Not long ago, four of us sat down to taste through various barrel lots of our 2008 Pinot Noirs. Such tastings are always a learning experience, and this was no exception. I must say that at the end of it, I thought my feelings about barrels are justified.

I used to buy Burgundian oak barrels from a variety of different coopers, made from different forests at different toast levels. Those sorts of combinations can multiply rapidly. Through the years, I’ve undergone a honing-in process in barrel selection. I’ve found that, depending on the individual wine, usually a particular barrel (one forest, one drying regime and one toast level) from each cooper works best.

I simply ask myself, which barrel enhances the wine best? If you try to use several different barrels to build a wine – this one enhances the entry, this one builds up the middle palate, that one fills in … More…

Since the end of harvest, I have done some traveling, to New York for the California Wine Experience and to Mexico as well. As we approach Thanksgiving, I marvel at our weather in Sonoma. It resembles “foliage season” in New England, except it’s a month later. The trees and vines still display beautiful shades of gold and red. The afternoon light is an extended version of the “golden hour” that photographers covet. The days have been crisp yet ideal for outdoor luncheons.

Sonoma is so serene and lovely now that I can hardly believe what a remarkable vintage we have just witnessed, one in which we experienced a little of everything – drought, frost, cold, heat, fire and smoke.

In the long period since our last post, the 2008 wines have been developing in the cellar. We were so lucky that we weren’t forced by the heat around Labor Day to pick … More…

We picked our Swan Pinot Noir selection on Wednesday, and we completed harvesting all of the Pinot Noir on The Donum Estate on Friday. It seemed like good timing because cloud cover moved in followed by a few showers on Saturday morning.

It’s been an odd, fascinating vintage. We have lovely, fully ripe flavors without a hint of greenness, but we still don’t have high Brix numbers (roughly, percentage of sugar content in grape juice) despite considerable hang time. We speculated that perhaps the early September heat somehow damaged the rachises (main stem or framework of the grape cluster) so that they couldn’t conduct carbohydrates efficiently, thus stalling sugar accumulation. But when we cut into them, they were still functioning.

From September 7th until now, we have enjoyed moderate weather with maximum temperatures in the mid-70s to low-80s and the average temperature in the cool high-50s. So even with all this hang … More…

We just ran our first sugars (that is, sampled our grapes for sugar content) in all of our blocks. This is an exciting time, because all the fruit has completed veraison (berries have softened and changed color) and we have completed our post-veraison thinning of fruit. So now it’s downhill to harvest.

Right now our Pinot Noir is sitting between 18 and 19 degrees Brix (roughly, 18 to 19% sugar), while Chardonnay trails a little behind at about 16. We typically harvest at around 24 or slightly higher.

Part of our sustainable approach to grape growing is to involve our crew year-round. By collecting berry samples in the vineyard, they gain a more complete understanding of the effects of the pruning they did eight months ago.  There’s also problem solving involved. Why is this block ahead of that one? Answering such questions brings greater understanding.

Although we don’t really pick by sugar content … More…

Four days of 100-degree weather during the second week of July (the mercury reached 106 in the town of Sonoma on Tuesday the 8th) marked the fourth heat spike of the 2008 vintage. The first spike came in mid-May, accelerating the bloom period, and two others occurred on June 9th and 21st.

Fires continued to burn around the state of California, and the polluted air combined with the heat wave made working outside seem like standing in front of a blow dryer.

Just north of Sonoma on the Fourth of July, a hillside grass fire started with a spark from a mower and threatened residences as well as Hanzell Winery. Thanks to the swift response of firefighters, fixed-wing aircraft dropping slurry and a helicopter dropping water, the fire was put out after … More…