At first glance, everyone commented that the wines have great color. Phil suggested that I summarize the vintage and comment on the difficulties. Well, we had a little of everything – from frost, heat and drought to fire and smoke.

When the heat came in early September, we were still at fairly low sugar levels and we rode it out. As soon as temperatures dropped, the fruit relaxed and sugars dipped as well. A month of hang time ensued, with very slow (almost imperceptible) ripening, certainly not the normal curve. Something a little different occurred. We let our fruit hang into October until it was pretty clear it wasn’t likely to progress much further and needed to come in. You would have thought our sugars would be 27 or 28 degrees Brix, but in reality we finished from 24 to 25.

So we had our customary first tasting after completion of malolactic fermentation – a secondary bacterial fermentation that converts malic acid (think crisp apples) to the softer lactic acid (think milk). And speaking of acids, we felt that overall the 2008 wines are slightly more angular with brighter acidity than the 2007 vintage. As the 2008 vintage was slow to ripen in the vineyard, so it is a little slower developing in the cellar. These are not lean wines, just different. The flesh is there underneath, similar to our 2006 vintage Pinots which have evolved into very beautiful wines.

The 2007s seemed to spring forth fully formed and we had a clear picture of what would happen. The blends practically made themselves. With the 2008s, we’ll wait a little longer, working to familiarize ourselves with the wines until we have another panel tasting in April.

We began the tasting, by the way, with several lots of our Chardonnay clones and selections, all of which were very harmonious and showed beautifully. The classical music playing in the background was really a wonderful accompaniment. I recommend the pairing of violins with Chardonnays.

I will taste all of the components at least twice, and I’ll taste them blind; that is, I will know that I’m tasting various lots of our 2007 Pinot Noir, for example, but I won’t know which lot is which. It’s just a way of eliminating any prejudices and expectations, conscious or not, I may have about a given lot of wine. During this period, I’ll do the most tasting that I do all year.

I’m walking into a system with which I’m already familiar, having made the wines over the previous few months. So I go into the cellar with some general ideas and I give myself plenty of time. I put on music and I work with all my components, tasting and taking notes, putting together little blends. I may take a thief and splash a little bit of one lot into another to test my ideas. Slowly, a plan begins to take form.

Eventually, I’ll look at a main component and then experiment with a spectrum of other wines blended in increments, a range of percentages. As I identify what I like, I begin to tighten up, going from broader to narrower percentages – say from roughly 2/3 and 1/3 down to 72% and 28%. Finally, I will select the three or four best case but different scenarios.

Then it’s time to sit down with Anne and test my ideas. By the time we are tasting together, things are pretty tight and we start tweaking. Again, we’ll taste blind, and I may even put just the raw component in again and see how it fares.
We keep at it until we agree consistently.

We go through this whole process so that we have systematically covered all the bases and can put the final blend in the bottle with confidence.

This summer we’re blending the 2007 vintage, the seventh Donum vintage, and for the first time ever we’re planning to produce that other major Burgundian varietal, a Chardonnay.  We’re only going to make about a hundred cases, but we want ultimate Chardonnay. So we have to consider the same kinds of stylistic questions as we do with Pinot Noir.

A few days ago we tasted six Chardonnay lots – the finalists. Two of the wines were old Wente selections from separate blocks. Two more wines were blends of those old Wente selections. And we had one Weimer selection and one Dijon clone.  All of the wines were fermented and aged in one-year-old French oak barrels, and all of them went through partial malolactic fermentation (in which the more tart malic acid, found in apples, is converted to the softer lactic acid, found in milk). Partial malolactic adds some richness and texture to the wine, but also retains some of the wonderful crisp acidity found in Carneros Chardonnay.

I’m happy to report that we liked all of the wines. At first I asked my colleagues to rate the wines from 1, their favorite, through 6, their least favorite. But they found that difficult, so I asked them just to pick their personal favorite. The aromas ranged from pineapple, Gravenstein apple, pear and honeysuckle to lemon oil, tropical fruit, citrus and floral characteristics.

In general, oak vanillin and toast played a quiet supporting role and did not take center stage, in keeping with our philosophy. As with Pinot Noir, we look for wonderful varietal fruit, fully ripe but not over-ripe, and a delicate balance between power and elegance.

As we discussed the wines, it became clear that we all wanted richness and ripeness, but in a refreshing wine. And we all agreed on the sixth wine. It was one of the old Wente selection wines, with a classic nose full of ripe apple, fresh pear and lemon blossom aromas, rich yet vibrant on the palate. Anne commented on its minerality and viscosity, noting how beautifully it finished with a clean, pure expression of fruit in the aftertaste.

Initially, our selection may not be quite as showy as some of the other wines, but we reveled in its subtleties. I was pleased that we all agreed and, once again, I’ll be very happy to be bottling a wine that I really want to drink. Now it’s back to Pinot Noir!

Heavy rains have brought us close to 20 inches for the season, very near normal, which is slightly less than 22 through this month. By comparison, last year we had just over 11 inches to date.

I have been sidelined with the flu, which has seemed ironic during this past week of warm, sunny days. Nabor has been busy in the vineyard, and with dry weather forecast, he should finish pruning our home ranch, The Donum Estate, and nearby Ferguson Block by early next week. Then we start tying.

I’m on the mend, so we’ll head up to Nugent Vineyards next Saturday and start there. The vines are still dormant. Nothing really happens until soil temperatures reach 50 degrees F., the magic number when the “sap rises.” Nothing in the vineyard is swelling, but I’ve seen a few trees starting to push.

The first half of February is pretty early for this kind of weather. We try to postpone pruning as long as possible because that delays bud break and lessens the chance of frost damage. The rains have given us nice cover crops, which, in turn, absorb the rainfall so that there isn’t much standing water. But Nabor and his team aren’t daunted by mud.

The cellar is buttoned up and Kenneth just left with his family for a well-deserved vacation in Mexico, near Cancun. Some wines are still finishing ML, or malolactic fermentation (conversion of stronger malic acid, found in apples, to weaker lactic acid, found in milk). While this winter has been moderate overall, there have been cold periods. Our late harvest put winemaking on a later schedule, including moving ML, which is temperature driven, into the colder months, further slowing it. But everything is proceeding nicely within an acceptable time frame.

Valentine’s Day is associated with the color red, but in the vineyards, there is a riot of yellow with the mustard out in abundance. I feel better just looking at it.

Now the wines have really rounded out and bulked up in barrel. The fruit is more to the red end of the spectrum than to the black.

AMR: The lateness of the year also may have prevented the vines from storing as many nutrients before dormancy. I’m noticing more yellowing on the leaf margins this spring than normal. We just plowed in a nice cover crop and some green manure which should stimulate the vines.

Regarding the 2006 vintage, at the Sangiacomo Vineyards tasting, I noticed that the Chardonnays from all the producers were quite elegant. Although we had more rot last year, people worked hard to select the fruit and it’s very beautiful. The wines took longer to evolve, but now they are fattening up mid-palate and the tiny amount of botrytis influence adds complexity.

KJ: With our Pinot Noirs, malolactic fermentations are usually not a big deal, and the wines are easy to taste and evaluate. But this year, they were really tight, lean and austere before ML. I’m so happy that they have really opened up in barrel. The wines are showing supple and smooth, without any bitterness or hard or drying tannins. They are at a nice point of ripeness. After you ripen fruit beyond any greenness, ripeness can range from a just-ripe raspberry, almost tart, all the way to sweet, high-heat over-ripe jam. I think our 2006 wines sit along the middle of the fresh, ripe spectrum.

AMR: Yes, and each clone varies a bit on that spectrum. Our Roederer selection comes in a little riper, while the Martini selection at Ferguson Block does well with a little crispness. Ferguson produced a beautiful wine in 2006, just amazing.

Last month, January 2007, brought the lowest rainfall in three decades. As a result, our pruning progressed very rapidly this year. Productivity was up from a normal rate of 35 to 40 vines per pruner each hour to about 55 vines. While the sunshine may have created positive attitudes, the absence of a pound of muddy clay on each boot undoubtedly contributes to greater efficiency as well.

The last two years have been pretty wet, so although we’ve had less rain than last year and are below average, the soils are pretty full. I think we have enough water. Things are beginning to warm up, so we have to finish tying canes to wires.

We’ve also experienced unusually cold weather this winter. Now, with bud break apparently not far away, comes the fear of frost. Our cover crops are not very high yet, but I want to start mowing to get air flow for frost protection.

In the cellar, Kenneth tells me that our MLs — malolactic fermentations (conversion from stronger malic acid, found in apples, to softer lactic acid, found in milk) — have just finished, having dragged out as in Burgundy. In 2004, an early vintage, we were so early into barrel, in September, and it was just the opposite in 2006. The MLs are slower as well, but that’s not a bad thing because a certain creaminess or textural richness comes out in the wine.

Finally, I have to express how green and beautiful it is in Carneros with spring arriving. Life is growing all around, and like childbirth, it puts us in awe. Everywhere there are buds and blossoms, amazing fields of mustard, and tiny lambs. The bright, blue sky and vivid greens and yellows all around us really lift our spirits.