Petite Sirah: Petite or not?

A recent conversation and tasting with Girard winemaker, Zach Long, brought to my attention that a long held belief that Petite Sirah is so named for its small berry size may be a myth. As we tasted Girard’s 2007 Petite Sirah, a deliciously big, fruity, inky, juicy wine from Napa, I was quite surprised to hear Zach say that in fact Petite Sirah berries are not wee things compared to, say, Syrah, or other popular red grapes. I quickly checked my own book (beware: shameless plug ahead), Wine At Your Fingertips, to make sure that I had not been lying to my tens of readers all this time. Phew, I left out discussion of Petite Sirah berry size altogether!

That didn’t mean, however, that I had not read in more than one place that “Its smaller berries with higher skin to pulp ratio leads to more intense flavors” in reference to Petite Sirah. I thought this was kind of the gist of it and, well, it does make sense. Petite Sirah is intensely flavored and has formidable tannin structure, which in part comes from the skins of the grapes. When I Googled “Petite Sirah berry size” the majority of results made reference to the small sized berries. However, when I Googled actual images of the grapes on the vine (see picture) the berries did not appear to be that small after all. The clusters are snug but that is all that I could decipher from the pictures. Ambling down this road has only succeeded in confusing me (and now you!) so let’s just get down to what we know…or what we think we know…

Petite Sirah was cultivated in the 1870s in the Rhone region of France where it is known as ‘Durif’ or ‘Petite Syrah’. The grape is the result of a cross between Syrah and a relatively minor Rhone variety, Peloursin. It is more successful in California than it ever was in France and is most commonly spelled ‘Petite Sirah’ there, an anglicized spelling of the original name. The grape generally produces bold, deeply colored wines with big, dark, inky fruit and plenty of tannin structure. It is often used as a blending grape most notably to add color. Wineries in the U.S. can now use either Petite Sirah or Durif on wine labels. I love Petite Sirah in the winter because it is warming, soul-satisfying, and unique. We have some great examples in the store at various prices including Vinum Cellars PETS ($15.99), The Terraces ($33.99), and Outpost The Other (54.99). You should give it a try no matter the berry size!

Meandering with Meander Wines

Amy Aiken, winemaker and owner of Meander Wines, was in town this past week and we did our best to keep track of her wanderings about town, capping it off with a special pouring appearance at California Wine Merchants Thursday evening. Amy is a vivacious and inspired Winemaker and she brought some lively fun to our Thursday night tasting to be sure!

Earlier in the week Amy’s NY distributor, The Barterhouse, hosted a lunch at Eleven Madison for “power women in wine” (yep, that’s me people!). Amy presented her new 2008 Meander Wines Conspire Sauvignon Blanc at the lunch, as well as all three vintages of her enchanting Meander Wines Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Sauvignon Blanc has yet to be bottled and the lunching ladies were all honored to be some of the first to taste it. It’s a very pretty and unique Sauvignon Blanc. Conspire has more body than most Sauvignon Blanc and an almost creamy texture from sitting on the lees (basically the deposits of residual yeast and other sediment that develops during the wine making process.) The grassy aromas are intense and flavors are tropical, including pineapple, kiwi, and coconut. The wine paired delightfully with the Cape Cod Bay Crab Cake with Celery, Treviso and Anchovies that was served alongside. Amy also recommends pairing the wine with mussels prepared with Asian-influenced flavors.

You’ll have to wait until June to pair it with anything, however, as that is when it arrives in NY -- and at California Wine Merchants! The wine will sell for a little less than $30. If you are interested in knowing when it inbounds, send us an e-mail at info@cawinemerchants.com and we will put you on the “interest list” as production is limited.

The lunch progressed to the 2003 vintage of Meander Cabernet Sauvignon, the very vintage Winemonkey and I tasted with Amy years ago when we discovered Meander Wines in Napa. The juicy, fruity wine was drinking exceptionally well, especially after a bite of Grilled Tenderloin with Oregon Morels – yes, that’s good stuff! The 2004 Cab was probably my favorite; it has an alluring personality and a beautifully silky texture along with the sweet fruit. All of the Meander Cabs start out with a great pop of fruit, which is Amy’s intent. The 2005, the most recent vintage and the wine we have in stock at the store, was equally fabulous but different, with layers of mocha and mineral underlining the fruit. 2005 was a great vintage for Napa Cab and this wine will only get better with air and a little age.

With our ridiculously decadent dessert of Chocolate Tart with Caramel and Maldon Sea Salt, we were treated to the 2005 Meander Cabernet Sauvignon Morisoli Vineyard. The other Cabs are made from fruit from the Morisoli vineyard in Rutherford and the Lewelling Vineyard in St. Helena, whereas this limited wine is strictly from Rutherford fruit. There were only 40 cases produced and it’s pretty much all gone so I was super lucky to get a glass. The wine is very well structured, with great intensity of flavor and a velvety texture sometimes known as “Rutherford dust.” Overall, great food and wine and a satisfying experience!

You won’t find Meander wines at many retail stores and, in fact, before Winemonkey and I introduced Amy to The Barterhouse, you could not find the wines anywhere in New York. The Conspire label was created so that Amy can take advantage of any great fruit that might come her way. This year it was Sauvignon Blanc. Next year who knows…maybe Conspire Pinot Noir? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Cheers!

Ovid Wines First Taste

We were lucky enough to score an invite to the "first taste" of Ovid (pronounced AH-VID) wines out of Napa Valley -- and I was lucky enough to be the one to represent CA Wine Merchants (thanks Winemonkey!). The wines are made by sought after winemaker Andy Erickson (of Screaming Eagle fame) and the tasting was at Per Se (double score!) in the Time Warner Center over lunch. Ovid is made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petite Verdot and is fermented in a combination of wooden and old-school concrete tank fermenters.

We sampled the first commercial vintage, Ovid 2005, which had been open for about two hours. The wine has great aroma intensity which makes for an intriguing first impression. The palate is rich, with dark red fruits, deep chocolate, graphite, earth, and some licorice. This is not an overblown fruit-bomb style and it has the acidity to prove it. I thought the finish was extremely long. Only 418 cases were produced and the only problem with it is, well, the price. You can expect to pay over $200 per bottle at retail and I can only guess the wine will go for over $400 at restaurants. But considering the 2005 vintage of Screaming Eagle goes for over $1,500 at retail, I suppose you can consider it a relative bargain!

All sarcasm aside, we moved on to taste a barrel sample of a 2007 wine that was made solely for the Premier Napa Valley Auction. Apotheca is a blend of Andy and company's favorite lots, all of which were fermented in concrete. This wine is super concentrated, WOW! Too bad it will not be available commercially because this stuff is killer. The way this 2007 juice is tasting can only mean great things for the 2007 vintage of Ovid.

Ovid will also be making a wine called the Experiment, which will change from vintage to vintage. We did not taste this at the lunch, however, this coming Tuesday we should be able to secure a taste and will report back. The first Experiment, 2005, is apparently a barrel selection of Cabernet Franc. Again, we'll let you know...!

The vineyards include 15 acres, 1,400 feet above Napa Valley, that were quite literally dug out of dense rock. The pedigree, from Andy Erickson as winemaker, David Abreu as vineyard manager and Michel Rolland as consultant, is very impressive. The wines are named after Ovid, the Roman poet, and his famous work Metamorphosis, which represents the metamorphosis of grapes into sublime wine. Some of the language on the bottle is a little 'puffed up' if you ask me, but this is a serious wine and you can expect to hear more about it.

Cheers!

Pressing Wine in the WinePod

Well, folks, if you have been following along with our WinePod adventures, yesterday was press day.  Pressing extracts juice from the grapes by pushing down on them and squeezing the liquid out. (It's kinda like stomping on grapes, which is not done much anymore.)  

The liquid that is squeezed out is called Press Wine, or Press Juice.  Press Wine is basically the dregs of the juice which may contain remnants of seeds, skins, etc.  It looks cloudy and is thicker than the juice that comes about naturally just by the weight of grape on grape. This natural, highly coveted juice, is called Free Run Wine.  Sometimes wine makers choose to add some Press Wine to the Free Run Wine to add structure and depth but it is purely a matter of choice.

Winemonkey and I had a little trouble with our WinePod press, which is supposed to do all the hard work of pressing down the grapes and bringing up the dregs in the press basket.  Alas, this was not to be as we seemed to have stripped a piece of the press.  Instead, we pressed the wine manually -- which is to say by hand -- which requires some patience, a good deal of muscle, and a lot of paper towels to clean up the grape mess that results. 

We did it, but not without trouble, and then siphoned the wine into two 5-gallon jars and two 1 gallon jars.  The wine looks good -- a deep, dark Cabernet Sauvignon color -- and it tastes like, well, young wine!  It is still a bit harsh (it is not through with Malolactic Fermentation, or MLF, yet which is the process of changing the harsh malic acids naturally present in grapes to softer lactic acids) and needs some ageing, but all in all we are pleased.

The wine will sit in these jugs (pictured) for one week until we run another MLF test to see if the process is complete. Once that stage is over we can move the wine in to our freshly steam cleaned French oak barrel for ageing. We still have a little clean up to do today but we are almost there.  Oh, and if anybody wants a giant pale of grape must (it's supposed to be good for your skin you know!) just let us know.  We've got one! ;)

Cheers.

Wine Hilarity of the Day: Crap Wine

Vino Girl was  catching up on the wine news this morning when she came across a hysterical little story on the website France24.com.  I was drawn to it because it was a story about "crap wine", a term frequently used in wine circles to describe, well, crappy wine. 

 A wine from the Languedoc region in France, which has long been considered contemptible by more illustrious wine regions such as Burgundy and Bordeaux, has marketed a wine labeled " Vin de Merde," which translates literally to "wine of crap."  This snarky tip-of-the-hat to the critics of the Languedoc's still under appreciated wines sold out within days. Seventy-five hundred more bottles are being marketed to keep up with local demand.

 As the article points out, it is going to take more than this one success story to lift up the wine industry in the region, which has been floundering over the past 10 years despite marked improvement in quality. If the farmers keep at it, however, and retain the irony, who knows, the wine world may get more than a laugh out of it.

 

Wine At Your Fingertips

Please excuse this interruption of blogging as usual...

I have to admit to shameless promotion, but how often does a gal get the opportunity to say that her book is now available on Amazon.com? It's true, Vino Girl is a published author! I worked hard writing a comprehensive wine reference last fall and all that drudgery has finally come to fruition in the form of my first book.

Wine At Your Fingertips is published by Penguin Publishing's Alpha Books. I must say, they really kept on me to produce a thorough, well-organized, and concise reference on wine that includes everything from growing grapes and making wine to buying and collecting it. All the world's top wine regions make an appearance as well as all the big grapes. Check it out if you like!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program....

Winemonkey and I plan on pressing the wine in our WinePod this weekend. Instead of basking in the glory of my authorship, I have been meticulously washing out our French oak barrel so that our wine can be siphoned in there without fear of overoaking. Stay tuned on that front.

Cheers!

On to MLF in the Winepod

Well, folks, we are now in a phase called Malolactic Fermentation; the cool kids call it MLF. It is admittedly a pretty boring phase for a wine maker, but a necessary step in the making of quality wine, particularly red wines. When the yeast has done its job and converted all the sugar in the grape must to alcohol, it is safe to inoculate for MLF.  

This involves adding some bacteria (yum!) to convert the harsh acids naturally present in grapes (malic acids) to softer lactic acds. We have the temperature set on our Winepod between 74 and 76 degrees and we are letting the bacteria do its thing. At this stage it is important not to let too much air in to the Winepod which can cause oxidation. We gently punchdown once per day and then sparge the surface area of the grape must with nitrogen to prevent oxidation.  

The wine is looking darker (a sign that MLF has finished is uniformly dark grape pips, or seeds) and it smells like, well, wine!  The taste is very acidic and somewhat tannic at this point but we have some ways to go before it is ready for the spotlight.  We are going to let the grapes sit for some extra time on the skins, called extended maceration, to develop some flavor and richness.

Stay tuned...

WinePod Punchdown Day One

We were happy to discover that, when we pulled the lid off the Winepod tday, a cap had formed -- so we actually had something to punchdown on our first punchdown day! We could smell the sweet fruit and alcohol as soon as the lid had been removed. The cap resembled what I can only describe as pretty pink and purple worms congregating at the top of the Winepod. We checked the temperature (around 73 degrees) and the brix (still a hearty 26 - whoa!) and then prepared to integrate the cap into the must.

Punchdown was relatively easy, although it was difficult to tell at times when -- or if -- we had reached the bottom of the must with the punchdown tool. I tried not to take out my aggression, resulting from a two-touchdown defiicit for Syracuse in the Syracuse v. Penn State football game, and push down ever so gently on the cap. Taylor (aka Winemonkey) took over to finish the job, both of us proceeding as instructed in the punchdown video.

Punchdown took all of five minutes and then we were ready to sample our wine during its early fermentation phase. The hay we smelled a few days ago has fallen to the back for the most part and today we smelled a little bread from the yeast but also fresh, darker fruit, and hints of olives. We both took a small sip and agreed that the juice is still young and sweet, but less sweet due to the growing presence of alcohol. Taylor adjusted the lower set Temp to 72 from 70 as wine maker John Kelly did during his first punchdown day.

Now we are ready for the daily punchdowns until we reach 20 brix. The question remains....will we ever get down to 20 brix?!?!

PS: What this high brix level means is that we are destined to be making a high alcohol wine. Not our intention but we will see what happens.

Bubble, Bubble, Toil, and Trouble!

Prefermentation Phase in the WinePod:

Today, after worrying about our temperature for a spell -- it seemed a little too warm but was finally deemed "normal" -- we decided on our additions to the must.

Our first decision was to add slightly more TA (tartaric acid) than recommended based on some of our favorite California Cabs (okay, okay, so we are acid freaks by nature!). We mixed the TA with some quality bottled water and into the Winepod it went! After a good mixing to a chorus of "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble", we were on to the next step.

Moving forward we made an executive decision to skip the the oak, grape, and grape/oak tannin additives. We gave the thumbs up to the Lallzyme enzyme, which helps to deepen color, as well as the Booster Rouge and Opti-Red which promote weight and texture on the palate.

After these packets were thoroughly mixed in to the must, we checked the aromas (smells like young grape juice!) and flavors. Everything seems right on and, although certainly not ready for a nice, juicy steak, our Cabernet is surely on the way to stardom.

Also, due to our temperature problems from earlier where we never got our must down below 55, we did a quick temperature limit update after reading Westwood wine maker John Kelly's process. With the imminent addition of the yeast and John's experience, we felt that turning the alarm off and letting the must settle in to a higher temperature was not going to hurt anything. We lifted our lower set point to 61 degrees and the moved the upper to 68 degrees. (John went 62-72)

Next stop Fermentation!

Making Wine With the WinePod!

Winemonkey and I are now officially wine makers! We are making wine using the latest technology in home wine making - the WinePod. As part of a project called Club Ferment, we will be using Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from the same California vineyard to make wine in the Winepod along with about 25 other wine makers across the country. We all start the process on the same day and will follow along with the other wine makers' progress through the internet.

Yesterday, 9-10-09, we received the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for our first Winepod wine making adventure. The grapes were in great condition, especially considering they were shipped frozen from Californ-I-A!

The first step was to calibrate the brix sensor (fancy talk for adjusting the device that measures the sugar content of the grapes) and then we were on to sanitizing everything and anything that will touch the precious juice. This reportedly takes 20 minutes but, let me tell you, it was a long and labored process -- particularly considering the Winepod is in my home office and not in a winery with water supplies, hoses, etc.

We then opened the grape pails and did a little hand sorting which entails picking out leaves, stems, and under ripe grapes -- there weren't that many -- to prevent off flavors and insure the best quality end product. It was then time to pour the grapes into our trusty Winepod. We added a small amount of sulphur along the way to prevent from spoilage, secured the lid on the 'pod, and set the temperature between 50 and 55 degrees.

Now....we wait. Fermentation today so stay tuned for more Winepod wine making excitement!

September is California Wine Month

Although you will have to wait until later in the month to revel in the opening of California Wine Merchants in Lower Manhattan, you can get a jump start on appreciating the good juice from the sunshine state at California Wine Rush.

In case you didn't know it, September is California Wine Month in New York. The Wine Institute is celebrating by throwing a tasting at Espace in NYC on September 10th. The tasting is open to the public for $40 from 5pm to 7pm.

Wines from every region in California will be represented and shown off in various categories including female winemakers (female is all the rage these days don't ya know), Organic & Biodynamic wines, family operations, classics, and unexpected surprises. Taste a little, learn a little, and catch the California wine bug!

Tickets can be reserved on the Local Wine Events Website. Espace is located on 42nd Street between 11th and 12th. Hope to see you there. Cheers!

Love for Cali Cabs

We’re happy to see that good old California Cab is getting some love these days – from the New York Times no less! This happens to be pretty good timing (Eric, you could have waited a month) for the opening of our wine store, California Wine Merchants, in Lower Manhattan.

The shop has been an all-consuming project for Winemonkey and myself; witness the absence of blog entries of late. Actually, we’re sorry to say that blog entries have diminished considerably for the last 8 months or so as we toiled away securing liquor licenses, engineer drawings, and building permits with the help of lawyers, architects, expeditors, and the like. We are now beginning our final approach and are set to land in the Financial District (FiDi as the cool kids call it) in late September 2008. Visit cawinemerchants.com to see the transformation of the space from a fiesta-colored empanada cafe (the former tenants) to a warm and welcoming boutique wine shop.

We hope to introduce NYC to amazing, small production juice we have discovered in California – and that previously did not make it out of California – as well as some brands that had been allocated to restaurants only. We will also pay homage to the famous faces that put California wine on the map, including big names like Beringer, the so-called CA cult wines, and fine and rare offerings. You’ll be sure to find some of the balanced, restrained Napa Cabs mentioned in Eric Asimov’s NY Times article such as Clark-Claudon, Continuum, Corison, HdV, Heitz, Seps, and Spottswoode to name a few. In short, THE GOOD STUFF. ;)

We’ll keep you posted and hope you will stop by when the doors open. Cheers!

American Spirits on July 4th

There are plenty of wines and beers made in America with which to celebrate our independence on July 4th. But what do to if you are not a wine or beer drinker and you want to add a little American spark to your picnic beverage of choice? Lift your Spirits while still honoring American independence by mixing your cocktail with these Vodkas, Gins, and Rums made in the good ol' U S of A!

Vodka:
Smirnoff (originally a Russian brand)
Charbay
Hangar One
Square One
Roth (not a Vino Girl or Winemonkey fave but, hey, it's a free country!)

Gin:
Bluecoat No. 209
Junipero

Rum:
Charbay

Enjoy the holiday. Cheers!

Americans: The New Wine Optimists

Despite a down market, Americans are still intent on getting their wine fix. Although you might expect that beverages brandishing alcohol have their place in an unsteady economic environment, the interesting news is that the so-called luxury wine segment is on the uptick as well. Sales of “luxury” and “super luxury” wines, including bottles from $15 to $20 and $20+, have experienced increases over the last few months.

Sure, some consumers are looking to under $15 value bottles and professed “premium” boxed wines to lift their frugal spirits. But if that’s what it takes to keep Americans optimistic, we say off with the spigots and let the cheap wine flow free. Drink up!

France's Tangled Wine Web

An official list, developed in 1991, of approved media vehicles for alcohol marketing in France apparently does not include the Internet. This means that online wine advertising, e-commerce sites for French wine retailers, and even websites for such big name French brands as Chateau Margaux, are considered illicit business. The director of an online wine merchant in Bordeaux, Patrick Bernard, put it best when he explained that “In France whatever is not legal is illegal, in America it is the other way around…” In an uncharacteristically preemptive move, Microsoft has removed all liquor advertising and stripped related key words from the French MSN site while Google and Yahoo have yet to follow suit. This entire brew-ha-ha stems from a court decision in a case against Heineken. Stay tuned…

Brunello-Gate

You may have heard chatter that some producers of the well-respected wine from Italy, Brunello di Montalcino, are doing what no self-respecting Brunello producer would do -- using grapes from outside of the region of Montalcino in Tuscany, including foreign grapes such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. True Brunello di Montalcino is made from 100% Sangiovese grapes and the name translates literally to “Brunello (a nickname of sorts for Sangiovese) from Montalcino.”

The American government, concerned about the fleecing of U.S. consumers, has scheduled a meeting with the Italian Agricultural Minister to try and work out a resolution before instituting an outright import ban on the wine.

Considering Americans throw back approximately 25% of all the Brunello on the market, the Italians may want to skip the aperitivo and get right to the bargaining table.

Slender Splender!

Say it ain't so.

I apologize in advance to all you Hoosiers out there. Really, I do. But all I can say is that if you can't make quality wine in Indiana (come on, admit it, it's tough) then at least keep it real.

Chateau Thomas Winery in Plainfield, Indiana is introducing -- and I quote -- "the World's ONLY artificially sweetened wine." It's called Slender because (wait for it...) it has "no sugar, no carbs, no fats, no aftertaste, no KIDDING".

What it does have is three "flavors", including red, rose, and blush, and a $9.99 price tag. According to INDYSTAR.COM the wine is now sweetened with a naturally occurring sugar alcohol whereas previous versions were sweetened with Splenda. The Chateau Thomas website, however, still sites Splenda as the key to this wine's sweetness.

Okay, okay, so they are supposedly going to donate 50 cents to the American Diabetes Association for every case sold. That's nice and everything but somehow I envision the wine (see accompanying picture) being sipped by rail thing, artificially enhanced women kvetching by the pool. Does one sit by the pool in Indiana? Does one Kvetch? I'm not sure. What I am sure of is that I don't want anything to do with Slender (the wine, not the body type). ;)

If you want to get some of yours, visit Chateau Thomas and order it up. Let me know how it is, will you? Cheers!

Give Charbono A Chance

Charbono (pronounced Shar-BOE-noe) is not the new incarnation of Sonny and Cher or a steakhouse owned by the lead singer of U2. It is a grape grown mostly in California that was once thought to be related to Italy’s Dolcetto grape as well as mistaken for Italy’s Barbera grape. You can see where these errors came from as some of the examples of Charbono sampled recently by Winemonkey and I tasted like a cross between Barbera and Dolcetto with some distinct traces of Spanish Rioja thrown in. Can you even wrap your head around that depiction?

The grape is grown on just about 85 acres of land worldwide and most of those acres are on California’s North Coast in the Napa Valley. The vines tend to be old, as advanced as 70-80 years, and the Charbono grape itself is notoriously difficult to tame. You really need to love and respect this grape to take it on --and the producers we met at a recent luncheon of the Wine Media Guild in New York proved just that.

We were lucky enough to taste Charbono from Pacific Star, On the Edge (owned by the Calistoga-born, famed and now-retired NFL Coach Dick Vermeil), Oakstone, Heitz, Robert Foley, Joseph Laurence, Duxoup, August Briggs, Summers Estate, Turley, Tofanelli, Schrader, Chameleon Cellars, Fortino Vineyard and Boeger Vineayrds. This bunch pretty much covers all of the California wineries embracing the grape to date. We could sense their passion for this enigmatic grape as they spoke about their wines (that is when we were not being blinded and awed by Vermeil’s ginormous Super Bowl Ring.)

Generally speaking the grape is high in acid and a bit rustic, but with much more depth and drinkability than we had imagined. Charbono takes to wood easily, so the judicious use of oak we see used with many other California red grapes needs to be restrained for the best results. Although the fruits we tasted in the wines were all over the map, dark berries seemed to predominate, especially blueberry, along with dark plum. We found some pretty scents of roses emanating from this otherwise dark and mysterious wine.

The wines went surprising well with the progression of foods we were served at the wonderful Felidia restaurant in Midtown Manhattan which included a salad, a risotto, and braised beef course. My guess is that if you try the right Charbono with a rustic, hearty meat course you will be duly impressed.

Our personal favorites on the day were the Charbonos and blends (Charbono/Barbera) from Pacific Star Winery (note that this style is more reminiscent of Bordeaux), the Rose and Estate Lemley Ranch Red from Oakstone Cellars, and the Robert Foley Vineyards Charbono. These wines are difficult, if not impossible, to find at retail but of the producers Robert Foley is the most widely distributed.

Not to worry, we will be carrying some examples of this unique grape at California Wine Merchants when the store opens in Lower Manhattan in (fingers crossed people!) August 2008. Cheers!

Don't Knock the Weather

Apparently it was presumptuous of Vino Girl to think that it would be sunny and warm in Sonoma in late April. Okay, it was sunny part of the time and rainy a good deal of the time. Warm it most definitely was not.

In fact, there was a very rare (since the 70s) frost in Sonoma just before Winemonkey and I arrived in town. The aberrant weather damaged many vines and potentially wiped out a significant amount of the crop for some producers. No one knows yet how it will play out at harvest time but April and May are troublesome months to experience frost because the vines are still so delicate.

The weather was in the 40s and 50s while we were in Sonoma (April 21^st – 24^th) and we prepared to taste wines outside by sporting layer upon layer of any reasonably warm clothing we could find. As of this week the temperature is in the 70s and 80s and the sun has taken back its rightful place in the wine country sky. We can only hope that vine growth remains vigorous into May and June.

As Winemonkey and I traveled south to the Central Coast on April 24^th and 25^th – first stop Paso Robles – the weather turned much warmer without a cloud in the sky. The nights were nice and cool, giving the vines their necessary rest, and it seemed the perfect April temperature for the shoots to grow.

We continued south on April 26^th and 27^th and as we drove down the coast the temperature pushed up and up. By the time we arrived in Santa Maria in Santa Barbara county the mercury had reached 95 degrees! Just looking around it was like the desert down there. We could hardly believe anyone could make decent wine in this environment but, having tasted some great wines from the region, we soldiered on. The most interesting thing was watching the car's outside temperature gauge go from 65 to 90 degrees and back again as we zigzagged closer and then further away from the Pacific coast.

Although most wine people are very familiar with how bodies of water and altitude and other geographic factors influence climate, it was fascinating to see the temperature change so drastically from day to day, region to region, and microclimate to microclimate.

We went from hooded sweatshirts, turtleneck sweaters, and jeans to suntan lotion, short sleeves, and shorts in just one week without ever really having the perfect accoutrement to match the weather. Just think how the grapes must feel!

Going back to Cali, Cali, Cali

Ok, so no black corvette but winemonkey and I are on a mission to discover some interesting new wines from Sonoma for our store, California Wine Merchants, due open this summer in lower Manhattan. There are a lot of great things going on out there and it is not easy to find the true treasures sitting behind your computer in New York City.

The Sonoma County AVA is more vast and sprawling than Napa with practically every possible grape variety growing and plenty of different terroirs, or grape growing environments, to choose from. On the southern end, in Carneros, cool climate grapes such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay excel. Further north in Knights Valley the Pacific Ocean has much less of a cooling influence and the area is better known for grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. Sonoma Mountain, with its high altitude and steep hillsides, can be successful with everything from Cabernet, Syrah, and Zinfandel to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. There are currently fourteen defined AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) in Sonoma County each with a unique character.

So, off we go to see what Sonoma has got to show for itself. With only three days it should be a dizzying array of sunshine, fruit, tannins and purple teeth! Stay tuned...