Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Paso's May heat? Man, it's tough to beat


Wow, a month ago I wrote about all the blooms we had, some 40-60/vine in mid May, which meant that we would have something like 20-40 clusters to thin by mid June. Well, glad we held our horses(actually got behind in vineyard chores is more like it), because by the time our fruit set was complete, we had lost virtually all those "extra" blooms we were going to be choosy and pick from. No need. Mother Nature stepped in and hammered our blooms with 5 days in the 110 to 116 degree category, which now effectively wiped out all but 16-20 clusters per vine...right exactly where we are supposed to be for a vineyard that makes 2.5-3.0 Ton/ acre grapes. Had we jumped the gun, and cluster thinned, I hate to think how many clusters we might now have hanging. Six maybe? Possibly eight? Or could we have gotten clobbered and had only 2-3 clusters/ vine remaining? No question, there is nothing wrong with waiting for a situation to develop, and then allowing it to straighten itself out on its own. Those poor growers who were out there thinning clusters just before bloom, have to be crying in their soup, because our May heat spike literally wiped out 2/3 of our blooms. If we started at 60, we are now at 2o (or less), which is right in our sweet spot.

Is there a lesson here? Yeah, one of which it is better to be lucky than good. I could have just as easily as the next grower gone out and gotten a head start on cluster thinning. I did, however, have this nagging reminder about last yr's mid to late May heat spike. Ooops, make that last 3 yr's heat spike in mid to later May. Each time the 115 degree heat crunched our clusters, many of which were just about to set fruit. Watchful waiting, or rather being just a touch behind in vineyard chores, was a Godsend for us. We now have just about exactly what we need on the vine, clusterwise, and literally had the incredible May heat to thank for it.

Other goodies of note, were the massive amount of Live Oak trees that got so hot, they literally just burst apart. We had something like 5 Live Oaks all down where they had burst apart due to massively excessive heat. It also got that hot in the vineyard, where I encountered one tough 11 yr old vine that had literally burst apart, leaving a split down the center of the vine that literally killed it. I missed it at first, thinking maybe a tractor tread may have been the culprit, but no, it was completely a result of Mother Nature applying the heat. We have to accept it tho, for as they say, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen". There are many diseases and pestilences vines can succumb to...but bursting apart due to heat just isn't one of them...usually.

Other concerns included the massive wipeout of our 6 acre valley vineyard, which continued to freeze at nites, up to the first week in May. Think that was a problem? Well no, but the heat spike did fry up at least half our vines, literally cutting them off about 10 inches above the cordon, and then having them try and regrow, with 2 or sometimes as many as three new canes emanating from whence the heat spike sawed the vine in half. All those Pinot vines had beautiful, full, perfectly formed clusters on them, but with no real cane above the "fry" line, there will never be enough leaves to allow this fruit to ripen. Result? Well, the Pinot we planned on this yr, all 8-10 Tons of it, now looks more like 1-2 Tons, and that is guessing on the high side. The fruit was still there, mind you, it just means we had to go and drop all those beautiful clusters. That is a heartbreaker, let me tell you.

Vineyardwise, we now have but a few more chores, which means tying last yr's Pinot grafts onto the wire...training, it is called...and checking to see if any other vine/vines have succumbed to the intense heat and superimposed drought. After the heat spike ended, we did cut back our last remaining acre of Cab Sauv in the valley vineyard, and grafted on some Sauv Blanc. Close to 98% is doing well, and it looks like we may have a little bit of whites for our guests next yr.

In the mountain vineyard, besides the one vine virtually rupturing from heat, we also developed some major league dessication of much of the vineyard growing out of pure limestone. These vines need more water than others, which is being applied as I write this. Fertilizer will go on next, but first we have to bring our vines up to par with moisture, which will be in the neighborhood of 6-7 gallons of water per vine. We are starting to see a bit of yellowing, which can be from too little water(true), to not enough Nitrogen, also true. When you have a mountain vineyard literally planted into limestone, it is very difficult to manufacture good soil for it. Hence the fertilizer, organic acid based.
Well, that's a wrap for today, but will get the next one out much sooner, due to no more pourings in the near future. This is the colorless time of yr, when everything is green if on the vine, and dried out dead if not. The many colors of spring are long since gone, as I should be, since there is irrigating to do. Just no more heat spikes...please?

Saturday, June 20, 2009

San Diego International Wine Competition: Pouring for Gold Medal Winners


Last Sunday was a beautiful day in downtown San Diego, with a concordance of beautiful sunlight, back lit wispy clouds, and shiny bright black, bronze, and all glass buildings surrounding the annual SDWIC gold medal pouring, located on the roof of the 5 star Westgate Hotel. The food offered at the event was non-pareil...one of my favorites was the escargot risotto prepared by the Farmhouse Cafe from nearby University Heights. There were braised ribs with gravy on mashed potatoes that literally melted in one's mouth. Someone else prepared a pheasant, sausage, and fried sweet potato on a toothpick. Outstanding! Just hands down, outstanding. It was in the true sense a gourmet's delight, and the effort put forth by the food vendors was Herculean. Congratulations to all, and my hat is off to all those wonderful food folks.


As for the wines, there were hundreds poured, and I can honestly say we were told by dozens upon dozens of people that we had the best wine there...our Paso Bordo. In actuality, the pouring was for the Gold Medal winning wineries, but if you won, you were entitled to pour any of your wines. Altho our 2006 Cerro Prieto Merlot Reserve took a gold medal in this event plus another gold in the Critics Challenge International wine competition, it was our 2006 Paso Bordo that turned heads. We started off by offering our Paso Bordo to several of the food vendors nearby, which resulted in their seeing the terrific enhancement that our wine created for their truly spectacular dishes. Conversely, their foods returned the favor for our Cab/Syrah (as well as our Merlot). Some of the pairings were like marriages made in heaven. I wasn't counting, but of approximately 1000 attendees, literally dozens upon dozens who came by our booth to sample our wines, then returned later, and said flat out, our Paso Bordo was the best wine they had tasted at the pouring.


I cannot personally say one way or the other if that were true, in that all my time was taken up pouring...unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to try other wineries. I will say that Gloria Ferrer put on quite a show just across from us, and I loved their Blanc d' Blanc, their champagne made from Pinot Noir, and half a dozen others. To me, they stole the show, but folks who were truly tasting

(and not swilling) wine, insisted that our Paso Bordo was the show stopper. There was no voting, so this is a very subjective thing, but there was no doubt, Cerro Prieto Vineyard & Cellars comported itself well. We could not have asked for a better venue, a better wine educated crowd, nor could we have asked for a more gracious and grateful group of wine aficionados. If every event were like this, pouring wines would be a dream job. As it was, there was a lot of work and preparation that went into this, but my boss, Ms Teresa, and I had a terrific time with our best audience ever.


As an aside, weather makes a huge difference at an affair such as this. The monster Paso Robles Wine Festival held in late May was 116 degrees under our canopy, and I can assure you that is not conducive to pouring nor tasting red wines. This event was a balmy 72 degrees, and was a perfect showcase for our extraordinary blend, Paso Bordo (85% Cab/ 15% Syrah). I believe that we learned a valuable lesson here in San Diego: "If it's too hot, pour not; if it's a balmy day, pour away"...at least for reds, that is. Truly, we will never pour at another event if it is even remotely hot. Red wines hold up poorly in the extreme heat, and some even cook and taste burnt (it happened to us at Paso Wine Fest).

Lastly, the temperament of the attendees was a whole lot more cordial when it wasn't 115 degrees outside. Also, our hosts, Robert Whitley and the Westgate Hotel (plus a zillion volunteers) made the day a special one which Teresa and I will both remember a long time. Anyone who has not attended the SDWIC gold medal pour in mid June each year, has really missed a superb function if you love great wine and outstanding food. My hat is off to all involved, and I thank you for your incredible hospitality.


Another thing both Teresa and I noted was that this pouring, unlike others we had done, was actually attended by wine tasters, not swillers. Oh sure, a couple folks got lit up, but that was really uncommon. More importantly, spit buckets overflowed, because these folks actually tasted, rather than drank most wines....unhhh, not many tossed our wines, I noticed. Nonetheless, it is real privilege and thrill to pour for people who are ardently searching out new wines, but overall, are judiciously trying to find spectacular wines instead of going to just try wines they are already familiar with. The Paso fest is a huge venue, but the vast majority of folks there overwhelmingly went to the wineries they were already familiar with. Not so in San Diego. We encountered literally hundreds of wine aficionados who were interested in one thing: finding new wines they hadn't had before, for the sole purpose of increasing their wine experience. It was nice to be appreciated, as opposed to being ignored by folks only attending a function to socialize with already known wineries. Someone said that the Paso fest was just a popularity contest, and I wouldn't dispute that at all. When I go to a wine tasting, it is solely for the purpose of finding new wines, and increasing my knowledge of wines I like (and those I don't). SDIWC was attended by those of similar persuasion, and hence we will make this an annual trip for Cerro Prieto Vineyard & Cellars.


At the end of the day, it was great to be a part of a superbly run, incredibly yummy, and great tasting event. If you have never done this event, I strongly recommend you put it on your calendar. Cerro Prieto had a truly great day and so did all the attendees. If you like food...and you like wine...this is one event you need to try out. There aren't many events I would highly recommend, but this one is a sure fire winner.