industrial wine
Picked 1,600 kilos of Chardonnay in lieu of the ton I had been promised. The yield on the small winery I had contracted with was approach down, bees have been attacking the fruit, the winery proprietor had over-sold allotments, and had additionally by some means forgotten our authentic purchase-price settlement. Then, on high of every thing else, I ended up overpaying him as a result of I figured the quantity due with out first subtracting the tare weight of the selecting bins. Sheesh!
September 1 – Change of plans #1
I used to be compelled to cancel a one-ton harvest of Grenache as a result of lots of the grapes have been affected by some form of warmth injury and their skins have been crusting over and cracking. This was an enormous bummer, as I had deliberate on these grapes as one of many parts of a GSM Mix (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) that I had gained an award with as an newbie winemaker and actually wished to make commercially this yr.
I’d hardly even began my harvest season and already I used to be 1.2 tons brief on my deliberate tonnage. Plus I now had to determine what to do with the additional Syrah and Mourvedre I used to be nonetheless contracted to choose even when I couldn’t make the GSM.
Not precisely an auspicious or skilled begin to the season!
September 8 – Cabernet Sauvignon harvest for industrial wine
Okay. Per week left to reset and higher put together for the purple grape harvest. Solely it was abruptly coming at me like a freight prepare. A lethal warmth wave had descended on Northern California, and Brix readings have been hovering. Of the 13 harvests but to return, the primary winery prepared to choose was mountaintop Cabernet Sauvignon, usually a late-in-the-season varietal. Seven days earlier, grape samples from this web site had are available at 23.5°Brix and had solely been rising about half some extent per week. Now it was abruptly at 28.5°Brix, the acidity was plummeting, and the grapes have been starting to shrivel from the warmth. They needed to be picked.
At solely 4 years outdated, this was a really younger winery. However there have been 1,000 vines. The yr earlier than we had harvested a whopping 125 kilos from right here, however the turkeys and the foxes had crushed us to a lot of the fruit. This season, with full hen netting and one other essential yr of maturation, I hoped for no less than 1,600 to 1,700 kilos, and praying for nearer to a ton if we have been actually fortunate. What would have been awkward was if we got here in at half that and have been compelled to drop a few half-full selecting bins in Bobbie’s driveway and course of the grapes at my little yard vineyard. I’m charged for an preliminary ton at Magnolia for every decide—even when I don’t usher in a ton—so something lots lower than that isn’t value doing commercially.
Mike Nuñez, of Nuñez Winery Administration, was in command of the winery and had agreed to choose. When he referred to as me an hour sooner than he had thought they might be completed by, I used to be involved they’d merely run out of fruit.
“Your fruit is on the best way to Magnolia.”
“Yeah [gulp], how a lot did you get?”
“Three full bins. Effectively over a ton.”
“Sure!”
September 9 – Malbec harvest for private/consumer wine
Ah, Bobbie’s Winery. Mine too, in that I deliberate and planted it, then raised it like a baby. Bobbie was extra like its wealthy aunt in that she paid for every thing and definitely wasn’t above spoiling it—learn that as overwatering, clandestine fertilizing, weed management and hoity-toity cowl crops—at each likelihood she might get. We’ve each poured our hearts and souls, and wallets, into this tiny 64-vine winery, and this was to be its first true harvest. I’ll admit, I’m smitten, and I’ve written about Bobbie’s Winery time and once more.
Bruce and I had laid down the cordons and designated spurs this previous January, and the winery responded with vigorous canes all spring and summer season. Following an emergency canopy-control session quickly after veraison, it was now a research of gorgeous grape clusters choking a wonderfully straight fruit zone. However it was additionally a winery feeling the results of the warmth dome that was now in its seventh day. Regardless of Bobbie spritzing the berries throughout the burn of every afternoon, the grapes had gone limp.
After we harvested the primary few grapes the winery produced final yr, we solely received 85 kilos of fruit that was both overripe or by no means appeared to totally ripen. That left us with discount points throughout fermentation and subsequent risky sulfur compounds greater than a bit odoriferous. By artistic mixing and the magic of copper, we ultimately ended up with 5 gallons of drinkable wine, nevertheless it was a significant trouble—prompting Bobbie to label her first classic Clusterf*ck Malbec.
However this yr was gloriously completely different, warmth wave be damned, and we ended up with about 450 kilos of fairly handsome—and great-tasting—fruit. Subsequent yr the winery ought to yield twice that quantity, as we’ll prune for 2 canes per spur as a substitute of 1 like this yr.
September 13 – Previous-vine Zinfandel harvest for private/consumer wine
“Hello there. I received your contact data from Mike Nuñez who stated you would possibly be capable of assist us make some wine from our Zinfandel winery up close to Glen Ellen. We’ve received about 70 or so vines; most of them are about 50 years outdated. The winery is dry-farmed and head-pruned, and there are loads of grapes. We simply purchased the place, and the earlier proprietor stated they made 24 circumstances final yr. Can we do this this yr? I’m simply nervous that we could be too late.”
The alternatives come from all over the place, and to this point I’ve been fairly unhealthy at saying no. I simply can’t appear to refuse an opportunity to attempt one thing completely different, hopefully be taught one thing new. This even though my dance card was completely stuffed out for this harvest season. However 50-year-old, dry-farmed, head-pruned Zinfandel nonetheless vigorous sufficient to supply a full 60-gallon barrel of wine from a tiny winery of 70 vines?!
I’m simply saying…
“Hell yeah you’re too late, the sugar might be by means of the roof by now, particularly with this warmth wave. However let me come have a look.”
Two days later we’re crushing 23 buckets of grapes, solely half of the yield that was anticipated. The Brix was at 28+ and the grapes have been greater than ripe. However the brand new house owners’ winery supervisor, Emitario, had are available at 4:00 a.m. and picked all of them on his personal, earlier than heading off to his day job as a winery supervisor to the wealthy and well-known. Gotta shout out a commendable work ethic if you see one!
The brand new proprietor was persuasive, and absolutely engaged. She wished to study winemaking, and she or he wished to do it this yr, along with her grapes. She and her husband had been chocolatiers in an earlier life and so they understood alchemy. I’ve a delicate spot for chocolate, and I like hanging round bold foodies. Plus, I had tasted the ultra-sweet juice from our morning crush and already I might discern the black-pepper spice that may be a hallmark of outstanding Zinfandel.
“Alright, we’ll simply cut back to a 30-gallon barrel and go for it. We shouldn’t have an issue.”
Little did I do know that I’d choke on these phrases earlier than the season was over.
September 14 – Primitivo and Tannat harvests for industrial wine
Not having the ton of Grenache I had deliberate on was inflicting difficult reverberations all the best way down my provide prepare. I used to be okay harvesting the additional Syrah that I’d have used within the GSM mix, as I had deliberate to make a straight Syrah varietal anyway. Now, I’d simply make extra it.
However the Syrah winery—which I had contracted to take all of—additionally had small plantings of Mourvedre (wealthy, advanced construction, great in a GSM) and Tannat (BIG, very tannic, extraordinarily well-liked nationwide wine of Uruguay) that got here with the deal. In previous years they hadn’t amounted to a lot yield, and I figured I might simply field-blend them with the Syrah, however oddly this yr they have been each prolific—471 kilos and 889 kilos respectfully—and would doubtless affect it an excessive amount of. This was additionally problematic in that I couldn’t simply convey them into Magnolia as small heaps—keep in mind the one-ton minimal? Not figuring out what I might do with them, I had my radar on trying to find choices.
And identical to that an attention-grabbing alternative appeared. My winemaking good friend Les Bosche instructed me a few small Primitivo winery up close to Kenwood that had new house owners who have been on the lookout for somebody to purchase the grapes. Les had contracted for just a few hundred kilos however there was simply one other ton obtainable.
Primitivo is mainly Italian Zinfandel. In truth, many viticulturists consider (and DNA assessments have confirmed) that it’s the very same varietal. It’s an enormous, daring, very tannic grape, intensely flavored and darkly coloured. A deep dive into the choices of some hipster European winemakers revealed an superior mix of Primitivo, Tannat and Merlot. (Splashes of two muscle vehicles balanced with a flood of household station wagons.)
Hmmm?
I already had a ton of Merlot on my decide listing that I used to be shopping for to make use of for mixing. If I might decide the Primitivo and Tannat on the identical day and convey them into Magnolia as one lot… You see the place I’m going with this?
And go we did. Seems that each the Primitivo and the Tannat have been completely prepared to reap proper then, each with good chemistry. I simply wanted to determine the way to decide them each on the similar time. Deb and Tom, who have been destined to turn out to be my de facto crew this season, and our pal Kelly, who was additionally an aspiring winemaker who by no means stated no when volunteer employees have been wanted, agreed to deal with the Tannat. I solely needed to discover some of us who might decide a ton of Primitivo in a few hours.
I referred to as Mike Nuñez to see if by any likelihood he had a crew obtainable: “Sure, that’s proper, for tomorrow.” I might hear him stifle amusing on the opposite finish of the road, however he gave me the cellphone variety of a lady named Daisy. “She may also help you. Bye now.”
Daisy delivered. I used to be at U-Haul the next morning at zero darkish thirty to lease a pickup and a trailer, then hopped throughout the road to Magnolia to borrow three macro-bins from Jack. Simply as I made it again to the winery, 5 older guys pulled up in assorted automobiles and climbed out slowly, respecting the early-morning stiffness from day by day winery work that I too have come to know. They unsheathed curved selecting knives, and sharpening stones, and briskly stroked a contemporary edge onto blades honed skinny from years of labor. Then, softly tossing good-natured Norteña Espanol trash speak at one another, they merely walked into the winery and picked it clear. It was superior!
I drove from the now-bare Primitivo winery again south into Sonoma to Avram’s winery, the place Deb and Tom and Kelly have been right down to their final row of Tannat. Nearly 30 buckets, stuffed to the brim with massive, heavy Tannat clusters, have been ready for me by the sting of the drive. Lordy! I wasn’t fairly positive but what all these grapes would possibly turn out to be, however I knew we have been again on observe tonnage-wise and headed for some adventurous winemaking!
The Grapes Are within the Home! – PART 2 The harvest continues with magical moments and a bit mayhem nearly each day. Additionally, we head into the cellar, the place the true winemaking will get achieved, and I discover out if I’ve received the chops for this.
