Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay: Where Did They Come From?

I'm rereading the Viticulture Lesson 2 by Andrew Walker, the UC Davis Professor of grape breeding and genetics. When I was taking the course and listened to and read his lecture, one of the points that he made escaped me.
Prof. Walker explained that using DNA markers called simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, scientists determined that the parentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. The parentage of Chardonnay was Gouais and Pinot Noir. Okay, that's good to know, I thought. But, now that I am rereading Prof. Walker's notes, he goes on to add that the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are all hermaphrodites. That means that the parents are all self-pollinated and are self-fertile. In fact, the seeds that are found in these hermaphroditic varieties are self-regulating and very few produce viable offspring. Therefore, they are propagated vegetatively using cuttings.
Prof. Walker mentioned that at first, the crosses that lead to the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Chardonnay were thought to be spontaneous hybrids. However, in order for a hermaphroditic parent to contribute to the parentage of an offspring, it is very difficult and uncommon to get pollen to drop out of the anthers (the part of the stamen containing pollen) and pollinate another hermaphroditic parent. In fact, in order to create a viable cross, the stamen from one of the crosses must be plucked off and the stamen (pollen) from another parent must be used in the pollination.

Since Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are old varietals, it begs the question, when did these crosses occur and who did it? Fascinating!
1. The illustration is from the UC Davis online Viticulture Course. Dr. Andrew Walker's Lesson 2---Plant Materials.

Paumanok Chenin Blanc 2010

We drank the Paumanok Chenin Blanc 2010 with some goat cheese and crackers and were reminded why we are going to try to grow Chenin Blanc in our region.
We visited Charles Massoud in May 2011 and he was so generous with his time. Not only do we like the wines that he makes, we also think Charles and Ursula Massoud are great people.
They will be taking a Mediterranean wine cruise during August 13-23, 2012. We wish we could go, but hopefully, we will be getting our land ready at that time for receiving our vines in 2013. If you go, please let me know how it was.

Women Winemakers of California

I have been visiting this link a lot in the past week: Women Winemakers of California
In James Conaway's book on Napa he mentions: "The most famous women winemaker was probably Mary Ann Graf, or her successor at Simi, Zelma Long. Then there was Jill Davis at Buena Vista, Cathy Corison at Chappellet, and Dawnine Dyer at Domaine Chandon."
These women entered a male dominated world and it is interesting to go to the Women Winemakers of California website to learn more about their biographies. Lucia and John Gilbert, both professors at Santa Clara University devised and host this site. Wines & Vines had an article about the site in it's oOtober 2011 issue. The article can be found here: Women Winemakers Go Online

Napa The Story of an American Eden by James Conaway

Just finished reading Napa The Story of an American Eden by James Conaway. It's a Steinbeckian tome that begins in 1964 and chronicles 25 years of events that occurred in Napa. The book begins with the story of Jack and Jamie Davis looking for property in Napa. (I was thinking---why begin there?) Perhaps it is to highlight the fact that in the 60's there were many people seeking a refuge from the successful business ventures that they were in, to start a winery in Napa. Conaway also fills in the gap between 1858 and 1964 by recalling that the first commercially made wine in Napa was done by John Patchett. The founders are listed as Charles Krug (1860), Jacob Schram (1862, Schramsberg Vineyards), Gustave Niebaum (1879, Inglenook), Georges de Latour (1899, Beaulieu Vineyard), Louis Michael Martini (1933), and Cesare Mondavi (1937, Sunny St. Helena, 1943, Charles Krug Winery). During that period, Napa suffered the ravages of phylloxera and Prohibition, which all but put an end to winemaking in Napa.
For the wineries that managed to survive those setbacks and made it into the 60's, Conaway spends some time talking about the "Inheritors" who included John Daniel of Inglenook, Hélène de Latour de Pins of Beaulieu, Louis Peter Martini, and the Mondavis, Robert, Mary, Helen and Peter. The next generation known as the Napa Valley Lucky Sperm club was comprised of the third generation inheritors such as Marcia and Robin Daniel, Dagmar de Pins, the Martinis and the Mondavis. He chronicles a period when big companies such as United Vintners and Heublein came into Napa to buy places like Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyard.
In the two and a half decades that take the reader from the start of the book to the end, major accomplishments such as the creation of an agricultural preserve in Napa in 1968 and Judgement of Paris are given air time. Conaway devotes a lot of time in the last half of the book to the rift that occurred in the valley as more people came to Napa and chose winemaking as a lifestyle not a farming venture. This was new to me and many of the names were unfamiliar so it did take me two readings to sort out the struggle between the Napa Valley Vintners Association and the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association. To me, it read like a book that Steinbeck would write, only it's all factual, not a fiction. To find out who the members of the Gastronomic Order of the Nonsensical and Dissipatory (GONADS) were, you need to read the book! There were some characters in the valley of Napa!

Eastern Winery Exposition

The Eastern Winery Exposition will be held on March 7-8 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. My husband and I will be going there since we are in Connecticut and this exposition will address vineyard and wineries in the Eastern U.S. There is an article in the February 2012 issue of Wines and Vines giving the details of the Exposition.
The Exposition will cover eastern-oriented enology, viticulture, marketing and economic subjects. There will be two sessions on optimizing varietal fruit character:

• Session focussed on red hybrids:     Ian Barry of Keuka Lacke Vineyards, Brad Knapp of Pennsylvania's Pinnacle Ridge Vineyards, Dr. Joseph Fiola of the University of Maryland Extension and Chris Granstrom of Verment's Lincoln Peak Vineyard will be the speakers.
• Session focussed on Cabernet Franc:     Mark Chien from Penn State Extension and Adam McTaggert from Boxwood Winery are the speakers for this session.

In another session, Lucie Morton will cover vineyard issues such as close vine spacing and cane pruning. Lucie Morton will also moderate a vineyard-spraying workshop with panelists Bryan Hed from Penn State and Dr. Andrew Landers from Cornell University.
Those are some of the highlights of the Exposition. I'll report back on this blog. Stay tuned. Please drop me a line if you will be going there and perhaps we can meet up!

Red Fermentation in Barrels

The Feburary 2012 issue of Wines and Vines features an article on fermentation of red wines in barrels. Before I knew anything about red wine fermentation, I would always get fermentation in barrels confused with ageing in barrels and just when I got it straight, here is an article on fermentation of red wines in barrels.
Part of the article can be found here: Red Barrel Fermentation
From my reading of the article, it is only small wineries that practice this method of fermentation because it is excruciatingly time consuming. However, David A. Jeffrey, owner of the 1,500-case Calluna Vineyards in Windsor, CA said he learned of barrel fermentation while working at Chateau Quinault in St. Emilion, France. The trick/caveat seems to be that you can use barrel fermentation for Cabernet Sauvignon only in new barrels. This is because the robustness of the grape must be matched with the toast level of the barrel. Barrel fermentation is also a logistical problem because you end up with twice the number of barrels when you use them for fermentation.
The article also caught my eye because they interviewed Ehren Jordan of Failla Wines in St. Helena. We had his Pinot Noir when we stayed at Pearlessence Vineyard Inn. Greg and Linda Pearl supply the Pinot Noir grapes used in making the Failla wines. To hear that Ehren Jordan also uses barrel fermentation for his reds is interesting to know. Perhaps that is why his wines tastes so good!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

As we head into the weekend, TGIF! Eat, drink and be merry and know that there is a connection between regular, moderate wine drinking and improved health!
I am reading an article entitled Wine and Health: A Review in the December, 2011 issue of the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture¹. This review corroborates the study that found that people in France have a low incidence of coronary heart disease even though they consume foods rich in fat. This finding has come to be known as the French Paradox. Here is a good article found on Wikipedia: French Paradox.
This review states that both the alcoholic as well as the polyphenolic components of the wine are believed to contribute to the beneficial effects of drinking wine regularly and in moderation. Wine may protect against cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, hypertension, certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, neurological disorders, and metabolic syndrome. The modes of action that is impacted by drinking wine, especially red wine, have been attributed to the antioxidant, lipid regulating, and anti-inflammatory effects of wine. These modes of action are mediated by the constituents in wine including polyphenols that are a complex mixture of flavonoids (such as anthocyanins and flavan-3-ols) and nonflavonoids (such as resveratrol, cinnamates, and gallic acid).
The beneficial effects of drinking red wine has been correlated with a compound known as resveratrol. Resveratrol can alter lipid metabolism, inhibit LDL oxidation, and inhibit platelet aggregation. Some animal studies have shown that resveratrol exhibited both cardioprotective and chemopreventive effects. It also inhibits the growth of some tumor types and exhibits anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, neuroprotective, antiproliferative, and antiangiogenic activities.
So, here is to celebrating the weekend with a glass of wine (or two)!

1. Jacquelyn M. Guilford and John M. Pezzuto, Wine and Health: A Review, Am. J. Enol. Vitic., December 2011 vol. 62 no. 4 471-486.
2. The chemical structure of tartaric acid was drawn by the freely available drawing program from ACD Labs called ACD/ChemSketch Freeware.

2009 Michel Noëllat et Fils Bourgogne

Upon first sniff, I was definitely put off by this 2009 Michel Noëllat et Fils Bourgogne which to me smelled definitely of barnyard, but I had a taste and didn't taste any offending flavors. We drank half of the wine on the first evening and then the other half a day later. On the second day, I didn't smell the offending barnyard and the wine was delicious! I just wonder how the barnyard smell, which I believe to be 4-ethylphenol blows off? Does it become integrated into the wine?
We purchased this wine on the recommendation of one of the owners of Mt. Carmel Wines in Hamden, Connecticut. An unsoliciated ad for Mt. Carmel: My husband has been going to this wine store for several years. They always carry some good wines at great prices that can't be found anywhere else in our area.

2004 Baumard Savennieres

This 2004 Domaine Des Savennieres from the Loire is a Chenin Blanc that I found to be intensely tart, my husband thought it was exceedingly dry. In doing some research, the tartness that I tasted is called "minerality" by some. It's amazing to me that Chenin Blanc can have this range of expression depending on where it has been planted and how it was vinified.

I'm partial to the Chenin Blanc that Domaine Huet (Vouvray) makes, but open to all Chenin Blanc since this is one of the grapes that we will try to grow in our vineyard. The back label contains more information about the wine. I found a great description of Domaine Des Baumard at The Wine Doctor
written by Chris Kissack.

Basketpresses: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

I was surprised to read (I'm a little behind) my July, 2011 issue of Wines & Vines, Clark Smith's column about Pressing Matters: A Postmodern Tale. Smith, the founder of Vinovation and high technology processes defines postmodern as the time after World War II and calls this period as having the most changes in winemaking in the past 6 millenia. (I get that! See Celebrating Hajji Firuz Tepe---Evidence of Neolithic Wine!)
It was interesting for me to read the following: "Often we are so quick to throw technology at a problem that we lose track of the benefits of the old ways and inadvertently fail to keep our options open." Citing our reliance on fossil fuels as unsustainable, Smith mentions that we already had a solution in place that converted cellulose to motion and created fertilizer as a byproduct---Smith said, "it was called a horse." (I love that kind of humor!) As we buy into his retrospection, he next proposed that we threw out the basketpress with the bathwater in 1950 and then took it up again 2000. I saw that at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium where vendors were tauting their stainless steel vertical basket presses as the best thing since, well, since the basket press.
Chew on the following sentence for a while: Today's problems are actually the solutions we found to the problems we had yesterday.
Michael Silacci of Opus One gave the following as reasons why they use a basket press for their red wine:

•      Gives great aeration when reds are at their most reductive
•      Puts you in much closer contact with the wine you're making
•      Continuous static pressure produces press wine more consistently high in quality and with a low solids content that makes it easier to taste what you've got
•      Cleaner and simpler to operate and unload
•      Gives a nice, neat press cake you can forklift rather than an augered mess

The advantages of using a basket press for white wines include:

•      Whole cluster pressing where the rachis provides channels for the juice to exit. In destemmed musts, the sliminess of the pectin blocks the flow of juice unless rice hulls or stems are used
•      Importance of the press as a juice aeration device for providing oxygen leading to a healthy fermentation

Smith also attributes the reductive conditions in the tank press as leading to the occasional pinking found in white wines such as Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
Read the entire article here: Pressing Matters: A Postmodern Tale.

Michel-Schlumberger Cabernet Sauvignon

Last year, a friend of mine brought over a bottle of Michel-Schlumberger to have with dinner that my husband was making. For me, that evening, it was love at first sip. So, on the last day that we were in California, we made a trek to Dry Creek Valley to go to Michel-Schlumberger.

We did not have an appointment, but Francesco graciously welcomed us into the tasting room where we sat down and had a private tasting. We had their 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon and it was just as I had remembered.

They were offering some of their older Cabs for sale and we purchased some and then talked with Francesco. We told him that some of the other wines that we really liked were Beringer Howell Mountain Century III Cab Franc, to which he replied: Now you are talking right up my alley. I am a Beringer on my mother's side. Wow!
We talked about Zazu, the restaurant in Santa Rosa that we went to and Francesco not only knew Duskie Estes, he was her long time friend. Francesco said, it's funny because Duskie serves pork, and is known as the Queen of Pork, but she is a vegetarian!
When we went home, I told my friend about our trip to Michel-Schlumberger and she recalled that when she went to Michel-Schlumberger, she did her first barrel tasting and Michel-Schlumberger was one of her favorites. I looked on our wall-of-fame, a place where we put bottles that we especially liked and found that it was a 1996 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was also for sale, but unfortunately for us, it was now priced at $90.00 a bottle. We purchased some 1996, 2006 and 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon and I can't wait to receive it and share a bottle with my friend!

Photos from the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium---January 24-26, 2012

Update on the Forston Mini GC

We were able to talk with Jill and Jeanine from Forston Labs at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium. We asked them about the Forston Mini GC and they gave us a full disclosure. The said that although they tried to get reproducible ethanol readings from the mini GC, sadly, it was not as reliable as they thought it would be. Jill said that the Forston Mini GC is a good tool for classroom usage, but not for reproducible and reliable measurements of wine ethanol.
Instead, they were promoting a new product called the SRI 310C which measures 12" x 14" x 12". That is the top of the GC under Jill's hand in the following photo:

The GC uses a Restek MXT 1301 column and an example of the peaks it can resolve is shown in the following photo:

Jill mentioned the SRI 310C costs approximately $9000.00 and onsight training by someone from SRI or Forston Labs will be provided.

Cooper Vineyards Wines in Amador County

We are winding our way around the Sierra Foothills, noticing a lot of head trained vines that we take to be Zinfandel making our way to Cooper Vineyards to meet with Dick Cooper and winemaker Mike Roser. We arrived mid-morning on a Sunday pouring down with rain. This winter, the Sierra Foothills was also in dire need of rain, much like the rest of Northern California. Dick Cooper's father has been credited with being the first to grow Barbera in Amador County and the story of how he came to do that is worth a read: Hank Cooper Plants Barbera. We sat down in Dick's tasting room which used to be the crush and winemaking facility, approximately 2500 square feet, until the production grew too large for the building. We tasted his Barbera and an accompanying platter of crackers, cheese and cured meat magically appeared as we met with Dick and Mike. Dick mentioned that his Barbera is the Sebastiani clone and they are all head trained. (Wow---head trained Barbera!)

Dick said that they were head trained to take care of the vigor of the varietal and also for shading of the grapes during the summer because they sunburn easily. He mentioned that it might be difficult for us to to grow Barbera in Connecticut because of the high acidity. Ann Kraemer also mentioned high acidity, so this grape must be rocking in acids, I thought. Dick said that they don't pick the grapes until the acidity is less than 1 and suggested that we do a test plot of Barbera to see if it can grow in our climate.

We ended our visit with Dick by having our picture taken with him and then buying a bottle of their Cooper Barbera. We also bought his book and then we went to the winery to meet with Mike who was in the process of racking his reds. Mike showed us around the expanded winery, configured to efficiently meet his needs. His facility included an on demand hot water system, an ozone steam cleaner, bottling and labeling system, a laboratory for testing his must including an ebulliometer and pH meter.

He had an outdoor crush pad with equipment to move his must into fermenters and storage areas for equipment that were not in use. We asked him about how he checked the wine that were being barrel fermented and he said that he would unstack the barrels and check the fill level of each barrel every 2 months, except during crush. Mike also showed us the circular rock pit that was being constructed to host the second annual Barbera Festival. Mike was terrific and we appreciated all the time he took to show us around the winemaking facility. We are constantly amazed at how generous and hospitable people in the industry are.
Here is a link to more information on the Second Annual Barbera Festival.

Growing Barbera in the Sierra Foothills at Shake Ridge Vineyards

After bidding Greg and Linda Pearl goodbye on Saturday, we headed for the Sierra Foothills by way of Napa. We drove north to Geyserville and then south on 29 through Napa. We went to the Sierra Foothills because it is quickly becoming recognized as a region that can grow great Barbera and we are exploring the possibility of growing Barbera in Connecticut.

We met with Ann Kraemer the vineyard manager at Shake Ridge Vineyards. Ann asked us about our interest in Barbera and told us about her experience with growing Barbera. Barbera is a very acidic grape. In the Sierra Foothills, the days are very warm and the nights are cool.

The acid is not respired so the Brix can get very high while still maintaining high levels of acidity. Ann picks her Barbera based on pH and acidity and not necessarily based on Brix. Ann next showed us around Shake Ridge Vineyard on her Kubota UTV and we covered 46 acres in record time, stopping to look at cordon trained as well as cane trained Barbera. Ann was concerned that the warm weather this winter and the lack of rains may cause the Barbera to come out of dormancy earlier than normal. We went back to her office, where she shared a bottle of her Yorba Barbera with us. We had a glass with her and then she gave us the opened bottle. Our visit with Ann came to an end and she mentioned that we could drive out of the gate near her home on the back roads back to Fiddletown. Later, at dinner, we shared the Barbera with our host, Alice Kaiser. It was a delicious accompaniment to cheese, sausage and soup.