Wines I'm Drinking: 1992 Caparone Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

I've read that telling people about wines you've enjoyed is virtually always boring to them because you're describing an experience they can't participate in, so, I'll keep it short, but recently I opened a bottle of 1992 Caparone Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon that I bought at the winery in the early 2000s. The cork crumbled away when I tried to insert the corkscrew. I had to push most of it into the bottle and then decant the wine through a sieve. I would have decanted it anyway, as there was an unusually thick layer of sludge in the bottom of the bottle.

Despite being 28 years old it was still vibrant, with scents of blood orange, brandy, and something that put me in mind of a fresh cigar--even a hint of wintergreen. It was richly fruity on the palate, with hints of cloves and herbs. It was almost like vermouth. I take the trouble to mention this wine because it was tasty, but also because it was a good example of a wine that really benefited from bottle age. Far too much good wine is drunk far too early.

Shortly after this, I opened a bottle of 1983 Château D'Issan that was even better—and another nine years older. I was too lazy to write down any impressions, but it was delicious. Having been in lockdown now for six weeks, we're beginning to make a dent in all the wine that's in the house. Haven't bought a new bottle for quite a long time. Among those we've been drinking down have been our own wines. The 2015 Clos du Tal Stone's Throw Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc (to give it its full name) from our backyard was especially good—really top notch. Last night I opened a bottle of our 2009. It was not as nuanced and had a distinctly milky quality, which suggests I got the malolactic fermentation to go well in 2009. The grapes were, of course, much younger (the vines were planted in 2001; we made our first wine in 2004). Nevertheless, the 2009 is quite pleasant.

Wines I'm Making: 2015 Cabernet Labeled (July 29, 2017)

Yesterday I got labels printed for our 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. 2015 was a tiny harvest. We made only 18 bottles of wine, but the wine is very good--perhaps as good as the 2014. 2016 was a wash. I made no red wine at all last year because the yield was so bad. I pooled all the Cabernet and the Sangiovese and made a blended rosé--and only about a case of that. With a row of trees behind my little vineyard creating shade, yields have been very low and mildew has been a problem. This spring I persuaded the neighbor to remove the trees, which has greatly increased the sun on the vines. I'm hoping to get a more normal yield in 2018. In past years, we've made as many as six or seven cases of wine from our 34 vines.

Wines I'm Making: 2015 Cabernet Bottled

Bottling by hand siphoning

Yesterday I finally got around to bottling our 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. It was a short job as our 25 vines (21 Cab Sauvignon, four Cab Franc) produced a tiny harvest that yielded only three gallons of finished wine, or 15 bottles. The low yield was in part because of a row of overgrown trees in my neighbor's yard that have increasingly shaded the vines over the years. This spring, I persuaded him to remove them, as he had wanted to anyway. I'm hoping the greatly increased sunshine now will result in both better yields and fewer problems with mildew.

Siphon and bottles ready

I tasted the wine as I was bottling it. It promises to be very good—perhaps as good or better than the 2014, which has been the best wine from our little vineyard to date.  2016 was a disaster—so little fruit that we made no red wine at all, only 15 bottles of rosé from the combined fruit of the 25 Cab vines and our nine Sangiovese vines. I'm hoping 2017 we'll be the turnaround year.  Below is a finished case of corked wine. Now it's time to design the label for the 2015 wine.

Wines I'm Making: 2014 Cabernet Bottled

I finally got around to bottling our 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc (on January 24). We made only 25 bottles—but that's more than the vines yielded in 2015 (I expect to get only 15 bottles from the grapes harvested this past year). The wine is sound, but a little lacking in ripeness. The trees in the neighbor's yard have gotten so tall that the vines get too much shade now. I'm looking into ways to counteract that effect. I used the same label design as for the 2004, which was our first vintage.

Wines I'm Making: 2015 Wines Pressed

I pressed our 2015 Cabernet and Sangiovese wines the other day. We ended up with only two gallons of Sangiovese, three gallons of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc--the smallest harvest we've ever had. This appears to have been typical even at commercial wineries around the county--very low yield this year. The wines are now resting, ready for inoculation to initiate malolactic fermentation. I'm also in the middle of a hard cider fermentation and trying to make wine from the neglected Zinfandel grapes (mostly raisins) my neighbor gave me.

Wines I'm Making: Ten Years of Clos du Tal

I lined up a bottle from each of our ten vintages--2004 to 20013--the other day and took a quick photo of them. If you're paying attention, you'll notice that there are actually only nine bottles--2005 is missing. That was the year the raccoons found the grapes before I had figured out how to effectively deter the critters (which involves nets and an electric fence). While I did make six bottles of wine that year from what the raccoons left behind, it was so bad I didn't bother making a label. I've designed a label for the wine each year in every other year.

Happily, all the other vintages have ranged from good to very good, with the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 drinking best at the moment. The 2006 is beginning to feel a little tired. It's still too early to be certain, but my guess is that Clos du Tal will generally be at peak at 5-7 years old. I will, however, continue to keep bottles back from every vintage to see how they age. The 2014 wine is resting in carboys at the moment. Last week I bottled the most recent batch of hard cider I've made. The cider should be undergoing its in-bottle secondary fermentation. Next week I'll open one to see how it's coming along.  

Wines I'm Making: Fermentation (September 29, 2014)

I inoculated our pressed Cabernet grapes yesterday, after a four-day cold soak. We picked the grapes on the 24th. This morning, the wine is beginning to bubble a little. The fermentation appears to have begun. The Sangiovese rosé fermentation is now in day four. Having had minor problems with hydrogen sulphide in the past two years I decided to use the yeast nutrients usually recommended (DAP and Fermaid K), although I've never used them in the past. I'm hoping better nutrient availability will prevent hydrogen sulphide problems this year. We'll see.

Wines I'm Making: 2012 Cabernet Bottled (February 21, 2014)

I bottled our 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc today, putting eight gallons of wine into newly washed and sanitized bottles. From the tastes I got while siphoning the wine, it's turned out very nicely. In particular, it's got more ripe fruit flavors than in some past years. I won't be able to truly judge the wine until it's settled down and I can sit down with a bottle over a meal, but I'm hopeful that we've made another good batch. Now it's time to design a label for this wine, but also for our 2013 rosé (from Sangiovese), as well as the hard cider we bottled on December 23 last year. I need to hurry. The cider is quickly disappearing.

Wines I'm Making: 2012 Cabernet Final Racking (January 26, 2014)

Today I finally got around to racking the 2012 Cabernet that's been resting for more than a year now. I've racked it off the remaining lees in preparation for bottling the wine, which I'll do in the next couple of days. I sulfited the wine lightly, to about 50ppm. Judging from the taste I got siphoning the wine, it has turned out nicely. I look forward to opening the first bottle after it's been bottled, labeled, and given a chance to settle down again, probably sometime in late February--sooner, if possible. Getting a label designed will be the determining factor.

Wines I'm Making: 2013 Grape Harvest (October 6, 2013)

2013 marks our 10th harvest. We picked the grapes in our little backyard vineyard on Sunday, October 6--both the Sangiovese and the Cabernet grapes. October 6 is a fairly typical date for the Sangiovese (the dates have ranged from around September 29 to October 16 over the years).

It's somewhat early for the Cabernet (October 18 in 2012), but a fair number of clusters were already turning to raisins, probably because I watered less than usual this year (only twice, rather than three of four times in most years) and it seemed best not to wait any longer. We harvested 20.5kg (or 45.1 lbs) of Sangiovese grapes, which became just under eight gallons of must after crushing and de-stemming. The must measured 22 degrees Brix with pH at 3.63, just about right for the light rosé these grapes will become.

We harvested 41kg of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc (or 90.2 lbs), which yielded a little more than 11 gallons of must. The must tested at 27.5 degrees Brix--the highest it's ever been, reflecting the high percentage of raisined grapes. The pH was at 3.56. Because of the high sugar level, I'll probably add a small amount of acidulated water to the must to lower the Brix to around 26 to avoid producing an excessively alcoholic and therefore unbalanced wine. The lesson here is to water the grapes a little more, although I'd been hoping to eventually wean the grapes off water altogether.

The Sangiovese is already pressed and inoculated with Epernay II yeast, as usual. We ended up with about 4.5 gallons of pressed juice. I pitched the yeast on the afternoon of the 7th. The grapes spent about 20 hours on the skins, which will result in a fairly deep pink wine.

The Cabernet must is resting. I usually do a three- to four-day pre-soak, which is supposed to result in more extraction from the skins of softer (water-soluble) tannins than the (alcohol-soluble) tannins extracted during the fermentation process. I don't know, but this method seems to produce a wine we like. Today I'll be adjusting the sugar level, as noted above. Tomorrow or the day after it will be time to add the yeast and get the fermentation started. I love this time of year. The whole house will soon smell of fresh yeast and fermentation--like a winery.

[Update: This afternoon (October 9) I dissolved 15g of tartaric acid crystals in 2.5l of distilled water (using a formula provided by the kind people at The Beverage People) and added the mixture to the Cabernet must. It was difficult to mix it all in evenly, so, measuring the Brix after the addition, it comes out a bit low (at 23 degrees Brix), but I suspect that's simply because of an imperfect mixture. The sweetest juice is probably stuck at the bottom of the container. The aim was to reduce the sugar to 25.5 Brix. I'll stir it up again tomorrow and test it once more.]

Wines I'm Making: 2013 Grapes--So Far, So Good

The 2013 grapes look good so far. The clusters have taken on full color by now. The grapes are netted. The electric fence around them has been on for a couple weeks now. So far, critters haven't shown much interest in them. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to harvest everything that's on the vines. Fruit set was good this year. I expect we'll get a fair amount of fruit. The 32 vines in the back yard have yielded anywhere from about 90lbs to a little over 200lbs over the years. I expect we'll be at the high end of the range this year. We probably have about six weeks to harvest now.

Wines I'm Making: Grapes in Bloom (May 17, 2013)

The grapes in the yard are now in bloom. "In bloom" seems too grand a description--grape flowers are small, green, and inconspicuous--but the plants are, indeed, blooming. Each little spidery flower will become a grape later in the season. This year the weather has been cool and dry and we anticipate no rain in the coming week, so I'm hoping fruit set will be good. The photo shows Cabernet Sauvignon flowers.   Notice the small bunch on the right that is still just buds. The white powder on the leaves at left is sulfur, sprayed to prevent mold. So far, I've sprayed twice this year.

Wines I'm Making: Shoot Thinning and First Sulfur Spraying (April 27, 2013)

Over the weekend (April 27) I thinned the shoots on the grape vines. The longest shoots are already about 18 inches long. I left two shoots to each node except on the strongest vines, where I have always left twice that many with no apparent ill consequences. On the one or two weaker vines, I leave one in the hopes that that will encourage a strong cane as a foundation for next year's growth. The vines generally look healthy and strong, though. I did the first sulfur spraying as well. So far everything looks good. This year, 2013, will be our tenth vintage.

Grapes So Far Unmolested (August 30, 2012)

It's almost September. We haven't lost a single grape yet. So far my strategy has worked. In past years I've usually protected the grapes in the back yard in response to the first depredations of the season, when the grapes have taken on color but are still far from ripe. This year, I determined to net the grapes and turn on the electric fence that surrounds them before the grapes started to turn purple, and the idea seems to have worked. My aim was to make the grapes inaccessible before they became attractive to raccoons etc. Still about six weeks to harvest, if we harvest on a typical date (usually around the second week of October). The summer has been so cool, though, that harvest may be later than usual. We'll see.

Wines I'm Making: First Cabernet Leaves 2012

Busy with work, I'm tardy in reporting the first leaves on the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc vines in the back garden. They are just appearing now. The first leaves opened on April 12. It will soon be time to decide what to do about the nets this year. They need repair or replacement. The chore of spraying the new growth with sulfur to prevent mold will also begin soon. 2012 will be our ninth vintage.

Wines I'm Making: Vines Pruned (March 21, 2012)

I finally got around to pruning the vines yesterday--quite a bit later than usual. Buds on the Sangiovese vines were already beginning to open. The pruning removed quite a few of these, but the plants will leaf out from lower buds. And so, another year of winemaking begins.

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Cabernet Racked Again

Yesterday, I racked the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc off the sediment following the copper sulfate treatment I gave the wine on December 2. I had noticed a hydrogen sulfide smell, which apparently can result from a low level of yeast nutrients during fermentation, a function of the weather's effects on the grapes. It's not a problem I've had before, but it turned out to be easily cured. The treatment works virtually immediately. The copper sulfate binds other sulfur compounds and creates copper sulfide, which is insoluble in wine. It drops to the bottom of the container and is left behind by a subsequent racking. Apparently it's a common practice. I had planned to do a follow-up treatment with yeast hulls that is designed to remove more, but after consulting with my wine advisers (the people at our local wine supply store), I decided it won't be necessary.

I don't like to add anything to the wine, but tiny amounts of residual copper are much better than sulfur stink. Also, I figure that we are exposed to small amounts of copper all the time anyway--as most modern water pipe is copper. I took the opportunity also to add the oak staves that will give the wine its oak exposure through to bottling at around this time next year. The wine tastes a little light--probably a consequence of the cool summer and the late rains, this year but it's too early to know for sure. In other winemaking chores, it's about time to start designing a label for our 2011 Sangiovese rosé. I'll be bottling that ahead of Christmas. The photo above shows a 6-gallon carboy cleaned and rinsed, awaiting a wine transfer.

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Fermentation (November 5, 2011)

The 2011 Cabernet is mostly done fermenting. The cap is no longer rising, my punch-down tool has started sinking into the liquid (rather than riding on the cap), and the liquid tastes like wine--there is no longer any trace of sweetness. Just to be sure, I tested the wine using my hydrometer and got a specific gravity reading of 0.996, which indicates fermentation is mostly finished. I will probably press the wine tomorrow, although I had planned to bottle the 2010 Cabernet tomorrow. We'll see if there's time to do both.

I crushed the Cabernet grapes on October 24 and inoculated them with yeast on October 28, so the fermentation took only eight days, although the wine has been on the skins for 12 days now. Eight days is faster than some fermentations I've done, and usually at warmer temperatures (because earlier in the year). I'm not sure why this cooler fermentation was shorter, but every fermentation is different.

The Sangiovese rosé continues to bubble gently. Fermentation appears to be continuing. The intense red of the liquid just after pressing has softened considerably. The wine is now a nice medium pink, but it's hard to  know exactly what color the wine will be until the CO2 gas stops rising and the suspended matter begins to fall out of the wine. So far, the rosé has been fermenting for 12 days.

Wines I'm Making: Waiting to Harvest 2011 Grapes

I did a proper test of a representative sample of grapes in our small backyard vineyard today. It seems we still need to wait. I'm nervous only because I'm afraid whatever has been stealing grapes will steal too many before I get a chance to pick. Yesterday I checked the nets carefully again and closed a few small holes. I don't know if they were new holes or holes I'd missed before.

The Cabernet grapes tested at 22 brix and a pH of 3.13. The Sangiovese, from which we will make a rosé, as usual, tested at 20 brix and a pH of 3.10. One school of thought says grapes for red wine should be picked when the square of the pH times the brix reading is around 260 and that whites grapes (or red grapes for rosé) are optimally ready when that formula yields 200. Using this method, the Cabernet grapes are at 215.5, the Sangiovese at  192. If the grapes were at the targets I usually use (the Cabernet at 24.5 brix, the Sangiovese at 22 brix), the Cabernet would be about right if by that time the pH had risen a little--say, to around 3.3. The Sangiovese grapes are closer. In any case, I think waiting is the right decision for both. So far, there is no sign of mold or other damage to the grapes, although I did notice a yellow jacket in a grape with a broken skin. Vigilance is in order. What we really need is a few days of temperatures in the upper 80s (which may be wishful thinking--the 10-day outlook is for cloudy skies and temperatures mostly in the mid-70s). The past four days of dry warmth have done little to raise sugar levels. The waiting game continues.

Wines I'm Making: Still Waiting to Harvest 2011 Grapes

It's sunny and warm today. It was sunny yesterday. If this weather holds, we may make some decent wine after all. In 2010, we harvested grapes on the 12th (Cabernet) and the 16th (Sangiovese) of October at rather low sugar levels (only 17 brix in the case of the Sangiovese, at a better 23.5 brix in the case of the Cabernet; ideally, I like to pick the former at about 22, the latter at about 24.5). The rosé in 2010 was light and without the rich flavors that made the 2009 so good. Happily, sugar levels are already higher than they were last year (the Sangiovese is at about 20 brix, the ripest Cabernet berries today tested as high as 24 brix). Now that I seem to have foiled the critters for the time being, I'm content to wait and let the grapes fully ripen. If it rains and turns cold again this weekend, I may have to think again, but early next week may be the right time to harvest anyway.