“Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.”~ Louis Pasteur

2013 Petite Sirah being racked into
stainless steel tank
 

The 2013 harvest is winding down.  The Cab and Petite Sirah are sitting on the gross lees for a bit, and then we're going to rack them into their barrels and begin MLF.

We're now in the midst of our assessment of what we could have done better.  Truly, we could not have asked for a better growing season.  The Growing Division of the Rancho knocked it out of the park with the grapes that were presented to the Wine Making Division.  Okay, okay, they weren't presented, they were picked -- by us -- an astounding one ton of grapes, in mind-numbing heat of over 100 degrees.  In a word, the grapes were amazing.  Yes, we would have preferred the deer not eat 15 of our Petite Sirah vines, thus compromising them enough that the grapes got sunburned; yes, we would have preferred it to be 72 on the days we picked; yes, we wish we were still 25, but we all know the saying, "If wishes were horses .  . ." 

What would we change?  We would change a problem that has plagued us for years with the growing of the Zinfandel.  We had a theory as to what was causing this, we made changes, but it hit us again this year.  We believe we've NOW determined the correction necessary, but too late for the 2013 harvest.


Testing the 2013 Petite Sirah --
okay, and tasting it.

As this is our actual third year of wine making, there is a lot that can be honed.  This year, we began to utilize dry ice to cold soak the grape must for a couple of days, in order to extract more aromatics, color, and complexity from the wine.  We believe that was a success.  We liked the yeasts we chose.  We believe those added amazing cassis and lush, jammy flavor components.  We consider the 2013 Petite Sirah an incredible success, and if one were into wagering, one might wager that this will be the first wine the Rancho enters in a competition -- but that will be in 2015, and there are many hurdles to get this wine through first.

In the Wine Making Division, what we would change is yet another problem with the Zinfandel, which has occurred for three years and we thought had been solved -- and again, not to sound like a broken record -- we believe we have possibly hit upon a resolution to the issue, but too late for the 2013 vintage.  Is it ruined?  Not at all.  It can be aged and blended into something wonderful, but it will not be a contender in a competition.  The numerous and repeated failures with the Zinfandel, aside from driving this author to lunacy, also drove the vintner to pour over every record, every lab test, and every note of every Zinfandel ever grown on the ranch.  There was a big "A-ha" moment, but the true test of the theory is whether the problem is eliminated in 2014.

I'm sure Louis Pasteur felt like this when he made his great strides in medicine -- except I'm only trying to create that one incredibly memorable glass of wine, not save the world.  Is that too much to ask?

There are many more changes we will add to the arsenal each year, integrate them in slowly, record the changes and keep it up until we get every single one of the wines right.  We continue to drink our 2010 Cabernet and have noted the changes in the bottle as we look to begin the process of bottling the 2011 wines.


 
In 2011, we really should not have picked the Petite Sirah, it was only in its second leaf, but we could not resist, and we have five gallons of it to either bottle alone or to blend with the Cabernet and Zinfandel.  More decisions.  To show how much it has grown in two years, this year, after dropping a good portion of the fruit mid-season and losing the leaves on about 15 vines, we produced          50 gallons of Petite Sirah, which filled the stainless steel tank in the photo on the left.  Look for our best wines, thus far, in 2015.

Once all the wines are in the barrel, estimated by mid-October, and on their way through secondary fermentation, we turn our attention to the olive harvest.  They have all begun their color change, now, which means that harvest is not far off.  The initial heads-up calls have been placed to the critical picking crews and the mill with tentative date ranges for picking and milling.

In the meantime, I believe it is cocktail hour, and the most healthful and hygienic of beverages is calling my name.

Cheers!

The Ranch Manager