Why Are Large Format Champagnes Named After Biblical Kings

Some time ago (2013) I blogged about Champagne for Valentine's Day. I got the illustration from Vintage Direct that has an excellent and comprehensive article on 2.10 Making Sparkling Wine. When I blogged about Champagne for Valentine's Day, although I included this illustration, I wasn't curious enough to find out why large format Champagne had strange sounding names, beginning with the 3 liter format called Jeroboam.

I am more curious today, so looking on the Internet, I located a site Why Are Extremely Large Wine Bottles Named after Biblical Kings? that provided the explanation. The names of the larger format bottles are those of kings mentioned in the Bible:

• Jeroboam (Founder and first king of Israel, 931-910 BC)
• Rehoboam, son of Solomon (King of Judah, 922-908 BC)
• Methuselah (Biblical patriarch who lived to the age of 969)
• Salmanazar (King of Assyria, 859-824 BC)
• Balthazar (Regent of Babylon, son of Nabonide, 539BC)
• Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylon, 605-562 BC)

The site goes on to theorize why the bottles are named after Biblical Kings. This answer was not easy to come by since there are many times this question has been posted on the Internet. Most agree that the Jeroboam was the first named large format bottle and that the other biblical names were imitations of this, probably humorously intended. The earliest known written appearance of the use of "Jeroboam" can be traced back to an 1806 work by Sir Walter Scott that speaks of making “a brandy jeroboam on a frosty morning”. ²
On Mosaic, the author of this article makes a serendipitous discovery while researching "jeroboam". A breeze blew the pages of the OED that he was looking at to the entry "jorum" defined in the OED as “a large drinking bowl or vessel; also the contents of this; especially, a punch bowl”. OED added that “it has been conjectured to be the same as the name of Joram, who ‘brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass’ (2 Samuel 8:10). Cf. JEROBOAM.”²
The word "jorum" was used by the Scottish. Robert Burns’s 1791 Scots dialect poem “O May, Thy Morn,” which offers the toast:
“And here’s to them that like oursel [ourselves]/ Can push about the jorum!”.
“To push about the jorum” was a Scottish expression for participating in an evening of social drinking at which a large pot of liquor was passed around a table.
But the author confesses that to go from jorum-->joram is a stretch, and to go to jeroboam is yet another stretch. So, shall the naming of large format Champagnes with the names of Biblical Kings forever remain a mystery?
Doesn't matter, if you're ever in possession of a large format Champagne, just "push about the jorum" and enjoy!

References:
1. Vintage Direct, 2.10 Making Sparkling Wine.
2. Mosaic, Why Are Extremely Large Wine Bottles Named after Biblical Kings?.

Vintage 2017: Recap

Way back in January, 2017 I blogged about Vintage 2017: Winter. Having lived in this area for 33 years, I blogged that in January, there appears to be a cold dip, followed by a warming "thaw". It looks as if our cold dip is coming a little earlier this year, with temperatures below freezing for the rest of this week.

In Vintage Notes: Spring 2017, written on April 11, 2017, I blogged about how warm this winter has been. Towards the end of April, we were seeing budbreak in the vineyard, which I blogged about in Got Buds! I never take budbreak for granted since the spring of 2014 when our newly planted vineyard failed to thrive and provided us with a lesson I documented in 90% at the School of Hard Knocks. The winter of 2017 in general was a good winter for vine survival. The young plants that were planted in 2016 fared very well.
In May, during an especially rainy week, our friends came out to help us plant the last bolus of vines to repopulate the originally planted vineyard, documented in: Vintage 2017: Planting Time.

In Vintage Notes: Summer Heat Wave, I blogged about the July heat wave. The wet, rainy spring and the hot weeks in the summer lead to bunch closure of our grapes in the last week of July. Leaf pulling commenced at this time to expose the grape clusters to the sun. Veraison came in mid to late August.
Late summer, as we approached harvest was especially challenging due to the cool nights that lead to condensation on our leaves that never got a chance to evaporate until mid morning. This lead to the appearance of downy mildew on some of our vines.

We tried to limit the application of our fungicides and most of our vines fared well. But, another danger was lurking around the corner. This was the first year that we saw huge numbers of yellow jackets in the vineyard and they were out there in September, as harvest loomed. I documented the yellow jacket devastation Problem in the Vineyard, with some of our attempts to lure the yellow jackets away from our grapes.
In late September, we harvested our small crop of Auxerrois, followed by our Chardonnay and then our Chenin Blanc. Winemaking took up most of October and some of November, but now we are in recuperation mode.
Happy Holidays to all!

Tasting Our First Pét-Nat

Our Pét-Nat saga continues: Our First Pét-Nat Tasting.
This year, we had a litle "extra" Chenin Blanc and my husband decided to experiment with a style of bubbly called Pétillant-naturel (natural sparkling), which I blogged about in October: Chenin Pét-Nat.
Chenin Blanc is a white grape variety from the Loire Valley. Kermit Lynch, in his book Adventures on the Wine Route wrote that Vouvrays are prone to pétiller or have an innate natural desire to sparkle.

So, we are helping this process along. We bottled our Pét-Nat on November 3rd (please check out this blogpost: Bottling Our Pét-Nat) with 2-3% residual sugar and crossed our fingers.
We were invited to a pre-Christmas dinner with our friends, the group we call Team Long Pond or the Premier Crew. We decided to take one of our nine (my precious!) bottles to the festivities. This can be risky. We had never opened or tasted any of our Pét-Nat, and here we were having our friends taste it. We opened the bottle and my husband poured small tasting for me so that I

could confirm that no untoward things happened while in the bottle. I gave the "okay" sign and he poured it for our friends.
Bubbles! Unfortunately, the bubbles went away pretty quickly. The Pét-Nat was very acidic tasting to us. This Pét-Nat would make a perfect pairing with oysters.
We could also try to drop some of the acid by putting the bottles in a cold environment. A little more time in the bottle should mellow out the acids and hopefully provide a bit more mouthfeel and mousse. All in all, not bad for the first try. (Giving ourselves a pat on the back!)

Tax Bill to Benefit Vineyard Owners

The online publication Wines & Vines had an article called Tax Bill to Benefit Vineyard Owners. Section 13201 of this bill allows “plants bearing fruits and nuts” to be fully depreciated in the year they are planted. The 100% depreciation will apply to “a plant which is planted or grafted after Sept. 27, 2017, and before Jan. 1, 2023.”
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act also creates a excise tax credit that reduces the effective rate:

For small wineries like ours, while the federal excise tax on table wine will remain unchanged at $1.07 per gallon there will be a new tax credit of $1.00 on the first 30,000 gallons produced, making the effective tax rate $0.07 (seven cents) per gallon. The caveat here is that these federal excise tax provisions are programmed to expire on December 31, 2019.
More interesting reading at WineAmerica on:
WineAmerica Applauds Passage of Federal Alcohol Excise Tax Reform.
All of this sounds good to us.

In Search of Wine Quality: Soil and Water---Part 2

Part 2. Water Holding Capacity
In my last blog, In Search of Wine Quality: Soil and Water, the topic was about "Soil Type and Texture". Knowing the type of soil texture is important because that determines the water holding capacity of the soil. The water holding capacity of the soil is the product of:¹

Some definitions:

• Hygroscopic water is moisture that is held too tightly in the soil to be used by plants
• Capillary water is moisture that is held in the pore spaces of the soil and can be used by plants
• Gravitational water drains rapidly from the soil and is not readily available to be used by plants.
• Field capacity is the maximum amount of water that the soil can hold against gravity; the boundary between gravitational water and capillary water; it is the upper limit for soil moisture that is usable by plants
• Permanent wilting point would be a point where there's no water left for the plant; represents the boundary between capillary water and hygroscopic water

Here is how the definitions apply to a soil cross section:²

Looking from left to right on the above diagram shows how water interacts with the various soil textures. Knowing the water holding capacity of the soil is important because the optimum crop growth and health occurs when the soil moisture content is held between 50 – 80% of the “plant available water”. Especially for grape vines, the soil should not be too wet nor should it be too dry, it should be just right.
For more information on watering holding capacity, please check out this blogpost: Soil Texture and Water Holding Capacity.
Next installment of "In Search of Wine Quality" will be about soil drainage. Who knew that there was so much dirt on soils. (I know, cheap shot.)
References:
1. Alan N. Lakso and Tim E. Martinson, The Basics of Vineyard Site Evaluation and Selection, Department of Horticulture, Cornell-Geneva.
2. Steve A. Miller, Powerpoint presentation on Irrigation Scheduling and
 Soil Moisture Monitoring, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University. (The link provided will download the presentation.)

2015 Guy Amiot Bourgogne Cuvée Flavie

Earlier this year, we had another Guy Amiot, that I blogged about the 2014 Guy Amiot et Fils Bourgogne Chardonnay, which we really enjoyed.
Recently, my husband purchased the 2015 Guy Amiot Bourgogne Cuvée Flavie for us to try. The color of this 2015 Cuvée Flavie is clear gold. It had aromas of white peach, honey and lemon with an overall floral nuance. The flavor was of butter, vanilla, with a spicy acid finish. I sensed a slightly oily mouthfeel.
Fermentation and Aging Method: In order to make this wine, Amiot puts 1/3rd in oak barrels and 2/3rds in stainless steel. They employ bâtonnage and natural malolactic fermentation. The wine is aged for 12 months and then put in a stainless steel tank in preparation for bottling.
We enjoyed this wine with seared scallops and a fresh salad with pears and candied walnuts.

In Search of Wine Quality: Soil and Water

Part 1: Soil Type and Texture
In the blogpost In Search of Wine Quality: Vineyard Location, the first step in the creation of a quality wine starts with the location of the vineyard. Concurrently, the type of soil and water availability must also be determined.

We used the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) online tool called Web Soil Survey to help us determine that our vineyard location consisted mainly of Paxton-Montauk fine, sandy loam soils. The NRCS site also has a Soil Texture Calculator. The Soil Texture Calculator requires knowledge of the percentages of clay, silt and sand in the sample. Knowing that, the calculator will determine what type of soil texture the sample is.

Another way to "calculate" the type of soil is to use the Soil Texture Triangle. Knowing the percentage of clay, silt and sand, draw a line as shown in the example. The intersection of the three lines determines the soil texture type. In this case, 15% clay, (horizontal line), 15% silt (diagonal line) and 68% clay (diagonal line) results in "sandy, loam" as the soil texture.
The importance of knowing the soil texture is to help in the determination of the water holding capacity of the soil. More topics to cover in future blogs.
References:
1. D. I. Jackson, P. B. Lombard, Environmental and Management Practices Affecting Grape Composition and Wine Quality - A Review, Am J Enol Vitic., January 1993 44: 409-430; published ahead of print January 01, 1993.
2. Soil Triangle Illustration from: Soil Types.
3. Link: Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS).

Onset HOBO Data Loggers

The first time we purchased the Onset Data Loggers, we didn't have smart phones so while we deployed the HOBO temperature logger in October, 2014, we programmed the data logger in a way that had us going back to the vineyard every month to download the data. That didn't seem so onerous until Valentine's Day 2015 when we had to go to download the data. We ordered snow cleats to put on our shoes because of all the snow that was already on the ground which had melted and frozen a number of times.
We couldn't even park near the vineyard because no one (us) had plowed so we had to park the truck at the entry way to our property and walk the 500 yards to the vineyard. Recently, we were telling this story to one of our friends. We made it sound more dire than it really was, but trekking the 500 yards was a real workout. We even bailed on getting the data from the logger deployed in the northeast corner of the vineyard because we felt that we might collapse and no one would find us until the spring thaw.
Here is what we faced in 2015:

Fast forward to Friday, December 8, 2017. We knew that we had a snow storm coming our way on Saturday. The prediction was for 3-6 inches of snow, so we went to the property to secure our new data logger to the line post. We put it at the height of the graft union. This data logger will keep track of both temperature and relative humidity. My husband activated it with his smart phone and said that we don't have to go right up to the data logger to download the data, the download range is good from 100 feet. Not only that, he said that it is good for collecting 1 years worth of data!

In Search of Wine Quality: Vineyard Location

In a discussion that we recently had with Charles and Kareem Massoud, we all came to the spontaneous agreement that a quality wine can only come from the best quality grapes and the often repeated axiom, "Great wine is made in the vineyard" is certainly true. Care taken in the vineyard to grow the best, cleanest grapes is the starting point for making a quality wine.
My husband and I often do things a certain way and ask ourselves "Why are we doing it this way?" I think that it is related to what I learned from the U.C. Davis online course that I took nearly 7 years ago. So recently, I dug out a 1993 review by Jackson and Lombard. Reviews are very good publications because they summarize knowledge gained on a particular topic and this one is all about wine quality.
In the review is this schematic showing that clearly 80% of what goes into wine quality is about things that happen in the vineyard.¹

Location:
The initial selection of the location may be one of the few decisions that a vineyard owner might have control over in the quest to produce quality wines. This decision encompasses the macroclimate and microclimate determinants as shown on the middle left side of the "Wine Quality" schematic above. Vineyard site selection should also take into account the soil type and water availability on the site.

Our vineyard, the red dot in the photo, is located on a hill, actually the highest point in Old Mystic, at the head of the Mystic River, not far from the Long Island Sound. Proximity to a body of water is a good thing. The Mystic River serves as a sink for cold air creating a warmer microclimate on this hill. As we farm the vineyard, we are learning more about the site. One of the things that we have begun to notice is the breeze that comes up during the late afternoon hours in the summer. In 2011, I wrote about the search for our property in a blogpost I called Quoketaug Hill. In blogs to come, I hope to work my way through the other decision making steps outlined in the schematic above. Stay tuned!
References:
1. D. I. Jackson, P. B. Lombard, Environmental and Management Practices Affecting Grape Composition and Wine Quality - A Review, Am J Enol Vitic., January 1993 44: 409-430; published ahead of print January 01, 1993.

2014 Borgogno Barbera d'Alba

We are fans of Barbera. It is a wine that goes very well with any meal with red sauce. We tasted this wine over 2 days. On the first night, my husband made a simple spaghetti with red sauce and artichokes and on the second night, he made a delicious eggplant parmigiana. The color was a clear, dark garnet in the glass. There was very little aroma on the nose, though I did detect a little Brett, but it was not off putting. The flavor was on the simple to layered side. The wine tasted of sour cherries with a punch of pepper at the finish. I didn't detect any oak notes on the wine but I did find the product sheet for the Borgogno Barbera d'Alba that mentions that 30% of the wine was aged in Slavonian oak.
Fermentation Method:Short winter pruning of the vine (max 7-8 buds per plant) and selection of grapes during harvest. Traditional vinification in estate cellars in Barolo; medium maceration (8-10 days) at controlled temperature(20-22° C).
Duration And Aging Method: Natural fermentation (without the addition of selected yeasts) is carried out for 12 days at low temperatures, 24/28°C, followed by a soft pressing and aging one part (70%) in stainless steel tanks for 10 months and the other part (30%) in large Slavonian oak casks for 10 months at a temperature of 18°C. After that the two parts are blended together for 6 months of refining in bottle.
Alcohol Content: 13.5%
Acidity: over 7 g/l
This wine was priced at $22.99.

Wine Tasting Cheat Sheet

I describe myself as a hedonist when it comes to tasting wine. In wine tasting, being a hedonist doesn't mean that one is "a person who believes that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life" but simply that one either likes the wine or does not like the wine. But, if I plan to be "in the business" then I need to be more precise about how I describe a wine. So, I spent a few days coming up with a cheat sheet for myself that hopefully has enough descriptors so that I can appropriately convey what I am tasting. Here is what I came up with:

I showed my husband the cheatsheet and he said, "Let's try this out tonight". I wonder what kind of wine he will be pulling out of his stash. I'll report back with a filled in cheat sheet.
If you are interested in downloading this cheat sheet, click on the image then, click on the image again (Mac people, hold down "control" key and select "Open Image in New Tab"), then print/save to a PDF file. Happy tasting!

Malolactic Fermentation

We have intentionally put bacteria in our Chardonnay. Why would we do that you ask? Our Chardonnay currently has approximately 10 g/L of titratable acidity (TA) and in order to lower the acidity, we put in a lactic acid bacteria called MBR-31 to conduct the transformation of malic acid to lactic acid. The transformation makes the tart tasting malic acid a bit softer when it is converted to lactic acid.

Scott Laboratories provides a nice document on Malolactic Bacteria including a score card to determine how simple or difficult malolactic fermentation can be for a given wine.

We chose MBR-31 because it is a strain of Oenococcus oeni adapted to low temperature and low pH environments. It has good alcohol tolerance and is tolerant of sulfur dioxide at a level of 30 ppm.
Prior to inoculating our Chardonnay with MBR-31, we ran a paper chromatography experiment to check for titratable acids, then we inoculated our Chardonnay with MBR-31 on October 24, 2017. So far, we have noticed no change in the malic and lactic acid concentrations.
References:
1. Scott Laboratories Malolactic Bacteria.
2. Lalvin MBR-31