Winemaker's Musings
30 March 2010
Has spring sprung or what? Our vineyard is nearly a month ahead of where is was last year at this time. After this past Winter I was worried about another extended cool spring and cool summer! Nearly all the vines have some growth. From bud swell to 4 inches of growth. That does make it a bit tricky if Mother Nature decides to give us a late freeze. Keep your fingers crossed, we are committed now!
Construction on the new wing is under full swing with concrete being poured now. The new wing will have more square footage than the original winery. It will have additional wine storage space as well an extension of the party room, a nicely finished board meeting room, office space, walk-in cooler, automated bottling line, and storage space for the tasting room.
From the Cellar!
Yowza. Just went in and sampled this past years vintage from the barrels. I will be honest. I have been sweating this one as last years growing season was one of the worst on record. It made me work my #$@$ in the winery. But, we have some very nice wine coming out of the cellar. The DeChaunac is coming along very nicely. The Chambourcin, although lighter in color, has more tannin and great mid palate. The Syrah has much better presentation and mid palate than the first vintage, although with some green tannin lurking in the background I suspect we will have to age it for some time before release. In the end it will be a very fine wine.
That’s all for now. Hope to see of you out here for the music events!
Cheers,
Jim
March 7 2010
I apologize for the long delay. Was getting requalified in my "other profession" as a major airline captain. Our barrel tasting last month went very well. The dry wines in the barrels have more acidity due to the cooler growing season in 2009. I suspect it may be difficult for us to make our dry DeChaunac and Chambourcin Reserve as there may be too much acidity for a dry wine. The Syrah has fairly intense tannins and will probably require mare aging for this its second vintage.
A new wine, Sunset Red was recently released. Imagine a sweeter version of Dragon's Red on steroids Just returned from the Nebraska Wine and Grape Growers annual forum in Kearney. Once again one of our wines, the dry DeChaunac, was chosen and served ! I'll try to make my next update sooner.
Cheers,
Jim
October 26. 2009
Did not get home until 1:30 AM Saturday night after a tough filtration of the 2009 Dragon's Red. This is all part of making wine sometimes. Very long nights, trying to finish a process off. Does not make it any easier though. Had a good crowd out on Sunday afternoon for the music. Looks like we will have to make the Party Room bigger! Expect to break ground on our newest addition within the next month.
Cheers,
Jim
October 20, 2009
We just finished pressing the last of the reds. We ferment the reds with the skins to remove the color and tannins. We then press then to get the mostly fermented wine off of the lees, skins, and seeds. So all the dry wines are happily in the barrel. And... I no longer have to go over to the winery several times a day to take of them! We are about half way through the white fermentations. Things are going well so far. We are looking at a smaller production run than last year. We will run out of some wines, but expect most to make through till next fall.
Cheers,
Jim
October 12 2009
Well it was a hard year. We just got the last of our crop in on Saturday October 10th.
Four inches of snow were on the ground after a forecast of a light dusting. But we got it in. Thanks to all the volunteers. There will be some good wine made from this year's crop, but expect all the wines to shift to slightly sweeter than they were in the past due to higher acid levels.
Expect more when I get a chance to catch my breath!
Cheers,
Jim
