Coldest, Most Coldest, and Most Awfulest Coldest

True, my 4th grade grammar teacher wouldn't think much of the title, but it fits to a tee. It is cold...and currently raining...an icy cold, miserable, bone chilling  rain. Looking back on my last 3 blogs,  it seems as if I am stuck on the weather, but quite frankly, since my last post 10 weeks ago( I know, cardinal sin of bloggers is to not write routinely, but more on that in a minute), weather is all that I have had on my mind...and the title tells why. Just when I was preparing to sit down and write a blog 5 weeks ago, the above title occurred. I was out on the back deck getting ready to grill a nice ribeye and got a little cold as the sun  dropped into the western Santa Lucias. The fire was started  so I went to retrieve a warm windbreaker; by the time I came back out, the temp had dropped at least 25 degrees, and it became unbearably cold. I shut down the fire, came back inside and grilled the steak under the broiler. It was at least 40 degrees warmer inside than out, so for grins I checked our outside thermometer. The reading said 38 which was hard to believe, in that it had been a glorious day, somewhere in the high 80s not more than two hours before.

Normally our temperature drops at sunset, but not 40 degrees. Most of our really biting cold comes about 4:30 each morning, when we typically drop down to just above freezing. Oh, one other thing and that is our house is  250 feet above our very cold valley vineyard, and the temp differential is typically 18 degrees warmer up here than down there. Concerned, I checked the thermometer readings just before bed at 10 p.m. on Friday, April 8th, and it read 28... and that is not what you want to see just after you have finished pruning...okay, it was worse than that. We had finished pruning 3 weeks before, and were now expectantly awaiting  bud break, already delayed 3 weeks and counting. By rights, that 28 up here should have been 10 degrees down below. Honestly, I just didn't have the heart to go down below and check our thermometer at 4:30. If it froze(and I had no doubt it did), I just didn't want to know by how much. As they say "frozen is frozen"...except a damaging frost depends on HOW cold and HOW LONG cold. If it stays cold for hours, then we have lost not only our crop but our vines. That happened on another 3 valley acres that froze to death in 2001. In that instance, we had 14 days of 14 degrees, and the frost never left the ground...for three weeks. It was an expensive  but valuable lesson. We did not replant that 3 acres, even tho it has never frozen since.

Just to recount for a moment, Cerro Prieto typically is the dead last vineyard to prune, and typically we are pruning just ahead of bud break. Why is that important? Because if you delay pruning you go into bud break( just like it sounds, the buds break forth from their positions on the cordon), and if you are caught pruning late with buds already out , invariably many buds will get broken off in the pruning process. Hence, you virtually have to prune before bud break. In our case, we do it at the last possible moment with the full intent of preventing bud break as long as possible. If one were to visit the fine vineyards of Paso's westside, you would have no trouble identifying us. We would be the ones not pruned yet, with the vineyard looking shaggy and unkempt...until late March, that is. As an aside, some folks prune dry farmed vines beginning in mid December, and seem to get away with it. What we have proven beyond any doubt, however, is that at Cerro Prieto to prune early is to court disaster with a hard late spring freeze...and we have had so many this spring that I can't count them all.

Often times at 4:30 in the morning we are awakened to the sound of the large propeller wind machines cranking up and moving the cold air around or out of the vineyard. The green French machines, which require a movable skirt around the vineyard (to pump low lying cold air out of the skirted area), are heard cranking also. Either of these machines, or even water misting on the vines, can protect vines 3, 4 or even 5 or 6 degrees in time of frost. We have NO wind machines, in that we aren't concerned about 3-6 degree temp drops...we are concerned about temps down in the low teens, and nothing helps that....except, perhaps, prayer. Given no options, I started some 6 yrs ago trying to hold back bud break,( when freezing temps can freeze off new formed buds) by pushing our pruning farther and farther back. Now we routinely prune as late as possible , but just before bud break actually occurs. Does it work? Well, definitely yes, but it usually will not protect a small % of vines that get an extraordinary jolt of cold. On the whole, we have salvaged a previously unprotectable vineyard
(the Very Cold Valley Vineyard), merely by changing when we prune. Sounds simple maybe, but carrying it out always is an uncomfortable time.

Mentioned above, I am way too late in getting this post out, but due to long, hard, soaking rains, sleet, and snows, we have had enough water to leave us with weeds 6 feet high or higher around the sides of the vineyard or on the valleys contiguous with the vineyard. Problem with that is, when once dried out, the weeds present a fire hazard, which can wipe a vineyard out in a matter of minutes. Hence we not only have to weed the vineyard we have to care for some 35 other acres that present a fire hazard. And that is why I have not written a blog...all available time was devoted to fire protecting our vineyard, valleys, arroyos, and mountain tops.

 Now we are awaiting new bearings for our flail mower, which struck a large sub-surface rock, the size of my truck, and broke belts, shafts and bearings. Never a dull moment in the vineyard. A full 16 acres needs to be weedeated, and that includes areas where no tractor could go, virtually straight up and down. In the meantime it gives me timeout to write this long overdue blog, and to examine what will be this years potential crop. First off, cluster size looks to be on the high side of large, but until a successful bloom and fruit set we won't know anything for certain. Secondly, we are in the midst of a nuclear winter, and it is a month into spring. Bloom cannot be far behind, as the little clusters that our guests mistakenly take for grapes are clusters of flowers about to bloom. Only after bloom and fruit set will we have a good idea of the size of the crop. Remember, we are pruned to only 2.5 tons/acre or less, which can increase in size if clusters are overly big...and they appear that way early on.

The day has been gray, rainy, cold and inhospitable. In 4 days will begin the annual Paso Robles Wine Festival...which two yrs ago to the day, was 117 degrees downtown in the Paso Robles park. This year will be pleasant to cold...just right for tasting big red wines and their blends....two things we do to perfection. Stop by and see us at the Meritage downtown or come by the vineyard to say hello. We look forward to seeing you all, and wish you a safe and enjoyable Wine Festival weekend.

Photo Key:

Top: Buds are just breaking and some have already leafed out.

Mid: Note long massive rachus with large clusters of...grapes? Nope, these are clusters of buds about to bloom. If fruit sets, then blooms turn into grapes.

Lower: Poor Caza...all that snow and no gophers to dig up.

Time for pruning...oops, it just snowed

Many are now well familiar with Paso's Westside famous vineyards and wines. Many of you have been here for our eco vineyard tours, and most have tasted our 90+ point wines. Some may have seen the beginnings of early pruning, and others have been here just shortly thereafter. But no one has seen this place, well into pruning, and in the midst of a snowstorm. A day after the snow fell, we still had it on all our upper elevations, in our top blocs of Cab and Syrah. The above picture captures two things: first is the neatly stacked rows of prunings awaiting the flail mower. Second is the 2 inches of snow sitting on top of the prunings. We pointedly wait as long as possible to prune, which in turn delays our bud break as well as our bloom. Since we are a mountain vineyard, the cold mountain valleys are setups for late frosts, sometimes well into May. If we happen to be in the midst of bud break, or bloom, for that matter, the last thing we want is to see a hard spring frost. Hence, we are usually the very last vineyard to prune, but as you can see from the picture above, it looks like that didn't make much difference... it snowed anyway. Whatever, no harm done in that we are still a long way from bud break and much farther away from bloom. But to look out and see our entire vineyard covered in snow for two days...well,  I will have to admit, it did take my breath away.

Global warming has come to Paso's Westside vineyards...the heart of the heart of wine country. But rather than warming it has gotten colder, both in degree, and in length of time it stays cold. El Nino, which visited us once again this year, brought with it the moisture, only this time in addition to rain and icy fog, we also got snow...lots of it. Last year was a record for the north county of San Luis Obispo, in that we set an all time low for heat/light days. Put simply that means that we had less heat and sun to ripen with and significantly less time in which to do it. Many days last year had nasty bone chilling fogs lifting by noon, only to return some two hours later. If ever there were a year to have vines pruned to low yields, this was it. Those folks who had 4, 5, maybe as much as 8-10 tons/ acre, got rammycackled...their grapes just flat out didn't ripen. Virtually all the well known vineyards surrounding us hang anywhere from 1.0 to 2.5 tons/ acre, and subsequently, virtually everyone nearby ripened...the flavors came in, but at a much lower brix(sugar content) than we usually have. Normally, by Oct 1st we have ripe grapes, but they are virtually without flavor. Only with patient waiting, and sampling of thousands of grapes do we see our flavors come in much later in October, typically between the 21st and 30th. This yr our flavors came in as per usual, later in October, but at a much, much lower brix; it was a Bordeaux harvest, at 24.5 brix. Compare that to virtually all our other harvests in last 5 yrs, which were at 27.8 to 28.5 brix before their flavors came in. Having the ability to wait on flavors in a mountain vineyard is a luxury. In our cold valley vineyard, the Pinot and Sauv Blanc came off with full flavors at 24.5, but on Sept 20th,, almost a month before the Cab, Syrah, and Merlot.

Clients and wine club members frequently ask, "So what does the low brix harvest mean? Will there be less flavor, more tannins, or what?" The answer is simply that our alcohols will be notably less than normal  12.5 to 13.5% vs. our usual 15.9 to 16.9%. As for flavors, again, had we harvested on the day we hit 24.5 brix, we would have had a virtually flavorless wine. By waiting out the eventual arrival of flavors we have a  wine that will guaranteed to be full of cherry, blackberry, plum, with maybe a bit of blueberry or strawberry in two of our Cab blocs. It just won't be as high an alcohol, something some wine critics...and a few wine aficionados...don't like. In every sense of the word, this harvest was as close to a Bordeaux harvest as we will get. Oops, maybe it's better not to say that in that we are starting off cold again this year. We will hope that we have the summer heat, the warm sunny days, but if not...well, we just proved that we can take the cold weather and still make a great wine. Given a choice, however, I would prefer the hotter, drier conditions.

Whatever the temperature, whatever the weather, it is still a great time to stop by our tasting room downtown at the Meritage Tasting Room and enjoy our 91 and 92 pt. wines. For those not familiar with our nationally known wines...rain or snow, sunshine or not, our Cab/Syrah, and Merlot are always a treat for the true wine aficionados, or the newest of beginners. We invite you to come visit and wine taste with us.

Oh Lordy, it rained...and then rained somemore

Typically we get a generous inch, maybe two, of rain between end of harvest (Oct 31st) and the new year....just enough to set the seed on the steep hillsides and get a root system going before the downpour that follows between February and April. The purpose of germinating hillside seeds before the big rains is to S.O.T....save our topsoil. If the big rains come and seeds have not germinated setting early root systems, then the severe slopes of many of our mountainside vineyards gets washed away. Looking at a road cut between two of our Cabernet blocs, it is readily apparent that our entire steeply sloped vineyard has barely a foot of topsoil covering a solid limestone mountain. Loss of any of our precious soil is an invitation for disastrous erosion, most of which flows down our slopes, and then flowing on down via rivulets and ditches to the Salinas River. The Salinas, swiftly flowing and strong in midst of big rains, usually dries up in the hot summers, yet remains one of the biggest northerly flowing underground rivers in the U.S.,  ultimately emptying into Monterey Bay some 130 miles away. If one wanted to merely find some of the Paso's best topsoil, he would have to go no further than the Salinas River, a mere 4 miles from here.

In the early years here we lightly disked the steepest slopes and then used a seed drill to plant cover crop. Early on, after a particularly heavy winter rain, the wisdom of light disking and seed drilling was abruptly challenged when we noticed that any disturbance of the sparse topsoil, (eg, with a seed drill or disc), enabled the heavy rains to literally wash entire hillsides away, leaving incredibly eroded rows, some  8 feet deep. Rebuild of a steep row costs around $5000 per 100 feet, and an entire row lost can be horrendously expensive. Hence, in the last 9 yrs (one yr after I bought a new disc), we stopped using it. Now we seed by hand on hillsides steeper than 70 degrees, and then immediately put out dozens of bales of hay, broken apart and spread by hand over the entire seeded area. Expensive? Yeah. Time consuming? Yup. Necessary? Unquestionably. Now our erosion losses are kept to a bare minimum, but this yr, immediately post harvest, it began raining and darn near never quit. Not torrential rains, but just steady, London-fog-type-blowing mists, light, but seemingly lasting forever. After Thanksgiving we had a 60 hour rain, never letting up but just doing barely more than misting. During that 2 and a half day period, we got 6 inches of rain, and I never saw a drop...just massive, grey, blowing mists. How it could possibly have dumped 6 inches of rain is beyond me, but it was in the true sense of the word, a farmer's rain...enough to germinate seeds, but not cause erosion. The problem? Well, it never stopped raining long enough to get the seeds hand casted, nor the hay spread out on top of it.

Finally, sometime after we hit the 10 inch mark, we got a 4 day respite, during which time we hand seeded and spread out 12 dozen bales of protective straw. Normally we use a bale per twenty vines, or 100 feet. This year we put it on heavier, in that even with the misty rains we already had the start of erosion in 4 of our steepest rows. We were ready for it, but the prolonged rains kept us off the hillsides until after some initial erosion had already occurred. Good news is that it was superficial, but bad news is we still will have some row rebuilds to do. Cost? On blocs of 3 and 3.3 acres we put out $1000 of straw and racked up some $1400 of labor to spread the straw. Expensive, yes, but without having done that we would have lost massive amounts of topsoil in the torrential rains that followed. Moral of story? Simple. Spend a little money to save a lot. Also, as good stewards of the land, it is the thing anyone who cares about the land wants to do...be a good shepard...or in this case, be a good caretaker of the magical land which grows such spectacular grapes.

How silly to devote so many words to so simple a subject, some may say. In truth, this is but one of the many unseen things that goes into that great wine of which wine drinkers notice only the subtle cherry, blackberry, cassis, strawberry and plum flavors. I mention this to remind you wine aficionados that the next glass of wine you taste is not just the beautiful flavors in wine this favored land produces, but that there is much, much more to the story. Another way of saying this is that altho mundane, it is a rite of winter to block up the flail mower and replace dull or worn blades. With as much limestone as we have, we go thru hundreds of dollars of blades in a single yr. And winter is the one time we have time to do this bothersome task. Other off season jobs are tuning tractors, ATVs (all 6 wheel drive), redoing brake linings on all vehicles, and , of course, an early start on oil change, spark plugs, and filters. Obviously we do this during the year, but winter is a good time to check for loose treads on the crawler tractor as well as lost bolts, screws, handles, springs, or any other thing that might be lost during the ongoing vibration of continuous tractor use.

Exciting? Thought provoking? Enjoyable? Nah, to any of the former. But they all are essential to having good, dependable machinery to carry out the growing season's chores. So next time you raise a glass, go ahead and appreciate the bouquet. Enjoy the magnificent flavors imparted to our grapes by our world class soils. But also remember the "other " things that went into this wine...drudgery, painstaking, nit-picking, and yes, boring chores that are essential...but not very glamorous...when one thinks of the wonderful life a grape farmer and vintner leads. Yes there are those highs when some magazine rates our wines in the 90+ category. But there are also the other times, chronicled above that go into the growing and making of that fabulous wine. In the cold, gloomy, and dank months of winter, grape growers are keenly aware of the
"other side" of winegrape growing  and wine making. It is like everything else in life. Sure there are the glamorous, rewarding, and fun times. But that is counterbalanced by the small, unseen, but oh-so-necessary mundane things that go into winemaking.

Someone...no, many someones, have asked me where we make our wines. The answer is in the vineyard where all wines start and are grown. But if one takes short cuts in the pre-winemaking stages, one can expect a product of inferior, or at the very least, of lesser quality. Cerro Prieto's wines start and come from the vineyard... the nuts and boring bolts of which are described above. There's a thought for you the next time you pour a glass of our signature Paso Bordo(Cab/Syrah), or of our 91 point Merlot. That didn't just happen. It was well thought out and prepared for in cold barns changing out flail mower blades, or during the hand seeding of steep slopes while broadcasting seed in the cold winter...or in the simple but back-breaking work of putting out dozens of bales of hay on steep slippery slopes. All that goes into the quest for the perfect wine. We feel we have produced the perfect grape. Now we seek the perfect wine. In the meantime you will just have to be satisfied with our 91 and 92 point wines...not perfect, but dang close.

Gadzooks. What on earth is happening in Paso Robles?

Something’s happening here,
What it is ain’t exactly clear,
There’s a man with a gun over there,
Sayin’ “Stop, you gotta beware,
Singing, Stop, hey what’s that sound,
Everybody look what’s goin’ down.


Well, that pretty well summarizes the last few weeks here in Paso, which when I moved here some 33 yrs ago was said to be the “next Napa”. It wasn’t. But times changed, and the old timers, Hoffman Mountain Ranch with the mad Russian winemaker’s Pinot Noirs, and old standbys Pesenti and York Mountain , gave way to Justin Winery beginning as far back as 1982, Wildhorse, then Meridian, and finally a whole host of others. Gary Eberle the founding father of local Rhones, Justin and his Isosceles, Wildhorse’s Ken Volk and his Pinots became well known and the wine rush was on. There were mergers and acquisitions, lots of buying of local grapeland by foreigners from Napa( who were buying as much as 60% of Paso’s grapes at one time), and hundreds upon hundreds of new vineyards put in. Wineries followed the vineyards, and today we have some 220 wineries just here locally in Paso Robles. And that doesn’t include hundreds of acres in south county San Luis Obispo, home of well known GSMs, whites and Pinots.

And then came two weeks ago. Justin Smith, winemaker for Saxum got Wine Spectator’s #1 wine in the world, which followed a 100 pts for his wine a short time before. Within a week Justin Baldwin sold his winery to a billionaire with huge Central Valley holdings of pomegranates, nuts, and stone fruit. In the last 10 yrs, Constellation bought up Wildhorse for a reported $37million, recently Four Vines sold for a reported $17 million(with a virtual vineyard and winery), and now Justin has sold for a very large sum (unknown at present). Paso Robles has become the new Napa. Whether you look at new acreage plantings, number of new wineries in last 10 years, the amazing sums well known wineries have sold for recently, or the very simple fact that truly remarkable wines are coming out of our Paso AVA… like the above song says, “something is definitely happening here”.

It is abundantly clear, however, what it is. Paso Robles, with its multitude of different microclimates and terroirs, has blossomed into the “in” place to have a winery. Long associated with lesser fruit, vastly lesser caliber winemakers, and essentially no cachet, that has all now changed. There is no longer any question about the caliber of wines coming out of Paso. Not all wines, but the wines from fine vineyards, immaculately farmed, beautifully framed amongst the massive oak forests, some like ours straight up and straight down, and a growing reputation for , robust, balanced, and beautifully made wines…those wines are now getting not just attention nationally and internationally, but they are getting it often. There is a radius of less than a mile surrounding our vineyard/cellars, Cerro Prieto, called by some the heart of the heart of Paso’s wines. To the SW is Jack Creek with Doug Kruse’s Pinots and Chards, to the S is Matt Trevisan’s Linne Calodo and his Rhones, East is Booker, East NE is Stefan Asseo’s Bordeauxs, to our NW over two hills is Saxum… and Cerro Prieto is fortunate to be surrounded and central to all those mentioned. What is happening…what has happened, is that Paso, which had such tremendous potential 33 years ago, has now realized it. We are here. We have arrived. We still maintain the friendly atmosphere of years ago, a winemaker can actually be chatted up by a wine buyer… and we have entered the contest, so to speak, with the brite light on the hill, Napa.

Where to from here? A good question because the one vintner who has had greatest impact on the area in last fifteen years has just sold his vineyard/winery operation. True, Justin is staying on, but his winery has now sold. He single-handedly got the local wine alliance, PRWCA, to institute national wine tasting tours for Paso wines, whereby all 50 states now have access, altho limited in some cases, to Paso wines. Our biggest proponent, our biggest marketer, has now sold. New and better winemakers have come on the scene, wines have skyrocketed in quality, but we don’t have another Justin Baldwin out there, tooting our horn, making our case. Undoubtedly someone will step up, but we will miss Justin and his extraordinary marketing skills. Paso Robles will be less well off because of Justin’s sale. The push probably will come from some of the young turks, tho I don’t see another Justin on the horizon. Justin got the nation’s attention. It is now up to the young winemakers to step up and keep the spotlight fixed brightly on Paso Robles, not with Justin’s innovative marketing, but with plain old fashioned superb wines. The new Justin, Saxum’s Justin Smith is but one of those probable leaders. Others will come from the short list mentioned above, and we still have Steve Lohr, Gary Eberle, and other stalwarts to help lead us.

Napa is on notice. The sleepy town of Paso Robles from 4 decades ago is no more. The small town friendly atmosphere remains, but make no mistake about it: Paso Robles IS wine country.

Paso Robles Westside Redwine Jailbreak. Zowie!

 

The genie is out of the bottle, the secret is out. The beans are spilled, the horse is out of the barn. News from Wine Spectator just last week has just put Paso Robles, particularly the mountainousWestside, on the world’s wine map…indelibly, permanently, forever, and always. Justin Smith, Paso’s winemaker extraordinaire, was just awarded the Best Wine of the Year (that’s international & worldwide, folks), from his James Berry Vineyard, for his GSM (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre) blend. That is in no small measure, an achievement 99.9% of Napa wineries strive for year after year…and never attain. Matter of fact, all the wineries of the world strive for that.

Earlier, Saxum had earned a 100 pt. rating in WS, one of only 4 awarded worldwide. Napa had one, Saxum had theirs, and Bordeaux had two. Now Justin’s Saxum has the #1 wine in the world…and here in our former one horse town, El Paso de Robles. Well, no more. No more Napa, Sonoma, Bordeaux, Rhone River, looking down their noses at Paso Robles. Tablas Creek’s Rhone, Chateau d’ Castel came in with a 94 pt Rhone, and just for good measure, our south county neighbor, John Alban’s Edna Valley Syrah earned 97 pts.

Ready for it or not, Paso Robles has arrived on the wine scene, and the above list is just a hint of that. In past several years, Stefan Asseo’s L’Aventure landed a half dozen 94s to 98s in WS, Matt Trevisan’s Linne Calodo routinely has wines in the mid 90s, Eric Jensen’s Booker Vineyard is in the 90’s and Jack Creek Cellars has Pinots, Chardonnays, and Syrahs in 90+ range. What is significant about these wineries for Cerro Prieto is that virtually all those wineries are within a one mile radius of our steep mountain vineyard. Saxum a mile NW(just 2 hills over), Linne Calodo a mile south, Jack Creek a mile SW, Booker and L’Aventure a mile East. In other words we are surrounded not just by world acclaimed vintners, we are dead center in the heart of vineyards with world class terroir.

It is no accident that wines from these vineyards all are receiving world acclaim. We are located in the best place anywhere to consistently produce world class wines. In just two short years of producing only 400 cases/ yr, Cerro Prieto has garnered 2 International Gold Medals( amongst 3300 and 2700 international entries), a 92 point Wine Enthusiast wine( Paso Bordo, our Cab/ Syrah), another Merlot that is one of Chef Magazine’s 10 Marvelous Merlots(sandwiched between Cakebread and Duckhorn), and yet another accolade of one of the best 12 wines under $50 in 805 Living magazine(Nov 2010). The fruit doesn’t fall too far from the tree, and world class vineyards do not grow far from one another. Point in fact: we are all within a very tight radius of one another. If you haven’t been here, and you love wine…great wine, you need to come.

Traditionally, for years, wines from the Paso Robles region were shipped up north to the Napa wineries, who early on recognized the potential for Paso's red wine grapes, and could get them at half to one third the price of similar quality Napa grapes. Why wouldn't they buy from Paso? Now that is changing and fewer and fewer grapes still make the trip to Napa. Sure, grape farmers who hang 8 tons/acre, and maybe even 10 tons/acre still ship their winegrapes elsewhere. But the high yields are coming down, the overall grapes being produced here are of distinctly better quality (overall) than even 5 yrs ago. The mantra, "Less is more" is starting to get a foothold , even with the most dyed in the wool farmer.

And then there are the vintners who have been low yield devotees all along...the names all mentioned above. They are not alone, but they are certainly in the vanguard of low yield plus world class terroir equals world class wines. Justin Smith and others mentioned above are all part of that "Paso equals world class wines" group. We, as fellow vintners, have much to be thankful for hard working, savvy guys like Justin. He, and they, have finally broken through often enough, high enough, to cement Paso's claim to one of the places to go for world's best wines. We are a mere 3 or 4 decades old, and the new Paso vintners are but a handful of yrs old. Bordeaux is 400 yrs old, and yet, we are catching them. We have caught them...and not just Bordeaux, but Napa too. That is why Napa as well as others have been down here buying up Paso wineries as well as grapes.

We are blessed with the God given terroir. We now have a cadre of winemakers who are aware great wines start in the vineyard, and have maximized that fact, in addition to using their superior talents as vintners. Napa may have the cachet... but Paso has the bright shining future. For us the future is now. It is here. It has been so acclaimed by Wine Spectator, not to mention Wine Enthusiast, who was ahead of the curve of WS. If planning a wine tasting/ buying trip, you should come here. Anybody that does is not disappointed.

Harvest 2010: Year of the Big, Cold, Dark, Wet

No, I didn't leave a word off the end of the title. It describes this year to a tee. To say it was a tough yr to ripen fruit, is a monumental understatement. As of this writing, Nov. 12, there is still some westside Paso fruit being picked. In many areas it has weathered the storm, literally, or truly, TWO storms...the first was a 60 hour rain, or more properly a London drizzle that left 3 inches of rain. Then the fog descended, the heat evaporated, and within ten days, another good soaking rain. Yes, it warmed up a bit, but here in the mountains on Paso's westside, our cold valley lows were in the high 30's every day this summer, except for a brief five day spell of 110- 112 degree wilters. Those days the valley vineyard hovered in the mid 40's at nite. So, looking at the title, let's review the year's highpoints.

2006 thru 2009, we had increasingly drier years, going from 20 inches in 2006 to barely 10 inches in 2009. 2010 was a huge year for rains, and altho some folks hinted we might be having an el Nino year, nobody ever stated so for certain. Well, they should have and we did...have an el Nino. It rained, it was cold, and it was a bitter winter. It paid off this yr to have had 110 bales of hay hand strewn on our exceedingly steep hillsides in blocs 2 and 5...both Cab Sauv blocs. Rain cascaded down our steep slopes and headed toward the Salinas River...happily, it did not carry much, if any Cerro Prieto topsoil. The downside of this is that we had put out hay every yr before, and it was wasted in the dry yrs of 2006 thru 2009. Put another way, we planned for a big wet yr, and got a drought. No big deal, except it costs $1000 for the hay, and another $2500 to put it out by hand on colossally steep slopes. 2010 hay paid us all back, I suppose. Had we not had the soil retention measures in place we would have easily lost hundreds of feet of vineyard rows...all washed down river(actually northwards into Monterey Bay). So we done good...at least that's what my old time farming friends from yr's back would have said.

Okay, so it rained. Then came the cold...surprising, too, in that on Jan 3- 15, we had high 80 degree weather off our back deck, overlooking the vineyard. But that was ephmeral. Winter returned with a vengenance, and with dark forbidding days, lite rains followed by blowing, billowing fog, this place looked like downtown London, many days with less than 100 feet of visibility. Fog attended much of that cold, and it stayed and then stayed some more. First day of spring came, and our vines were still mostly asleep. It was cold, dark, wet and miserable. Bud break got delayed 2-3 weeks, (depending on elevation in vineyard), and then we followed that up with a late bloom, closer to 3 weeks later than normal. By June, we had had maybe a couple nice days of spring, but that was tops. Most days were blowing fog, no sun, big blowing winds, and a coldness that soaked not only us, but also our vines to the core.

About that time I began thinking of no spring, a cold summer had started, and we were way behind maturation-wise, maybe as much as a month...or more. Whereas we are an extremely low yield vineyard, 2-2.5 tons/ acre, it is that way intentionally, from severe pruning at the get-go. But the absence of any summer bothered me enough, that we went out and took off another half ton of clusters/ acre. And then, miraculously, summer appeared in mid June, beautiful 100 degree days that made us all come alive...vines, too. And suddenly I wondered if I had pulled the trigger on that fruit drop just a mite early. Which was followed 6 days later by an eternal winter...which this time really stayed. Sure we got some sunshine, but it was cold, virtually all June, save that one 5 day spell. Remainder of summer I don't recall, because it was fall, and we were still waiting for summer.

To summarize, cold wet winter, cold wet spring, no summer except for a handful of days, and then fall. Finally we got 3 weeks of lovely sun and warmth, but by now we were some 32+ days behind on the heat/light calendar. All of a sudden, I began thinking, "did I drop enough fruit to ripen in these arctic-like conditions?" Well, fall provided enough heat and light to get an ultra low yield vineyard like us over the hump, but it was certain to be Bordeaux like harvest...ie, in the 22 to 24 Brix range for grape sugars---this in an area famous for its high sugar grapes/high alcohol wines. This year was going thru the motions just as if we actually were in Bordeaux. When we finally harvested, our fruit developed flavors of blueberry, plum, raspberry, some strawberry, and dark cherry. Not surprisingly, the wines once thru primary fermentation, had all the characteristics that we had tasted in the field.

In summary, the yr of the big, dark, cold, wet, was a tough one to grow and ripen grapes...especially if you harvested on flavor. But harvest on flavor we did, and for us, this may very well be a signature yr...in a yr when all growers up and down the coast struggled to ripen most varietals. Low yield. Low yield. Sure we got terroir galore, but in the end, it was our ultra low yields that allowed us to have such a remarkably high quality crop. Whether others did the same as we did, remains to be seen. But talking with growers up and down the California coast, it is apparent that many (maybe even most) growers got caught with more grapes on the vine than they could ripen. I got caught like that in 2005, another wet, cold, dank, year...and I was hanging only 3.5 tons/ acre. Problem was, in weather like Bordeaux, you have to plan for a Bordeaux harvest. And the only way to do that is to cut your crop load to the bone. I am afraid I have many friends here and both north and south of us who did not do that, and paid a severe price quality-wise for it.

If I had to guess on the majority of California grapes and wines this year, I would guess they will be substandard. Low yields saved our bacon. Again. I hope I am wrong in this, but I am afraid California wines are going to struggle in 2010. Except for Syrah, that is. For our Syrah, it was a golden year, and many others noted the same. But for Bordeaux varietals, unh unh. A vintner never knows that what goes in isn't necessarily what is coming out. But my fear is most vintners are fearful of a very subpar yr, quality wise. If you find that to be the case at your favorite wineries some two and a half yrs down the road, stop by Cerro Prieto. We will have some dandy wines for you to try. Good news is, they match up with our '06s, '07's, '08s, and our '09s.

Location, location, location. Terroir, terroir, terroir. But unquestionably, biggest factor this yr for us was guessing right in June, dropping fruit early on, and planning for a Bordeaux harvest...which we all got. For us...low yield guys...it was perfect.

Paso's Westside harvest at Cerro Prieto ...almost done

Two weeks ago it was the Savor event, the million dollar plus event sponsored by Sunset magazine. This week that is only a faded memory. What lingers are the mouth watering taste of our Pinot Noir and Sauv Blanc two weeks ago, and our Cab, Merlot and Syrah which came off this week. Tuesday, our first pick of Bordeaux/ Rhone grapes, was a corker. At 5:30 a.m. we had 23 guys (and ladies) here to pick a probable 16 tons of Cab. By 6:15 a.m. we were down to 16 pickers, and by 6:30 we were down to 9. Only later did I find out that two 7 man crews had been asked to help harvest by another labor contractor, and there either was a dispute over some back pay...not paid...or there was disagreement over whether they picked by the ton or by the hour. In any event, we had gone from being well to over-prepared, to being a lot of pickers short.

In a panic I called on our housekeeper, Alicia, who dropped what she was doing and immediately came over with her son, mother, and sister in law, all of whom Alicia had told to drop everything and come help us. With one friend like that, a person is truly blessed. Ten minutes after the call, Alicia et al arrived, and a bit later two other friends showed up. With the foreman and me we had 16 pickers, which turned out just great...11 hours later. While picking I treated one lady for heat stroke...picked a shady spot, monitored her vital signs, and poured the Gatorade until she could drink no more. Undeterred, she was up 30 minutes later, picking away. Several other mishaps included our bothering the hornets while cutting off clusters, with three folks getting stung, which some hi- potency cortisone cream, ice, rest, and shade took care of. Wildhorse, the winery we were picking for, was incredibly kind and allowed us to bring grapes in 2 hours later than we had expected.

The next day while checking to see how our Cab was doing( Brix, pH, TA), they gave me some 2008 Wildhorse Unbridled Cabernet Sauvignon...Cerro Prieto Vineyard designated. They had discussed doing a vineyard designation, but until Tuesday, I didn't know for sure. It is phenomenal, and if you get a chance to buy a bottle at the winery in Templeton, do so. You won't regret it. Our lab numbers came out fine, and for one day everything went well. Picking days are big days for vineyards, as well as wineries, and the delicate dance of organizing when which grapes come in for processing is ticklish indeed.

Following day we picked for Justin's Isosceles program, and that was essentially a smooth harvest. Next came our Syrah, and yesterday 6 people picked 2 acres of grapes in a baking oven and only one row at a time. Why? Because the Syrah was planted into a steep limestone mountainside with terraced rows 10-15 feet apart, due to the odd contour of the virtually vertical mountain. Normally pickers pick 2 rows on each side of the tractor pulling the grape bins. To have done so here would have meant handing up 40 lb bins 10 feet or more, or lowering down 10 feet. Either way was unmanageable, so all pickers lined up behind the tractor. As for the baking heat, the mountain is entirely composed of limestone, and the sun's reflection off mountainsides above and below, gives a baking effect when the temperature was 101 degrees to begin with. Two acres was truly as much as anyone wanted to pick.

And the Syrah? Magnificent. Truly magnificent. Purple black tapered clusters had been ripe since Oct 1st, but we had been waiting for the flavors to come in, which they did...in spades. This will be our finest Syrah ever, and we have produced some spectacular Syrah before. This one takes the cake, with prominent plum, but also tones of blueberry, blackberry, and for the first time ever, strawberry. While waiting and tasting the past two weeks, the strawberry flavor had never been present, but it sure was on Thursday. To say we picked on exactly the right day would be an understatement. It was perfect. Perfect terroir, loving care and attention, and the perfect day for flavors. This will be a memorable year for Cerro Prieto's grapes, and same for our wines.

Yes, we had the cold summer, preceded by the wet winter, but because of our exacting pruning, our low yields, 2.5T/acre, resulted in some absolutely fantabulous fruit. It is now in ferment tanks doing... well... fermenting. The winery aromas are exactly what we had noted while picking and tasting fruit...all the flavors noted above, plus a tad of blackberry. RULE: if you can taste the flavor in the fruit you will taste it in the wine...spectacularly so. Contrary is also true if you are pruned to high yields, ie, high yields dilute out many flavors and bouquet and taste are vastly decreased. This is why our vineyard continues to crank out world class fruit for world class wines. Still have 3 acres to go, 1 of Merlot and 2 of Cab. Cold, billowing fog just moved in and I wonder if the folks buying those wines may have missed...or are about to miss the flavor picking window. I would have taken those grapes on Thursday, but each winery we sell to calls their own harvest dates, based on lab values and especially flavor. Time will tell who was correct.

For our wines, harvest is now over, and everything is either in barrel, bin, or tank. The Pinot will be outstanding, the Sauv Blanc is exactly the way I wanted it, and the Syrah will be world class. That for me is one heckuva harvest, especially when 3 weeks ago, everyone was wondering if fruit would even get ripe...let alone acquire flavors. So altho we can put a cap on our wines, 3 acres of our grapes still need to be picked. For the two wineries involved, I sure hope they guessed right and will get some more flavors with more time hanging. Problem is fog off back deck is impenetrable. And cold is in the forecast. For Cerro Prieto Vineyard and Cellars, harvest is over. Our 2010 vintages will all be spectacular, and I am already tasting fermenting bins, with flavors that are truly indescribable. You should have been here.

This was the Paso Robles Westside red grape harvest at its very best. These wines will stand right up there with our other International gold medal and 92 point wines. It was a good harvest. It was a crazy season. But it was another fantastic year for Cerro Prieto wines. Stop by our tasting room in downtown Paso Robles, across from the park, at the Meritage Tasting Room...and give them a try.