Walking the Fields

This week was a great opportunity to fill some of the small gaps that I’ve overlooked in the past about some viticulture and winemaking techniques. The two-day wine 101 course that I took at the Diageo Chateau & Estates headquarters also put a lot into perspective about the portfolio and the company that I now work for. I did a very interesting Cabernet tasting the second morning involving six wines of various brands. They were are 2005 but spread across the spectrum as far as origin and value. The stars of the show were the Provenance Oakville Cab and the Hewitt Rutherford Cab. Rutherford is known for it ‘s Cabernet and its “Dust” and George De Latour has been making fine cabs from there since the early 1900’s. Diageo owns, I believe, upwards of 30% of the land there, allowing their brands to produce a variety of great, although a bit pricey, cabs from that region. For the value ($15), I really liked the Dynamite Cab, it was a excitingly spicy cab with nice red fruit and good balance.

WINE OF THE WEEK- 2006 A by Acacia Pinot Noir, Sonoma ($17)- The afternoon session of our class was an exciting “field trip” to Acacia Vineyards. Acacia is located at the end of the North Bay and just off of Highway 12 and down the road from Domaine Carneros. It was warm, mid 80’s, with a constant breeze that whips off of the bay and cools the ground enough to keep the temperature down to grow the Chard and Pinot Noir that Acacia is famous for. The winery is located in the middle of Pinot and Chard vineyards, some Acacia, some BV, and some others. The small green Chardonnay grapes hung happily under foliage and some early verasion (color change) was occurring on random bunches. The winemaker, Matthew Glynn, walked with us and explained some of the viticulture techniques. Their vines are planed from East to West allowing max sun in the morning although the grape leaves provide a bit of shade from the scorching afternoon heat. One of the goals of Acacia is to be environmentally conscious and they attempt to use as little water as possible. Unlike some wineries, Acacia does use some machine harvesting because there are problems with late harvest heat and the fruit sometimes needs to be taken off the vine as quickly as possible. We tasted some Chard in the vineyard, I really enjoyed the 06 Winery Lake Chardonnay, grown just over the hill away from the bay, but kept cool by the nearby lake (hence the name). It was very clean and smoky, with hints of banana and a beautiful lingering aftertaste from the new French Oak barrels.

When the heat really started to beat down on us, we made our way to the winery, where we toured their facility, stopping at the crush pad (where the grapes first come) and then heading in to see their barrel room. All of their barrels are empty, SO2 gassed and waiting for the upcoming harvest. Their facility is incredibly clean, and the beautiful oak smell emanates from the predominantly French barrels. Matthew told us about their racking procedure for Chardonnay, including using nitrogen displacement instead of pumps. They do perform battonage (lees stirring) every two weeks to mix the dead yeast flavors through the wine.

We sat at tables set up under the press and Matthew started to passionately describe their Pinot. He has a perfect demeanor to produce Pinot, he is soft spoken but confident, and incredibly smart but selective with his speech to allow everyone to understand. I asked him why he chose Pinot, and he told of the difficulty of producing a wine that can draw an emotional response. “It’s not gonna knock you over the head”, he said. Surprisingly, Acacia performs native yeast fermentation, a method that is not used as often in wineries of that size. Native fermentation means that Acacia does not inoculate with foreign yeast. There is yeast on everything, our hands, the walls of a winery, and the skins of the grapes. After picking, the grapes are destemmed and set to cold soak for five days before turning the heat up and allowing the fermentation to proceed. Pinot has thin skins and low tannins, and the higher level of acid allows the wine to age, although 10 years is about the limit in California and Oregon. We tasted two Pinots at the winery. The 06 Acacia Lone Tree Estate was spicy and meaty, with bold blueberry mixing with mocha and rhubarb flavors. The 06 Carneros Pinot was delicate and composed with a floral and earthy nose of Rose and leather, and a mouthful of blackberry and cranberry.

Finally we finished up our class with some bubbly. I didn’t even know BV made bubbly! What made it even more exciting was that I had my first opportunity to saber a bottle. The teachers of the course brought a saber from the Rutherford House, and I will admit I was a bit nervous about messing this up. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. Hold the bottle at a 45-degree angle and find the bottle seam. Keep the fingers clear and run the saber up the seam at about medium speed and follow through. The top of the bottle will fly off, and then drink!

You can check out pictures from my visit HERE