Got to do the Grape Stomp again on Monday. Filled 2 tanks with Rodgers Creek Syrah, 25% whole clusters. Meaning four half-ton bins per tank we shoveled in by hand; stems, a random leaf or two and grapes. That's about an hour per tank. The rest of the bins got the hopper/destemmer treatment then went to the tanks.
Rodgers Creek Vineyard is at the Eastern end of the Petaluma Gap. The Petaluma Gap is a wind gap . Basically, there is a gap in the coastal mountains and the wind comes from the Ocean through the town of Petaluma and then blows into the San Pablo Bay to the south.
Famous vineyards in this area are known for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay due to the cool-climate from constant wind and fog. Rodgers Creek is terraced, steep and faces the afternoon sun framed by trees above and below the vineyard (source: sfchronicle). Most get Burgundian grapes. Ramey gets the Rhone varietals Syrah and Viognier. So good that we make a single vineyard bottling (i feel better now about saying "we"). I honestly love this Syrah. It has been on the Bob's list for a while now. Deeply aromatic, big and spicy! You won't be disappointed.
(We are having a vineyard seminar Wednesday afternoon. May have to revise some of this. Check back).
See the bins up front partially hidden, with the green grapes? That's viognier. Lydia, our enologist, explained that co-fermenting (putting them in the same tank with the syrah) helps stabilize the phenolics (yeah ... me too...??). She's great at explaining things but I hate asking her to repeat herself. That's about 39 half-ton bins of syrah and 3 half-ton bins of the white viognier. You realize in the Cote Rotie, in the Northern Rhone Valley they do this. It is a classic Rhone-style thing: Syrah with just a bit of Viognier (actually, they are allowed up to 20% Viognier to perfume and stabilize the Syrah. World Atlas of Wine page 133). The Aussies do it as well.
ZZZZZZ. Hello. Are you still with me?
I actually find this stuff interesting.
And at the risk of sounding redundant, we pressed the last of the Chardonnay.
I know, I know. I've said it twice before. This time for real. The last bin of the Sonoma Stage Chardonnay went into the Press at 12:45 PM Monday, October 12.
There has been constant rain today. It was expected. Picking crews were stretched thin on Sunday. Vineyards that might have waited 3 or 4 days were given the go ahead to be picked. However, the ones that needed more than a few days to ripen are now, of course, being delayed even more.
There has been plenty of work to keep us busy in the cellars though. Stay tuned. I'll update you on all the activity next episode. We have 2 interesting seminars coming up as well. Can't wait to report on those. Until then...
Cheers
