It's been awhile, so thought I would update my HUGE readership on what's been happening at the winery the last few weeks:
-Weather: It's been hot, then cold, then hot again. Now its getting cool. A typical Spring in the Northern Central Coast? Not really....its a little cooler then average. And just a few degrees makes such a difference when it comes to the f-word. FROST. We have received a lot of questions lately about frost damage. We had a tiny bit a few weeks ago in the Estate Vineyard's Grenache block--maybe 10%, which is usually fruit we drop anyway. So far, so good. Napa and Sonoma have not been so lucky, or so I have heard (Julie Nord, pictured in the Napa link, also consults for Clos LaChance).
-Wine Club Shipment: When boxes and bags are flying, that means its time for another Wine Club shipment. Wine Club Manager Cindy Flowers has been running around, processing orders, fulfilling shipments, threatening various staffers regarding inventory....However, the dust is starting to clear and the wines are getting into the hands of our valued members. We recently segmented the wine club into three-tiers (there is a theme with three tiers amongst our sales and marketing programs). If you haven't heard anything about the new levels of Wine Clubs offered, click here.
-Travel: Now that my kids are a little older, I have started traveling for business again. It's a really tough sales environment out there these days. The economy is awful, which makes restaurant dining and wine purchases even more of a luxury. All of all our distributors are hurting and cutting way back on their inventory. But my recent trip to Chicago was a good one. The accounts I visited were busy and seemed to be doing well. Fortunately, our Hummingbird Series Wines are priced right--especially for By The Glass in restaurants and for case stacks at finer retail shops. We are weathering the storm, but our sales team is working double-time to to hit numbers this year.
-New Wines: Rosé (dry), Viognier, Sauvignon Bland, Muscat....all new vintages. Available online and in the San Martin Tasting Room.
Had a little April Fool's Day fun with the Clos LaChance team this morning. However, it "may" become a problem with my sales channel later today.
A little background: when we get a good score or media write up on a wine, Sean from Benson Marketing Group (our long time PR agency) sends it out to the CLC team. So yesterday I typed this up and forced poor Sean into sending it out first thing this morning:
"Just wanted to give you the heads up that Clos LaChance 2004 SSS Meritage has received a score of 97 points in the April 15 issue of Wine Spectator, due on newsstands next week. This is a huge, huge score for the winery. In fact, this is the highest score I've seen for a US Cabernet Sauvignon blend that is not from Napa Valley. The review reads:
"A tour de force. Rich, opulent, powerful and very well-structured for a Meritage blend. This wine is packed with a lot of ripe, intense currant, spice, blackberry, earth and loam flavors framed by spicy, cedary oak. Ends with a firm wall of tannins, yet the berry and currant flavors push through. Best from 2009 through 2025. 680 cases made."
We'll send over the hard copy version once it's printed later this month.
Also, just a heads up (and I don't want you to get too excited in case it doesn't happen), but we received a call from an editorial assistant this morning and they are considering Stephen for a cover shot—albeit with some other winemakers as well—the story they are considering him for is “The Central Coast’s Hot Young Winemakers.” We trying to get more details on this photo shoot and will be back in touch with you soon.
Congrats to the entire winery team!"
My father immediately called Sean....and then called me. He was a little miffed at both of us. Stephen our winemaker comes into the office all puffed up with pride. It was a shame to have to bring him down (although I don't doubt that we will certainly get there some day...Stephen's wines are just getting better and better. The first vintage of our SSS Meritage got 92 points in Wine Enthusiast). Paige replies to the whole team with congrats.
And then the rug is pulled out from under me. Both my sales managers tell me they already sent the news out to our entire distributor network in hopes of selling the wine in.
Whoops. That's about 40 distributor contacts across the country that now think we got a 97 on our Meritage from the Spectator. A score like that would catapult our brand into cult status. Hopefully they will have a sense of humor about it when they discover the prank.
Or are my clever sales managers Kevin and Cher messing with me? Have the tables been turned and now I have been hit with a cruel April Fool's Day joke? Has the "messor" become the "messee?" I have to admit that I am a little worried.....so already the joke's on me.
The vineyard team has been hard at work pruning the vines over the past few weeks...getting them ready for new spring growth. After last week’s torrential rains and winds, we are enjoying some spring weather this week. I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see budbreak sometime soon.
Most of the vines in the Clos LaChance Estate Vineyard in San Martin are "spur" pruned. The technique our crews use is tried and true, originating in France at the end of the 19th century. The cordons (arms) are trained along a wire. The spurs arise along each cordon. Each spur is cut to include only two buds. Each bud on a two-bud spur typically produces one shoot. See my fancy doctored up picture for a visual example.
Cane pruning is another method developed by the French. Each vine is pruned to one cane with 6-8 buds and one spur with 2 buds. We use cane pruning in our Semillon block, cutting the canes a few weeks before harvest to create the dried-up grapes that make the delicious Nectar dessert wine (more on that later!).
In a nutshell, pruning is an important part of the grape-growing process. When vines are pruned correctly, most of the buds will burst successfully and the shoots will be vigorous. However, if a vine is pruned too lightly, too many buds will burst, causing an overabundance of shoots and berries. Because the plants energy is limited, the shoots will be shorter and the number of grapes and size will be smaller. However, the yield of the grapes will be larger--threatening the completion of ripening.
Amber the Winery dog turned 10 last week. She was adopted from a former vineyard manager of Clos LaChance when she was just a runt puppy. Amber has made a number of signifigant contributions to Clos LaChance, including:
-Stealing food off desks, the table, out of trash cans.
-Barking at unfamiliar men that come in the front door. Although not at unfamilar women.
-Having serious gas issues when we are closed up in the conference room for a marathon staff meeting.
-Weaseling a treat after going potty outside. (Isn't that what dogs are supposed to do?)
-Licking faces.
For this we thank you Amber, and hold a party to celebrate your 10th birthday. You are becoming an old lady (70 years by my dog-year calculator), somewhat grumpy, especially with all the new dogs coming to visit. But we love you always.
The third vintage of Amber's Cuvee Sparkling Wine (Blanc de Blanc from the Santa Cruz Mountains) will be released later this year.
Amber the Winery dog turned 10 last week. She was adopted from a former vineyard manager of Clos LaChance when she was just a runt puppy. Amber has made a number of significant contributions to Clos LaChance, including:
-Stealing food off desks, the table, out of trash cans.
-Barking at unfamiliar men that come in the front door. Although not at unfamiliar women.
-Having serious gas issues when we are closed up in the conference room for a marathon staff meeting.
-Weaseling a treat after going potty outside. (Isn't that what dogs are supposed to do?)
-Licking faces.
For this we thank you Amber, and hold a party to celebrate your 10th birthday. You are becoming an old lady (70 years by my dog-year calculator), somewhat grumpy, especially with all the new dogs coming to visit. But we love you always.
The third vintage of Amber's Cuvee Sparkling Wine (Blanc de Blanc from the Santa CruzMountains) will be released later this year.
Yesterday was one of those days that I recognize what a great job I have. I spent the entire day at a beautiful restaurant in San Francisco eating a 6-course lunch and having insightful discussions about wine and fine dining with industry experts. Clos LaChance hosted a media/trade luncheon for 15 or so people at Conduit, a new restaurant on 14th and Valencia. If you haven't been there, I highly recommend it. Check out the menu and wine pairings:
Crab salad with basil aioli
2005 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay
Seared Maine Scallops with maitake mushroom salad and garlic
2005 Liebeler Vineyard Chardonnay, Santa CruzMountains
Tortellini French Onion Soup
2005 Estate Grenache
Lamb Loin sous vide piquello relish broccoli de ciccio
2005 Estate Syrah
2005 Special Selection Series Rhone Blend, Lila's Cuvee
Braised Short Ribs with yukon mousseline and parsley pesto
2004 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Special Selection Series Meritage
Chocolate espresso cake with stracciatella ice cream
2005 Estate Petite Sirah
The purpose of this event was to introduce key industry journalists and distributors to Stephen, our new Estate wines and the future of Clos LaChance. I had to give a little introduction about the winery--but lets face it, these folks were not here to see me....they were here to meet with Stephen and taste his wines. I kept it short and sweet....then sat back and enjoyed.
Every year Clos LaChance has a company meeting. Everyone in the company attends and employees present their previous years results and their plans for the upcoming year. It is pretty informative and interesting...especially the tasting portion. Stephen and his team put together a pretty extensive tasting...a "State of the Winery" so to speak. We taste blends he is getting ready to bottle in the coming year, as well as juice that has just come in that previous harvest.
Below are a few notes that I thought were interesting on new products being introduced this year:
-2007 Sauvignon Blanc, which is going into the Hummingbird Series. Very grassy, gooseberry with a nice balance of acid. I think this is going to be good. (will be available this Spring)
-2006 Late Harvest Semillon, in the Estate Series. This is really good. A nose of honey, light petrol and floral....can also smell some of the wood from barrel ageing. Flavors of peaches, fruit cocktail and honey. Can't wait for this to go into bottle (will be available this Fall).
-2006 Estate Zinfandel. We decided not to do an Estate Zin last year because we had som many new products coming out...the Estate Cab, Syrah, Malbec, SSS Meritage and Lila's Cuvee. But this year, it was impossible to say no. It is really something special. From hillside blocks in the vineyard. Walnuts, orange peel and rich bramble berries on the nose. This will be a BIG Zin--at 16% alcohol. (will be available this Fall).
-2007 Late Harvest Zinfandel and NV Zinfandel Port: Two dessert wines that will also be available in the Fall. Both are really great...but my notes are a little fuzzy, as it was the end of the tasting day for me...and I was about 30 wines deep.
It’s been a crazy holiday season here at Clos LaChance winery. Now that the shipping deadlines have officially passed (i.e. any new orders will not get to the recepient before Christmas), lets take some time to reflect and review the craziness that is December at Clos LaChance Winery:
Our holiday party was last Friday night. Almost 80 people—how we’ve grown from the 8 people sitting around the table at my mom’s house while she cooked for us. We went to a fun Mexican restaurant this year—margaritas, tequila shots and Salsa dancing. The food quality was just okay compared to Brenda’s culinary creations…however a good time was had by all.
We had one customer order over $40,000 worth of wine gift packs to give to their customers. All high end wines too. I want to be one of their customers! Not that we don’t love the See’s Candy and popcorn we get from our vendors (the office is full of delicious goodies this time of year). But a gift pack with two bottles of $40 wine—where do I sign up?
It’s great to get $40,000 orders. But the logistics are a little nuts. We had to put together about 600 gift packs by hand. We had a couple of weeks to do it…but for a couple of days, Melanie coordinated an assembly line of any warm body she could find.
Speaking of warm bodies, as the weather gets cold, our office and Tasting Room in San Martin gets pretty chilly. Hence, we put on the heat. No matter how high we turn up the heat, the office is always freezing. All the office girls wear sweaters, vests and scarves during the day to stay warm. However, being a small enclosed space—the bathroom always fluctuates in extremes. Long story short—there are no secrets here amongst the office crew at Clos LaChance. When someone from the office gets up and starts to strip off coats, scarves and sweaters….everyone knows they are heading to the “potty.”
We had a great holiday dinner here the other night with Le Papillon restaurant from San Jose. Mike, who runs the joint, is seriously the nicest guy ever. And Scott, the chef, is the most unassuming, gracious and talented man. We are lucky to have such a great partnership with their organization. The truffled celery soup with a shaved truffle and truffle oil (did I mention truffles?) was to die for!
Vacation—the winery is closed from Christmas Eve through New Years. I think we all need the break. Or at least a temperate toilet.
During the harvest period the amount of work is 3X greater than during the “off season”.
We could not get this work done with out the additional help of seasonal interns.
Often time’s interns are college students who are studying viticulture and enology and therefore already have a love of wine and are eager to “get dirty”
The interns are the work horses of the vintage doing a bit of everything, but mostly the unglamorous cleaning and sanitation that is needed everyday as well as grape sampling, crushing, draining and digging out tanks, pressing, multiple additions and then cleaning up and sanitizing all over again. They do this 10-14 hours a day (and night) 7 days a week. A successful harvest would not be possible with out a hardworking, conscientious and dedicated group of interns.
Most seasons I like to hire at least one if not more from overseas. This year in addition to Austin my nephew from Santa Cruz we had 2 interns from France.
Clement de la Farge joins us this vintage after having worked in vineyards in the Loire Valley in France with experience producing Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. He has a Masters degree in Food Technology with an emphasis in wine production. Edouard Lambert had just finished a vintage in the Barossa valley of Australia before he joined us for harvest this year and prior to that worked in several Chateau’s in his home region of Bordeaux including Château Figeac, Saint Emilion 1st Grand Cru Classé. Additionally he received his Masters degree in Enology from the University of Bordeaux.
One of my favorite aspects of harvest is working with the interns, whether it is the unbridled youthful energy and exuberance from a “rookie” like Austin to the cultural and technical exchange as I experienced with Clement and Edouard, is the fresh perspective and shared camaraderie and passion for winemaking.
In the end we couldn’t do it with out them.
So I want to extend a sincere Thank You to the interns of 2007 as well as all those that I have had the pleasure to work with in the past.
Know anyone interested in working a harvest in 2008?
A little late, but here are a few things we are thankful for here at Clos LaChance.
-The 2004 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon: We’ve been talking about this wine for 5 years now, so I am thankful we finally have some to sell.
-Amber the Winery Dog: My waistline thanks Amber for stealing my breakfast and/or lunch off my desk. Who needs the calories anyway?
-Al, the UPS Guy: I am thankful for Al because he always has a smile on his face, even when he has to pick up 600 packages at once when we send out Wine Club.
-In the Tasting Room, we are thankful for the continual support of our members and their families. It’s their patronage that keeps us going and we appreciate that!
-Dominic, the San Martin Tasting Room Manager, is very thankful for our 2nd register system (coming soon!) that will allow us to service all of our guests more efficiently. No more lines!
-Also from Dominic: he is thankful for the wonderful turn-out for the Time for Wine program this year. A huge thanks to all the bands, visitors and staff that made this every-other Thursday event a huge success in 2007. In 2008, Time for Wine will be held every Thursday, from Memorial Day through Labor Day! More details coming soon.
-Kristin in thankful wedding season is officially over.
-Bill is thankful for his wonderful daughter Cheryl and all the hard work she does. So is Brenda.
As of last Thursday, Clos LaChance's 2007 Harvest season is officially complete. Sort of.
We still have some late harvest fruit on the vines--Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc for a Sauternes style white and a little Zinfandel for a late harvest and a Zin port (our new dessert wines from last year will debut at the end of 2008). But we are done picking the "main" stuff...good thing too since the rain started on Saturday. Stephen (CLC's winemaker), who is usually very reserved when it comes to the question of quality, actually had a fist pump going when discussing this years harvest. The Cab especially. Now we only have to wait for three years to try the finished product!
Also, the fermentations continue...we have a lot of juice (skins too) sitting in tank, turning into alcohol. Sure makes for a pretty picture.
Question for the day, what is your favorite dessert wine and why? And how much did you pay for it? (informal market research going on right here).
"We finished bringing in all our Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir on Friday. We have now moved on to the Cab--the amazing weather last week was a big bonus. We have small quantities of a few Rhône varietals to bring in....but the majority of the fruit out in the vineyard right now is Cabernet Sauvignon. Yields this year are looking to be right on target with our forecasts."
A few blog housekeeping items--we had some tech issues with the automatic updates and emails going out to subscribers. It should be fixed now...but you may have missed a few blog entries (just scroll down to see them, including a very self-serving entry that features my cute son). Also, we have had several complaints about not being able to register to make comments (an email confirming registration is never received). That should be fixed as well, so comment away.
We are working fast and furious to bring in the grapes! So far, we are about 60% complete. However, the crew is working double-time these next few weeks to get things in before the season changes. Cooler weather has slowed down ripening a bit; however we still have a few sunny days here and there.
Quality: Looks really, really good. So far, the Petite Sirah has been the star this year. Higher yields then the past few years....and beautiful, gorgeous clusters.
We aren't too tired yet....due to the slow start. But its going to be a busy couple of weeks around here.
Leaves on the trees are changing and the vineyards are looking beautiful.
We brought in the Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay grapes today from the original "Clos" vineyard (3/4 of an acre in Bill and Brenda Murphy's Saratoga backyard). A very special helper was on hand.
I started working full time at Clos LaChance in 1999. I had a desk in our cold, dark rental cellar at the Novitiate in Los Gatos. It was 55 degrees and the humidity fans kicked on every 30 minutes. Our winemaker at the time tried to build us a little tent with a heater in it (think plastic sheeting and two by fours). I wore a hat, scarf, jacket and gloves (with the fingers cut out so I could type) all year round to keep warm.
In 2002, we moved to the winery in San Martin. The offices here are a small version of paradise compared to our old digs. Heat, light, running water...you know the basics.
I have certainly gotten comfortable in these offices over the last 5 years. The desks have gradually filled up with staff to manage our continuously growing business. In the long, tedious but fun, management meetings, one of the major topics of discussion is the detailed and complex bottling schedule. With all the Clos LaChance products we have (just over 20) and the Private Label Program products (another 20 or so)...that's a lot of coordination.
Since the inception of Clos LaChance, the bottling of our products has been handled by a number of contracted mobile bottling lines. A big truck comes in, hooks up to the tanks and starts cranking out the finished products. Making sure all the supplies (labels, corks, bottles, capsules, boxes, box stickers, pallets) are here and ready to go on the date the bottling truck arrives is always a challenge, as well as sticking to the tight schedule. Inevitably a supplier misses a delivery date or it takes longer to change up the tanks.
Whenever we discussed purchasing a bottling line for the winery, we always brushed the idea aside. Bottling lines were something that "big" wineries had. I wouldn't consider us big (although we are producing 80,000 cases this year)...but Clos LaChance is now the proud owner of a bottling line! It was finally the right time...we are bottling enough wine to make it cost efficent. Plus we need the flexibility with all our products and potential new business coming down the pipeline.
We purchased a mobile unit from Mission Bottling and officially took possession on October 1. Why a mobile line? Two reasons:
1. We have no room for a permanent line inside the winery. If we could build this place all over again, we would add more a lot more room for storage. But it is what it is, and the room we thought could work for bottling s filled with wine and other materials.
