Wines I'm Drinking: 2001 Chateau Julien "Private Reserve" Monterey County Merlot

Tonight I tasted the 2001 Chateau Julien "Private Reserve" Monterey County Merlot. I knew nothing about Chateau Julien and I have little experience with Monterey County Merlot. I chose this wine simply because it was inexpensive and--being called a "Private Reserve"--I was hoping it was solid enough in its youth to have stood up to the 11 years it's been in bottle. Brief tasting notes follow.

Pretty to look at. Moderately deeply hued, but not at all a dark, inky wine. Garnet-tinged edges. Showing its age. Herbal on the nose, suggesting red vermouth or bitters. Not a lot of fruit scent, but attractive nevertheless--although I suspect many wine drinkers used to young California wines would find the nose rather foreign. Distant suggestions of licorice. Something reminiscent of sun-dried tomatoes. With time, gained some floral scents. Overall, rather delicate on the nose. My first impression on the palate was disappointment, but the wine got better as I lingered over it. It would be easy to dismiss this as past its prime--which it is. Clearly it's tired. There's only moderate fruit left and the attack seems weak--but it has its charms. For example, there are some good plummy flavors on the mid-palate and the finish is long enough and just complex enough to keep things interesting, despite a lack of real body and presence. In particular, the finish has an attractive nuttiness, a hint of sweetness, and delicate tannins that I enjoyed. If you like your wines bold, brash, fruity, and alcoholic, skip this one, but, if you like the sort of flavors typical of mature wines, you might give it a try. At only $5.99 a bottle at Grocery Outlet in Santa Rosa, I'm not complaining. The current vintage (2008) sells for $42 a bottle on the winery's website. I was just in Monterey last week. I wish I'd known. I might have visited the winery to try some of this producer's more recent efforts. (Although, the fact this is for sale at Grocery Outlet, heavily discounted, may say more about the storage of this particular batch of wine rather than the wine itself.)

Places I'm Visiting: Carmel, Monterey, San Simeon (December 29, 2011-January 1, 2012)

On a short year-end trip to Carmel, Monterey, and San Simeon I visited the Hearst Castle for the first time in many years. The tours are set up in a much better way now than they once were. You can visit one or more of a few sets of rooms with a tour guide and then you're left free to walk around the gardens and visit the indoor pool at leisure. When I last went to San Simeon you could see the pool only on specific tours and you were never set free in the gardens. I took the Grand Rooms Tour, which lets you see the main living room, the dining room, the billiards room, and the theater. Other tours take you through the more private rooms in the house. One goes through the kitchen and other work rooms in the house.

There is much beautiful art in the house. I noticed a very nice altarpiece in the living room, but wasn't able to ask the guide about it. There were some good persian tiles, and a great deal of interesting furniture and architectural detail, much of it shipped over from Europe. Aside from the above-mentioned altarpiece, though, there aren't a lot of paintings in the house, which is a bit strange. Hearst's taste ran to the grandiose and it seems to have been best indulged by acquiring sculpture and buying pieces of buildings. I can't think of another man so wealthy that didn't accumulate a lot of paintings.

There's a great deal of sculpture in the gardens. Some of it beautiful, some of it in comical bad taste. The collections are very uneven. I wonder how much of Hearst's art collection consisted of things he liked, how much consisted of objects he bought because he could afford to and was advised to by others? I liked the lions on a large stone fountain in the gardens (top). A guard told me the fountain was Italian. Although it's topped with a replica of Donatello's David in Florence, the fountain looked more Spanish to me. The young woman with her arms raised at left is an example of one of the more kitschy works in the gardens. As they say, there's no accounting for taste.

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that the indoor Roman Pool is among the highlights of the castle. The entire place is decorated with gold and lapis tiles. The gold tiles are clear glass with gold leaf infused into them. Many of the mosaics show sea creatures. The gold patterns at the bottom of the pool are intended to evoke a starry night sky. The handrails at the pool exits and the posts supporting the distinctive lamps are made of lightly veined Vermont marble. The statues around the pool are modern copies of Greek and Roman originals made for Hearst in Italy. The pool is directly below a number of tennis courts with glass panels set into them that light the pool from above. One of the guards told me that architect Julia Morgan advised Hearst not to proceed with such a plan as it would surely leak and damage the ceiling, which it has. It remains a very special space nevertheless.

Birds I'm Watching: Carmel, Monterey, San Simeon (December 29, 2011-January 1, 2012)

On a short trip at year-end, showing around friends visiting from Japan, I went to Carmel, Monterey, and San Simeon, going to the Hearst Castle for the first time in many years.

I got up early to do a little bird watching each morning. I enjoyed seeing Heermann's Gulls at all three locations, in both breeding and non-breeding plumage. These are birds that have already left our area (Sonoma County) for the year and that rarely show up there in breeding plumage with their snowy white heads, scarlet bills, charcoal backs, and jet black legs. These are among the most beautiful of the gulls.

At the Best Western Hotel a few miles from San Simeon, I took an early walk on the beach and was rewarded with one of those memorable birding moments: At one point I could see two Wrentits, a Song Sparrow, a Lincoln's Sparrow, a Hermit Thrush, a Snowy Egret, a Spotted Sandpiper, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Say's Phoebe, and a Black Phoebe without turning my head. The Say's Phoebe posed for me (left). Other birds I saw included Least Sandpipers, Marbled Godwits, a lone Black-bellied Plover, the Heermann's Gulls, American Crow, and American Pipit. One strange sight was numerous Great Egrets apparently standing on the water, well offshore. They were actually standing on kelp mats, hunting for fish. I've never seen Great Egrets out at sea before.

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

Found Art: San Francisco Show Window (January 2, 2012)

I was in San Francisco on New Year's Eve. Oddly, Union Square was completely closed off and nothing was going on. I enjoyed looking at some of the store windows, though. I particularly liked this one. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Tidbits: RIP--Helen Frankenthaler (December 27, 2011)

I saw today that artist Helen Frankenthaler died yesterday. I always liked her work. In the lobby of the Winters National Bank, in Dayton, Ohio, there used to be a very large weaving based on one of her paintings that I always liked very much (this would have been back in the 1970s, when I was in high school, or younger). I wonder if it's still there? I wonder if Winters National Bank still exists? Funny the way the Internet has changed the weight of such musings. There's no longer any need to wonder about much of anything, is there? If I really want to know, I can just Google it....*

Frankenthaler was known for the style that came to be called "color field painting"--using large washes of color, sometimes poured directly on bare canvas. I wonder how those paintings have held up--physically, I mean. I wonder if the paint and thinner has damaged the unprimed canvas over the years? Reminds me of one of Kurt Vonnegut's books--Bluebeard. Anyway, tonight I will raise a glass to Ms. Frankenthaler. RIP.

*And so I did. It seems Winters National Bank is now part of JPMorgan Chase. I learned a few other things. I had known that the bank was associated with the family of comedian Jonathan Winters, who was from the Dayton area. I didn't know that Winters studied cartooning at the Dayton Art Institute. Hmmm.... Now you know, too.

Wines I'm Making: Bottled the 2011 Sangiovese Rosé (December 23, 2011)

Between bouts of late Christmas shopping and food shopping yesterday I found the time to bottle the 2011 Sangiovese rosé from our backyard grapes. I'm quite pleased. It's come out a nice medium-deep orange-pink and, based on some quick sampling while siphoning, it has good flavors and length. It will be a big improvement from last year's thin wine, made from grapes that just never ripened fully--even if it's not as good as the excellent (as good as any rosé I've ever tasted, if I say so myself) rosé I made in 2009. Just in time to open the first bottle tonight, on Christmas Eve, with friends and family. Now I need to design a label....

Miscellaneous: New Cocktail (December 21, 2011)

Cocktails have never been my thing, really. I've always been a wine drinker, but recently I've become curious and done a little research (the seed was planted several years ago when, driving on a whim across the country, I spent two nights at the ancestral Ohio farm of a college associate. He made us martinis on the porch. Then, this summer, I met up with my first college roommate for the first time in decades, in Seattle. He introduced me to the Zig-Zag Café and the wonderful and mysterious concoctions made there).

So far, a classic Manhattan is my favorite mixed drink, although I can appreciate a classic Martini as well (sorry, Mr. Bond--stirred, not shaken--and made using a good, distinctively flavored domestic gin--about one part gin to 1/2 part dry vermouth--none of that silly I'm-so-manly-I-need-no-vermouth routine; if you want straight gin, don't call it a Martini). When I say a "classic Manhattan," I mean a Manhattan made with rye (not bourbon), red vermouth, and Angostura bitters--nothing else--garnished with a real Marasca cherry (expensive, but tasty--the cherries, that is).

There are so many cocktails, though.... It becomes fascinating (and daunting) rather quickly. I wish I weren't such a lightweight. My experimenting is, of necessity, going at a measured pace. Tonight, trying a little alchemy, though, I hit upon a combination I rather liked. Try this: I call it a "Fertile Eve" (Eve because of the Calvados and apple connection, fertile because of the Grenadine, derived from pomegranates, traditionally considered a symbol of fertility).

Fertile Eve (by Colin Talcroft)
1.5 oz Calvados
3/4 oz Red Vermouth
1/2 teaspoon Grenadine
2 dashes Angostura Orange Bitters
Juice of a quarter lemon

Place ingredients in an ice-filled mixing glass. Stir well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon slice (squeeze the juice into the drink and drop the slice in the glass). You can adjust the sweetness of this drink. If it's too sweet for your taste made according to the recipe, use a little less Grenadine, a little more Calvados, and a add a little more lemon juice.

Try it. You might like it.

Wines I'm Drinking: 2007 Albino Armani "Incontro" Soave

Tonight I tasted the 2007 Albino Armani "Incontro" Soave. I'm a fan of Soave. It's among my favorite Italian wines--when it's at its best--but the quality of Soave is highly variable. Sadly, most US consumers seem to know only the least interesting types.

The traditional growing zone, near Verona, in northern Italy, gets the designation "Soave Classico." "Soave Superiore" wines are theoretically better still. Areas around the Classico zone (not necessarily of the highest quality) were allowed to use the name "Soave" starting in 1968. Then, in the late 1980s, the rules for Soave were modified to allow the grape mix to be up to 30% Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, or Trebbiano di Soave (the traditional Soave grape is Garganega). The expansion of the Soave zone and the changes in the rules seem to have caused Soave to polarize into the more common, simple, mass-produced wines usually made from overcropped Garganega delivered to local cooperatives on the one hand, and wines made in the Classico zone (or outside it) from carefully tended, low-yield Garganega vineyards, often with additions of other grapes. Anselmi, Gini,  and Inama are among my favorite producers in the latter category. There are surely many more that I've not yet had the opportunity to taste. This maker, Albino Armani, was new to me. Although this is not Soave Classico or Superiore, it has presence and it's significantly more interesting than the (ridiculously) low Grocery Outlet price would suggest. This wine in fresher vintages seems to retail at around $18. Tasting notes follow.

A very pretty, medium straw color with a hint of green in it. Hawthorne flowers, wood, and apples, on the nose--or is it pears?. Good concentration on the palate--not at all in the light, throw-away style of poorly made Soave. Delicate at first but with a wave of mid-palate fruity sweetness and a mild bite after the sweetness, followed by a hint of sweetness again. The wine then lingers long on the tongue with slightly bitter, woody hints that I liked very much. A bit low in acidity (most likely a trifle tired because of storage issues--the Grocery Outlet effect) but still in decent condition. As I say, I'd like this better if it were a bit crisper, but it's still quite enjoyable and a true bargain at only $2.99 a bottle at Grocery Outlet in Santa Rosa. If you buy this, however, don't sit on it; drink it up over the holidays. A good aperitif wine. Paired well with Miyagi oysters and, after dinner, a soft goat cheese.

Rain: First Rain Since Thanksgiving (December 15, 2011)

Last night we had a little rain finally--although not enough. We got about 0.3 inches. It was the firs rain since around Thanksgiving. It brings our total for the 2011-2012 rainy season to 5.05 inches, which is well below average. Average for this day in Santa Rosa is 9.7 inches.

Music I'm Listening to: The San Francisco Symphony with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Leila Josefowicz

I attended the Thursday, December 8 performance of the San Francisco Symphony with guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and soloist Leila Josefowicz. The program opened with Pohjola's Daughter, by Sibelius, followed by Violin Concerto, by conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen himself. After intermission, soprano Christene Brewer joined the symphony in excerpts from Wagner's Götterdämmerung. I enjoyed the Sibelius and even liked the Wagner, but the main reason I wanted to attend this concert was to hear the Violin Concerto and see Salonen conduct, particularly as he was conducting a composition of his own--and what a thrilling performance it was. Salonen is dynamic on the podium, using broad gestures with both hands to communicate.

It would be difficult to try to describe something so complex as Salonen's Violin Concerto in detail, but I can start by saying how impressed I was that Josefowicz played it from memory. The more abstract music becomes and the less dependent on devices such as themes and variations and development of themes, the more difficult it must be to remember. They say muscle memory takes over, but the feat of recall involved here was nearly as impressive as Josefowicz's playing, which was impressive indeed.

The Violin Concerto opens with the soloist unaccompanied and it starts as if already in progress. The intensity is high from the get-go and the music feels relentless until the more pensive middle sections. Josefowicz played the early portions with a look of fierce determination on her face, at times seeming possessed, at other times looking somewhat more relaxed--even smiling--but there was a palpable tension even in the quietest passages. Particularly interesting was the use of a very rich percussion session that included numerous gongs and much else that was hard to see seated in the concert hall.

The music seemed highly original--modern without being modern in the sense of being stylistically linked to what we think of as modern music when the word "modern" brings the early 20th century to mind. Surely this music has antecedents. Some sections reminded me of Khatchaturian's violin concerto. Some sections had the portentous feel of a dramatic film score. Some sections put me in mind of Shostakovich. In the later movements, there are passages that introduce the feel of pop music. Yet, the overall impression was of music new and different.When I hear stories about Mahler conducting early performances of his own symphonies or of Beethoven premiering a new piano concerto, I wish I could have been present. What's more exciting than the thought of being in the presence of genius as it presents new ideas to the world? I had the feeling that I witnessed a bit of history on Thursday--that I was present at the sort of performance that will be talked about in the future by people looking back, wishing they'd been able to see Salonen himself at the podium conducting his own compositions. The music seemed like a cantilevered beam reaching into the future, even if it's too soon to know exactly what might lie beyond the reach of that beam--what it might be creating a bridge to. This was one of the best concerts I've attended in a long time.

Doing a little research, I see that Salonen's Violin Concerto had its premiere in April 2009, with Josefowicz as the soloist, and that it was written for her. I won't be surprised to see it enter the standard violin repertoire; it's likely to be played for many, many years to come. I was also able to confirm that Josefowicz is about four months pregnant, as she appeared to be--what it must sound like to the baby in there....

Photo of Esa-Pekka Salonen by Sonja Werner. Photo of Leila Josefowicz by Henry Fair. Photos Courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony.

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.

Found Art: Drain Cover and Green and White Paint (December 6, 2011)

Walking along a street in Healdsburg recently, I came across this little composition. I love the splash of green paint on the iron drain cover, the splash of white paint on the sidewalk beside it. Found art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Birds I'm Watching: Lake Ralphine (December 3, 2011)

I took a walk around Lake Ralphine this morning--around the lake at the water's edge and then along the ridge trail that connects the lake with Spring Lake. There were a couple of unusual birds. I saw my first Varied Thrush in about four years. There was a nice Fox Sparrow on one of the trails. There was a Horned Grebe on the water, which is very unusual at this location--the Horned Grebes usually stay out at the coast. Among the gulls (mostly Ring-billed Gulls and California Gulls) there were four Mew Gulls, which don't usually show up at Lake Ralphine. One is pictured above.

For more information about Lake Ralphine and bird watching in Sonoma County generally, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Malolactic Fermentation Finished (November 29, 2011)

Today I racked and sulfited (to 55ppm) our 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. The wine was undergoing malolactic fermentation, which may or may not have gone to completion after three weeks. The only way to know for sure would be to do a paper chromatography test, which I may get around to eventually. I decided to go ahead and rack the wine despite the uncertainty because it was beginning to get a hydrogen sulfide smell, and all the books recommend getting the wine off the lees sooner rather than later if that happens (separation from the lees and aeration usually solves the problem). So, to be safe, I did. In the photo above, you can see the pink layer of dead yeast and other solid matter that had settled to the bottom of the container. Now the wine is mostly free of sediment. Tomorrow I will add oak staves, and then all that remains to be done is to wait for a couple of months until it's time to rack the wine off any new sediment that forms. Tasting the wine today, it seemed a little low in acidity, which may need some adjusting.

[Update: On December 2 I treated the wine with 5ml of 1 copper sulfate solution, as advised by the people at The Beverage People, our local winemaking supply store. Copper sulfate reacts with the sulfur compounds that create the smell I was noticing to produce copper sulfide, which is insoluble in wine. It drops to the bottom of the container where it can be left behind by another racking, which I'll take care of in the next day or two. After that, I will add yeast hulls, which absorb any residual copper--although there should be very little and the initial dose was just under the legal limit--not that that matters; I don't sell my wine, but I'm assuming the legal limit is based on safety factors. After about two weeks with the yeast hulls in, I'll rack again. The copper treatment works wonders. In about five minutes, the hydrogen sulfide smell was entirely gone.]

Food I'm Eating: The Farmhouse Inn, Santa Rosa (November 26, 2011)

My son went to a friend's house today and ended up getting invited to stay the night. It seemed like a sudden opportunity for a rare night out for good food and wine with my wife. I called Terrapin Creek Café, in Bodega Bay, a restaurant I've enjoyed several times in the past, but no reservations were available--probably the result of its recent gaining of a Michelin star. I decided to try the Farmhouse Inn, another Michelin-starred restaurant in the area (technically, in Forestville), and was offered a table that someone had just cancelled. I've been to the Farmhouse Inn only once before--about eight years ago--and it was wonderful. I had high expectations. I decided to take along an old bottle of Burgundy from my cellar, a 1986 Vosne Romanée 1er Cru "Les Suchots" from Moillard.

I have to say I was disappointed. The meal generally was good. The service was good. But the food really should have been great--it should have been the sort of meal that keeps you saying "Wow!" to yourself as you eat. Isn't that what Michelin stars (and the prices that go with them) are all about? As it turned out, fairly ordinary appetizers and main courses--neither served quite as warm as I would have liked--were book-ended by what turned out to be the highlights of the meal--the amuse-gueule and the desserts. The former was a tiny cup of frothed "soup" made from jerusalem artichokes that had a wonderful earthiness enhanced by smoky bacon flavors. It was served with mushroom paste-garnished crostini. The desserts were wonderful, particularly a pumpkin cheesecake that somehow managed to taste like cheesecake and a good pumpkin pie at the same time. The coffee was excellent.

The wine, although 25 years old, was fresh and delicious--classic Burgundy. Wonderfully fragrant, it suggested violets, cumin, and celery seed, and it was nicely balanced on the palate between fruity sweetness and smooth, mature tannins. I will say that the wine server did an admirable job decanting the wine, which must have been challenging because the drive to the restaurant stirred up a deposit in the bottom of the bottle that had formed over decades. I bought the wine in Tokyo, probably around 1990.

We had the Grilled Mediterranean Octopus and House-smoked Duck Breast Salad for appetizers, the Roasted Breast of Guinea Hen and Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit for main dishes. The Octopus was tender and nicely seasoned, and I enjoyed the accents provided by tiny chunks of chorizo and the olive tapenade spread under the meat, but the duck salad was very disappointing. The duck slices were tiny and not very flavorful. The salad was mostly a pile of the same sort of greens I can pick any day from my own garden (frisée, arugula, and mizuna). The greens were fresh and in no way bad--but as a whole, the salad struck me as uninspired and uninspiring and somewhat skimpy (and I stress that I'm not a big eater).

The rabbit is called Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit because it's a trio of rabbit dishes in one--rabbit loin wrapped in bacon; a roasted, Frenched rib rack (looking like a miniature rack of lamb); and rabbit leg confit in a mustard sauce. The loin seemed the most successful of the three--the meat was tender and infused with bacon flavors--but the tiny ribs, although fun, were not very flavorful. The leg confit was mostly interesting for the whole-grain mustard sauce that was on it. The meat, however, seemed lacking in character. It had a washed-out flavor that reminded me of the disappointment of oysters shucked and washed so carefully that all the scent and flavor of the ocean is gone from them. The meat tasted somehow sanitized (although I don't mean to suggest anything unwholesome). The food was simply not as good as it seems it should have been given the prices and the reputation of The Farmhouse Inn. Game should be gamey. This was not. I felt much the same way about the guinea hen. Good enough, but not exciting.

Finally, I have to say that $35 for corkage is well over the line between reasonable and excessive.

Rain: 1.15 inches around Thanksgiving (November 24, 2011)

Overnight on the 23rd and into Thanksgiving Day we got another 1.15 inches of rain. That brings our 2011-2012 total to 4.75 inches. As 6.08 inches is normal for this day of the year (November 25), we're somewhat behind, and no rain is in the forecast for the next few days.

Wines I'm Making: Sangiovese Rosé Finished Fermenting (November 20, 2011)

Tiny bubbles continue to rise from the fermenting Sangiovese rosé, but a quick hydrometer test showed the specific gravity at 0.992, which indicates the fermentation is over (after a very long 26 days). I racked the wine off the lees today and sulfited it very lightly, using two Campden tablets in the three-gallon carboy, which should put it at about 43ppm. Now all that's left to do is wait a little longer for the wine to completely clear. I'll keep it in the garage now, where it's cool. In the past, a fine layer of tartaric acid crystals has always formed over whatever yeast was left at the bottom of the container, which makes the final racking a breeze (with all the remaining loose matter encapsulated under the crystals). It'll be ready to check again in a couple of weeks. So far, so good. Time to start thinking about a new label design.

Rain: 0.15 inches Overnight (November 18-19, 2011)

We had a little rain overnight last night (0.15 inches). Today, the 19th was cold but clear--although by early evening it was raining again. Last night's rain brings our 2011-2012 total to 3.1 inches, a little behind normal rainfall for this time of year, but we'll see where we are tomorrow.

[Update: We got another half inch last night (the night of the 19th). That brings the total to 3.6 inches. Average rainfall in Santa Rosa for November 20 is more than five inches, so we are well below normal at the moment.]

Wines I'm Drinking: Pedroncelli 2010 Dry Creek Valley Dry Rosé of Zinfandel

Rosé of Zinfandel? If those words bring "White Zinfandel" to mind and make you cringe, you're probably not alone, but that's an unfortunate effect of the huge commercial success in the 1980s--mostly among unsophisticated wine drinkers--of White Zinfandel, a wine that was usually blandly flavored and cloyingly sweet, and thus a travesty of Zinfandel. From a marketing perspective, it was a stroke of genius, however: it provided an outlet for large quantities of (red) Zinfandel grapes in the US, where demand at the time was mostly for white wines. But relax: White Zinfandel has largely disappeared from the shelves, and few seem to lament its demise.

Setting aside the White Zinfandel association, why not rosé of Zinfandel? Any good red grape ought to make a good dry rosé, and I've often wondered why we don't see more dry rosé wines from Zinfandel or from Cabernet or many other grapes. I suppose, the answer is purely one of economics. No commercial winery will make such wines if they believe they won't sell, and few Americans appreciate rosé. No winery will use grapes to make rosé if they know a fully red wine from the same grapes will sell better and at a higher price. So, I was pleasantly surprised to see this wine. I decided to try it because the label emphatically calls it a "Dry Rosé of Zinfandel." A dry Zinfandel rosé is a fairly rare beast.Tasting notes follow.  

A pretty pink--somewhere between coral and watermelon with something of the scent of strawberries and suggestions of honey or honeysuckle on the nose. Unfortunately, this is not bone dry. To my palate, it's sweet (although it's not White Zinfandel). The sweetness is moderate and offset by decent acidity, and there's even a hint of tannic bite. The fruit flavors suggest very ripe strawberries rather than the dark, brambly flavors I usually associate with Zinfandel. Moderate length on the palate.

I suspect I'd have liked this if it had been truly dry. It's got just enough sweetness that it tires the palate quickly, however, and I find it hard to think what food it might go with--spicy foods or garlic-laden foods, perhaps? Probably best on its own as a sipping wine. This may appeal to some, but I'd call it fruity, uncomplicated, and easy to drink, but with no attributes to give it any special interest, and I won't be buying it again. $9.49 at Oliver's Market, in Santa Rosa.

Wines I'm Making: Sangiovese Rosé Still Fermenting--Day 19 (November 13, 2011)

We picked our Sangiovese grapes on October 24, 2011 and I pressed them the following day. The juice has been fermenting--very slowly--since the 25th. Today is day 19 and tiny bubbles are still rising in the carboy. The main activity is finished, though. CO2 is no longer keeping the spent yeast and other solids suspended, so the wine has mostly cleared and the true color is becoming apparent. I transferred the new wine to a smaller (3 gal.) container on the 11th to minimize air contact. In the next day or two it'll be time to rack it off the remaining lees and lightly sulfite it. Normally there's time for two rackings to completely clear the wine before Thanksgiving, but this year we picked so late that we'll probably have to wait until around Christmas for new rosé.

Birds I'm Watching: Spring Lake (November 12, 2011)

I've been very busy with work the past few days and have had little time to write anything. Sitting at a computer all day gets tedious rather quickly--but work is work.

Yesterday, feeling the need for a break and some exercise, I took a brisk walk around Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, which is just down the road from me. I didn't see anything unusual, but got to watch this very pretty Townsend's Warbler picking insects out of the willows along the shore. Below is an inquisitive Ruby-crowned Kinglet that was with the warbler, along with Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Bushtits.

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

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Cabernet Bottled/2011 Cabernet Pressed

Yesterday (November 7) I put capsules and labels on the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc wine I bottled yesterday. The day before, I pressed the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc and transferred it to glass carboys. Yesterday, Monday, I inoculated the new wine with malolactic bacteria to start the malolactic fermentation. Malolactic fermentation converts malic to lactic acid, a routine procedure in making red wines. Malolactic fermentation is a bacterial fermentation that requires a little more warmth than the yeast-based primary fermentation. So, the carboys are wrapped in blankets in the living room with a small electric blanket between them to keep the temperature up. Malolactic fermentation is somewhat mysterious. It can take anywhere from three weeks to two months and it doesn't always show outward signs. The only way to really know what's going on is to do a paper chromatography test that shows the levels of tartaric, malic, and lactic acid in the wine. Sometimes tiny bubbles form at the top of the wine, indicating that some sort of activity is going on, but not always. I tend to take it on faith that the process is under way, but I'll be looking for signs the next couple of days.

The Sangiovese rosé fermentation is just about finished. I'll need to rack that wine off the gross lees soon--probably tomorrow. The wine is beginning to clear. Less carbon dioxide production means the suspended material is beginning to fall out of the wine. I think we'll end up with a very pretty pink. The harvest was so late this year, though, that I don't think the wine will be ready by Thanksgiving, as it usually is. We'll have some for Christmas though.

The 2010 Cabernet is finished now. I put the back labels on today. I'm pleased with the labels I designed for both the front and rear of the bottle. I decided red capsules would look best with the deep red of the front label. The capsules are on. The wine is ready to drink. The samples I tried while bottling and with dinner after bottling was done suggest the wine is good despite the cool summer last year. It seems a little soft compared with other years, which suggests it may not age as well as other vintages, but only time will tell.

Books I'm Reading: The Bird (November 7, 2011)

I've just finished Colin Tudge's  The Bird (Crown, 2008). The full title gives a little of the book's flavor--The Bird: A Natural History of Who Birds Are, Where They Came from, and How They Live. I imagine Mr. Tudge is an interesting man to talk with--about virtually any subject. Evidence of deep curiosity and subtle thinking is on every page of the book. I have no doubt that millions of people ask themselves from time to time things like "How do birds fly?" or "Are birds really dinosaurs?" or "Why don't woodpeckers get headaches?" Mr. Tudge has considered questions such as these, and many, many more, and he offers answers.

Having not long ago read this author's book The Tree (Crown, 2006), I had an idea of what to expect. The books are organized in the same way. Following a discussion of how birds are believed to have evolved (and, yes, birds do appear to be the descendants of a particular group of dinosaurs), Tudge lays out the entire world of birds as they survive today. Much of the book is a catalog of all the birds in the world, family by family, with discussions of where the birds in each family live, how they relate to each other within groups, and how the various families interrelate. While some families are very small--the peculiar remnants of once much larger groups, many are very broad and astonishingly diverse, with members finding their way into nearly all ecological niches available. It's impressive to see how frequently animals (in this case birds) have evolved independently along similar lines.

Tudge points out many examples of convergent evolution--for example, the case of swifts and swallows, which are not at all closely related. Swallows are passerines, or perching birds, with feet adapted to automatically cling to what they alight on--a twig or a wire fence--with a long back toe and a locking mechanism that allows them to hold on without using their muscles (one reason passerines don't fall out of trees at night when they roost). The swifts (family Apodidae) can barely perch at all (the root of the family name means "footless"). They roost by clinging to rocks, trees or buildings, and one or two species of swift spend almost their entire lives in the air. Yet, swifts and swallows have the same sickle-shaped wings, similar forked tails for maneuverability, and their feeding strategies are virtually identical--they hunt for insects at high speed on the wing.

The latter part of the book is more expansive, covering topics such as: how birds eat (and there are many strategies and adaptations for each strategy); the endlessly fascinating phenomenon of migration, with much attention to what makes arduous and dangerous journeys worth the effort; the sex lives of birds; the social relationships of birds; and the intelligence and modes of thinking of birds. On this last subject, the feats of memory of the Clark's Nutcracker and the Western Scrub-jay (both birds that cache food in the autumn for winter use) are particularly impressive--Clark's Nutcracker can hide and remember the hiding places of thousands of seeds each season. The final, somewhat melancholy chapter touches on the relationship between birds and humans and what the future is likely to hold for the birds of the world. There is much to lament. Many species are in rapid decline. He emphasizes that much more and better science is needed and that awareness built on good science will be essential to helping birds survive. Tudge ends on an only slightly hopeful note in an epilogue called "A Matter of Attitude," pointing out that attitudes about birds (and about animals and conservation in general), have long been dismally unappreciative. However, he believes that approaches are beginning to change, at least in some quarters, with scientists and others seeing birds as more intelligent, more socially complex, more thoughtful creatures than in the past. Let us hope Mr. Tudge is right, for birds are fabulously diverse and beautiful. We have lost too many already.

Found Art: Glass and Shadow (November 7, 2011)

A few weeks ago I went wine tasting in Napa with a guest from Japan. At Opus One there is a covered balcony that overlooks the vineyards. The shadows of the lattice overhead and my empty glass looked like art to me. Found Art.

For more found art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Rain: 0.6 Inches Overnight (November 5, 2011)

We had 0.6 inches of rain overnight. It was supposed to rain today (November 6) as well, but it's bright, clear, and sunny. Today I will be pressing wine and also bottling last year's wine. I was afraid I was going to have to do it in the rain. The new precipitation brings our total for the 2011-2012 season to 2.9 inches. That's slightly below the average for November 6 (3.23 inches). Average annual rainfall in Santa Rosa is 31.91 inches.

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.

Birds I'm Watching: Lake Ralphine, Santa Rosa (October 31, 2011)

I took a quick walk around Lake Ralphine today, in Santa Rosa's Howarth Park. The winter ducks haven't arrived yet, although there were about 100 Coots on the water. I watched a Belted Kingfisher dive for fish and got to see a pretty Townsend's Warbler, but the highlight was this handsome Great Blue Heron fixated enough on his fishing to let me get rather close.

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

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Wines

Our Sangiovese rosé is now in its fifth day of fermentation. The container is fizzing lightly and a great deal of the deep color present initially has already disappeared to leave behind a pretty pink. The color of the finished wine won't be apparent for another week or two, but so far it looks good. The fermentation is proceeding slowly (by design). I expect it to last another seven or eight days at least.

The Cabernet Sauvignon/Franc is also undergoing fermentation, soon to enter its third day. I added the yeast on the morning of Friday, the 28th. I'm punching down the cap of skins that rises on the surface four times a day, as I usually do. The liquid is a deep, inky purple. As I did a four-day soak before adding yeast, the skins have been giving up color for nearly a week. Fermentation will probably last another eight days or so. The 2011 wines are moving along nicely.

 

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Sangiovese Pressed and Inoculated

Yesterday at around noon I pressed the Sangiovese grapes  we picked and crushed the day before. The grapes were crushed at around 5:00PM, which means the juice was on the skins for about 19 hours. That yielded rather more color than the same amount of time has in the past, probably because the berries this year were much further along toward full ripeness than they ever have been. I hope the wine doesn't come out too deeply colored--but it's early. Some of the pigment in the liquid will fall out during fermentation.

I inoculated the must shortly after pressing, using the Epernay II yeast. This morning the yeast was not very active, probably because it was cold in the garage overnight, but moving the container into the darkroom and then later in the day into the living room, the usual foam is beginning to develop on the surface of the liquid and the airlock has begun to bubble. The trick will be to keep the fermentation going without letting it become too vigorous. A fermentation of about 10-12 days should be about right. Last year it took 14 days. In the first couple of years I made rosé, I didn't understand that a fast fermentation can allow a lot of good flavor and aroma components to escape, and I let things move too quickly. At the extreme short end, one fermentation went to completion in about four days--which is too fast. So far, everything is going smoothly this year. The Cabernet is pressed and in its second day soaking. I like to give the Cabernet a pre-soak of about four days before inoculating, as that seems to result in better color and more flavor extraction.

At left is a photo of our 2010 Sangiovese Rosé--I finally got around to designing a label and getting it on the wine, although there are now only 11 eleven bottles of it left. It was a very light, pale wine (the deep red-orange carpet behind the bottles in the photograph make it look much deeper in color than it actually is). It's pleasant but doesn't have the depth of the 2009, which is the best I've made so far. I have one bottle of the 2009 left. It needs to be consumed, but I hate to see the last of it disappear....

Wines I'm Making: Harvest 2011

I decided today was the day to pick our grapes. The somewhat warmer weather of the past few days seemed to be doing little to raise sugar levels and I was beginning to see signs of mildew in a few clusters, so there seemed little reason to wait further. It was a small harvest--having lost a great deal to animals this year. We picked 20kg of Sangiovese, or 44lbs and 43kg of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, or 94.6lbs. This is the latest we've ever picked. I waited in the hopes of getting the sugars up, but it just wasn't warm enough. The unfortunate timing of the rain we had in October complicated things. Some berries swelled with water and split, allowing mold to begin to form. All in all, the grapes look pretty healthy, but mold can take hold very quickly if left unchecked, so better to get the fruit in.

After crushing and de-stemming the grapes, we ended up with 4.75 gallons of Sangiovese must, which I sulfited lightly with three Campden tablets to add about 41ppm of sulfite. The must tested at 20.7 Brix by refractometer and a specific gravity of 1.084 by hydrometer. The pH tested at 3.35. pH squared times Brix equals 232--not at all bad for making a rosé. I took the measurements at 63 degrees F, so I didn't bother to adjust the hydrometer reading for temperature (according to my books, hydrometers are usually calibrated at 59 degrees F, or 15 degrees C).

We got about 10.5 gallons of Cabernet must, which I sulfited lightly with seven Campden tablets (about 43ppm). The must tested at 22.6 Brix by refractometer--somewhat lower than I was hoping for, but respectable, and at a specific gravity of 1.094 by hydrometer. The pH was 3.42. pH squared times Brix yielded 263, which is right about where it ought to be.

I will press the Sangiovese already late tomorrow morning, after about 18 hours on the skins, which has seemed about right in the past. I will then inoculate the pressed juice with yeast and set it aside in a chilly place (either in the garage or outside) for a cool, slow fermentation. The Cabernet will get a soak for a day or two or three before inoculation. And so our 2011 wines start their journey.