Wines I'm Making: Cabernet Malolactic Fermentation Initiated (2010)

Yesterday (October 24) I introduced an Enopherm Alpha malolactic bacteria culture into the Cabernet Sauvignon. It's often hard to tell whether malolactic fermentation has started or not, but it should be under way. About two weeks of very tiny bubbles at the edge of the wines is usually all you can see. Right now there is a fair amount of foam at the top of the carboys, but I suspect that's the end of the primary fermentation--yeast using up the last traces of sugar--rather than evidence of the malolactic fermentation under way. Molalactic fermentation will convert some of the malic acid in the wine to the softer lactic acid, which is a pretty routine step in making red wines. Once that's done, it will be time to rack the new wine into clean containers to leave behind most of the yeast and other residues still settling into the bottom of the containers. So far, everything continues to look good. The Sangiovese rosé continues its primary fermentation in the garage.

As usual, after finishing the real wine I didn't want to throw out the pressed skins and seeds. It seems such a waste. I decided to make a second-run wine again this year. I tried it last year with poor results, but I made an incorrect acid addition and made the wine artificially sharp, so it doesn't really seem like it was a fair trial. So, I added water back into the spent pressings and enough sugar to bring the soup to 20 Brix again and it has started fermenting spontaneously. Plenty enough yeast is left behind to initiate a new fermentation. This, too, will probably be undrinkable, but, you never know. It looks like wine (below).

Miscellaneous: Rain (October 23-30, 2010)

We had the first storm of the 2010-2011 season over the past weekend. At this location, we got 4.85 inches of precipitation--which is much more than normal at this time of year. It's good for the plants and the water table. The new rain brings the total for this year so far to 5.2 inches. According to the website I look at to keep track of these things, 1.74 inches is normal on October 24, so, we're off to a good start. Another wet winter ahead?

[Update: Rained again on the 29th and the 30th, adding 0.7 inches. That makes a 2010-2011 season total of 5.9 inches.]

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Cabernet Pressed

Despite the rain today (October 23), I pressed the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc, ending up with eight gallons of new wine, which will make 40 bottles of wine. The wine is in two carboys, one holding five gallons, one holding three. Although I vinified the two batches identically, one seemed to have an especially spicy, strong Cabernet scent to it, so I kept that mostly separate in the smaller carboy. We'll see if the difference persists as the wines mature. Tomorrow I'll inoculate both batches with malolactic bacteria and keep the wines warm with electric blankets until the malolactic fermentation is done, which usually takes two to three weeks. After that, it'll mostly be a waiting game. I have high hopes for these wines, but it'll be a year before they are ready to drink. In the meantime, I'll bottle the 2009 wines.

Music I'm Listening to: Joshua Bell, The San Francisco Symphony

Excellent concert last night, hearing the San Francisco Symphony with guest conductor John Conlon (regularly with the Los Angeles Opera) and guest soloist Joshua Bell. The concert opened with the Prelude to Act I of Wagner's Die Meistersinger, followed by Bell playing the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1. On the second half of the program were three Dvorak overtures, or, as conductor Conlon pointed out, tone poems--In der Natur, Carnival, and Othello. This was the second of four concerts. Bell, Conlon, and the Symphony perform again tonight (Saturday, October 23), Sunday, and Monday.

I do wish I could like Wagner. Not liking Wagner has become a cliché. I don't dislike Wagner because it's the thing to do. I'm afraid I just don't understand his appeal. Clearly, there are very smart people that know music and like Wagner, and I try to keep an open mind, but he seems to start always at full throttle, leaving himself nowhere to go. If you start with the kettle at full boil, no amount of additional heat will make it do anything more than boil, until it boils away. Competently played, but not my thing. I guess it was a good warm-up exercise for the orchestra.

I attended the pre-concert talk the symphony sometimes gives, having arrived earlier than usual. I was surprised by the way the speaker kept talking about Bruch as a one-hit wonder, suggesting that the Violin Concerto No. 1 was the only significant piece of music he ever wrote, and wondering aloud why he never wrote anything as good. While it may be his best known and most popular piece, that's giving the Scottish Fantasy rather short shrift. I'd be hard pressed to say which I like better. Kol Nidrei is a staple of the cello repertoire, and his three symphonies aren't too shabby either, in my view.

It was fun to see Bell from the fourth row. I've heard him perform on the radio and in recordings but never seen him live before. He reminded me of Kyung-wha Chung. Both are rather physical. Chung shrinks to two-thirds her normal stature when bowing long, low notes and then stretches up on tiptoes while going furiously through passages of high notes. Bell has a very similar habit. My favorite recording of the Bruch concerto is, in fact, the one Chung made with Rudolphe Kempe and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the late 1970s (the original LP, London CS 6795, includes a wonderful version of the Scottish Fantasy as well--my copy is autographed). I try not to get too attached to any particular performance, but it happens. I'm happy to say that Bell's rendition was not a disappointment--lush, but disciplined and technically brilliant. Bell let the inherent romantic sweep of the music work its magic without milking it for more than it has to give. The performance was a great pleasure. I thought it virtually flawlessly executed.

The sound of Bell's violin was phenomenal. According to the program, he plays the 1713 Stradivarious known as The Gibson, formerly owned and played by Bronislaw Huberman. Bell's website has an interesting piece about the violin's history on the Biography page. The violin was stolen twice from Huberman, the second time in 1936, disappearing for nearly 50 years, only resurfacing in 1985. Bell purchased it in 2001. It's one of the most beautiful violins I've ever heard in person.

After an extended standing ovation, Mr. Bell returned to the stage with his violin to play an encore. It wasn't apparent at first that he was playing a set of variations on Yankee Doodle Dandy, but as soon as the audience recognized the tune, there was a ripple of laughter. Bell was playing Henri Vieuxtemps's Souvenir d'Amérique--Variations Burlesques sur Yankee Doodle. The crowd loved it.

After the concert, Bell very graciously signed autographs for a line of at least 100 people. The only other performer I've seen so patiently sign autographs is, again, Kyung-wha Chung. Hmmm.... While signing CD covers Bell remarked that he had embellished the Vieuxtemps variations a bit. It appears to be his signature encore piece. I see there are numerous videos of him doing it on YouTube.

After intermission, Conlon addressed the audience to talk briefly about the Dvorak tone poems. He pointed out that a common theme runs through them and had the orchestra play the theme as it appears in each of the three short pieces--light-hearted in In der Natur, darker in Othello. I wish conductors and performers would talk to the audience more often. It makes things more interesting when the music is unfamiliar. It makes things more personal if the performers acknowledge the audience directly. Conlon asked the audience not to clap between the three pieces, as he wanted to present them as a unified whole.

Carnival is very familiar, but the other two pieces appear to be rarely performed. I wonder why?  I hadn't heard either one before, but they seemed typically Dvorak to me--with the composer's hallmark optimism (something about his orchestration, I think). I liked them both, but particularly the Othello. It was fun to watch the various themes move through different sections of the orchestra. I thought the ensemble unusually responsive to the conducting--particularly to the dynamics Conlon indicated. Sometimes musicians appear oblivious to the conductor and you wonder what he's up there for. Last night, the San Francisco Symphony was highly attentive, the performers seeming to adjust themselves at the slightest hint.

A quick snack afterwards at Absinthe was a nice way to end the evening. Absinthe has some excellent (if overpriced) wines by the glass. I had a glass of the 2009 Daulny Sancerre (perfect with oysters) and later a glass of the 2008 Bernard Baudry "Les Granges" Chinon, a yummy Cabernet Franc.

Photo of John Conlon, courtesy of The Ravinia Festival. Photo of Joshua Bell by Timothy White, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony.

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Cabernet, Sangiovese Rosé (October 21)

The 2010 wines are coming along nicely. As of today, the Cabernet Sauvignon has been fermenting for six days (the grapes were picked on the 12th), following a three-day pre-soak--so nine days on the skins so far (above). The fermentation is slowing now. The must--by now it's properly called wine, I suppose--is no longer very sweet and the alcohol is apparent. I'll test it tomorrow. If the specific gravity is low enough, I'll probably press. The wine is a deep purple-black. It continues to smell wonderful. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to steal a real taste during pressing--far too early, of course, to know what the wine will finally taste like, but its general quality should be apparent.

The Sangiovese has been fermenting for four days now. If it goes at the pace of last year, it'll bubble slowly for another week or so (second photo). I'm hoping this year's rosé will be as good as last year's.

I never know what to do with the pressed skins. it seems such a waste to throw them out. Clearly a lot of pulp and juice remains. I thought I'd try to make another second-pressing wine. I soaked the leftover Sangiovese skins for two days in a small volume of water, pressed the "juice" that resulted (surprisingly, it measured 11 Brix, having been at 6 Brix initially) and then added sugar and yeast to see if a second pressing works better with rosé than with red wine (last year's Cabernet experiment was not very encouraging--but it's all interesting). Because of the soak, the second pressing (bottom photo) is much more deeply colored than the real rosé. We'll see what it tastes like. All three containers are fermenting in the garage while the cabernet sits in primary fermenters near the front door. It's supposed to rain tomorrow. I may have to press the Cabernet in the garage--a true garage wine.

Books I'm Reading: The Discovery of France

I've just finished reading The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, by Graham Robb (paperback edition, Norton, 2007). Having put the book down, my strongest impulse was to pick it up and start reading all over again. The Discovery of France is packed with surprising and enlightening information--too much to take in all at once.

If you think you know France, this is likely to be a revelation--on many levels. As Robb notes in his short introductory essay headed "Itinerary," the book grew out of his observations of France from the perspective of a bicycle seat: "This book is the result of fourteen thousand miles in the saddle and four years in the library" he says.

There is the knowledge of a foreign country one can gain from superficial contact and the knowledge gained by living intimately among a country's people and speaking their language. Despite Robb's deep knowledge of the land we call France today (his "superficial" knowledge of the country was already far deeper than most non-French people could ever hope to gain; Robb has written books about Victor Hugo, Balzac, and Rimbaud, among other topics), traveling the country at the pace of a bicycle revealed to him a different France from the one he thought he knew. In deliciously readable prose, Robb passes on his insights in vivid detail, giving us a view into what seems another world--France before it came to be what we think of as France. Suddenly the country seems a less civilized, less homogenous, far more colorful place.

I lived in Japan for nearly twenty years, my first year as the only Caucasian in a small town in Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands. In that year I went from being a 17-year-old monolingual high school student to being a moderately fluent speaker of Japanese, a huge advantage in getting to know a place. Even from so brief a stay as my year as an exchange student, it became clear that living somewhere and speaking its language was a very different thing from traveling there (I had traveled in Canada, the Caribbean, in Germany, Holland, Belgium, and Denmark). At the end of my year, I thought I knew a thing or two about Japan. Yet, when a few years later I moved more or less permanently to Japan, I lived in the Tokyo area. It was startling to apprehend quite suddenly that the Japan I knew was just a snapshot of one very small part of rural Japan. Tokyo was another Japan altogether. The contrast between those two views of Japan was disorienting but revelatory. Robb's writing evokes very much the same sense of knowing and not knowing that I remember from my early years in Japan. Sometimes it happens that we know the people in our lives in this same way, seeming to know them intimately, yet knowing nothing about them at the same time.

Reading The Discovery of France has left me feeling ignorant, humble, and yearning for more. While I would never have called myself intimately acquainted with France, I have traveled there on five or six occasions and I spent two and a half months living in the south of the country this past summer; I have more than a passing acquaintance with the place. Still, virtually every page of this book seemed heavy with unfamiliar treasure. The Discovery of France is nothing less than a survey of how France's idea of France has changed from before France was even a meaningful concept. I particularly enjoyed the sections on travel and how modes of travel (especially the speed of various forms of travel) altered perceptions. I was reminded of similar discussions of how the arrival of the train in the United States affected world views there in Rebecca Solnit's excellent book River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West (paperback edition, Penguin, 2003). The Discovery of France was thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommended.

Rain: Second Rain of the 2010-2011 Season (October 17, 2010)

Second rain of the season today. This morning we got 0.20 inches. Not much, but the plants seem to have appreciated the gesture. That brings the season total to 0.35 inches, at my house anyway. It's a start.

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Sangiovese Pressed

I got up early this morning to get work done (translation work, that is) before pressing the Sangiovese to start the rosé fermentation. At about 10:00AM, I finally got to the wine, so the juice was on the skins for about 18 hours--about what I had planned. I pressed the grapes fairly aggressively, though, so the wine is likely to be comparatively deeply colored.

I added a dose of Epernay yeast to must in two carboys, one holding five gallons, one holding three. I'd say there is about seven gallons of must now starting to ferment. I plan to keep the must as cool as possible to make sure the fermentation proceeds slowly, as that seemed the key last year to making the rosé so good. I hope it is as good or better this year, but the grapes were not as ripe, so it's unlikely. The weather was a real problem. I hope the wine is at least pleasant to drink. In the photo to the left, I've just added the dry yeast culture. You can see it floating on the surface of the newly pressed juice.

Plants I'm Growing--Figs (2010)

A couple of days ago, I posted a photo of the apple tree in the garden. It's blooming in the middle of October, which is somewhat bizarre. The strange weather this year--the wet spring and long, cold, summer followed by a couple of heat spells (we've just finished another one)--all conspired against the fruit trees. We had no pears, very few "Dapple Dandy" pluots, no apples, and very few peaches or nectarines this year. Only the "Flavor King" pluot had an appreciable crop. I had given up on the fig tree as well until the late warm weather that saved the grapes finally got the fruit to start ripening. We have a dwarf variety called "Black Jack." The figs taste and look much like "Mission" figs, but the tree stays small. With minimal pruning, it's remained low enough that I can reach the fruit without a ladder. Suddenly, we've got many, many figs ripening all at once.

I enjoy them best just sliced in half with Trader Joe's Greek Style Honey Yogurt on top--and then drizzled with honey harvested from the beehive. Standing near the tree, you can smell the fruit. That corner of the garden smells like Sardinia.

Birds I'm Watching: Spring Lake (10/16/10)

Joined a Madrone Audubon Society group this morning for a quick walk around Spring Lake, in Santa Rosa. It was cold and foggy, but Spring Lake never disappoints. I saw 45 species, the group as a whole about 50.

Birds I saw were: California towhee, Oak titmouse, Bushtit, Crow, Scrub jay, Spotted towhee, White-breasted nuthatch, Acorn woodpecker, Nuttall's woodpecker, Yellow-rumped warbler (18), Dark-eyed junco, Red-winged blackbird, Steller's jay, Canada goose, California quail, Anna's hummingbird, Chestnut-backed chickadee, Downy woodpecker, Belted kingfisher, Townsend's warbler, Red-tailed hawk, Snowy egret, Lesser goldfinch, Double-crested cormorant, American coot, Black-crowned night heron, Green heron (3), Great blue heron, Northern flicker (4), Mallard, Wood duck (3), Pied-billed grebe, Great egret, Cedar waxwing (50), Brown creeper (3), Turkey vulture, Common moorhen, Black phoebe, Greater scaup, Song sparrow, Orange-crowned warbler, Black-throated gray warbler (2), Golden-crowned sparrow, Ruby-crowned kinglet, European starling. (Numbers indicate unusual numbers for a given species.) I got an excellent shot of one of the Black-throated gray warblers--a very handsome bird (above)--and of a Golden-crowned sparrow. Ditto.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Sangiovese Harvest

Harvested the Sangiovese today (October 16). The vines yielded 99lbs of grapes. I don't know if I should have waited longer, but it's supposed to rain tomorrow, it's cold, and the sugars seemed to be going nowhere. The fruit was generally in good shape and this is the first year since we started making wine that we have lost no fruit to raccoons or other critters (using an electric fence and nets outside the fence).The numbers aren't ideal, but not too bad either. The proof will be in the pudding, of course.

The must tested at 17 Brix by refractometer, 1.070 by hydrometer, which works out to a Brix of 17.75 if adjusted for temperature (raised 0.25 Brix). The pH was at 3.46, a trifle high, and the acid was lower than I'd have liked, at 0.66%. I Chaptalized the must to raise the sugar to the equivalent of 20 Brix, which should result in a wine at about 12% alcohol. I sulfited the must very lightly, to about 27 ppm (using five Campden tablets in about 12 gallons of must), which should ultimately yield about 6 gallons of wine, or about 30 bottles. As this will be rosé, I will press the grapes as early in the morning tomorrow as I can. I picked the grapes at about 4:00PM. That will mean about 18 hours on the skins if I get it pressed by 10:00AM--just about right. Below, grapes are in the crusher, ready to go.

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc

I added a yeast culture to the crushed Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grapes today (October 15), after a three-day cold soak. The grapes were picked on the 12th. I happened to pick up the wrong yeast at The Beverage People and added it to the must before I realized what I had done. In the past I have used the "French Red" or "Rockpile" strains. Frankly, I can taste little difference between them, but the French Red has been more to my taste. I had intended to use that this year but added a dose of the "Pasteur Champagne" strain instead--but that's fine, as this is an entirely suitable yeast as well, and it might turn out to be better. Who knows?

Accidents can be happy accidents. We'll see. I added the yeast at about 9:00AM. By early afternoon, the bubbling had begun. I left the containers in the sun in the driveway to let them warm up to about 80 degrees from the soak temperature of about 65 degrees--which was not really low enough. I put in the yeast this morning because I was beginning to see signs of a white mold at the very edge of one of the fermenters. That was quickly removed and no harm done, but it would not have been prudent to wait longer. Already the house is beginning to smell like young wine--fruity and yeasty. Tomorrow I hope to pick the Sangiovese.

Miscellaneous: The Yen is Not Just at a 15-year High against the Dollar

Why do the media keep talking about the Japanese yen at a 15-year high against the US dollar without pointing out that 15 years ago the yen was the strongest it had ever been since it started floating? In other words, it was then and is now as strong as it's EVER been. If it keeps going, we will be entering uncharted territory.

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Cabernet Harvest

I decided today was the day to pick the Cabernet Sauvignon in the backyard vineyard. The sugar was close to where I wanted it and some of the grapes were starting to raisin, so it seemed the thing to do. We harvested 117 pounds of grapes. Crushed and de-stemmed, we ended up with about 11 gallons of must, which will make around six gallons of wine, or 30 bottles.

The fruit was remarkably clean and free of mold considering how cool and damp the summer was. The fruit tastes good. It has a very nice Cabernet spice--almost like cayenne pepper. The numbers look pretty good, too. The sugar is at 23.5 Brix, the pH at 3.55. The total acidity was 0.6, which is at the bottom of the range most people recommend for a dry red wine, so it was probably best not to have waited for the sugars to rise any further. 23.5 Brix is respectable. That will translate into a wine of a little over 13% alcohol--although I didn't adjust my Brix reading for the temperature, so the actual Brix level was probably a little higher, perhaps around 24.

I sulfited the must very lightly (to about 35ppm) with three Campden tablets in each of two batches of about 5.5 gallons each (for convenience--I don't know yet if I will ferment them differently or not). I usually let the must soak for about four days before inoculating it with yeast, keeping it as cool as possible. That seems to yield a somewhat softer wine than when made without the pre-soak, so I've continued doing it. The wine has been very good, so I don't want to fool with the method too much. I have high hopes for this year's wine on the assumption that we are still getting better fruit each year as the vines mature.

2010 will be our seventh vintage. The vines were planted in 2001. We made our first wine in 2004. The 2008 was the first I'd call really good. The 2009 (soon to be bottled) was noticeably better. We will see how the crazy summer weather of 2010 is expressed in the wine. The Sangiovese is still quite a long way from ripeness, it seems. Decided to let it hang--another weak perhaps? As long as the weather holds. It's hot again today and warm weather is predicted for the rest of the week.

Tidbits: RIP--Joan Sutherland

I was sorry to see that Joan Sutherland died today. Surely one of the all-time greats. RIP.

Cars: The Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show (2010)

I just got back from the Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle show, held around this time every year at Lincoln Middle School, in Alameda. There were more than 150 cars on display this year, including my 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider--more than I've ever seen before. There were cars from Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Fiat, Ferrari, Maserati, De Tomaso, Bertone, and Abarth Fiat. A big crowd turned out to see the cars as well. Proceeds from the event go to the Alameda Special Olympics.

As usual, the cars ran the gamut from Fiat clunkers to pristine concourse-ready restorations along with some beautiful unrestored cars. The oldest car this year was a 1925 Lancia. There were two "Jollies" (customizations, usually of the Fiat 600, done by the Ghia people, with wicker seats and frilly sunscreens; they were originally designed for use on the yachts of the very wealthy. Each one is unique. Only about 100 are said to exist).

Someone even brought a Yugo, presumably because it's essentially a Fiat. One year someone showed their Karman Ghia, because the body design is Italian. What I like about the Alameda show is just this laid-back attitude. Even the Ferrari owners that come are comparatively friendly. There were also about 40 motorcycles including an interesting 1946 Motto Guzzi. This show is always well worth the time--if you love Italian cars, or just love to look at art on wheels.

Birds I'm Watching: Shollenberger Park (October 9, 2010)

In three hours I saw 41 species at Shollenberger Park, in Petaluma, this morning. The highlights were a Sora and two Virginia Rails. The rails came right out into the open, which is unusual. They like to hide in the reeds. There was a pair of Blue-winged Teals, as well. Also got to see a Peregrine Falcon spook a flock of about 250 Long-billed Dowitchers. Other raptors present were: American Kestrel, Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, and White-tailed Kite. Many Song Sparrows.

The full list of birds I saw: Red-winged Blackbird, Killdeer, Western Gull, Northern Shoveler, Anna's Hummingbird, Mallard, Cooper's Hawk, American Kestrel, Northern Harrier, White-tailed Kite, Snowy Egret, Great Egret, American Goldfinch (50), Turkey Vulture, White-crowned Sparrow, Song Sparrow (11), Savannah Sparrow, Great Blue Heron, European Starling, American Crow, Avocet, Western Sandpiper, Mute Swan, Marsh Wren, Say's Phoebe (the first I've seen this season), Long-billed Dowitcher (250), Black-necked Stilt, Eared Grebe, Greater Scaup, American Coot (in the photo), Black-bellied Plover, White Pelican, Canada Goose, Sora, Virginia Rail (2), Ring-billed gull, Greater Yellowlegs, Scrub Jay, Peregrine Falcon, Blue-winged Teal, Black Phoebe.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots

Wines I'm Making: Harvest Still About a Week Away (2010)

I tested the grapes again yesterday (October 7). We seem to have made some progress in the past week. The Cabernet grapes are now at 22 Brix with a pH of 3.35. The Sangiovese grapes are at 17 Brix (in this case I deliberately excluded pinkish or greenish, obviously unripe grapes on the assumption that those will be eliminated when we de-stem) and a pH of 3.29. Both are still lower than I'd like sugar-wise. The weather is supposed to be good in the coming week. I think a little more patience is is order. I'd like to see the Cabernet at at least 23 and the Sangiovese at 19, if possible, but that may be wishful thinking this year. In other wine-related news, I've been preparing bottles over the past few days, getting ready to bottle last year's wine.

Wines I'm Drinking: Six Inexpensive White Wines

Tonight I blind tasted six inexpensive white wines from my local Grocery Outlet, ranging in price from $3.99 to $6.99--hoping to find the sort of bargain that was commonplace in France during my stay there over the summer. I was disappointed. Only two or three of the wines were very interesting, and only one of those was good enough that I'd consider buying it again, but every wine is a lesson, blind tasting is always interesting and instructive. Brief tasting notes follow.

2007 Genesis Columbia Valley Chardonnay: Very pale in color, quite thin at the edge, but has a pretty, greenish tint. Scents of apricots, butter, toasted grain, lemon rind. Attractive nose. Seems rich and more full-bodied on the palate than the color suggests it will. Vanilla creme on the mid-palate. Good acid. Tart/sweet effect is interesting. Moderate to good length. Feels a bit heavy (quite alcoholic, at 14.2%). Not exciting wine, but tasty and recommended for everyday drinking. A good value at $6.99 at Grocery Outlet. Genesis is a label associated with Hogue Cellars in Washington, which has always been a reliable producer in my experience. This was the most interesting of the six wines.

2006 Tempus Two Melange from South East Australia: A blend of Viognier, Marsanne, and Rousanne. A clear, medium-gold. The deepest in color of the six wines. Scents of wood, oak, vanilla, fresh vegetables, oatmeal biscuits. Not typical of wines with much Viognier in them. None of the usual peachy/spicy Viognier nose. Rather sweet on the palate--in this case, tasting like residual sugar rather than fruit sweetness. Flavors seem to fall off rather quickly. A bit hollow in the middle, but then comes back for a fairly long, sweet, not very nuanced finish suggestive mostly of pineapples. This is not the sort of wine I normally drink, but I can see it as a crisply chilled summer aperitif wine. Well enough made to be of some interest, if not my style. Good value at $3.99 at Grocery Outlet.

2006 R. H. Phillips California Sauvignon Blanc: Very pale and thin-looking. Fairly closed nose. Distant suggestions of lemons. Later hints of passion fruit, gooseberries. A bit nutty perhaps. Light on the palate. My tasting notes say "tastes like a thin Sauvignon Blanc," and that's what this is. Light, delicate, thinnish. Moderate to short. Seems thin on the finish as well. Perfumey aftertaste. Bland. Not very interesting. At $3.99 at Grocery Outlet this is cheap, but there are much better wines available at this price.

Glimmerglass California Proprietary Cuvée (non-vintage): Very pale gold. Unusual nose. Dough is the closest thing I can think of. Not unpleasant, but not the sort of scent that whets the appetite either. Rather closed. With a little time, the nose opened up a little to reveal mostly scents of wood and perhaps a little mint. Rather soft on the palate. A bit flat even. Little acid. Little fruit. Some attractive Semillon-like waxiness, but ultimately not very interesting. Inexpensive, but that's about its most appealing attribute. $3.99 at Grocery Outlet, but, again, there are much better wines available at this price point. I didn't read the label until after tasting the wine. This is 50% Chardonnay, 50% Semillon, which explains the waxiness--a fairly common trait in Semillon wines.

2006 Umamu Estate Margaret River Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc: I had high hopes for this, as Margaret River can make such good wine. I wasn't entirely disappointed. This was among the better wines of the group, along with  the Genesis Chardonnay and the Tempus Two Melange, but I'm afraid I had the likes of Leeuwin Estate in the back of my mind....

The Umamu Estate wine was a very pale straw color, thin at the edge and with a hint of green. Nice fresh nose. More powerfully scented than most of the rest of the group, but I found it hard to put my finger on exactly what was coming up out of the glass. Citrus hints. Wet paper (but not in a bad way). Not floral, but perfumed. Seemed somewhat thin on the palate. Tart. Light in body. Not especially interesting, but at least fresh and refreshing, and this seemed much more appealing after it had been open for a while. Good value for everyday drinking at $3.99 at Grocery Outlet. I'd look for this in more recent vintages.

2009 "Gaucho" Torrontes, from Mendoza, Argentina: The palest in color of the six wines. Very thin at the rim again. Distinctive nose. Odd and interesting, but not very appetizing. Something exotic, floral. Vanilla. Oranges. Incense--names like ylang ylang, patchouli, and frangipani came to mind, but I had none of these at hand to compare the wine against. Ultimately, I decided it was a soapy scent. Reminded me of certain hand soaps provided in airplane bathrooms. Tasted a bit like it smelled, too. Moderately sweet, medium body. Decent length. Interesting, but strange. Not like any Torrontes wine I've tasted before. With a little time the wine seemed drier, toastier, and a bit peachy. Pineapple guavas might be close. If you like oddities, you might find this interesting, but I can't imagine it with food, and I think tasting it once is probably enough. Inexpensive at $3.99 at Grocery Outlet.

For more reviews, use the "Wines I'm Drinking" label at the upper right.

Plants I'm Growing--First Blooms: Camellia Sasanqua "Chansonette" (2010)

The first blooms of 2010 opened yesterday on the low-growing camellia (Camellia sasanqua) under the flowering plum tree. This is a variety called "Chansonette." It's been extremely trouble-free and a reliable bloomer. It's done very well even in the hot, dry summers in Santa Rosa with only a small irrigation dripper and no water beyond that. It grows in full shade, but gets some sun at midday in the summer months. It's spread to about four feet across but stayed no more than about two feet high. It usually blooms into January. After ten years living in California again, it still surprises me to see flowers in the middle of winter. Impressions of Ohio winters remain hard to eradicate. Impossible really.

Plants I'm Growing: Evidence of this Summer's Odd Weather (2010)

I doubt anyone living in northern California needs evidence of how strange the weather has been this year, but I was startled a couple of days ago to see what looked like buds on my apple tree. That was at the end of September. Now, in the first week of October, the tree isn't exactly in full bloom, but it is blooming (this is the variety called Pink Lady). In the photo you can see the buds and new flowers and apples in the background--this year's apples (although there were very few and none suitable for eating). Very strange.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2003 Château d'Arcins Haut Medoc

I recently tasted the 2003 Château d'Arcins. This is a Cru Bourgeois from the Haut Medoc appellation--in other words, a "little" wine as the wines of Bordeaux go--and it is from what is generally considered to have been a difficult vintage, but I would judge this a success.

The Château d'Arcins is a deep blackish purple--with a hint of garnet  suggesting its age. The wine is already throwing a light, buoyant deposit. I'd recommend decanting this one. Brief tasting notes follow.

The nose was suggestive of blueberries and leather, but there was a distinct hint of anise as well. Later I got suggestions of rose water. On the palate, the wine at first seemed quite delicate, but with good tannic grip on the mid-palate. Lively acidity. Good length. With some time in the decanter, the wine began to fill out a little, and some suggestions of plums and cocoa began to develop. Nicely balanced between crispness and a sweet, fruity, almost buttery element. Overall, it's a bit lightweight, but the wine has enough nuance to be interesting. I suspect that this won't be a long keeper, but it's delicious right now. I bought six of these a few years back. I imagine I'll be drinking my remaining four bottles over the next 3-5 years--although it may be hard to resist opening another sooner rather than later. Recommended.

Wines I'm Making: Harvest in About a Week? (2010)

I tested a representative sample of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese grapes today. This past week of hot weather looks likely to salvage what was looking like a rather dismal harvest this year. There is a minimum of mold on the grapes--despite the long, wet spring and cool early summer (with the last rain in the first week of June, I believe), and, despite the short spells of very hot weather this week and in August (with temperatures spiking well into the 100s for a day or two), not too many berries look withered or sunburned (although the Sangiovese has suffered more in this regard than the Cabernet).

The Cabernet grapes tested at 21.5 brix and a pH of 3.28. A sugar level of about 24-25 brix and a pH of around 3.4 would be ideal. We may get that if the weather holds for another week or so and if it cools down a little bit. The seeds still don't look quite mature--mostly medium brown with a hint of green and with a fair amount of pulp sticking to them.

I've watered the grapes only twice this year (normally three or four times), once for six hours in mid-August and once for three hours on September 24 or so. If I had been here over the summer to water once in July, things would have been better, but I was in Europe.

The Sangiovese grapes tested at only around 16 brix--quite low for this time of year. I suspect these will have more of a problem getting fully ripe than the Cabernet. I'd like them to get to at least 20 before harvesting. Around 22-23 is ideal for rosé. We will be making only rosé from the Sangiovese grapes this year in any case. The seeds look very mixed--some are quite brown, hard, and crunchy, others are quite green, and that about sums up the Sangiovese grapes. I think the low brix level is, as much as anything, because of very uneven ripening. We will have to wait and watch, but the Cabernet may be ready for picking in a week to ten days, the Sangiovese in perhaps two weeks.

In 2009, we harvested both the Cabernet and the Sangiovese on September 29. In 2008, we harvested the Sangiovese on October 4 and the Cabernet on October 7.

Birds I'm Watching: Spring Lake (September 29, 2010)

I joined a group this morning for a walk around Spring Lake, in Santa Rosa. There were no unusual warblers, although Yellow Warbler was present in abundance. The highlights were seeing the American Bittern that is often present, seeing a Red-breasted Sapsucker, and seeing a fair number of ducks in eclipse plumage--a Green-winged Teal, two Northern Pintails, and two Shovelers. Also, there were Cedar Waxwings everywhere. The Yellow-rumped Warblers and Dark-eyed Juncos (see below) and the ducks are all the first I've seen this season. Pictured above is a Yellow Warbler. Below is the Red-breasted Sapsucker.

The birds I saw were: Canada Goose (5), Mallard (7), Northern Shoveler (2), Northern Pintail (2), Green-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe (3), Double-crested Cormorant (9), American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Heron (3), Black-crowned Night-Heron, Turkey Vulture (3), Osprey, Cooper's Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Sora, Common Moorhen, Killdeer (6), Anna's Hummingbird (5), Belted Kingfisher (2), Acorn Woodpecker (3), Red-breasted Sapsucker, Nuttall's Woodpecker (3), Downy Woodpecker (3), Black Phoebe (3), Cassin's Vireo, Western Scrub-Jay (7), American Crow (13), Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Oak Titmouse (5), Bushtit (11), White-breasted Nuthatch (2), Bewick's Wren, Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Thrush, American Pipit, Cedar Waxwing (67), Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow Warbler (9), Yellow-rumped Warbler (2), Wilson's Warbler, Spotted Towhee (2), California Towhee (5), Song Sparrow (3), White-crowned Sparrow (5), Dark-eyed Junco (3), Western Tanager, Red-winged Blackbird (11), Brewer's Blackbird (2), Lesser Goldfinch (5).

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Birding Spots

Music I'm Listening to: New Century Chamber Orchestra with Edgar Meyer

(NCCO photo by Jim Block, courtesy of New Century Chamber Orchestra.)

I just got home from a concert by the New Century Chamber Orchestra (NCCO) in San Rafael, a group that I've been trying to hear for some time. My next door neighbor, a season ticket holder, had extra tickets to this performance and finally I was free at the right time to go along. I'm very glad I did. To say I was impressed is an understatement. I'm about to effusively praise this group. I apologize in advance to everyone that already knows how good they are.

The featured performer was bassist Edgar Meyer. The program included Giaocchino Rossini's Sonata in G Major, Giovanni Bottesini's Concerto for String Bass No. 2 in B Minor, Chamber Symphony in C Minor (opus 110a) by Dimitri Shostakovich (arranged by Rudolf Barshai), and the adagio from Mahler's Symphony No. 5. I rarely come home from a concert so excited that I don't know where to begin. I suppose the beginning is as good a place as any--the Rossini.

The Rossini was not a piece familiar to me, and I've never particularly warmed to Rossini, so I can't speak from any prior experience here, but I enjoyed this. The music is not in any way profound, but it's full of energy and charm. The first movement relies (quite successfully) on a generous helping of light-hearted breeziness. The middle movement is a bit weightier and a trifle introspective. The bass part stands out here, and that's why it was chosen for the program on an evening featuring the string bass. The group's Principal Bassist Anthony Manzo handled the part with aplomb. The final movement, a fast-paced rondo has an almost comic feel in places--it's a romp that makes you want to giggle at the end just as much as you want to applaud. The ensemble seemed a trifle rough in spots playing the Rossini, but this was a warm-up piece and that's about the worst thing I have to say about the entire evening.

(Edgar Meyer photo by Michael Wilson, courtesy of IMG Artists)

The Bottesini concerto was equally unfamiliar--more so, actually; I can't say I'd even heard of Bottesini until tonight. But what does that matter? The tightness of the ensemble was phenomenal. Meyer was breathtaking. I can't imagine a better performance of the piece. Much as I love the Shostakovich Chamber Symphony (a piece of music I do know), I'd have to say the Bottesini was the highlight of the evening. "Effortless perfection" is the phrase that kept popping into my mind. Too often one sees performers just going through the motions. What a pleasure it is to see a group of musicians so intensely concentrated and having so much fun at the same time. The NCCO performers seemed telepathically connected with Meyer and with one another. How thrilling to watch musicians that so clearly care about getting it right. One can easily imagine Bottesini in his grave as moved I was to hear so successful an interpretation of his ideas. This is the sort of concert one remembers for a lifetime. The Bottesini alone was worth the extremely reasonable price of admission.

Music director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg took to the stage briefly before the Bottesini to introduce the guest performer (Meyer) and let us know that she had persuaded him to do a solo piece before the Bottesini (is that called a precore?). He played the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 2. I wish that Meyer had taken a moment to tell us about his instrument. I did a little searching on the Internet and I'm guessing that he was playing a 1769 bass made by Johann Baptiste Gabrielli. It's so rare to hear a bass in isolation like this that it's hard to compare with other instruments, but I thought it sounded remarkable--appropriately brash in the low register, nicely gritty in the mid-range, and amazingly sweet and clear all the way up to the bridge on the high string. I stress that I'm no expert in these things, but it sounded like a very fine instrument to me. I was interested to see the inlaid markers for hand positions on the fingerboard. I suppose these have a technical name, but I don't know what it is. I've never seen a bass marked in this way. Again, it would have been nice if he had talked a little about the instrument.

Meyer played an encore as well--his own composition, entitled Pickles. I can't begin to describe it, but watching him play it was as entertaining as the piece itself. Meyer is tall and imposing. I kept thinking that he looked like a cross between conductor James Levine and actor Peter Boyle. (Probably just me.) In his crisp white shirt and bow-tie, he suggested a big city bartender with a wickedly wry sense of humor. Even during the more serious Bottesini, I half expected him to break out laughing, unable to contain the inner joy. During the encore, this playful side of the man got a chance to show through. Watching him undulate like a snake as his fingers slid up and down the fingerboard, I was mesmerized. The NCCO performers on stage seemed as rapt as the audience (during this encore as well as during the solo passages in the Bottesini). Pickles was a very entertaining end to the first half of the program. The audience was palpably excited in the lobby during admission.

Modern music, because it is so abstract, has to be executed with great precision to be successful--or so it seems to me. The Shostakovich Chamber Symphony in C Minor seems a case in point. The NCCO handled it brilliantly. The music was furious where it must be furious, and, where it needs to be, it was underlaid with stretched, seemingly endless, linear notes. The hand-offs from one section of the strings to another were seamless, with director Salerno-Sonnenberg making only the subtlest of indications. For the most part, the string sections were "talking" to one another on their own, weaving a wonderfully coherent whole, and that is just how it ought to be, with a perfect tension between the details and the long lines of the piece.

I have four recordings of the Mahler 5th on CD, and at least one on LP--Rattle, Barbirolli, Sinopoli, Solti, and Abravanel conducting--but I've always been partial to the Maurice Abravanel recording I own. The performance of the Adagio this evening was every bit as good as any of these. What can I say except that it seemed virtually perfect? The Abravanel Mahler recordings with the Utah Symphony were made in the 60s, I believe, in the Mormon Tabernacle (released on the Vanguard label; I bought my copies as cut-outs, or remainders, in the late 70s and early 80s). The sound of the Tabernacle is part of their great appeal. I didn't expect the auditorium at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center to be especially good acoustically, but, remarkably, the sound seems quite true--despite having been designed as an auditorium rather than a concert hall (or perhaps events such as these were taken into account in the original planning?--I don't know). My seat, at Table 31, near the middle, may have had something to do with it. Nowhere did the sound seem muddy. Every instrument was clearly audible and each seemed to come from exactly where it ought to have been coming from. I heard no distortion. The Mahler was a wonderful end to a wonderful evening.

If only the audience had been better behaved. My neighbor tells me that tonight was atypical. I hope that's true. Velcro here, cellophane there. People talking. Dropped glasses, purses opening, coughs, suppressed sneezes, and kicked cans all made their appearances (the seating is at tables; patrons are allowed to bring in food and drink, which is a good thing). But, please, is quiet really that hard to achieve? Needless to say, the somewhat undisciplined audience was no reflection on the performers. I'm very glad I went tonight. I look forward to going again soon.

Art I'm Looking At: Found Art--Spider Web and Coyote Bush

Today I spent much of the afternoon looking at birds in the Bodega Bay area. While walking through some brush near the place bird watchers call "Owl Canyon"--mostly coyote bush, yarrow, lupines, and blackberries--I noticed this spider web. The coyote bush is releasing seeds everywhere right now. The web was downwind. Found art. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Found Art: Caswell-Massey Fruit Soaps (September 22, 2010)

A box of Caswell-Massey fruit soaps. They look delicious. They smell delicious. Beautiful. Found art.

First rain of the 2010-2011 season (September 19, 2010)

We've had the first appreciable rain of the 2010-2011 rainy season in Santa Rosa today (the official rainy season goes from July 1 to the following June 30 each year). So far, it's been a mere 0.15 inches--not enough to make much difference to the plants in the garden, but perhaps enough to encourage fungus and other problems with the wine grapes.

Testing random berries in the past few days, the ripest are at only 19 Brix, the least ripe still as low as 14 Brix. If rain forces us to pick early, we'll have to add sugar to the crushed grapes, and the result is likely to be thin, rather characterless wine--but it's been a very difficult year weather-wise, and handmade, estate grown wines are, if nothing else, an expression of the weather in the year they were made. If the rain stops quickly, the sun comes out, and we get some decent temperatures in the coming weeks, things may turn out more happily. If rain doesn't force the difficult decision to pick before the grapes are truly ripe, the sugar levels are still suggesting an early November harvest. At this time in 2009, we were ten days from harvest.

[Update: It cleared by late afternoon. The Cabernet grapes, shielded by a thick canopy of leaves look fairly dry. The Sangiovese grapes, more exposed, are somewhat damp, but I suspect they'll dry out with little damage having been done. And so the waiting begins again....]

Birds I'm Watching: Santa Rosa, Point Reyes (September 14-15, 2010)

I took a short walk along Melita Rd. yesterday afternoon thinking I might see some migrating autumn warblers. I was disappointed in that, but got to watch a large flock of Cedar Waxwings and some Western Tanagers stealing grapes from a small vineyard in the front yard of one of the houses there. I got a nice photo of one of the tanagers (above). I had much better luck with warblers today.

I joined a group from the Madrone Audubon Society that went out to Point Reyes this morning--in dense, bone-chilling fog. There were virtually no warblers to be seen in the early part of the day out toward the lighthouse, except a single bird that no one got a good look at and no one was able to identify. The highlight at the lighthouse was a Rock Wren, which was a new bird for me. I also got good, leisurely looks at a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches, another new bird for me.

After lunch, out at Chimney Rock (which the bird people seem to refer to rather loosely as "the fish docks") we had better luck, tipped off by a group that was leaving as we arrived. We eventually found a single (probably female) Magnolia Warbler (yet another new bird for me) and two Black-and-white Warblers (which I saw for the first time in my life just last week, out at Bodega Bay), along with some Townsend's Warblers, a couple of Warbling Vireos, and about six flycatchers that seemed mostly to have been Western Wood Pewees (photo), although--as is often the case with the flycatchers--no one seemed positive. Despite the cold, damp fog and poor visibility in the early part of the day, it was a worthwhile trip. With the addition of Rock Wren, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Wagnolia Warbler, my life list now stands at 317.

For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots

Wines I'm Drinking: 2009 Mas Brunet Coteaux du Languedoc Blanc

I've been home from a 10-week stay in southern France (with side trips to Barcelona, Corsica, Sardinia, and Italy proper) for a month tomorrow. I'm finally getting the last of the suitcases squared away. Among various receipts, brochures, odd bits of change (from this trip and, evidently, others), and the occasional rock labeled with a vineyard or other name in the bottom of one bag, I came across a cork in an envelope covered with tasting notes. I had forgotten about this wine, but it was a good one, so I've decided to belatedly write up the thoughts I jotted down while enjoying it.

I bought  the wine in an excellent little shop in St. Guilhem-le-Desert. I regret not having made a note of the name of the place. There was an excellent selection of high-end local wines, the proprietor spoke English, and he knew his product well.

The 2009 Mas Brunet Coteaux du Languedoc Blanc is a blend of Rousanne, Vermentino, and Vioginer. I chose it mostly because of the Vermentino component, having recently had so many good Vermentino wines in Sardinia--notably the 2007 Funtanaliras Vermentino and the 2008 "Arakèna" Vermentino di Gallura, both from the Cantina del Vermentino, in Monti, in Sardinia's Gallura region (the northeast). Having said that, the assertiveness of the Viognier made this selection rather different from any straight Vermentino wine. Brief tasting notes follow.

A very pale but pretty straw color. The sort of wine that makes its presence known immediately. Floral scents and a telltale peachy, Viognier-scent were evident even before putting my nose to the glass--but there was more than that. There was something like butter cream (or cake icing, perhaps), and there were vanilla scents. Initially seemed astringent, smoky, and a bit woody on the palate, but then it began to give an impression of creamy richness followed by some tannic graininess and then a lingering, fruity sweetness on an extended finish (although the wine is quite dry). With a little time, new scents and flavors emerged. I began to get hints of iron, honey, vanilla yogurt, and finally nutmeg. Complex, assertive, interesting, and delicious. I paid about €12 (or around $15) for the bottle. Recommended (although this wine is unlikely to be available in the US). If you can find it, it's well worth a try, and I suspect this is a producer worth keeping an eye out for.

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