Bottling Our Wines at Jonathan Edwards Winery---Part 2

On Monday, I wrote about Bottling Our Wines at Jonathan Edwards Winery---Part 1. Day 2 of bottling began with filtering the rest of our 2020 Chenin Blanc and ended up with the filtration of our small lot of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. In the afternoon, we began our first bottling. Here is what the bottling line looks like.

For our bottling, we thought that having both 750 mL bottles and half bottles (375 mL) was a good idea. So, on the first afternoon of bottling, we bottled both our 2019 Auxerrois and our 2020 Auxerrois ending up with a total of 50 cases of 750 mL bottles and approximately 25 cases of 375 mL bottles. We were pretty happy about that but the rest of the bottling loomed so we asked our friend, Barry if he could come to help us on Wednesday afternoon. On Wednesday morning, we bottled 29-1/2 cases of our 2020 Chardonnay which ended up being all 750 mL bottles. Barry came promptly at 1 p.m. and helped us to bottle all of our 2019 Chenin Blanc which ended up being 90 cases of 750 mL and 42 cases of 375 mL bottles!
Not only was Barry a great help, but he brought music with him and the beat kept us moving. After the bottling there was even time for a little sampling of the 2019 Chenin Blanc and some laughs!

On Thursday and Friday, Jonathan Edwards enlisted one of his people to be the Barry-equivalent, even providing us with music! We were able to bottle the rest of our wine which included our 2020 Chenin Blanc (196 cases of 750 mL bottles, 119 cases of 375 mL bottles) and 2019 Cab Franc (8 cases 750 mL bottes, 2 cases + 8 bottles 375 mL bottles) and 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon (6 cases 750 mL + 6 cases 375 mL bottles).
I learned that there is a specific way of arranging the two bottles sizes on the pallet. For the 750 mL bottles, a pallet can hold 84 cases, 14 cases on each level and 6 levels. Here is an interesting fact. For a pallet with 84 cases of wine bottled at 750 mL, that translates into 200 gallons of wine. For the 375 mL bottles, a pallet can hold 17 cases on each level. I'm not really sure how many levels would make a typical pallet.

At the end of the bottling, we were all feeling a little robotic. My husband, who was in charge of sparging the bottles with nitrogen and putting the bottles on the filler came home and put our two glasses of water on our dispenser at the same time, filling one glass with cold water and the other glass with hot water!
We thank Jonathan Edwards, Barry, Jay and Dan for all of the help they gave us for an entire week! Words cannot express our gratitude.

Bottling Our Wines at Jonathan Edwards Winery---Part 1

Last week, we spent from Monday to Friday at Jonathan Edwards Winery preparing to bottle and then bottling our wines. Compared to what Jonathan Edwards does, we have very small volumes so that presented somewhat of a logistical challenge. The first order of business on Monday was to get all of us on the same page with respect to moving the wine from our small vessels into one vessel in order to filter the wines as efficiently as possible, according to vintage and variety. Once we were all on the same page, we began executing the plan.
There was a lot of cleaning and sanitizing to do before the wines could be moved.

The wines that were racked into the larger containers were then filtered through a 1 micron filter and put into a santized vessel.

On Monday, we were able to get about 90% of our wines through this procedure. Since we had two vintages to process, the order in which we did the first filtration was: 2019 Auxerrois, 2020 Auxerrois, and 2020 Chardonnay, 2019 Chenin Blanc and half of our 2020 Chenin Blanc.
Time flies and also the filter becomes a little sluggish, so at the end of the day, we still had half of our 2020 Chenin Blanc to filter and our 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2019 Cabernet Franc to filter.
Sticking to the plan allowed us to maximize the time on Monday. We left the winery feeling exhuasted but excited about what tomorrow would bring.

Time to Check on Some Preharvest Numbers

We feel that our vines are about a week behind their usual harvest date. On Sunday, September 19, we took in a representative sample from the Auxerrois, usually the first variety that we harvest and our Chardonnay, the second variety that we harvest.

The numbers that we got were the following:

Variety	Weight	Volume of Juice	Brix	pH	TA
Auxerrois	129 g	50 mL	18.0	3.36	9.9 g/L
Chardonnay	139 g	65 mL	18.6	3.04	8.0 g/L

We typically do not see such a high pH for the Auxerrois at this stage so that is something to keep in mind as we plan for our harvest date.

The Best Cork Puller

Way back in May, we went to a party where the host pulled out a 1964 Barolo. The label attested to the fact that the the wine was very aged. Our host began to pull out the cork and then realized that the cork was not in the best shape but never fear, he brought out this nifty device that combined the Ah-So with the waiter's screwpull.

My husband was put in charge of using this device for the first time in his life, entrusted with pulling out a cork that was 57 years old. My husband has very steady hands and the Durand is probably the best old cork puller in existence. Aside from the initial slight crumblage (made up word), the cork came out cleanly and the Barolo was enjoyed by all.
When we were driving home that day, my husband remarked on the possibility of purchasing a Durand. Since our host told him that the Durand may be about $50.00 my husband was right on it until he found out that it was really $145.00.
Recently, we had dinner with our friends where my husband brought out a 1996 Chateau Montelena. I did share this photo in a previous blog, but just to drive home the point here it is again:

Without the proper tool, you can see what can happen to an aged cork. You can also see in the above photo that my husband tried to mimic the Durand with an Ah-So and a screwpull.
Last night, my husband brought out this 1995 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain. He wasn't taking any chances this time and used the Durand, which he purchased after the Chateau Montelena incident, to pull the cork out.

The wine was excellent and still very youthful tasting with an upfront flavor of blackberries and smooth tannins. We had it with friends and marinated hangar steak a la Ina Garten.

Cool Discovery While Working in the Vineyard

My husband and I were working on either side of a row of Chenin Blanc vines. I was a little ahead of him and noticed this leaf covered with poop. I did stop for a moment and thought about why just one leaf would have so much poop. It did flash through my mind that it was bird poop, but I continued working.
My husband came along and said, "Did you see this?"
I answered, "What?"
He said "This leaf with all this bird poop."
I said,"Yes, I did."
He said "I wonder why this leaf is covered with poop."
He looked up and there he saw it, a little nest. In my defense, he is a little taller than I am so he was able to see it. But if I am being really honest, he is just more curious than I am and he went looking for the causitive agent. The nest was empty so clearly, whatever made it, had their young and left. We took some pictures and then he said, "I see some goldfinches flying nearby, it might be a goldfinch nest."

So, when we went home, I looked it up on the Internet, and there it was, a nest that looked just like the photo and indeed it was a goldfinch nest. In the past, we have seen bluebird nests but this was the first time seeing a goldfinch nest.
At the Madison Audubon Site this is what was written about the goldfinch nest:
They like to nest in a variety of habitats from rural to urban areas, especially where there are low shrubs to place their nest. According to researchers the nest is an open cup of rootlets and plant fibers lined with plant down, often woven so tightly that it can hold water. The female lashes the foundation to supporting branches using spider silk, and makes a downy lining often using the fluffy “pappus” material taken from the same types of seed heads that goldfinches so commonly feed on. It takes the female about 6 days to build the nest. The female usually has a clutch of 2-7 eggs, an incubation period of 14 days, and 17 days to fledging.
Here is a closeup of the inside of the nest:

I think our mommy goldfinch found the perfect place with the Chenin Blanc shoots and trellis wire for support!

Chardonnay Grape Filtered Sunlight

There is nothing like sunlight illuminated grapes that warms the cockles of every grape grower's heart. We were working on our Chenin Blanc and here was this beautiful Chardonnay growing among the Chenin Blanc.

Just had to take another photo of the vine:

When we first planted our Chenin Blanc, we were not aware that there might be another white variety among these vines but as we worked with the vines for several years, we have noticed that there are differences between the Chenin Blanc and the Chardonnay that allowed us to tell them apart.

Dinner with Friends, Chateau Montelena and Craggy Range

Recently, we had our friends over for dinner and they love oysters. We have been enjoying oysters most recently with our son and his wife from Seattle and the oysters that we were getting were delicious. So, here was an opportunity to have oysters done two ways, fresh shucked and baked. The baked oysters with butter, garlic, and bacon topped with parsley was especially delicious! Unfortunately, we were so in a hurry to down the oysters that I didn't take a picture of it. We paired the oysters with our 2019 Chenin Blanc, which our friend said tasted like green apples, in a good way.
We followed up the oysters with slow smoked beef spare ribs done with two different rubs. We had the ribs with grilled seasonal vegetables and cornbread.

My husband pulled up from his wine cellar a 1996 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. He opened it in front of our guests and the cork proceeded to disintegrate. However the contents of the bottle was still fresh, youthful with a lot of black berry flavors, a hint of leather and soft tannins.

Our friends pulled out their 2014 Craggy Range Le Sol that they brought back from their trip to New Zealand, to pair with the meal. We did a side by side tasting of both wines and they were both very good but very different. The Le Sol was a big, jammy Syrah which was delicious and we were honored that they shared that wine with us.

This morning, I asked my husband how many more of the 1996 Chateau Montelena did we have left and he said, "That was the last one!"

Berry Shriveling in our Chenin Blanc

We are now up close and personal with our Chenin Blanc as we shoot tuck and move the netting into the proper trellis slot for deployment. Before the hurricane-AKA-tropical storm Ida came, our Chenin Blanc berries were green and hard indicating that they had not yet left the lag phase of development. After the storm, the berries were beginning to soften and are now in the ripening phase, véraison.
We have been noticing, even during the lag phase that our Chenin Blanc looked like this:

We thought that it might be sunburn and by searching the Internet, we came across an article written by American Vineyard called Preventing Sunburn on Grapes. What drew me to this article was this photo:¹

It certainly looked like what we were seeing in the Chenin Blanc so I read on. Sunburn can happen during any stage of fruit development if the conditions are right which include too much sun, not enough shade and low humidity. The bunch may be soft at first, but after a period of time, the affected area dries up and creates a berry that is hard on one side and partially mummified.
Here is an example from our Chenin Blanc:

The advice on these sunburned grapes is to drop them.
More recommendations from the article include:

• Leaf pull between bloom and véraison
• Early leaf removal prevents the grapes from sudden exposure to strong sunlight late in the season
• Leaf removal should involve only 2-4 leaves on each shoot
• Skip leaf removal if vines lack strong vigor
• If possible, drape a shade cloth over the fruit to decrease the amount of direct sunlight

Their advice for long term strategy include:

• Orient the vineyard rows in a north-south direction
• Provide adequate nutrients (especially nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) to the plants, to support strong canopy growth
• Vines can be watered using overhead irrigation like a sprinkler or hose during periods of hot temperatures to create an “evaporative cooling” effect

References:
1. American Vineyard, Preventing Sunburn on Grapes, July 24, 2020.

2020 J Mourat Collection Val de Loire Rosé

Recently, my husband bought this 2020 J Mourat Collection Val de Loire Rosé to serve with appetizers when we had some friends over for dinner. It was refreshing and an easy quaffer that went well with appetizers.
I learned that this rosé was made from Pinot Noir, Gamay and Cabernet Franc. It definitely had some strawberry, raspberry and sweet cherry notes on the palate.
What was interesting was the bottle that it was in. My husband said that it had a cork in it so using the waiter's cork screw was a little difficult. But at around $15.00 a bottle, I think we can live with a bit of difficulty with getting the cork out. This wine will definitely go under the Tab "Wines Under $20".
I am hoping that we have a few more sunny days coming up to enjoy more of this rosé.

Vintage 2021: Summer Recap

Wow, summer went by in a hurry! We began June with a heat wave that occurred on June 5 and lasted until June 9th. At the end of June, most of our varieties had flowered and we were in the midst of shoot tucking the vines as they grew to the top catchwire.
July had our vineyard at berry formation. Our weather forecasters mentioned that we had 19 days out of 31 days of rain. All that rain had us struggling to keep up with the hedging as our vines grew to heights that we had never seen!

In August, we were finally able to catch our breath from hedging and move on to shoot tucking and lowering the netting wire to the position to enable us to net our ripening grapes. So far, we have been just a little ahead of the ripening curve in being able to net the varieties that will ripen first, the Auxerrois and the Chardonnay. Below is a photo of our netted Chardonnay. We use clothes pins to secure the bottom of the netting.

We begin the first of September with the remnants of hurricane Ida bringing us more rain.

After the rains are over we will head back into the vineyard to continue our work of netting our grapes, still hoping to stay ahead of the ripening curve!