2019 Passionfruit Estate Chardonnay

We bottled our 2019 Chardonnay on December 12, 2020. When we harvested our 2019 Chardonnay, we had approximately 26 gallons of juice so we split the harvest into 3 lots and inoculated it with 3 different yeasts, X16, D47 and CH9, all fermented in stainless steel. After fermentation, the wine sat on lees for 15 months before bottling.
On January 9, 2021, we tasted a 375 mL bottled of the Chardonnay fermented with X16. We thought that there was an aroma of orange blossoms but it was still searingly acidic. While we are not afraid of acid, we know that the typical Chardonnay consumer may not be used to this level of acidity.
Last night, we tried another bottle of our 2019 Chardonnay, this time fermented with D47. The aroma was one of white peaches and apricot. I thought the acidity on the D47 fermented Chardonnay was not as assertive as the Chardonnay fermented with X16. It could also be the result of being in the bottle just a bit longer than when we tasted the X16 fermented Chardonnay.
We paired the Chardonnay with gnocchi. I love gnocchi and when I read somewhere that there are good varieties of pre-made gnocchi, I couldn't resist. My husband cooked the gnocchi in sage browned butter with peas. It was a delicious pairing with the Chardonnay. After dinner, we agreed that to send the gnocchi over the top, my husband could also have put in some pancetta!

Farm Winery Layout

We are hoping to build something up on our property in the near future (we have been saying that for a few years now) so I thought that I would spend this down time researching how a Farm Winery can be laid out.
The design criteria for a farm winery differs from that of an industrial winery so when I came upon these two studies done in the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy, focused on wineries, which are likely to be farms mainly processing their own grapes it piqued my curiosity and interest.

• 2011 article written by Tassinari, et. al titled The Built Environment of Farm Wineries an Analysis Methodology for Defining Meta-Design Requirements
• 2014 article by Torreggiani, et. al titled "Farm winery layout design: Size analysis of base spatial units in an Italian study area"

In the first article, the authors were seeking to define the meta-design requirements of a small farm winery, with their goal being to translate the functional needs of the investigated production processes into a preliminary design solution.
The functional needs that the authors identified were the following:¹

1. grapes receipt (covered area)
2. wine-making, further subdivided into must production sector and wine tanks storage sector
3. additives and adjuvants storage
4. workers’toilet
5. dressingroom
6. showers
7. bottling
8. bottlesstorage
9. aging
10. commercialization
11. guests’ toilet
12. tasting

In the 2014 article, the authors continued their research and gathered data from sampling 131 farm wineries, with annual average production capacities up to 5000 hl/year (approimately 55,000 cases).²
Although the definition of a Farm Winery in Emilia-Romagna is much larger than what we will be in full production (2,000 cases) there are lessons that can be learned from this study since it is much easier to work from an existing concept than to generate one's own.
In small wineries, the production lines are characterized by high flexibility, given the necessity to switch between different wine-making techniques. Such flexibility is mainly achieved through movable equipment, highly adaptable plans, and the ability of each worker to perform different operations.
When all the data was gathered, the authors carried out a proximity analysis of the different spatial units of the sampled wineries, based on the Systematic Layout Planning approach which has been acknowledged as one of the most frequently used methodology for plant layout design.

• Spatial units 1, 2A, and 2B represent the heart of the winemaking process
• Spatial units 3, 4+6, 5, 11, and 12 have an overall low variability and show no significant correlation with production capacity
• Spatial units 3 (additives and adjuvants storage), 4+6 (workers' toilet, including showers), and 5 (dressing room) will vary when the production capacity and number and of employees (family unit, fixed or occasional workers) rise above the maximum values of the production sector under study
• Sizes of spatial units 11 (guests' toilet) and 12 (tasting) are mainly influenced by the various business, commercialization, and marketing choices

The authors provided a beginning layout, emphasizing the tasks that needed to be proximal to each other. This should be a good beginning and template for us to work off of. I will update the blog with the ideas that we come up with.
References:
1. Patrizia Tassinari, Sergio Galassi, Stefano Benni, Daniele Torreggiani, The Built Environment of Farm Wineries an Analysis Methodology for Defining Meta-Design Requirements, J. of Ag. Eng. - Riv. di Ing. Agr., (2011), 2, 25-31.
2. Daniele Torreggiani, Stefano Benni, Ana García, Francisco Ayuga, Patrizia Tassinari, Farm winery layout design: Size analysis of base spatial units in an Italian study area, Transactions of the ASABE, 2014, 57, 625-633, 10.13031/trans.57.10267.

Ordering Chenin Blanc Fillers

Way back in 2013, we hired a crew to laser plant our vineyard with 6,800 vines. They consisted of 5 rows of Auxerrois, 17 rows of Chenin Blanc and 14 rows of Chardonnay, split between two clones, 76 and 96.

Due to a number of conditions during 2013 and 2014 which I wrote about in 90% at the School of Hard Knocks, when spring 2014 arrived, we found out that more than 90% of our vines had died.

It was a sad day, but my husband was undeterred and made plans to replant the vineyard. For custom grafted vines, it takes 18 months between the time the order is placed to when the vines are received during the following spring. For us, because we ordered the replacement vines in 2014, they did not show up until the spring of 2016. So, 2/3rds of our vineyard was actually planted (replanted) in 2016.
The vines that did the best to survive the initial planting was the approximately 450 Chenin Blanc vines, our "old vines". While they soldiered on to provide us with some fruit in 2015 and beyond, these old vines were ready to be replaced and this is where we find ourselves.
The following chart shows where the various "holes" are that need to be planted with new vines:

The Chenin Blanc fillers will be planted in the area where the original vines were located. We don't appear to have lost any of the vines that we replanted in 2016 and 2017.
Although it took from 2013 to where we are now, a photo taken in August, 2020 shows that our vineyard is thriving as we learn more about how to manage our vines using the appropriate viticultural practices.

Where in the World...

Sorry, couldn't resist. My daughter created this!

Vintage 2021: January Update

Here is the first blogpost for Vintage 2021. So far, the winter has been on the mild side with just one major snowfall occuring on December 17, 2020. January has been snow-free and mild so I thought I would start the year with the chart of the Annual Cycle of Growth.

I realized that I hadn't filled in the dates for véraison and harvest in 2020 and since this data is a good thing to have, updated the chart.
While the Annual Cycle of Growth begins with budbreak, there is a lot of work to do to prepare for that event. Winter is when dormant pruning occurs, but there are many tasks prior to pruning which includes cutting all of the tendrils off of the trellis wire as well as putting all of our Agfast on to the top trellis wire. These two things should facilitate pruning, which last year took the entire month of February.
During pruning, we used a new wound dressing called VitiSeal. We used a spray bottle as an applicator, but this year we might try paint brushing it on to the wound site.
One of things that we learned last year is that we have to be prepared to drop our nets on the Auxerrois in August to discourage our friendly vineyard Baltimore Orioles not to peck on the ripening grapes. The Auxerrois reaches véraison first followed soon after by the Chardonnay. So, the Chardonnay also must be protected from bird marauders soon after the Auxerrois. Although the Cabs do enter véraison shortly after the Auxerrois and the Chardonnay, their thick skins gives us a little breathing room to work.
The other operational change we made last year was not to spray the entire vineyard. While it was very nice for us when we did that since certain chemical applications had a 3 day reentry time, that did keep us from working in the vineyard, putting us behind the eight ball. Spraying half the vineyard allowed us to work on the other half of the vineyard.
This year is another year to see how we can streamline certain tasks so that we can be on top of our vineyard care. Crossing our fingers that this February is as amenable to working as last February was.

Wine Sensory Defects---Brettanomyces

I recently came across some lecture notes given by George Vierra called "Sensory Defects in Wine". I was familiar with most of what he was talking about but there was an entire section on Brettanomyces and this intrigued me.
I haven't really written about Brettanomyces in detail, only this post 2009 Bernard Baudry Chinon where I wrote a small blurb on the Janus-faced nature of Brettanomyces. So, this is a closer look at Brettanomyces.
Have you ever smelled barnyard or band aid aromas coming from your wine? I distinctly recall one red wine tasting that we had at our home decades ago where one of our friends thought that an old Bordeaux wine we opened smelled like band aids to her! Those aromas come from the yeast Brettanomyces bruxellensis also known as Dekerra, which is the spore forming “perfect” sexual form of Brettanomyces.
Currently there are five known species of Dekkera/Brettanomyces:

• D. (B.) bruxelllensis
• B. custersianus
• D. anomalus
• B. naardenensis
• B. nanus

The conditions that allow Brettanomyces to multiply include:

• cellar hygiene not under control
• SO₂ not used appropriately
• barrels and infected containers neglected and allowed to absorb oxygen from the air
• more common in red wine because it contains a higher level of polyphenols as well as a high pH
• growth is slow but much faster above 68 ^oF and essentially stops below 46 ^oF
• resistance to sulfur dioxide, alcohol and low sugar levels give it great potential to spoil wine
• filtration can physically remove Brettanomyces

Compound	Aroma/Flavor
4-ethylphenol	medicinal
valeric acid	green apple
isovaleric acid	wet goat; rancid, horsey aroma
4-ethylphenol	aromas of stables, barnyards and sweaty saddles; bandaid; chemical signature of Brettanomyces infection
isomers of 2-acetyl-tetrahydropyridine and 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, experienced retro-nasally	mousiness; bread crust, stale popcorn, and mouse urine
4-ethylguiacol	leather and spice

The following are recommendations if you don't want Brettanomyces tainted red wine:³

• avoid barrels; use stainless steel
• avoid cross contamination; when taking barrel samples, use plastic thiefs that are used just once
• avoid doing rack and return where the wine would go from several barrels to be mixed up in one tank: instead, rack each barrel separately to tank and return, clean the tank before repeating the procedure with the next barrel
• keep the acidity low, either by acidifying or harvesting earlier
• avoid lees ageing, keep barrels topped up, and aggressively clean new and used barrels

References:
1. George Vierra, "Sensory Defects in Wine".
2. Jamie Goode, Brettanomyces.
3. Jamie Goode, Brettanomyces Master Class.

2016 La Spinetta Ca' di Pian Barbera d'Asti

We are still on our quest to taste and understand Barbera, so my husband bought this 2016 La Spinetta Ca' di Pian Barbera d'Asti for us to try.
We recently had this wine paired with meatballs and spaghetti. I thought that this wine was a heavy body Barbera, it could stand up to steak. Traditionally, Barbera was not made in oak but in stainless steel. However now, both styles can be found. We detected a bit of oak on this Barbera.
I was interested in learning more about the wine so I went to the La Spinetta site. Giuseppe and Lydia Rivetti were dedicated farmers in Piedmonte that began the business in 1960. La Spinetta means top of the hill, and is located in Castagnole Lanze. Their children Carlo, Bruno, Giorgio, and Giovanna took over the business with the blessing of their parents. They first made a single vineyard Moscato and then in 1985 produced their Barbera Ca' di Pian.
And what is it with the rhinoceros on their label? The pencil drawing by German artist Albrecht Dürer records the arrival of an Indian rhinoceros in Lisbon, Portugal in 1515. It was the first animal of its kind to be seen in Europe. The choice of the rhinoceros on the label was due to Giorgio Rivetti’s admiration for Albrecht Dürer. Giorgio credits Gabriele Cionini, a close family friend and an expert in the world of wine and art, who introduced Dürer’s works to the family.
Giorgio's respect for art is carried over to his wine. No chemicals or pesticides are used at the family-owned winery. Rivetti personally plows fields with horses and directs a “green harvest” each July when vines are thinned of grape bunches to keep yields low and to maximize the fruit’s healthy development. “We respect the land and it returns beautiful fruit. That’s what we want to get into each bottle – the character of the land – not the winemaker’s hand.”²
This philosophy is one that we also adhere to, although we haven't gone as far as the Rivetti's, we also respect the land and try to express it in the wines we make.
References:
1. La Spinetta
2. Jim Campanini, Grapefully Yours, Giorgio Rivetti’s art is in La Spinetta’s gorgeous wines.

Tasting Our 2019 Chardonnay

Yesterday, we decided to taste our 2019 Chardonnay fermented with the X16 yeast that we bottled on December 12, 2020. It's almost a month since we bottled it and my husband had the perfect meal to pair with the wine. He made a wild sockeye salmon with the Florida Seasoned Pepper from Penzeys. We had a side of green beans to go with the dinner.
The Chardonnay that we tried was one of our 375 mL bottles. Good for two people. As we swirled the glass, I detected the aroma of orange blossoms. The flavor was also of oranges with a decided acidic kick at the finish.

This is interesting because the titratable acids are only at 7.3 g/L, although the pH is 3.07. We'll taste this wine again after it has a few more months of bottle aging to see if the acids marry with the other components of the wine. All in all, we thought that it was our best attempt at making Chardonnay so far.

Preserved Roman Wine Barrels Reveal Ancient Coopers' Art

This morning, my husband sent me this link, Preserved Roman Wine Barrels Reveal Ancient Coopers' Art¹ published in the drinks business. The story begins in 2008 when, as part of an archaeological excavation, three water wells (Pts 378, Pts 354 and Pts 417) were discovered along the right bank of the river Vesle which runs through Reims. The casings of the water wells were actually constructed of reused vats identified as wine barrels dating back to 100-400 AD! The wine barrels were in such an outstanding state of preservation which made it possible to carry out a very faithful reconstruction:²

• each of these barrels was made up of 22 to 25 tapered, 2 meter-long staves
• the barrels contained between 1,000 and 1,200 litres of wine as deduced from the deposits of malic and tartaric acid on the walls of the staves indicative of alcoholic fermentation
• the wood used in their construction was not oak but European silver fir (Abies alba)
• marks left of the surfaces of the staves helped to identify the tools such as the doloire, adze and croze which were used in the shaping of the staves
• all of the hoops were made from hazelnut saplings (Corylus avellana) with a semi-circular section, which were split and cut using a billhook (barrel hoop maker’s tool), then bent and tied
• one of the hoops was fastened with esparto grass (Lygeum spartum) which, unlike the fir and hazelnut, is not native to northern Europe but the Mediterranean
• the barrels had also been sealed in places with pitch, known to be produced in this period by distillation of pine wood
• the wooden surfaces of the three barrels contained over 45 branded or stamped mark, like their modern counterparts, each one of which signified a step in the barrel making process, as well as the route the barrel took once completed

I enjoyed reading the three articles listed in the references below. It made me realize that wine storage in 2021 may not be so different from 100-400 AD!
References:
1. Rupert Millar, Preserved Roman Wine Barrels Reveal Ancient Coopers' Art, the drinks business, January 5, 2021.
2. Pierre Mille et Philippe Rollet, The study of three large barrels excavated at Reims/Durocortorum (Marne): the skills of ancient coopers.
3. Emma Cranston, Gerry Selian, Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Roman Wine Barrels in Champagne, Vinepair, January 6, 2021.

Recap of Vintage 2020

Every month, I try to write a blog about what the month was about and I have been doing this since 2015. All of these blogposts are located under the Vintages Notes Tab, located at the top of this blog.
It is time again to collate all of the blogs related to Vintage 2020. It amazed me when I was going through the posts that I wrote a blogpost last year on this very day, and remarked how warm January was and how we were still working in the vineyard rolling up our netting.
Here are the Vintage Notes for 2020:
Vintage 2020
Vintage 2020: Winter
Vintage 2020: February
Vintage 2020: Pruning Time
Vintage 2020: Still Pruning
Vintage 2020: Spring Help in the Vineyard
Vintage 2020: April Weather
Vintage 2020: May Cold Temperatures
Vintage 2020: Got Rain Will Grow
Vintage 2020: June Update
Vintage 2020: July Brings Needed Rain
Vintage 2020: Summer Heat Waves
Vintage 2020: Auxerrois at Véraison
Vintage 2020: Getting Ready for Chenin Blanc Harvest
Vintage 2020: Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc Harvest
Vintage 2020: Harvesting our First Crop of Barbera
Vintage 2020: December Weather Highs and Lows
What I will remember about 2020 will be a warm winter followed by a cool spring and then a summer of heat waves. Luckily for us, the heat wave allowed our grapes to accumulate the highest level of Brix that we had ever seen. Our stellar crew and Jonathan Edwards helped us with the harvest and processing the harvest and now we settle in for a small respite.
Looking ahead, it appears that the weather this year is similar to last years with warm weather for the first week of the new year. The vineyard is calling us to get out and do some pre-pruning preparations.