Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc at Véraison

We feel as if our grapes are one week ahead of what they were last year with respect to their ripening trajectory. Last week, while we were working in our Chardonnay, we noticed that the red varieties were at véraison.

The Cabernet Sauvignon appears to be further along than the Cabernet Franc. Although we had problems earlier with the Heat Wave and Our Cabernet Sauvignon, we have portions of our fruit that are looking really good.

2000 Chateau Lafon Rochet

Long days in the vineyard means that no one wants to cook. Leftovers are key to getting dinner on the table in a timely way. On our way home after our second shift, we stopped at Wehpittituck Farm. It is so nice to have a neighborhood farmstand. We picked up a haul of green beans and that was the inspiration for our dinner.
We had in our refrigerator, smoked steaks that my husband made earlier in the week so he brought up this 2000 Chateau Lafon-Rochet from our cellar to pair with our meal. We wanted to like this 2000 Chateau Lafon-Rochet, don't get me wrong, we enjoyed the wine, but the memory of the 1991 Lopez de Heredia Viña Bosconia Cosecha was fresh on our gustatory minds. It is very wrong to compare a Bordeaux with a Rioja so in some ways it is not a fair comparison. Just saying.
Chateau Lafon-Rochet is one of the 61 wineries selected in the 1855 Paris Universal Exhibition forming part of the now famous Médoc Classification, the 1855 Grand Cru classé. This 2000 vintage was made with 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. The wine was good, it had rich flavors of blackberry fruit and depth to pair with the smoked steak.

Vintage 2020: Auxerrois at Véraison

It's like clockwork, so we should have been prepared for our Auxerrois coming into véraison. Last year I blogged about Auxerrois at Véraison on August 20, 2019. Here is what our Auxerrois looks like now:

We were busy in another part of our vineyard when my husband noticed that the birds had begun to "taste" our Auxerrois. We knew that it was the Orioles and much as we love the Orioles and know that they need to fuel up for their migration back to warmer climate for the winter, bird pecked grapes can lead to worse problems. The open wound in the grape recruits fruitflies which can lead to fermentation by Acetobactor leading to the smell of acetic acid or vinegar. It can also lead to the recruitment of yellow jackets who are also looking for a sugar boost. So, in order to prevent that, we pluck out the damaged grapes.

After cleaning the grapes, the nets needed to go up to prevent any more damage. However, we had a problem. We were waiting on wider nets to come from our supplier. We did let down our nets that were 31" and then we heard from the shipping company on Thursday and we received our 40" nets!
The next few days were filled with taking in the 31" nets and putting up the 40" nets. Once we had the 40" nets, the task was to clean the grapes. Yes, it is a tweezer that we use:

The baggie on the left shows the haul of grapes from one row of Auxerrois. I checked the Brix on the juice and it was at 17^o Brix! The Auxerrois are getting their stone fruit flavors and still hanging on to the acidity. Last year we picked the fruit when it was at 19^o Brix, so we don't have too long to go before harvest is upon us. Today, we are happy to say that we finished putting up the 40" netting on our Auxerrois! Phew!

1991 Lopez de Heredia Viña Bosconia Cosecha

We had this 1991 Lopez de Heredia Viña Bosconia Grand Reserva with smoked steaks which my husband has mastered making on the grill. The wine, although now almost 30 years old was still vibrant with a lot of berry fruit flavors, was so very smooth and paired very well with the steaks. The color in the glass was a little light, but very clear.
This bottle was a Grand Reserva which means that it spent 10 years in the barrel aging. It was made from 80% tempranillo, 15% garnacha and 10% mazuelo and graciano. We really like Lopez de Heredia wines!