Archive for the 'Articles on Wine and Vineyards' Category

Summer Pink

Published
by
joanie
on May 8, 2008
in Articles on Wine and Vineyards, Joanie Hudson, New Releases and Rosé of Syrah
. 0 Comments

Mass market American “blush” wines that were popular in the 1970s are a far cry from the dry and refreshing Rosés being produced today in California, Spain, Italy, and southwest France.  These pink wines are not to be confused with the cloying sweetness of grocery store boxed wines.  The resurgence of dry style Rosés in California has resulted in the production of a variety of styles that are a playful alternative for the summertime.

But what makes these wines pink?  How are they different from red and white wines?  I hear these questions often.  Red wines get their deep color and tannin from being fermented on their skins to extract color and tannin.  White wines are produced by immediately pressing the juice off of the skin to minimize contact between the two.  The next step is to ferment the freshly squeezed grape juice (aka the must).  During Rosé wine production, the juice is left in contact with the red skins for a short amount of time (anywhere from one to three days) resulting in its characteristic pink color.  Fermentation continues as a white wine, usually carried out in stainless steel tanks.  Rosés can be made from any variety of red grape — Syrah, Grenache, and Pinot Noir are popular here in Santa Barbara County.

Rose wines possess characteristics of white wine, making them popular as temperatures rise.  Stainless steel fermentation results in pleasantly light and crisp fruit qualities.  They are extremely versatile — popular by the glass as well as to accompany summer meals.  I personally think that Rosé wines can e drank all year round, especially in California because they also complement a variety of fall and winter root vegetables.

Our 2007 Rosé of Syrah is the fifth vintage Bruce McGuire has produced with grapes from the Hilltop Ranch vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills.  It is made from 100% Syrah grapes.  Plump strawberry and orange peel aromas are emerging with an extremely refreshing mid-palate fruit explosion and crisp acidity.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Santa Barbara Winery Tasting Room Manager

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Checking for Malolactic at Lafond Winery

Published
by
Pierre
on April 29, 2008
in Articles on Wine and Vineyards, Lafond Winery and Wine News
. 0 Comments

Winemaker Bruce MaGuire periodically checks the red wines from the 2007 harvest for completion of malolactic fermentation. Some varieties will undergo this secondary fermentation, the conversion of malic acid to lactic acid , very quickly. Others especially those varieties harvested late are slower to undergo this process — one reason is that, because it is later in the season, it is colder and cold inhibits fermentation.

There was a time, and not so long ago, when malolactic fermentation was not as understood as it is today – it was discouraged – with the unfortunate result that it sometimes occurred within the bottle and spoilt the wine. The benefits today, of a carefully controlled malolactic fermentation, are well recognized. And aside from a more stable wine it enriches the wine with more complex flavor and balance.

Malic acid is most easily recognized in apples. Some white wines are also encouraged to go through malolactic fermentation especially those rich buttery Chardonnays. If fruit flavors, however, are essential such as in Riesling, Rosé, and Sauvignon Blanc, the wines are kept chilled, until bottling, to prevent this from occurring.

The photo below is of Bruce in the lab, at Lafond Winery, ’spotting’ the different barrels. He puts several drops on each ’spot’ on a special paper. Each spot represents a different barrel, and when he places the paper in a solution it will tell him if the fermentation has been completed, or how far it has gone. He uses a small capillary tube, that he rests on the board at his side, to deposit the ‘drops’ on the paper. Slow but effective.

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2007 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay - The Bulldog Method

Published
by
joanie
on April 28, 2008
in Articles on Wine and Vineyards, Bottling, Chardonnay and Joanie Hudson
. 0 Comments

If you have ever been into the tasting room and noticed the barrels that are kept in the room right behind the bar, those are not just for decoration, they are full of wine.  All of our white wine processing is done right here in our downtown facility, from grape to bottle.  Right now we are tanking up the 2007 Santa Barbara County Chardonnay out of barrel, prepping it to be bottled in about two months. 

This tanking process is very meticulous as it requires efficiency and timeliness in moving the wine around.  The barrels are first pulled from the barrel room by a forklift.  Next, our winemakers sort through these barrels, sampling them to decide which barrels are going to be used in the Santa Barbara Chardonnay, and which will be saved for our other Chardonnays. 

To get the wine from barrel into tank, a method called “Bulldogging” is used.  This refers to the apparatus, The Bulldog, that is used to pressure the barrels using Nitrogen.  If you pressurize the barrels in this manner, the wine is pushed out by the inert gas through the hose.  By not using a pump to transfer the wine into tank, any oxygen uptake into the wine is reduced.  According to our Assistant Winemaker Ryan, this “raises the freshness factor of the wine tremendously.”  Over the past 10 years, Ryan has honed his skill for moving wine around, and he has developed techniques in speeding that process along. 

Right now we also have an allotment of 2006 red wines getting prepped for bottling.

2006 Primitivo Joughin Vineyard

2006 Sangiovese Stolpman Vineyard

2006 Nebbiolo Stolpman Vineyard

2006 Lagrein Joughin Vineyard

2006 Negrette Joughin Vineyard

2006 Syrah Santa Ynez Valley

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager

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Describing Wine Exercise

Published
by
joanie
on April 10, 2008
in Articles on Wine and Vineyards, Joanie Hudson and Wine News
. 0 Comments

Sometimes reading wine reviews can be confusing and difficult to interpret for consumers.  They all seem to blend together and the same adjectives appear over and over again.  The key to interpreting a wine review for your own personal consumption is to a) know what types of wine you enjoy drinking b) break the review down to its component parts.

I’m in an Italian Wine class right now and on Monday night we did a really helpful exercise that is useful for this purpose.  We were given a few passages from Wine Spectator and then asked to reread the tasting note and write down the important descriptors for a list of wine’s main attributes that are discussed in reviews.  Wine Spectator’s tasting notes describe the many characteristics of a wine.  

The following tasting note is for Bodega Montecillo Rioja Reserva from 1995 retailing for about $15.”This full-throttle Spanish red is rich and dark, with chocolate, coffee and toasty oak  flavors, yet has a solid layer of ripe fruit for balance, and a fine mix of firm tannins and bright acidity.  The finish is long and fine.  Drink now through 2009.  6,000 cases made.”

Aroma/Flavor: chocolate, coffee, toasty oak, ripe fruit

Body: rich

Tannins: firm tannins

Acidity: bright acidity

Finish: long and fine

Balance: solid layer of ripe fruit, fine mix of firm tannins and bright acidity: three of the components required for balance are glowingly described, indicating balance

Complexity: the long list of flavor descriptors and long and fine finish indicate complexity.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager

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Lafond Vineyards Pinot Noir

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on April 5, 2008
in Articles on Wine and Vineyards, Growth Cycle and Pinot Noir
. 0 Comments

Pinot Noir Growth Cycle
We are recording on an almost weekly schedule the progress of our Pinot Noir. Photos taken at the same vine show slow progress at the beginning increasing rapidly with the warmer weather and later stabilizing and concentrating its energy on ripening the fruit. This photo taken April 4, 2008.
Click image to enlarge

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Santa Barbara Winery New Release

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on April 4, 2008
in Articles on Wine and Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon and New Releases
. 0 Comments

Santa Barbara Winery 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
After over a quarter century of making Cabernet Sauvignon from our Lafond Vineyard, winemaker Bruce McGuire is now sourcing this grape from vineyards on the warmer eastern side of the Santa Ynez Valley. While we still mourn our departed Cabernet vines, we now look forward to learning from this grape planted in a more traditional climate than our very cool growing area and tended to by very professional wine growers.

The 2005 vintage was primarily grown in the Westerly Vineyard located in Happy Canyon on the warmer, eastern side of the Santa Ynez Valley. Note: Westerly Vineyard is named for the road it is on, not its location in the valley. This is only a five barrel lot that was harvested on the mildly late date of November 5th. After a year of bottle aging in the winery, the wine still wants for more age to fully “flesh out”.

At this young age, the nose shows hints of chocolate, wood spice and dark berrys. The dark berry character is opulant in the mouth and the tannins are soft and pleasing. Decanting and air time are highly recommend to help this Cabernet to show off its concentrated fruit character. A very good choice for beef or hearty pasta. Cellaring from 2011 through 2013 should be amply rewarded.

To Order:

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Staking out the New Block at Lafond Vineyards

Published
by
Pierre Lafond
on March 19, 2008
in Articles on Wine and Vineyards, Chardonnay and Vineyard
. 0 Comments

Images of the workers staking out our new Chardonnay block at Lafond Vineyards and the beauty of the surrounding Santa Rita Hills. The hills are green and in a few short weeks they will be brown again. We enjoy them now, but we also enjoy them when the rains have gone and they revert to their natural state — It means summer is here.

Click images to enlarge:


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