Vintage 2024: Annual Cycle of Growth

It's time to update the Annual Cycle of Growth chart. We have been keeping a record of the major grape stages as a reference for the vintage. The first date to record is budbreak:

Keeping a record helps us to determine where things stand for that particular year. Last year, our vineyard was hit by a frost that happened on May 18. Looking back at the Annual Cycle of Growth shows that the vines were at budbreak much earlier than usual.
Yesterday, with the help of our friend, Barry, we were able to remove the last cuttings from the vineyard indicating the end of pruning and laying down of all of the canes.
The varieties are currently opening up and growing!

Variety	April 24	April 28	May 6	May 12
Auxerrois
Chenin Blanc
Chardonnay
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Barbera

It's a very nice time in the vineyard!

Andreas Larsson in Manchuela: The Bobal Wine

It's a rain day so we are continuing our wine education by watching another Wine Masters episode with Andreas Larsson in Manchuela, Spain. On this episode, Andreas had as his guest, Juan Antonio Ponce from Bodega Ponce. Ponce brought with him, a bottle of wine made from Bobal, a red grape variety. Andreas said that the Bobal had aromas black fruits, herbs, tobacco, and spice. Already, three things we learned: Manchuela, Bodega Ponce and Bobal.

During the episode, Andreas made a meal to pair with the Bobal. He made a schnitzel stuffed with manchengo and jamon. It was battered and fried in oil and butter. There was a nice side of grilled vegetables. It's Andreas's opinion that vegetables must always be cooked when paired with wine, especially a red wine. Juan Antonio said that the schitzel paired very well with his Bobal. He tends his vineyards biodynamically.
Bobal is the second most planted variety in Spain after Tempranillo.
We thought that we should buy a bottle of Bobal and try to reproduce the meal that Andreas made. We have done this once before when we watched an episode on Piedmonte where they featured the Arneis grape, 2022 Giovanni Almondo Roero Arnies "Bricco delle Ciliegie".
References:
1. Illustration from: Bobal, Spain’s next great grape variety?, May 9, 2022.

1999 Volnay Premier Cru Arnaud Ente

On Sunday, we gave ourselves the day off. Originally rain was in the forecast but then the forecast changed to rain in the evening, but we stuck to our original plan of a day off. We spent the day cooking instead. We invited our friends, Mary and Barry for dinner. We began our dinner with small bites of prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe with balsamic glaze and a Paul Bara Champange.
My husband made a marinated pork loin with potatoes and Vidalia onion for the main course. We paired it with this 1999 Arnaud Ente Volnay Premier Cru Santenots Du Milieu. The wine is 25 years old now and is still tasting youthful. It exhibited a beautiful floral aroma and tasted of red berry fruit. My husband noticed spice on the palate. It had a silky smooth finish. We were all remarking how this wine has withstood the test of time. We followed the main course with a delicious salad that Mary made in situ. Dessert was French Silk pie.

Is Chenin Blanc the Forgotten Grape?

I came across this article written by Matt Kramer: Is Chenin Blanc the Forgotten Grape? Chenin Blanc has long been one of our favorite wines to drink, mainly because we fell in love with the Domaine Huet Chenin Blanc. When we planted our vineyard, we heavily tilted the varieties that we planted to Chenin Blanc. Nearly half of our vineyard is planted with that variety. Yet, Matt Kramer is saying that Chenin Blanc is the forgotten grape.
I will have to concur with that opinion. Not many people have heard of Chenin Blanc. Kramer's article written in 2016 (so now 8 years ago) mentioned that he was being stalked by Chenin Blanc. He went to New Zealand and visited Millton Vineyards and Winery in Gisborne on the North Island and remarked of their single-vineyard Clos de Ste. Anne Chenin Blanc, as stunning in its density, purity, graceful and effortless power and sheer characterfulness.
In looking at my blogposts, I found that I had written a blog in 2015 about Millton Chenin Blanc in 2013 Millton Chenin Blanc being one of the 1001 Wines You Must Taste Before You Die.
Kramer continues his article saying that on a trip to South Africa, he felt that he was being even more stalked by Chenin Blanc. In South Africa, Chenin Blanc accounts for 18% of the wine grapes grown there. The following sentence perked me up: Producers such as Jordan (sold in the U.S. under the name Jardin), DeMorgenzon, Ken Forrester, Eben Sadie and Mullineux, among many others, are issuing Chenin Blancs of dazzling quality.
Another one of the Chenin Blancs which is engrained in our memory is the Petit Chenin made by Ken Forrester. In 2011, we had a 2009 Petit Chenin which we paired with oysters at Cheeky Monkey, a restaurant which sadly no longer exists. That was our eureka moment when we realized that Chenin Blanc is a perfect pairing with oysters!
Kramer's answer to his question about why Chenin Blanc is the forgotten grape is his theory that the grape's versatility is also it's undoing. Chenin Blanc is the white grape of the Loire Valley. Chenin Blanc rules absolutely in such districts as Savennières (mostly dry); Coteaux du Layon (mostly sweet); Quarts de Chaume and Bonnezeaux (fabulous sweet wines); Vouvray (both dry and sweet); and Jasnières (typically dry). It also appears as a sparkling wine, usually labeled as Crémant de Loire.
Yes, it is confusing, but the grape does give you a wide range of flavors that might appeal to your palate. If you are inclined, the Ken Forester Petit Chenin is a good place to begin your journey and a bottle sells for about $15.00!

Vintage 2024: Buds!

Happy May Day! April showers bring May flowers. In our vineyard, our buds are beginning to swell. I took photos of the various buds on April 24 and April 28 before the warm temperatures on Monday, April 29. Here is what they look like:

Variety	April 24	April 28
Auxerrois
Chenin Blanc
Chardonnay
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Barbera

At that time, most of the buds were in the wooly bud stage. The laggard is always the Cabernet Sauvignon which is at the dormant bud stage.
Sadly, we are still pruning! We have 5 more rows of vines to prune. The last to be pruned are the Chenin Blanc clone FPS-1 which I call the stepsisters because they are always the last to receive our attention. The buds there are at budburst. This picture shows the pretty pink tinge of the young leaves. The pink is actually a sunscreen for the developing leaves. There is also a tiny secondary bud below the primary bud. Off to the side is last year's summer lateral.
Our friend has come to give us some help in picking up the cuttings in the vineyard alley which now has grass growing through it, making it quite the task! If all goes well, we are hoping to wrap up our pruning by this weekend and our stretch goal is to pick up all of the cuttings!

2021 Campass Barbera and Lasagne

On the days that we have rain, we have been managing to do a little cooking. Last Saturday, it rained all day so it was a perfect day to try a recipe that my mother in Hawaii has been raving about. It is my daughter's recipe for eggplant lasagna. We chose this Barbera to accompany the lasagna. For anything that has tomato sauce like pizza and spaghetti, Barbera is the perfect pairing. My husband claims that we have had this Campass Barbera before but sadly, I do not recall. It was inky purple in the glass and had flavors of black cherries.
Barbera is one of those wines that is a good value and this bottle retails for about $33.00.
Here is a picture of the lasagna. After making the lasagna, my husband and I both came up with a few tweaks. I used the striped purple and white Italian eggplant which is a milder eggplant than the typical large purple eggplant. The original recipe called for the sauce to be on the bottom which is what we did but we think it might hold together better with the eggplant on the bottom.

Vintage 2024: Chardonnay Buds are Awakening!

My husband and I are working as fast as we can to prune and lay down our fruiting canes. We know that the Chardonnay is the first to bud break and we typically begin pruning there but this year we began in the west where the Auxerrois are planted, followed by 17 rows of Chenin Blanc and are making our way east. On April 8, before we finished pruning all of the Chenin Blanc, we decided that we needed to skip over to the Chardonnay and prune the 8 rows there. It was a good decision! The rain and the warm weather are conspiring for budbreak to occur in the Chardonnay. When we began on April 8, the buds were dormant but today, we are seeing a mixture of buds in the scale opening and wooly bud stages. At the very tips and on thin lateral shoots we are even seeing a little pink!

Fortunately for us, our granddaughter is here on her spring break and came yesterday. Today, she worked a full day and with her help we are making good work through the Chardonnay!
I went to check on the Auxerrois and the Chenin Blanc where the canes have been laid down and the buds there still look very dormant.
I thought of a mnemonic for us: Taxes and all pruning due on April 15!

Vintage 2024: April Pruning, Pruning, Pruning

It's almost mid-April fortunately, we have pruned and laid down the fruiting canes for half of the vineyard!

However, that means that there is yet another half of the vineyard that needs attention!

The sap is beginning to run in the canes and we are seeing the return of lady bugs! Fortunately, even given the warm weather that we have been having, the buds are still in a state of dormancy. We are working in the Chardonnay, which is typically the first of our varieties to awaken from dormancy. We might be seeing a few buds that are in Eichhorn-Lorenze Stage 2, bud scales opening.

It's raining today! Time to do some other things that we've put off for a rainy day.

Here is Our Label

It has taken a while to get the final approvals for our label but with the help of our graphic artists (Michelle and Kimberly) and Susan at Jonathan Edwards, we were able to get the necessary approvals from the Federal and State governments. We are also working with a wonderful team at Niagara Labels who printed our labels. Who knew that the label approval, the final step in all of the approval procesess we have been through, would take this long.
This is our label:

Many of our friends who have seen our label are unsure what they are looking at. My husband designed this from Google Earth. Our vineyard is located on Quoketaug Hill at the head of the Mystic River and the view is toward Long Island.
Our name is a nod to our time in Hawaii. Passionfruit is found in Hawaii and is called "Lilikoi" in Hawaiian. We have chosen to give Hawaiian names to our various wines. This example is our Chenin Blanc and Wai Pua means "natural honey from flowers".

2000 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste

A few days ago, my husband brought out this 2000 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste from his wine cellar. I always ask him, "Is this the last one?" because I know by now that if it is, I might demur in drinking it. He said "No", so it was time to open it up! Although the wine is 24 years old now, the cork was in great condition, a good sign. The wine was dark garnet in color and my immediate reaction to the aromas was that it had an herbal, menthol quality to it that quickly blew off, then it was aromas of blackberries and dark cherries for me. It is not an overly fruit-forward wine but it is well balanced and has a soft finish.
We paired the wine with beef pot pie. The beef filling was slowly braised with half a bottle of Lan Rioja. My husband insisted on having a side salad. We had the wine a few days later and it was still drinking well.

Wanting to learn more about the wine, I went to the website of the Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste. The Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste was purchased by Jean-Eugène Borie in 1978. Jean-Eugène along with his wife undertook the renovation of the property as well as the chateau which had not been lived in since the 1930s. It is family owned and the numerous photos on the sight shows their commitment to the land and their craft.