Cerro Prieto Harvest....WOW!.

What can you say when the early harvest Pinot Noir and Sauv Blanc go like clockwork and the grapes were dead center perfect...as in sweet, perfectly ripened, and harvested on flavor. One of our buyers held back picking some of the Sauv Blanc, instead returning when the Brix (sugar content) was way over 30.  Asuncion Ridge B&B and winery, is making a desert wine out of half of his portion of our Sauv Blanc. Wanted to do it myself but he beat me to it. Pinot, meantime, had about twice as many clusters of fruit on each vine, half of which we dropped, leaving wonderful flavors of dark cherry, lite cherry, some spicey fruit from our Pomard 4/5 clones, and so on. A lot of wild sage, wild lavender, and a whole host of other flowering shrubs surrounding the pinot, left their impression in the grapes from adjacent vines. Pinot Noir, hot as it was for 6 days, is still going to be spectacular...maybe as good as our 2009 Pinot which won the SF Chronicle Gold medal this April.  Part of this, however, is that the Pinot is in our mountain valley vineyard, is 20 degrees cooler than the mountain varietals, Cab, Merlot and Syrah. So during the 117 degrees for six days, the mountain valley vineyard was 99 daytime, and then 60 at nite. Typically, thruout the 8 month growing season, the mountain valley vineyard drops into the 30s, even on days in the 110 degree range.

I am continually amazed at the  climate terroir we have, which matches our solid limestone plantings, making the soil terroir perfect also. That's right. All Cab, Syrah, and Merlot were planted into solid limestone, which means we  painstakingly dug out 2 gallons of rock and replaced it with 2 gallons of dirt. THEN we planted. Sure, there is some minimal amount of topsoil in our Merlot, but 2 inches max. Then limestone. Planting my favorite bloc, Cerro Teresa, was a mammoth job...it is a 45 degree incline in parts, steeper in others....and all solid rock. Like I said, it has world class terroir for both climate and soil, plus we have a southern exposure, the third and final part of terroir. Facing south is the easy part. The other two....well, Cerro Prieto has the two items that create world class terroir....incredibly great soil(solid limestone) and monstrous 70-80 degree temp swings, day/nite. Both soil and climate put huge stresses on our mountain vineyard Cab, Merlot and Syrah, creating the fascinating flavors and bouquets we get from all three.

Back to harvest, the Syrah came off next and was awesome to say the least. Yummy plummy raspberry, some dark cherry and blackberry...all those flavors in the fruit.  Naturally we harvested on flavor,  based on daily samplings of fruit. Additionally, the Syrah came off at a high Brix, 28.9, which will translate into a higher alcohol wine, with tons of flavors and aromas accompanying it. Once crushed, the sugar content went to 29.8  Brix, so we had to add some reverse osmosis water to dilute what we had. With a Brix of 29.8(pretty close to Port range), the alcohol level is so high that it will kill most yeasts(18 % alcohol and change). Hence you add water to bring the brix back down, and therefore the alcohol level drops back down  into the 17.8 to 17.4% range. Most yeasts work well in the 16% and below alcohol range, but D-254 (just one of many hundreds of yeasts out there) will ferment anything under 18%, altho that is not what the label says. I believe we have used D-254 on almost all our Cab/Syrah/Merlot fermentations.

 La Terraza, the terraced limestone Syrah bloc

As for the almost catastrophic heat spell, it seems the only thing it did to our Cab, Merlot, and Syrah, was to cause some canes to get to only 12-18 inches in height, which usually isn't enough to ripen a cluster. 12" won't , 18" may. In any event, we dropped fruit on the short canes, leaving only fruit on canes of 30-36" or more. There are guidelines all over but for our vineyard, it requires 18" inches to ripen one cluster/cane , or 36" to ripen two clusters. Generally our vineyard, year in and year out, produces 1/3 of shoots with 2 clusters, and 2/3 of the shoots with 1 cluster. If we do any dropping of fruit, it almost always comes from the 2 cluster/shoot.  Just for clarification, each spur is pruned to two shoots/cain and each spur  is approximately 5-6" from the next spur. Usually in the big reds, this gives us approximately 2.5 tons/acre. If pruned to higher density, then the yield/acre goes up. We shoot for 2-2.5 tons/acre. This yr our Merlot was pruned to 1.7 tons/acre, and the harvested fruit was alive with cherry, strawberry, touch of blackberry and a bit of cassis(currents....usually when some fruit starts to desiccate). The yield was down due to the hard hit during the late June hot spell.

That is about it for now, but a quick reminder. We plan to ship our wine club shipment on Nov 4th, so if you have a credit card that has changed or expired(as mine just did), please contact me by phone with your new cc #. My phone is 805 226 8448, and call anytime. If not home leave a brief message and I will return your call. Fantastic harvest folks and the 3 wines you are getting are a really massive blackberry Cab, plus the two best wines I have made to date(and that is saying something), 2010 Syrah El Bordo(with 7% 2009 Cab in it) and 2010 Syrah Reserve( La Terraza bloc). Both came from our half amphitheatre of solid rock, terraced into a stair-step fashion by a narrow gauge Kamatsu tractor with a 10 foot blade. It is an amazing sight and I hope you all get to see it during your next trip to Paso.

Oh, yes. By request, every yr we do a special valu pak for wine club members, and this yr  with the three wines noted above, you can order a 2nd or 3rd pak for half price each. The regular shipment will be $120, and each valu pak will be $60. If you have liked our wines in the past, these will not disappoint. $60 for a valu pak puts each bottle at $20, which is just a dollar more than our cost of production. Please, no more than 2 valu paks/family, even tho I get bombarded for more requests. That is our max. Incidentally, shipping 3 bottles to LA area(for example) costs $17. Shipping 3 more bottles is just $3 more. And shipping 6 bottles is just another $3 more. So the valu pak lives up to its name.

Time to go finish harvest.

Cerro Prieto Summer 2013...The Heater

Good Lord almighty, it is hot. "Hot, damn hot", as Roosvelt T. Roosvelt said in response to Robin Williams question of "How the weather was up in DaNang?" in Good Morning, Vietnam. Well, that pretty well sums it up here, too, in that the week of June 25 thru July 1 almost wiped us out. The 24th started out warm, a tolerable 106. Next day was 112, followed by nites no cooler than 60 and 5 days of 116. You all already know we basically dry farm our vineyard, except for when we fertigate thru the lines in spring. We run 2 hours of water first, then inject N, P, K or rarely one of the minor elements....as needed(according to petiole analysis...a stem of the leaf we use just for this task). Then we run another 3 hours of water per vine to wash out the lines and dilute the Nitrogen, Phosphorous, or Potassium. That's it. No more water after, unless...well, 116 degrees qualifies. We ended up watering every vine with 5-8 gallons of water every other day until the temps dropped into tolerable range.

In baseball, the "heater" is usually the high hard one, travelling somewhere between 95-100 mph. It is known by hitters as something to be dreaded. Well, we had the "heater" here, and we dreaded it, but it was no fastball. It was sheer misery. The third day of the "heater", I was out changing valves in our top Cab bloc, Cerro Teresa. In no more than 5 minutes I was done; I figured I was just getting old. My early days, I was an unrepentant desert rat , camping, hiking, hunting and fishing thruout Baja's 1000 mile desert. I have hunted doves along the Rio Colorado, sitting in the water and shooting birds while in the river. Temperatures were 120 degrees, according to our truck thermometers. It was hot but I could stand it...and being in  the river sure helped. But this heat last week....it just melted me. Anyway, to finish the story, I came back to the house in the ATV, drank a Gatorade and then took another with me just for good luck. As an afterthought, I threw the L.L. Bean thermometer in the back of the ATV...just for grins. When I got back to the valve, I finished cleaning it, turned it on and barely was able to get out of the vineyard. I was whipped. A quick look at the thermometer stunned me...129 degrees. Right where the valve in that bloc 5 Cabernet is, happens to be the apex of Cerro Teresa. There is no topsoil there, only hard, bright white limestone. It turns out the top of the bloc cooks up much like a cement road and in addition to the heat, radiates up another dose of "the heater" at 12 degrees more than the temps off the mountain top...a mere 117.

 Great weather for blue Agave

It was a lesson well learned, but one I had never thought about before. I inherently knew that bloc 5, as well as all our other mountain blocs are solid limestone. But I never realized that in the "BIG HEAT", it acted much as cement does, and just radiates more heat upwards. I had been half in panic mode anyway, looking at that 117 degrees. But until that day, I had no idea that inside the vineyard in melting heat, that the temperature was indeed, another 12 degrees higher. The good news is we (the vines and I) survived it. But I don't know if a 7th day of over 116 would have torched our vineyard or not. I did reflect on those poor guys who truly dry farm. They have no drip lines to their vines, instead carrying water by cart to the vines in the first two yrs. After that they truly do dry farm. I wouldn't want to know what heat like this did to those true dry farmed vineyards, that had no auxiliary water available.  Someone asked me if our grapes were okay and I laughed. "Grapes? Hell, I wasn't worried about our grapes, I was worried about losing our vines." Back 4 years ago, we had a day in May that touched 119. It was a one day affair preceded by half a dozen days in the 110-112 range. We again had watered before the heat hit and managed to do well. Three weeks later, I happened to be doing gopher control in bloc 5 and came upon a mature Cab vine, 4" in diameter, that had burst apart...much like if you heated up a balloon, and it just popped. The pictures are unbelievable. I guess this time we got enough water on prior to the worst heat so that the vine temps didn't exceed the point where they literally burst apart. A final note and that is that the nites during this period only got down to 60 degrees, so there literally was little cooling off at nite. You will recall that one of the mind-blowing things about our vineyard is the day/nite temperature differential, usually 70 to 80 degrees. Typically when it is 105 in the daytime, it gets down to 35 at nite...and sometimes lower. That cooling makes for terrific stresses on our grapes, one of the reasons they are so jam packed with flavor. But unquestionably, that didn't happen this past week.

 Vine split apart at 117 degrees

Vineyard notes all bring good news. The fruit set was spectacular, with only a bit of shatter in the Merlot( that means some clusters have spaces where the fruit didn't set due to high winds, rain, or some other etiology). We will still have our marvelous Merlot, just not quite as much. All other varietals did splendidly thru bloom and set. If we have a problem it is too much fruit, which has to be thinned down to 2.5 tons/acre or about 5 lbs/vine, and that job is currently underway...and that is a really good problem to have, especially after 3 previous yrs of 40% decrease in grape tonnage production. Remember, we WANT to keep our yields low....roughly 1.5 to 2.5 tons/acre. The last 4 yrs we have been working with 3/4 ton/acre to 1.5 tons/acre. Not enough to make a vineyard worthwhile running. Anyway, this year is a different story and all grape farmers, vintners and anyone else connected with the wine industry....well, it makes us all happy. Much more important than quantity, however, is the quality...and that is absolutely superb. Again, I don't want to get ahead of myself and jinx us with a 120 knot wind whipping thru the vineyard. But so far, all things point to an outstanding harvest, probably as good or maybe even better than 2006...an all time supreme year.

 Caza taking advantage of one of our guests

Outside the vineyard the poison oak has not only turned red, it has lost 95% of its leaves....something that normally happens in the fall. Here, though, the poison oak has turned AND lost its leaves. Some say that portends an early harvest but my money is on this dad-burned heat. Unfortunately, we have added some "unwanteds " to the vineyard periphery, ground squirrels. We have a bad enough time with the gophers which eat up lots of time in trapping. Now we have ground squirrels that make massive burrows under the vines and it necessitates more time taken out to trap or kill them. I had some snares out, all around the squirrels' main entry hole but... ended up snaring a skunk. The story is a disaster, my snare is lost forever, and one of my buddies took a picture of me dragging the dead skunk on a 20 foot rope behind my pickup thru the vineyard, up and over vineyard roads, and depositing the carcass in the burn pile in the valley below our home.  I thought about trying to salvage the snare, but the road I dragged skunk and snare across smelled like  skunk forever. I kinda gave up on the snare after that. But there was a silver lining in all this fiasco, when our friends, the turkey vultures sat down below and had a fine meal of dragged skunk with dust and dirt mixed in. Our two home birds(born 10 yrs ago just below our home on the forest's edge) were joined for dinner by no less than 15-20 other vultures. Man, you talk about halitosis....that must have one been rough meal to get down.

There are more pleasant things, however, and they have to do with wine. Just a synopsis of what our wines have garnered over the past several years. We really have released just 9 wines, of which 8 have been rated. Altho you can find this list under the header "Boutique wines", here is a quick summary to date:

2006 Merlot   San Diego Intl Gold medal (3300 entries); Critics Challenge Intl Gold medal

2006 Paso Bordo(85% Cab/15% Syrah)    92 pts Wine Enthusiast

2007 Merlot  91 pts Wine Enthusiast/ Chef Magazine "One of California's 10 marvelous  Merlots"/ 805 Living Magazine "One of California's 12 best wines under $50"

2007 Paso Bordo    LA Intl Gold Medal / 91 pts

2008 Merlot  Intl Bronze Medal NY Intl and SF Intl (5300 & 4500 entries)

2008 Paso Bordo  Intl Silver Medal   SF and San Diego Intl(4500 & 3300 entries)

2009 Syrah (85% Syrah/ 15% Cab)   90 pts Wine Enthusiast   " As rich and hedonistic as anything in California. Like drinking an elixir of milk chocolate & blackberry jam, sprinkled with cinnamon & black pepper and infused with vanilla bean" .  Wow, now there is a review to frame on the wall. I liked it, actually loved it, but would never have been able to come up with a review like that.

2009 Pinot Noir   SF Chronicle  Gold Medal  (Largest American wine competition in the world, and that is saying something).

 Don't know if this list of wines qualifies as  outstanding or superb or not, but my gut tells me it probably would. Now when we get reviewed (and it is favorable, of course), the wine flies off the shelf. We are now out of ,our have just a few bottles of both '06s, both 07s, both '08s, and both 09s. Our two 2010 Syrahs just officially released are superb (ok, awesome and huge), dark monster body, rich deep plum, blackberry, cherry, and a touch of strawberry. Our 2009 Cabernet (Paso Bordo) is big blackberry, hint of cherry, and touch of plum, with dusky oak. The few cases of our 2010 Sauv Blanc that remain are pear and green apple on the nose, pear, green apple and hint of citrus on the palate, and an extra late finish of white peach or apricot.

For our wine club members, probably the two 2010 Syrahs and the 2009 Paso Bordo will be sent this fall. Those who purchased the 2010 inexpensively 6 months ago got a great deal and folks, it is ready to drink. One caveat: as good and rich as this 2010 Syrah is, it is getting better by the week. I have been drinking it for awhile now, and it is ready. But trust me when I say it is getting better weekly. In barrel these were the best two wines I have made, and I will not be surprised to see these two Syrahs end up twice, maybe 3X as good as they are now, 6-12 months out. We are serving the '10 El Bordo Syrah tonite with ribeye. Yum.



 

Cerro Prieto....and the Eternal Spring

No question, spring is here...matter of fact it has been here since Jan. 7th, over 3 months ago. Early in
January we fired up the barbecue as it was a lovely spring day, 86 degrees off the back deck and just spectacular weather. We grilled some mallards and elk sausage and it sure seemed like an early summer. Typically, Dec 15 to Feb 15 are the cold, hard, days of our winter. Basically we have had little rain (6.5 inches, the least since I moved here over 36 years ago), a mild winter, and wah-la....a springtime that began that day in January, and has persisted ever since. A few notes, however: whereas the afternoons were balmy, the hi-lo thermometer read 18 degrees on Jan 7th at 4:30 a.m., the coldest part of any day. Even in mid-winter we are capable of 70 degree temperature swings. Additionally, we did have 2 frigid misty days, followed by an ice cold inch of rain, and we had one cold snap that lasted 5 days. Other than that, however, it has, indeed, been the eternal spring.

As usual, we were the last vineyard to prune, as we are always susceptible to late spring rains, with rare freezes, and the farther back we push our pruning, the later we go into bloom...that time when a rain or freeze would interfere with pollination, and a good time to get through without bloom damage. When we finally did prune our mountain valley vineyard (our '09 SF Chronicle Gold medal Pinot Noir, and our still-out-for-rating Sauvignon Blanc), we left what are known as "kicker canes" on both cold weather varietals. This cane is not pruned and left for what we call "apical growth", ie, growth at the most distant portion of the cordon. By not pruning this cane, growth along the remainder of the cordon will be retarded which in effect, pushes back bud break and leafing out. The idea is to delay bud break and leafing out until as late as possible, thus avoiding a late spring rain or freeze on  the bloom.

 

 

Note that there are two cordons from two adjacent vines, each with a kicker cane left long. Also you can see that the distal tip of each cane has leafed out, and that all other spurs in the picture show no sign of leafing out. In other words, altho it looks bizarre, we have effectively prevented the remaining spurs from leafing out. This will, with good fortune, result in a delay in bud break, leafing out , and ultimately bloom...for as long as 3 and sometimes 4 weeks. The delay will help in avoiding the unwanted rain or freeze during bloom.

Besides the early BBQ, we have noted phyical and beautiful signs of spring for the last 3 months, spread out like never before, but fascinating to see over such a lengthy period. First up is usally the Lupine Bush( 12' X 15' X  10'), with its purple blue hues, so striking to the eyes.

 

 

 

Also note the California poppies and calendulas scattered thruout the hillside, just below Cerro Teresa, one of our 3 Cab blocs, and one of my very favorites. In short order the darker purple vetch will come out which grows like a wild weed, and literally covers the entire hillside in dark purple. This bush is a survivor of an accidental spraying with Round Up, when I had told the spraying technician, "NOT to spray that bush". It must be hardy, because Round Up sure killed all the surrounding weeds.

Next up for bloom is the Easter Broom, or Scotch Broom, to some flower taxonimists. It is a hurt your eyes yellow, and generally flowers during...yes, Easter. This year Easter came and went, and 2 weeks later the Scotch Broom came out in profusion. Coincidental with Scotch or Easter Broom are the hillsides of wild sweet peas. Note that both these flowers are not in the vineyard but nearby as reminders as to where we are in first bud break, and later, leafing out.

Finally, the aroma of lupine fields tells us that spring is nearing an end. Adjacent to the vineyard a neighbor's grazing field is alive with the dainty light blue lupine, with a darker blue one here, and a purple lupine there. Occasionally a field may be solid white with lupine, but this year it is a delicate light blue. Surrounding large clumps of sage, chamiso, and coyote bushes, the lupine fields are stunning to all who see them. Sometimes we get to enjoy both the aroma and the visual sights of lupine for 3-4 weeks, at the end of which generally spring is coming to a close. This year with 3 full months of spring, every vibrant colorful plant has extended its floral profusion, so I have no idea what happens next...or when. Sufficith it to say that this is the longest spring in memory and surely it will have some effect on the vines, but heaven only knows what. Right now it is delightful to grill on the back deck, take in the flowers and the amazing aromas, and enjoy life. Whatever happens... well, it happens.

It would be safe to say that now we are in the largest drought since I first moved to Paso Robles in 1977. The winter has been short and mild...generally good conditions for Cerro Prieto vines and wines. Would I bet that we will have a kick*** year? No. Once conditions change from the norm, one must wait it out and see what happens. Overall we should be in terrific shape for a fantastic quality year. Late freezes, hail storms, so unusual here, have occurred thrice in the last 3 years. Those years were the cold, dark and wet of 2010, the colder, darker, wetter of 2011, and the milder 26" rainfall year of 2012...a high quality year. As a general rule, cold, dark, and wet years does not bode well for premium winegrapes such as Cabernet and Merlot. Matter of fact, we made no Cab nor Merlot in 2010 and 2011. The Syrah of 2010, however, despite inclement weather, is a wine for the ages. Bottled in Dec 2012, it is the best single wine I have made to date.

We have a straight up 2010 Syrah Reserve( la Terraza), and a 2010 Syrah Reserve (El Bordo with 7% '09 Cabernet in it). Both were sensational in barrel, and both are finally coming out of bottle shock. Those wine clubmembers who purchased the Syrah Valu-pak this spring have about 2 more months to wait for both Syrahs. My guess was 4-6 mos. post bottling, and it looks like it will be 7 mos. instead. So for those interested, June(possibly July) will be when the two Syrahs are drinkable. If sooner I will let everyone know. It may be hard to beat our 90 pt( Wine Enthusiast) 2009 Syrah Reserve, but honestly I believe they both will. Time, that is the key operative word now for both 2010 Syrahs.

That is it from here, with a note that our '09 Syrah has only several bottles remaining, probably none after this weekend. I keep back 2 cases for vertical tastings, but I sure hate to see that incredible wine gone. The SF Chronicle Gold Medal '09 Pinot Noir has likewise disappeared fast, with less than 8 cases remaining. Funny thing happened last  weekend, when I poured the Pinot and once finished with tasting,  I found I  had poured the 2010 Pinot, not the 2009. The difference between them is no more than a gnat's eyelash. I swear I have difficulty telling them apart, but then 2010 was the yr of the colder, darker, wet...tailor made for an outstanding Pinot...and the 2010 is. (Except accidentally last week, it has not been released yet, but will be soon.).

Hopefully everyone got their wine club shipments, but it was a struggle. We shipped on March 11th, and some members didn't finally receive their wine club shipments until April 9th. Admittedly that was abysmal, and we are currently doing a post-mortem as to what the heck happened. If you were one of those that got your shipments way too late, my sincere apologies. On the bright side, the wines were stellar and it is great that everyone got to try the Mountain Valley Vineyard's 2009 Pinot Noir.

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cerro Prieto and 85 degrees in mid January: Redux of 2009?

Well, well, well. Here we are again, with the crystal ball and are once again wondering, "Just what the heck does it mean when the dress code off our back deck is shorts, no shoes, no shirts, and it is Jan 15th? Dec 15th to Feb 15th are traditionally our coldest times, so an interlude in mid January of 85 degrees, harkens back to the "winter" in Jan, 2009, when it also was 85 degrees on the back veranda. It was a perfect day for sunbathing, catching up on reading, and truly, just reminiscing about winters gone by...except it was Jan 15, 2009...and now that history of 2 weeks of warmth has repeated itself in Jan, 2013. The 4 years of 2006-2009 were fantabulous years for premium red wine grapes. Mild winters, 8-12" of rain, beautiful springs and summers, unmolested by late hail and icy rain storms,( particularly during bloom), contributed to 4 of the very best quality harvests the Paso AVA has ever had...and they were sequential....boom, boom, boom, boom.

 Pinot, bloc 4a, Cerro Teresa (bloc 5)

 

 

It is certainly no secret that of the Big Reds, 2010 hammered Cab and Merlot. On our mountains, where Syrah is planted at the highest elevation, Syrah budded out first, went into bloom first, and 10 days later Cab and Merlot did the same thing. That 10 day lag time, however, resulted in the Cab and Merlot blooms getting hammered by hail and icy rains. Same thing happened again in 2011, except, the Syrah bloom got hit also with a protracted hail/ice rain during the entire "Big Red" bloom. 2010 was known as the year of the big, cold, dark, wet. 2011 was known as year of the bigger, colder, darker, wet.

Syrah bloc

As I have mentioned before, we made no Cab nor Merlot in either year. We squeezed by with our 2010 Syrah( now our best wine ever, hands down), but lost out on Cab and Merlot. Both those years had dreary, lengthy, and hard rains, snows, frosts and hailstorms, unfortunately coming during bloom. Those 2 yrs had no 2 week warming break in mid January, but our fantastic harvest of 2009 did. I would love to predict based on a 2 week warm spell in mid January, that the 2013 harvest is going to be spectacular. One thing for sure. We just put up the driest January ever here in Paso. The spectacular harvests of '09 had a mid winter similar to this Jan, 2013. It is a hint, but no where near enough to make any kind of prediction for the coming yr. But '06-'09 were dry, and so far, 2013 has been exceptionally dry. Unfortunately, 2005 was seemingly mild, but we got 20" rain, in 4 storms...each one dropping 5" of rain in less than 24 hrs. In the mountains, that means major floods thru the valleys and lots of erosion if preventitive measures weren't taken.

 View thru bloc 4b and 5, both Cabs

 

 

So right now I am just observing, but so far, the indicators are for a mild winter. Our, and that of other grape farmers up and down California, fingers are crossed for no hail nor rainstorms on our bloom this spring. That is what has devastated the Big Reds in 2010, 2011, and 2012...hail or rain on bloom. Essentially the milder the winter, and the sooner it moves on, the better shot we all have of having no damage from hail or rain on our bloom. Somehow, I just feel it in my bones that this yr is headed for the "mild" category. 2012 was a puzzler, being relatively mild, but managing to rain/hail on our big reds, as well as Pinots during bloom. We had an ultra premium harvest, but the damage to bloom cut yields by half or more. I guess I just think the wine goddess owes us one, and 2012 was a teaser, with ideal growing conditions, but diastrous hail/rains during bloom. Maybe, just maybe, we are in for a world beater yr. We got spoiled by the fantastic yrs of 2006-2009. 2010-2012 made up for that, so hopefully, the bloom will be spared this yr. The warm mid January was a good omen...at the very least.

 Clouds befor the storm, Cerro Teresa bloc

 

 

We just got back the free SO2 levels on our 2010 Syrah and tiny bit of remnant 2009 Cab. Levels are continuing to drop, and once the sulfite taste is gone, we will release our 2010 Syrahs. Yup, no typo, we have two: the straight up Syrah(la terrazza bloc), and the Syrah Bordo(93% Syrah/ 7%  '09 Cab).  Both are unquestionably my two favorite wines made to date, and I cannot wait for them to settle down and be ready for mid June. Both Syrahs were made in 60% New French oak barrels, virtually double the 33% we normally use. The Syrah is so big that it just ate up New French barrels until we got to the 60% number. Fascinating, and altho one can finally discern the oak, at lesser percentages, the wine allowed for no oak flavor. Our "number" ended up 60% Seguin Moreau barrels, and I can tell you that in barrel, both Syrahs are the two best wines I have ever made. Good timing, in that our 2009 Syrah, just rated 90 pts by Wine Enthusiast ( "This is as rich and hedonistic as anything in California. It's like drinking an elixir of milk chocolate and blackberry jam, sprinkled with cinnamon and black pepper, and infused with vanilla bean".....Steve Heimoff, wine scribe for W.E., Feb issue), became an overnite  national sensation, and we darn near got drained of our Syrah. We still have 7 cases left, but are limiting purchase to 2 btls/person.

Sorry to have spent so much time on climatic conditions, but that is, in fact, what we get our great (or lousy) harvests from. So far, so good. Now let's just blow thru bloom with no damage...and keep conditions mild, until bloom is over. There is something every wine lover can hope for...in addition to the winemakers.

Cerro Prieto 2012 Harvest: One word: Spectacular

First, a Prospero Ano Nuevo to all our wine club members and many followers. Gosh it seemed like I just finished a blog, but that was mid- September. Harvest 2012 was superb, virtually everywhere, and we were no exception. As for the Spanish Happy New Year to all, I much prefer the Prospero Ano Nuevo, meaning more prosperity for the new year. I wish all good health, good friends and family and of course, great wines.. and it appears we have some more for you. When you are continually sending new wines out for rating or for Intl contests, one loses track of what is where and when. Well, that is what happened this past week. We had a double barrelled good luck week. First, Wine Enthusiast let us know our '09 Syrah that virtually all wine club members like, got rated 90 pts, and also will be featured in the buying guide of the Feb issue of Wine Enthusiast. That was terrific news. Then, yesterday we found out our 2009 Pinot Noir had just taken the Gold Medal for Pinot in the SF Chronicle Wine competion, the largest American wine competition in the world. Talk about having an exciting 5 days...wow!

                                                                                                                                                        
And then there was the bad with the good. On Christmas eve, our best friend these last 12 years, who helped plant the vineyard, then put in stakes and posts, put up wire, and trap gophers....Cazadora, our amazing vineyard dog, passed away. She was a favorite of everyone who has ever visited, and it was sheer misery having to put her down. She had a sarcoma removed from her back leg over a yr ago, and the damn thing spread to her heart muscle, internal organs and lungs. It was painful having this grown dog on my lap, and when they came in to put her to sleep, she put her muzzle under my arm...just like she always has done when afraid...and then went to sleep for one last time. I think we cried over Caza for a week, until we got a call from a hunting buddy, letting me know there might be  a couple pups up in Oroville, that possibly were from Caza's blood line. We skedaddled up there two days later, and sure enough, ended up with a new pup, Sombra...Shadow, in English. Anyway, she is now queen of the castle, and has filled the void left by our best friend. Caza, however, could never be forgotten... gosh, how we miss her.

Mid way thru the two coldest months of the winter, Dec 15 to Feb 15, all that comes to mind is mild. Our coldest days are usually over by Jan 15th, altho winter stays another month. We have had several gentle farmer's rains, of about 5", enough to get all the mountain rows of cover crops wet enough to coax the perennial pasture mix to grow out on the steep mountain rows. This will be adequate to keep what little topsoil we have in place should we get a couple gully washers. In 2005, we got exactly that, 20" of rain in four separate storms. The problem was each rain was 5", and each one dumped all its water on us in a little over  a couple hours. Everything washed out, we had to repair 5 short rows of Cab, due to loss of the ten foot wide row in 5 adjacent rows. It was the first time I truly understood the "whys" of cover crops. Everything has been fine since then, even 2010 and 2011, both years of the "big, cold, dark wet."  Both those years were forgettable in that we had two hailstorms on our bloom,which cut the crop by half. The 2010 Syrah, however, was another matter... truly something special. Since I knew 2010 was destined to be a disastrous year, I put away  a barrel of 2009 Cab for mixing with our 2010 Syrah should we want to. Well, we bottled those Dec 1st and 2nd and the straight up 2010 Syrah Reserve( la Terrazza bloc) was phenomenal. We also bottled a '10 Syrah Bordo(93% Syrah/ 7% Cab from 2009). That meant we had 13 cases of '09 Cab left so we bottled those straight up. I firmly believe these are the 3 best wines I have ever made. Yes, our '09 Syrah is fantastic, 90 pts in WE, but our 2010 Syrahs, are both just flat out phenomenal. And the tiny amount of '09 Cab is even better. So look for when I release those, probably in April- June. They will be worth the wait.

At this point in January, it is impossible to see what is still ahead. But the mildness of the weather is starting to get me excited about the coming yr. Let's first see the next month, and that will give us a good read on how the yr will turn out. Right now I am liking what I see. As for the 2012 harvest, anything you buy from a favorite winery ought to be excellent this yr, after two bad ones...actually, after 1 & 1/2 bad ones. Our yields last yr were cut in half, as was everyone else's by the brutal hail storms we had during bloom of last yr. Quality was up, up and out of sight....but yields were down, down, and then down some more. I would say we lost half our crop to the hailstorms during bloom. With lesser yields, you always get enhanced quality...except in our case where we are already pruned to 2.5 tons/ acre. Losing half of that is no bueno. Don't get me wrong. Quality is phenomenal...there just isn't much of it.

Above top: The regal Cazadora ready in early morning to chase gophers, and ride in the ATV

Bottom: First rays of dawn breaking over Cerro Teresa, one of our best Cab blocs

Cerro Prieto 2012 Harvest...the long wait

4 a.m. this morning at the thermometer by the vineyard well: 42 degrees...and this is in the Very Cold Valley Vineyard, located at the foot of the mountain where it gets...really cold...perfect for Pinot and Sauv Blanc, even tho the Paso AVA is known for its heat and high temperatures. Our adjacent Mountain Vineyard temps were 60 degrees, an 18 degree differential that remains constant thruout the growing season.

But a  not so subtle change has occurred this yr, in which is our daily 60-70 degree temperature split day/nite has disappeared...First time...ever. What we have had for the past 37 days and counting, has been temps in the 103-112 range, with a few 115s thrown in, which drop to 65-70 degrees at nite. On the days when it got to only 100, it was 60 that nite. To some that sounds amazing, but to us, we have come to expect that 5:30 p.m. fog that routinely blows in from the coast, via the Templeton Gap. We are currently getting only 40 degree temp swings, but when you normally have 60-70 degree swings, it has made for some hair curling times. Stressing grapes with 60-70 degree temp swings brings out the best in moutain grape flavors, and is notable in our wines. With daytime temps well over 100, a mere 40 degree temp swing does not cool off the pulp temperatures in grapes. At 10 p.m., core temps of grapes remains in the 90s. With the severe heat beginning in mid morning, the grapes once again heat up, never attaining the cooling we normally expect.

The heat here has actually been worse than in the Central Valley which produces primarily table grapes, and for those, the hotter the better. Valley heat never really "cools off" in the evenings. With premium redwine grapes, the issue of scorching, or "burning up" grapes has been a daily concern. For the last 6 years we have essentially dry farmed, except on days exceding 105, when we put 3 gallons of water on each vine. To not do so risks the health of the vine, not to mention "cooking off" the grapes. Since our 3 mountain vineyards are planted in solid limestone, when it is 105 degrees outside, in the middle of the vineyard it is 10 degrees hotter, due to reflected heat from the limestone. And when it is 112 outside...well you do the math on inside the vineyard. It is unbearably hot...hence the need for nightime cooling.

In any event, the long wait for harvest has been seemingly much longer than times past. Our Pinot went thru veraison 2 months ago, and has been looking ready to harvest since August. Grapes are tasty, dark purple, but still have not attained the flavors we normally achieve. There have been signs of ripening:
  
    Lignification---the canes going from green fiber to a beautiful dark red-brown mahogany wood

 

 

 

 

 

    Leaf changes---with leaves turning from green to yellow and red-orange in basilar leaves

    Seed changes---seeds go from green to dark mahogany brown; these need more time

    Sauv Blanc---green grapes change to subtle greenish-brown; birds got the brown ones

Flavor, the ultimate goal before harvest, does not appear until the above changes have been noted. Pinot is virtually there, and Sauv Blanc the same. That is great timing in that it should freeze tomorrow, the 16th of September.

5 a.m., and the magnificent Orion the Hunter constellation is so bright I can find my way back up the mountain without lights. Gemini, the twins, is just above Orion, is not as bright, but  equally spectacular on this moonless night. Checking a few temps in the la Teresa bloc of Cabernet, shows temps exactly 60 degrees, the normal 18 degree differential from the Cold Valley Vineyard. Done with early morning chores, it is so beautiful out that I linger for first light and then the spectacular early morning dawn breaking over la Teresa bloc.

Yes, it is scene worthy of a canvas, but I am content to just sit here and just absorb it as the entire eastern sky goes thru its retinue of magical wondrous colors. It gives me time to think about the agony nature puts us through, waiting on ripening, hoping that:

no early hard frost comes to the Cold Valley Vineyard

rains stay away until harvest is over

winter freezes don't materialize early in mountain vineyards

birds and other pests don't steal our crop

There are many other lesser worries, but I shan't bore you with those. What generally takes 2 months to happen, once grapes turn purple (veraison), seems like endless time to those wishing ripeness to come, and flavor to be even better than last year. Based on numbers, TA, pH, and Brix(sugar content), we could have harvested some time ago. But we harvest on flavor, and for that one waits...painfully...but one waits. Growing grapes is one thing. Harvesting premium redwine grapes on flavor is entirely different. For that a grower/vintner has to have tons of patience, above average tolerance for hoping no interceding disasters befall the crop, and needs to taste thousands of grapes daily to know when the grapes are finally perfect for harvest. Thousands of tons of grapes will be harvested by the time we harvest. That is the way with mountain vineyards. But the payoff in flavor and quality is well worth it. It is, however, the long wait.


Post script: Sept. 17, and the Very Cold Valley Vineyard was 32 degrees at 4 a.m. Mother Nature is right on track. Full of magnificent flavors, both Pinot and Sauv Blanc are ready for harvest.

Confirmation that 2012 will be huge quality year.

Okay, last time we looked at a few grape clusters,  made a few comments on a big year (quality, but not quantity unless  one should desire it...the two are mutually exclusive, however). Early on, I am going to slip in a couple pics that help me evaluate the harvest looming in 2 short months for Pinot and Whites, and 3 months for the Big Reds, Bordeauxs and Rhones.

So what do we see here? Basically, it is mid July when I took this and the poison oak is virtually 90% red, something we generally see when deciduous trees change color...say in late October, perhaps a touch earlier. Okay, let's look at one more just for grins.

This is just a few hundred yards from the top picture, and shows virtually all poison oak(Rhus) denuded of leaves. So what gives? Those many of you who have visited us are aware that altho we are only at 1250 feet elevation, we have a mountain climate, much like that seen in Vail, Colorado...ie hot as hades in daytime and you need coats at nite. Our daytime temp today was 105 degrees, and tonite it will be 39 degrees...maybe even 35. Point is we have humongous temp swings, which is typical of mountain climates in summer. Of interest is a point I have made before about the wildflower we have growing here, Pedicularis, found in the lily family, with brite fuschia stems (much like the SW Indian Paintbrushes), except those are orange and these are fuschia. Accordingly, looking up Pedicularis in the Mountain Wildflower book, it states that Pedicularis is seen only between 5000 ft to 7500 ft elevation. In essence, we have mountain climate but at only 1250 ft elevation.

Most of you who have visited here are aware of the whys. We are the southern tip of the hot Paso AVA, yet we are the North face of the Templeton Gap, the marine air layer that rolls in about 5:30 each nite, much like in Burlingame, up in the Bay area. It is the mountain ridge of Cerro Prieto that holds that cold air mass in the Templeton Gap. It also, however, subjects our Cab, Merlot and Syrah to massive day/nite temp shifts, the average being 60-70 degrees, day to nite.

So that explains our temp swings, but how does this relate to the Rhus toxicondron pictured above. Well, 2006 thru 2009 were hot dry yrs, basically drought, with rainfall of 12, 10, 9, and 8 inches, respectively. But 2006 was immediately preceded by a mammoth wet year, 2005, year of the big , cold, dark, wet. In 2006 thru 2009, we had a similar situation with poison oak, turning color 2 months early and losing leaves about the same time. Well, we are back to that scenario. 2010 was the year of the big , cold, dark, wet. Rainfall 52 inches at Cerro Prieto. Our Syrah (and most everyone else's who were pruned to low yields, 2.5 tons/acre or less)....did exceptionally well. We didn't even make Cab, or Merlot that yr, as it was just too damn cold. Fast forward to 2011, the year of the colder, darker , bigger wet. For most of that year, we had temps in the mid to low 60s, as our highs. Under 60 degrees, not a whole lot of photosynthesis goes on. Put it on your calendar, 2011 was a dog season for Cab, Merlot, and Syrah. Not to put too fine point on it, but we didn't even bother to make Cab, Merlot or Syrah in 2011.

Worse, yet, we lost half our vineyard to 2 hailstorms, during bloom, plus one 70 knot wind (also during bloom), and a 2"  rainstorm, again in the midst of bloom. Our grapes eventually ripened, but were completely without the flavor we are so well known for. Oddly, our crummy grapes sold at a premium to many of the wineries that had NO GRAPES, due to their loss of entire crops because of severe mildew. Only thing making it harder was the fact that during that time, availability of mildew sprays were either sold out or backlogged so far, it didn't matter. Enter our vineyard manager, who also just so happens to sell vineyard chemical. Needless to say, we were well protected for the half a crop we had left. They just weren't grapes I had any intention attempting to make wine from.

Well, here we are again, 2012, a 12" rain yr(qualifies as drought...normal = 24" here at Cerro Prieto), with an extremely mild winter, mild spring (if one can ignore a pair of hailstorms, one brief, one not so), and beautiful weather for going thru bloom unmolested. Only our Merlot got hailed on during bloom and I showed pictures of that last blog. Summer has been delightful, days in the 100s, and nites in the mid 30s. Perfect weather for mountain Cab, mountain Syrah, mountain Merlot. The days have lengthened, giving us massive heat and light for optimal grape growing conditions. We did get touched up a bit 2 weeks ago, with a 109 degrees(each vine got 3 gallons of water), 112 degrees next day(same water schedule) and 119 degrees (REALLY) the following day in the vineyard, which demanded antother 8 gals of water. Since then we have been hunky dory, grapes and vines growing like crazy. According to my reems of notes, 2012 is a carbon copy of 2006, which followed the year 2005,  a previous big , cold, dark, wet.

The roots of all vines were flushed out like crazy in both 2010 and 2011, removing any impurities or buildup of saline or whatever else might be lurking in our soil. So when 2012 rolled around, there had been 2 solid yrs of massive rainfall(52 and 54"), and way more cold and dark than we wanted. 2012 is going to be very close to 2006, a fantastic, premium yr for low yield high quality red winegrapes, grown in solid limestone soil, with 70 degree day/nite temp swings. In summary, we are sitting on an astonishingly fantastic harvest (quality I speak of), altho some will unfortunately use this for a massive quantity harvest...but those won't be the kind of wines people reading this blog will want to drink.

The incredibly early leaf drop in the poison oak surrounding our vineyard, the balmy days, the relative drought, the mild winter and spring, and now the hot-hot days plus the cold nites...folks, buy 2012, but avoid 2011 wines(Big Reds). Virtually all surrounding wineries here had terrific Syrah harvests in 2010, so buy those. But Cab and Merlots from 2010 as well as 2011 will almost surely be not to your liking.

Finally, a last photo of what a difference two weeks makes. The June 30 blog showed what the late hail storm during bloom did to our poor Merlot. Once again I will show you Cab, Merlot and Syrah...just 2 weeks later. Cab to the left, Syrah in center, and Merlot to the right. Now go back and look at what the Merlot looked like a mere 15 days ago. It is remarkable how even with a crop dinged by hail, which looked anemic to the point of death, can rebound so quickly...or actually, just rebound at all. Yet, that is what it does. If you compare the pictures, you will swear I doctored them...but I assure you I didn't. One thing to note. The Merlot will go thru veraison last, will ripen last, but will ripen beautifully.

Hopefully I made a coherent case for a banner year harvest, with those wineries like Cerro Prieto being pruned to 2.5 to 1.0 tons/acre. Add to that the world class terroir (southern facing, huge temp swings, and limestone soil), we at Cerro Prieto and nearby wineries, are looking down the barrel of  a spectacular harvest.

Not mentioned, but our Very Cold Valley Vineyard has produced some spectacular really cold weather Pinot and Sauv Blanc during those two dark, cold, wet yrs of 2010 and 2011. But if you are looking for a great Cab, Merlot or Syrah from 2011...fuggedaboudit. The Syrah from 2010 is going to be spectacular however, and we plan to bottle ours within the next few weeks. Our 2010 Syrahs will  undoubtedly be the best wines(one is a 7 % Cab blend from a barrel of '09 Cab I held back from 2009, the other is a straight up Syrah) I have ever made. Having to walk by these barrels daily absolutely requires daily tasting. Hopefully we will manage to get some of it in barrel for you all to enjoy also.

That's it from here, except for a note for our wine club members. Our spectacular 2010 Sauv Blanc which sells for $30/btl(it is that good), sells by the case for $300. Our lovely 2009 Pinot Noir(clones 777, 115, and Pomard 4/5) sells for $35/btl, but cases sell for $300. If interested, email or phone me.

I hope you all are as excited about this upcoming harvest as we are. It plans to be a beaut.