Wow, its September 1 already. After a few drips and drabs of Sauvignon Blanc that came in last week, the heat this past weekend (106 in San Martin...yikes!) made everything jump about 2 degrees brix. Now all the Sauvignon Blanc is perfectly ripe at about 23.5 degrees Brix. We should have it all in the winery by Saturday.
We think there will be a bit of a lull until the end of next week. Then we should be picking the Viognier and Muscat Blanc. We think a few of the smaller Pinot Noir vineyards will be ready to come in as well. We will probably be crushing and pressing all at once! We expect the harvest crew will be going full force starting next week. Time for the office to bring you guys/gal lunch, no?
In terms of yield, the Sauvignon Blanc came in exactly on target at 5.5 tons per acre. And "on target" almost never happens. Go figure. Are we in for that "normal" vintage that we keep waiting for?
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with a visiting wine writer and her photographer husband from the UK (remind me to come back in my next life as a wine writer. She has been all over the world...drinking wine. That is my kind of life). We tasted the fermenting (almost done) Sauvignon Blanc juice we brought in last week, straight from the tank. Really great flavors and incredible acidity. I asked Jason about it today and apparently that block is the "acidity" component of our Sauvignon Blanc. It came in around 20 brix. The grapes we are harvesting this week are the Musqué clone, which is even more aromatic and flavorful then the grapes we brought in last week. I can't wait to try it.
The Lockeed Fire in the Bonny Doon area of the Santa Cruz Mountains has me thinking about smoke taint in grapes. The fire has been raging for over a week (it’s close to being contained, thankfully) and even though we are located more in the valley, the skies are smoky. I am certainly not worried about our Estate Vineyard—the fire is definitely too far away. However, our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vineyards in the Mountains may be affected.
Last year there were a ton of fires all over the state. We even had the Hummingbird Fire right here on property. Thankfully, nothing was damaged and the wines so far show no smoke taint. The wind was blowing the other way…and there was very little smoke in our valley here.
Others are not so lucky. I was talking to a winemaker from a Mendocino winery (Mendocino was hit with fire pretty hard last year) a few weeks ago and he is basically considering throwing out an entire lot of 2008 wine. He said that it smells and tastes like an ashtray. He was trying reverse osmosis and all kinds of other flavor profile types of things to try and fix it, but was not seeing much success. That is scary to me. Because if you throw away the wine you lose the vintage. Of course the revenue is important as well, but if the wine is something that is sold in the broad market—and all of a sudden the winery is out for a year? What do you think happens to all those wine list, byt the glass and retail shelf placements? GONE. And then when the next vintage actually becomes available—it’s like starting all over. However, on the other hand, if the subpar wine is bottled, the damage to a brand could be catastrophic.
The fires in 2008 were definitely more substantial then they have been this year. Last year, it felt like the whole state was on fire for 2 months. The fires this year seemed to come later in the growing season (post verasion and closer to harvest vs. prime time cluster development in 2008).
In any case, fire is devastatingly scary…..and our thoughts are with all those who have been affected by the Lockheed Fire this year. I remember the long night our family had last year when the Hummingbird Fire was burning through the hills right across from the winery. We had no information and the roads were closed. Tom, facilities manager to the stars, actually got past the road block and hiked in around midnight to check on the building. We were very fortunate.
We start planning for 2009 in October, putting together budgets and revenue plans. It’s a nightmare process…with 30 different products at different price points across different channels. Makes my head spin every year. But a necessary exercise.
Monday we had fun planning meetings—production and vineyard. It also make my head spin, because once again I have to predict sales numbers for the bigger ticket items in the Hummingbird Series. But the fun begins when we talk about the little, esoteric things that we can make….exclusively for Tasting Room, Web sales and Wine Club.
Here are a few of the things we discussed.
*Sales of Syrah are tough. Syrah was supposed to be the next big thing, but never really took hold. Did the Aussies flood the market with too much cheap Shiraz? Are people confused by the whole Syrah/Shiraz “mystery?” Over planting?All of this and more has probably caused varietal to never really taking off big. Oh yeah, and Cab is still king when it comes to red wines. So we are going to make more Cab and less Syrah. This means a combination of budding over, selling fruit, selling juice. We will have some Syrah in our portfolio…its damn good from the Estate Vineyard. But less of it.
*The sweet version of our Muscat Blanc is not selling well in the tasting room anymore. We had a good run when we first released it. But that was when we did not have anything else in the sweet category. It’s a low alcohol, a little spritzy, fruity aperitif (Asti Spumante style). Nothing fancy, but a nice, refreshing drink. Now, its competing with Nectar, our late harvest Semillon, and the Zin Port and Late Harvest Zin. And Amber’s Cuvee, our sparkling Blanc de Blanc.
We have one acre of Muscat Blanc. The vines are not strong (might have a virus), so budding over is not really an option. The next step is to find something else to make with the grapes or to pull the entire block of vines and replant. Next year (08 Muscat Blanc has already been made) Stephen, Bill and I discussed making a dry Muscat. I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T-I-N-G. Maybe age some on its lees in the tank? Who knows….but it will be fun doing some trials and coming up with a new product. Muscat is a fun grape cause it tastes like, well, grapes.
*Talking about the Muscat got us discussing the need for another white wine in the Estate or Special Selection category. I need something for the Wine Clubs that is unique and exclusive. And good. We have Chards and a Viognier….I need one more. The dry Muscat has potential to fill that vacancy. But what else could we do?
Stephen and I remembered that we have a couple acres of Marsanne and Roussannethat came on line this year in one of our CK Vines vineyards. What about a white Rhône-style blend, the yin to Lila’s Cuvée red Rhône blend’s yang?And we could call it…AJ’s Cuvée! (Lila’s brother, and my son. Yes, I am biased about the name). Again, can’t wait till we get to the trial process.
None of these things are final until we get the wines and try them in their infancy. Sometimes I wish I worked at Ben and Jerry’s. One day you come up with a new ice cream flavor. A few weeks later, you get to try your big idea. In our case, we have to wait for the fruit, then the ageing process. It can take 1-4 years before a new product is ready. On the other hand, if I worked at Ben and Jerry’s I would undoubtedly be huge. I guess staying in my current position is a good trade-off to fit into my skinny jeans (on most days).
The weather has cooled significantly. We had a number of dramatic heat spikes in the early part of the month. The cooling trend has slowed things down, which is perfect. The sugars can catch up with the flavor development of the grapes. The tonnage is still looking pretty light, but from what we hear, that is the story with most wineries around the state due to the Winter/Spring growing conditions. But low yields can often mean more concentrated, robust wines. Things are tasting that way thus far.
More details straight from winemaker Stephen Tebb:
And this video is proof that no matter what our winemaker says, he is always working very hard. We recorded this today, September 24, despite what Stephen says in the video.
It's officially the harvest season! Our first few bins of Estate Sauvignon Blanc came in on Monday, August 25. Winemaker Stephen Tebb gave a nice toast....and sabered a bottle of sparkling to officially start the 2008 Crush. Tom took this great video of the monumentous event.
This makes me wonder about other wineries' harvest traditions. We always do a toast over the first bin of grapes. We also have Family Dinners, Crush tee-shirts, a Bocce Ball/Bowling event at the end of the season with slideshows and a hilarious awards ceremony hoasted by Stephen. This year we added a "Family Day" event at the winery...since we have so many employees here with young kids.
We are gearing up for harvest here at Clos LaChance. Winemaker Stephen Tebb has predicted that we will start on August 26 with Sauvignon Blanc from the Estate Vineyard.
Please click here to visit the first of Stephen's Harvest 2008 Video Blogs. In this edition, Stephen discusses the 2008 growing season...the ice, the fire, the wind...a challenging growing season, nevertheless.
Click on play below to see our very first video blog.
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.
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?
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.
"As of today, 28% of Clos LaChance's 2007 harvest is complete. We have brought in around 218 tons of grapes. Estimates for 2007 are 755 tons.
Harvest this year started quickly, but has slowed down considerably considering the cooler weather. I expect the month of October to be very busy. So far, quality looks outstanding. Nice structure. The clusters have smaller berries and yields are coming in right at projection.
The fruit coming in has lower sugar levels, which will lead to less alcohol. Also seeing naturally high acids due to the cool evenings this growing season. As a winemaker....this is great news regarding lower alcohols and higher acids. Means less hands-on winemaking. The wine is perfectly balanced naturally.
All of our Estate whites have been brought in (Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Blanc, Viognier and Semillon). We have brought in about 13 tons of 90 tons of Santa Cruz Mountains fruit (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir). Have broght in 66 of 337 tons of our Estate Bordeaux varietals The Estate Rhone varietals is only 8 tons so far of 123 projected.
I am looking for some nice warm weather to ripen up the remainder of the Estate Rhone and Bordeaux varietals. Think sunny thoughts!"
This is my first blogging experience. Forgive me for being short, but there are some Sauvignon Blanc grapes sitting in a picking bin right outside my office….ready to hit the press. Harvest officially started on Thursday with Sauv Blanc from the Estate Vineyard. We are running a few weeks early—this is the earliest harvest on record for the Estate Vineyard. The “official” record only goes back to 2002, but a record is a record, right?
The start of harvest is always a rush for me….anticipation about the quality of the grapes, breaking in a new crew, working hard (and playing hard too). The 2007 vintage looks to be a good one. The crop is balanced….not heavy like 2005 and not short like 2006. The weather has been perfect for grape growing this year (and pretty much for all fruits and vegetables in this region). Mid-to-low 80’s for a month. Last year we had heat-spikes of 110 degrees plus for about two or three weeks. It was so hot, the CLC staff would hang out in the barrel room to cool off.
We have a great crew this year. A good combo of seasoned veterans (Erica, Dimitar and Ulysses) and newbies (Jason, Edouard, Clement, Austin, Fernando). Vineyard managers Ben and Matt are critical players when it comes to my plan for a well-run harvest schedule—bringing in the grapes on time makes the day go that much smoother.
I like to take a picture of the crew on the first day of harvest. Eager. Excited. Rested. Smiling. Then I like to compare it with a picture of the last day of harvest. Tired. Ready for it to be over. But always proud of the wines that have been made.
You won’t be hearing from me for awhile. The grapes will keep rolling in probably through mid-October. I look forward to posting out 2007 Harvest results. We have some great looking fruit on the vines and hope to put some stellar wines in the bottle.
