Uncorked

My husband and I have been watching a TV series on Esquire called Uncorked that follows six sommeliers as they prepare and take the exam to be come a Master Sommelier. For us, who are engaged in the growing and making of wine, it is a very interesting and intriguing show. The sommeliers in this series include:

• Josh Nadel, a wine director of six New York restaurants, whose years-long preparations for the exam have cost him friends, hobbies, and quality time with his wife
• Yannick Benjamin, a thirty-seven-year-old French-born somm who, despite being paralyzed from the waist down after a car crash, in 2003, has been undeterred in his quest to become a Master
• Morgan Harris, a somm at Aureole, has a habit of delivering impromptu wine lectures to strangers in bars
• Jane Lopes, a twenty-eight-year-old straight-A student-type and the only woman on the show, keeps color-coded binders containing her notes on wine theory (“I kind of like to create my own textbook,” she says)
• Dana Gaiser, a blind-tasting savant whose laid-back Miami beach vibe sometimes clashes with his buttoned-up profession
• Jack Mason, a churchgoer from rural Texas whose nerves frequently get the best of him

My husband says that one of these people did pass the test to become a Master Sommelier. I asked him not to tell me. Apparently there are 6 episodes in the series and we have seen three.

2011 Domaine Saint-Germain Persan

My husband got this bottle as a gift from the local package store that he frequents. The owner wanted him to taste this wine made from the Persan grape. The wine comes from Domaine Saint-Germain in Savoie. Have you ever heard of this grape? We hadn't. The wine in the glass was ruby red in color and the flavor reminded us of Cabernet Franc with the acidity of a Barbera. We had this with a fatty osso buco based spaghetti so it paired really well.

But, back to the grape. What is the Persan?
I looked at a few books before I heaved out Jancis Robinson's Wine Grapes from our bookshelf and found the entry for Persan where it is written that the Persan is a Rare but high-quality Savoie variety on a voyage of rediscovery. Much of the information that is contained in this entry has been reproduced on the Wikipedia entry on Persan. In the Savoie region, there are just 9 ha (22 acres) planted to Persan. The wines tend to be tannic with good acidity and well suited to aging! Guyot thought that the Persan was a local mutation of Pinot Noir, but genetic testing showed that this is not the case.
References:
1. J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours, pg 783-784, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-846-14446-2. Illustration of Persan is also from this book.

Time to Test the Chenin Blanc Again

Our wine has been sitting in our refrigerator in as undisturbed an environment as we can create. Though it has been so tempting to break into the keg to taste it, somehow, we have resisted the temptation.
We took out 50 mL of the wine from the keg and put it into the glass that you see to the left. The wine is becoming a bit clearer and there are definite fruit and floral aromas that we can now smell.
It has now been 19 days since we last tested our Chenin Blanc, so we decided to test it again. This is the third test that we are doing with our Vinmetrica SC-300. To recap:
Our first test on October 23 gave us these values:

• pH = 3.15
• TA = 12.25 g/L
• SO₂ = negligible
• Residual Sugar = ~500 mg/L

Our sensory exam at this time was that the wine was searingly acidic and had very little aromas associated with it.
Our second test on November 4 gave us these values:

• pH = 3.07
• TA = 10.1
• SO₂ = 17 ppm

When we tasted our wine this time, there was a definite difference in the acidity. The wine was not so searingly acidic and the aromas were beginning to develop. Hurrah!
In todays test, our values are:

• pH = 3.11
• TA = 10.3
• SO₂ = 38 ppm

The SO₂ value is still very reasonable, since we put in approximately 1 gram of potassium metabisulfite in solution, into the wine on November 9. Today, we were able to identify tropical floral aromas, like passionfruit in the wine. It was still acidic and I hope that it can develop a little more body. The keg is back in the frig under nitrogen while we contemplate our next steps.

Assembling the Irrigation Pipe

My husband has been busy this November with Trench Digging for Our Irrigation System and now, with the continued good weather, assembling the tubing in situ. He cut all of the PVC piping and spent today gluing the flexible hosing to the pipes.

This is how it looked at the end of the day.

A little background information: We have been working with our local National Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) who provided us a grant for installing this irrigation system in 2013. In 2014, we received an extension on our grant and followed up by Drilling a Well and actually finding a well with enough water (40 gallons/minute) capacity to irrigate our vineyard. We worked with Civil Engineer, Dan Pietro, who designed the irrigation system, but the procurement of the parts and the implementation was my husband's brainchild.
During the afternoon, we were able to put the assembled piping into the trench and then cover the piping with stone dust. We took into account the fact that it would rain on Thursday, November 19th. The rain should help even out the stone dust that is on the trench. We also have an appointment with the NRCS on Friday, who will come out to inspect our work.