News and notices about the vineyard and winery
This is a slideshow of the Chef and of some of the participants at the Indian Cuisine demonstration at Santa Barbara Winery. With the coming of harvest we have to cancel al public events in the Barrel Room. We can, however, still accomodate small informal groups in the Tasting Room.
This is where the Pinot Noir is now. David Lafond who took some berry samples on Monday says harvest will probably begin mid-September. Berry samples, however, are not very accurate and for more accuracy we take random field cluster samples but a berry sample gives us some indication of maturity.
This is a photo of the same vine we have followed during the growing season. February and March frosts severely damaged the crop — the clusters are small and there are not many of them. The good part is that the wine will probably be incredibly concentrated and dark. The vines have a lot less to mature. The green cluster on top right side is second growth which will not be picked.
Click image to enlarge:
Wikipedia has a very good description of the process which is both visual and physical…
Véraison is a French term, but has been adopted into the English literature on viticulture. The official definition of véraison is “change of color of the grape berries.” Véraison signifies the change from berry growth to berry ripening in grapevines.
Process:
Many changes occur at veraison. Grape berries follow a double sigmoid growth curve. The initial phase of berry growth is a result of cell division and cell expansion. As berry growth of phase I slows this is termed the Lag phase. The lag phase is not a physiological growth stage, but an artificial designation between the two growth periods of grape berry development.Degradation of Malic acid results in a decrease of berry titratable acidity. Grapes also possess a small amount of citric acid, but Tartaric acid is another dominant acid. Tartrate accumulates early in phase I of berry growth, while Malic acid accumulates at the end of phase berry growth.
Accumulation of hexose sugars (sucrose, fructose) is associated with the development of xylem cell discontinuities. The deposition of sugar into the berry depends on the level of leaf photosynthesis, the number of competing sinks on the vine and sugar importation. Herbaceous aromas are degraded. It is unknown whether the degradation of herbaceous aromas allows fruit aromas to be detected, or if fruity aromas develop later in berry ripening.
The berry also changes in color. Presumably chlorophyll is broken down. In White cultivars carotenoids are formed, while in red cultivars anthocyanins and xanthophylls are formed. The trigger of veraison is unknown, but veraison signifies the seed reaching maturity. However, seed maturity is unlikely to cause as seedless berries also proceed through veraison.
At the beginning of véraison we need to cover the vines with netting since birds seem particularly fond of Pinot Noir.
Nestled in the Santa Rita Hills of the western Santa Ynez Valley, Lafond Vineyard is ideally situated to produce Pinot Noir exhibiting the unique and exotic flavor profile one finds in only a few regions of the world.
Specific areas within our vineyard exhibit elevated concentration and complexity due to soil type and exposure to the elements. We have planted eight distinct clones of Pinot Noir, each with subtle differences in flavor and aroma.
After several years of working with the eight Pinot Noir clones planted in Lafond Vineyard, Winemaker Bruce McGuire has become very familiar with the attributes of each particular clone and uses them accordingly in each of the Pinot Noirs he makes.
The Martin Ray Clone was the first Pinot Noir planted in the Lafond Vineyard back in 1982, on the north side of the Santa Ynez River. These 24-year-old vines and different soils make a nice contrast to the sister bottling in 2006, Clone 115. Farming and vinification are identical.
The comparison of these two clones from the same vintage gives one the winemaker’s view of a rather new element in winemaking as the availability of many Pinot Noir clones is a viticultural story less than twenty years old in North America. The complexity and depth of flavor make this Pinot Noir a great match with savory foods such as lamb, Copper River salmon, and hearty mushroom dishes.
Price: 48.00/750ml
To order:
The vines are hedged several times during the growing season to prevent the canes from falling over the training wires and shading the grapes. Both vertical and lateral canes are cut.
The photos show the vineyard from the upper northern shelf, the winery is in the background. Enrique, the vineyard foreman, is hedging the Syrah, our oldest block, planted in 1972 and still producing our finest Syrah. In the first photo this block stands out for the row spacing. In the 1970s we planted in 12 foot rows, because narrower tractors were not available. Today as we re-plant the old vineyard rows are 6 feet.
Click images to enlarge:
Two new movies about the 1976 Paris tasting which Hollywood will not let the French forget. No doubt encouraged by the sleeper success of Sideways these new movies will probably not receive the same critical acclaim – judging by this article in the Toronto Globe and Mail by Beppi Crosariol.
Wine connoisseurs - I call them cons
BEPPI CROSARIOL
bcrosariol@globeandmail.comJuly 23, 2008
It was the taste-off that turned wine upside down.
In 1976, an esteemed all-French jury gathered in Paris for a blind tasting to compare eight of France’s greatest wines against a dozen upstarts from California. In an upset worthy of Hollywood, the United States trounced France, winning top honours in both the red and white categories.
Now, Hollywood has finally found its way to the story. Not one but two films based on the so-called Judgment of Paris will duke it out for attention this year. Bottle Shock, a rollicking comedy-drama based on true events that stars Alan Rickman, opens in Toronto on Aug. 6 and is slated to roll out to theatres across the country later in the summer. The second film, Judgment of Paris, based on the official story by the only journalist to attend the Paris tasting, Time magazine’s George Taber, is due later this year.
The event’s significance has predictably been interpreted the same way ever since: California had vaulted its way into the wine stratosphere. True. But if there’s justice, the films will also be a reminder - in these boom times for wine snobbery - of a message far more overdue…..
Ending with…
……Ironically, Bottle Shock perpetuates that superhuman-taster myth even as the factual part of the story undermines it. In one pivotal, fictional scene, Gustavo, a Mexican-American cellar hand employed by Chateau Montelena, wows a crowded Napa barroom by identifying the legendary 1947 Cheval Blanc, a red Bordeaux, in an impromptu brown-bag challenge.
So, let me get this straight: A spunky American kid can nail the nuances of great French terroir in a blind tasting when an esteemed panel of seasoned European experts can’t?
Apparently, 32 years after French arrogance got its comeuppance in the Judgment of Paris, wine jingoism is alive and well and living in America.
Irony of ironies a French Chateau is rumored to be buying the winery that startled the wine world in 1976 and which is the subject of a new movie soon to be released.
BERKELEY - Chateau Montelena, which shocked the wine world in 1976 when it beat French vintages in a famous Paris tasting, is expected to be sold, officials close to the deal said today. The buyer? The owner of a Bordeaux estate.
“This is the ultimate recognition, that the French are now buying these great California wineries,” said Jon Fredrikson, a wine industry consultant and publisher of the Gomberg-Fredrikson report which tracks wine shipments.
Company officials released a joint statement saying talks were in progress between Michel Reybier, owner of Chateau Cos d’Estournel in Bordeaux, and Chateau Montelena founder Jim Barrett for a sale, pending regulatory approval.
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