Treading Syrah
In my last post I said that I was planning on doing some of the Syrah this year on stems. Yesterday Jean-Marie's guys picked the 8 bins of Syrah I expected (which came in lighter than projected, as expected). I dumped two bins directly into the wood tank and jumped in with my boots to tread it down – knock the berries off the stems and break them open. Immediately, Jennifer Marion – winemaker for Anaba, where Westwood shares production space – asked if she could jump in and help. One of her co-workers shot this cell-phone pic. Winemakers from around the complex stopped what they were doing to watch and comment. You would think we were doing something novel.
I crushed the rest of the fruit into the tank and a T-bin, then went home to sleep and try to get over this nasty cold.
Yesterday I pressed off the Pinot Noir. It is a cliche in this industry that every vintage is "the best vintage in a decade" – what else would a good marketer say? – but I really was astounded by this wine at pressing. The grapes from our Annadel Estate get better every year; it follows that the wines should, too. To be sure, the 2007 Estate Pinot had more structure at pressing, but the aromas and the fruit on the palate of the 2008 are beyond expectation.
Today I'm sampling Grenache, Mourvedre and Counoise with an eye to picking Grenache on Friday. The forecast high pressure system is in place and temps at sunrise near the vineyard are already in the 60's. We'll see if the bit of irrigation and heavy lateral thinning I had the guys do in the Grenache over the weekend have done anything to slow the rate of sugar accumulation.
Later today I will put the Pinot to barrels – best-smelling job in the winery, ever.
posted 10/22/2008 06:15:00 AM
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