Archive for September, 2011

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Harvest 2011: Everybody Must Get …

September 15, 2011

One of the things that has always impressed me about Ridge Vineyards, and particularly about the good folks who work for Ridge Vineyards, is the extent to which not only does everyone wear a great array of hats around here, but that everyone wants to!

In no realm is this more evident than when it comes to the actual practice of producing wine, and at no time of the year is this more evident than Harvest. Everyone gets into the act, and for those not directly part of the production teams, it’s a tremendous learning opportunity for all concerned.

This year, even our Regional Sales Managers (the “RSMs,” colloquially) got the chance to get their hands dirty, logging some heavy miles in the vineyards and in the winery. And mind you, these are Planes, Trains, and Automobiles folks; these are the ones constantly on the move, city to city to city, wine dinner to wine dinner to wine dinner, wine shop to wine shop to wine shop. They are, by definition, urbanites. The cities are their bread and butter, the roads and the skies their realms. They accrue miles like kids collect Tetris points. They need new tires every four months. They do not have permanent addresses. Ok, that last part isn’t true, but what is true is that they are most decidedly not farmers.

And yet, just last week, there they were, heading out into the vineyards.

And in good company too; alongside RSMs Dan Buckler, Christina Donley, and Michael Torino, were David Gates (VP of Vineyard Operations), Kyle Theriot (Monte Bello Viticulturist) and Eric Baugher (VP of Winemaking, Monte Bello); a formidable cadre of viticultural knowledge, and a great team to work beside.

David Gates runs the show in our vineyards, and he led the RSM crew on a sampling expedition, a key endeavor as we near the official beginnings of Harvest 2011.

If you’re not familiar with sampling and why it’s done, you might want to check a previous post (found here) but it’s essentially the practice of collecting grape samples from multiple locations in the vineyards, to test them for progress. The grapes are sorted into small Ziploc bags …

crushed (being done below by Regional Sales Managers Michael Torino and Dan Buckler) …

…and once turned into juice …

… tested.

Here is Regional Sales Manager Christina Donley, assessing some juice with a refractometer, a field device used to determine sugar levels (Brix) in grapes …

These RSMs came to work, and work they did; not just at Monte Bello, but also up at our Lytton Springs Estate …

and even all the way down south to Paso Robles, where they were greeted, hosted, and put to work by legendary grower and long-time Ridge partner Benito Dusi …

Eric Baugher with Benito Dusi

 
So next time you see a Ridge Vineyards wine on a shelf, or on a wine list, remember that it wasn’t a salesperson who got it placed there, it was a grape sampler!
 
 
 
(Special thanks to Heidi Nigen, our Marketing Manager, for the great pics!)

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Posted in Events & Photographs, History, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Vineyards and Oenology, Viticultural Salmagundi, Winemaking | Leave a Comment »

Harvest 2011 Notes: The Soak Out

September 14, 2011

There are only so many times the gang can mop the winery floor; something’s gotta give.

Fortunately, with the beginning of the 2011 Harvest now just an inch and a whisper away, there is in fact a great deal of vineyard activity afoot. Like sampling …

Cluster Samples at East Bench

Put most simply, sampling is pretty much what it sounds like; it involves collecting a lot of grapes from a lot of different places in the vineyards, and testing them to see how they’re developing. Sugar levels (brix) are of course of paramount importance, as are tannin levels and character, and acid levels and development. Sounds pretty straightforward, yes? Keep taking representative samples from representative blocks, and when everything looks good, tastes good, smells good, is good, you harvest. Right?

 
Not quite. There is of course a whole lot more too it than that. There are in fact a myriad of supplemental factors that have to be taken into consideration when sampling; some simple and straightforward, some mystical and mercurial. Such a mystical thing is the “Soak Out.”
 
Not familiar? Nor was I.
 
But fortunately, our winemaking team is comprised of wizards with the knowledge of the ancients, walking amongst us mortals lost in the wheel of Samsara like Bodhisattvas of a long and distant age when benevolence stalked the earth with leaf-eating dinosauric vegetarian grace.
 
One such a spirit is Muiris Griffin, assistant winemaker at our Lytton Springs Estate.
 
Explain “Soak Out,” we ask, and Muiris answers; not unlike that Gypsy fortune-teller at the long-abandoned carnival, still dispensing wisdoms for the occasional shadow-stalking mendicant who braves the creaking relics with a quarter deep in pocket …
 
Explain “Soak Out,” we ask, and Muiris answers …
 
“Variability in ripeness can be huge with Zinfandel, between vines in a block, clusters on a given vine, and even individual berries on the same cluster. This makes judging ripeness very difficult. To accurately gauge sugar content, we take much larger berry samples from each block than would producers of other varieties. Zinfandel also has a tendency to “soak out” to a higher degree brix (sugar content) than even the larger berry samples indicate. Your berry samples may be reading 24 or 25 degrees brix, but when the block is harvested and crushed to tank, the must can soak out to as much as 2 or 3 degrees brix higher overnight. So a block that is harvested at what we think is 25 degrees brix, with a moderate potential alcohol of about 14.3%, could soak out to 27 or 28 degrees brix, giving a screaming potential alcohol of around 16%. In order to avoid such surprises, we will frequently take large samples of whole clusters from a given block, crush them, and allow them to soak out overnight before running analysis. This is especially important in blocks or vineyards where sugar content can be slightly high. This gives us a more accurate look at the block so that we can harvest at the right moment and maintain moderate alcohol levels.”
 
What’s wonderful about winemaking at Ridge Vineyards, is that The Ol’ Gray Mare both is, and ain’t, what she used to be …
 
 
 
(Thanks to Muiris for his detailed and insightful commentary, and to Will Thomas, Viticulturist at Lytton Springs, for his wonderful vineyard image.)
 

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Posted in Lytton Springs, Varietals & Blends, Vineyards and Oenology, Winemaking, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

What’s Up, Lunch?

September 12, 2011

One of the really nice things about working for a really good producer of wine is … well …  the wine.

Which means that lunch is a particularly nice time of day at work. Because it affords one a really nice and excellent opportunity to taste wine with food; a near  moral imperative for those in this business.

Now, as I am particularly fond of, shall we say, rather more unorthodox wine pairings, it occurred to me that there was a new blog series in here somewhere, and I believe I’ve found it.

I launch it today:

What’s Up, Lunch?

The idea is this, every time I have something somewhat “interesting” for lunch, I’ll pour two Ridge wines as possible companions, to see which, if either, is the best pairing. I’ll then report my findings to you.

I began today’s debut episode with quite the oeno-culinary challenge (at least for red wine): Punjab Choley, a spicy tomato-and-chick pea Indian curry, served over short-grain brown rice. Our wine companions? Two of the new Fall Release Zinfandels, the 2009 Lytton Springs, and the 2009 Pagani Ranch.

Going into it, my money was on the Pagani. The inherently idiosyncratic spiciness of this singular old-vine field blend would seem rather perfect for a dish of this kind, but oddly enough, while the spices instantly co-mingled in rather rapturous fashion, the plumply decadent fruit seemed somehow left out; sort of a romantic third wheel, one friend of three still trying to concentrate on the movie while much necking ensues on the couch betwixt the other two.

Conversely, while with the Lytton Springs the spices didn’t necessarily entwine themselves in quite as erotic a fashion, they certainly and decidedly co-mingled, and unlike with the Pagani, everyone was invited this time. Tannins, acid, fruit, all got involved, and the end result was quite universally satisfying. And while the Lytton’s 14.5% ABV is not tame per se, the heat of the curry drew no heat from the alcohol; rather, all was in balance, all was in harmony. No one knows how the movie ended …

So, for our debut episode of What’s Up, Lunch?, I offer the following pairing:

2009 Lytton Springs, with Punjab Choley served over Lundberg short-grain brown rice.

What’s Up, Lunch?

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Posted in Food & Wine Pairing, Lytton Springs | 2 Comments »

A Look Back at the Fall Release Event at Monte Bello (i.e. Event pics!)

September 9, 2011

With all the excitement of harvest looming on the horizon, and all the forward looking this involves, it does indeed seem as if a proper “look back” at the Monte Bello Fall Release Event is in order; even though it was only last weekend!

Anyhow …

On behalf of all of us here at Ridge, and most especially the team here at Monte Bello, I wish to thank everyone who attended this extraordinary happening; I don’t know who was happier, our guests, or us!

I drove up that morning nervous, exhausted, stressed, and unhealthily focused. A huge event afoot, and all responsibilities on my shoulders. I was deranged.

What paused me, and fully recalibrated my psyche, was this:

That’s what I was looking at as I was unlocking the driveway gate. I was instantly unwound.

Once inside the Old Winery Barn, it was down to my office. That’s when things started to heat up again. So much to do, so little time. Staff began to arrive, the catering team arrived, the parking team arrived. So many people. I was beginning the routine that would be mine the rest of the day; running laps around the property. I was frenzied.

But pause was soon again given. It was tasting time.

You probably know by know just how good these new vintages are showing. I was happily rediscovering. Point scores are nice, and we’re happy to receive good ones, but at the end of the day, the wines have to perform when it matters most; when YOU’RE tasting them. I mean, sure the new issue of Wine Advocate had just simply showered down praises on these wines (97 points for the 2008 Monte Bello, and 95 points each for the 2009 Lytton Springs and the 2008 Monte Bello Chardonnay!) …

… but what were YOU going to think?

After tasting the line-up, I felt very good. Very, very good. And I felt that you, too, were going to feel very, very good.

Which was good, given that the first arrivals were starting to arrive, and as expected, the event had drawn out a hearty crop of serious Ridge-o-Philes. And believe you me, these weren’t the only two seriously vintage Ridge shirts I would see, though these are certainl two classic and excellent examples:

So it was go time, and we were ready. We had a great team on hand, the wines were showing beautifully, and some very key members of the winemaking team were in the house:

Paul Draper & Eric Baugher talking Monte Bello winemaking ...

Shun Ishikubo pouring 1992 Monte Bello out of magnum ...

Tara pouring below the ghosts of founders past ...

 

Zani expertly enacts the art of wine tasting merriment ...

 

Pete pours cool as a cucumber in the face of hot demand ...

No discussion of the Fall Release Event at Monte Bello is complete without acknowledging the presence of Pizza Politana. Not only did they manage to actually drive a wood-fired pizza oven up our mountain, but they then proceeded to serve some of the most delicious (and PERFECTLY paired) offerings we’ve ever had the pleasure of placing alongside our wines.
 
 
But a great idea (wood-fired pizza oven truck!), great ingredients (local, sustainable, organic, NorCal farmer’s market fare), and great pairing do not a great event make. It takes great staff, and the folks from Pizza Politana were tops.
 
 
 Things were definitely getting intense. You know when you’re starting to golf-cart the guests in that the event is really starting to happen.
 
 
Then suddenly this …
 
 
 … becomes this!
 
 
Fortunately, there was this to adjourn to (once the collective tummy was full up on pizza and wine!) …
 
 
Yeah, that’ll do …
 
 
 What a day, what a day …
 
When I began assembling the components of what have become this post, I was looking for one image, something that could somehow capture the magic of it all; I found this, and figured I had it …
 
 
Pizza and Monte Bello. Perfect.
 
But in looking through all the images I’d shot over the day, there was another idea that I just couldn’t shake, and in the end, it’s what I’ve decided to go with; the bookend.
 
After all was said and done, and I was coming down the mountain …
 
 
… I knew, finally and for certain, that all was well.
 

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Ridge Memorabilia, RIDGE Staff, Special Offerings, Tasting Flights, Tasting Rooms, Varietals & Blends, Zinfandel | 2 Comments »

Fall Release Event at Lytton Springs Next Saturday! It’s Goin’ ON!

September 6, 2011

(Spoiler Alert: This post is about the Fall Release Event at Lytton Springs on 9.10.11!)

There are a lot of things going on at Lytton Springs right now. 

For example, as I write this, many miles away in the wilds of Santa Cruz, the moon is probably rising in the brightly dusking sky above the Healdsburg vineyards …

And when the sun rises tomorrow, the Lytton grapes will again be in full swing, and looking beautiful …

And just as there are new vintages emerging on the vines, so too are there new vintages emerging in the bottle …

The 2009 Lytton Springs is dropping. And rising. Dropping and Rising. Dropping mad science like Galileo dropped the orange.

Or, put another way, Three. It’s the magic number.

2009 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs
2009 Ridge Vineyards Pagani Ranch
2009 Ridge Vineyards York Creek

Three. It’s the magic number. No more, no less.

Now you may try to subtract it
But it just won’t go away
Three times one?
(What is it? )
(One, two, three! )
And that’s the magic number

Three new vintages, three new zinfandels. All part of the Fall Release Celebration. You were just here, won’t you, at Monte Bello? And you’re just about there, aren’t you, at Lytton Springs?  

Lord knows you ought to be; this is gon’ be special … And,we’re celebrating the release of not only the three zinfandels above, but also new Monte Bello vintages; both Cabernet and Chardonnay!

And dig this…

Station #1

To pair with Chardonnay

Rock Shrimp & Scallop Sausage, Vanilla Bean Buerre Blanc & Cilantro Pistou

Station #2

To pair with Zinfandel

Sonoma Duck Sausage Kissed with Smoke, Cipollini Onion & Cherry Chutney

Station #3

To Pair with Zinfandel

Chicken-Apple Sausage, Apple Kraut, Soft White Bun

Station #4

To pair with Zinfandel

Sicilian Pork Sausage, Silky Polenta, Grill Roasted Pepperonata

Station #5

To pair with Cabernet

Sonoma Lamb Sausage with Piquillo Peppers & Chickpeas, on a Cumin Seed Bun

I’m sorry, did someone just say Vanilla Bean Buerre Blanc ?

The point being, you NEED this event. You NEED an entire barfull of chardonnay glasses …

…full of chardonnay.

And you NEED to drink wine in a BARREL ROOM …

…because that’s just hip.

What is hip?

Hipness is
what it is!
 

Join us, won’t you?

For more details, and to purchase tickets, please click here. The Fall Release Event at Lytton Springs.

Overpowered by Funk. Funk out.

(images courtesy of Brandye Alexander)

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Lytton Springs, Special Offerings, Tasting Rooms | Leave a Comment »

On The Road Again: Wine, Jack Kerouac, and Me

September 5, 2011

Two things you may or may not know:

1. Today is the anniversary of the day when Jack Kerouac’s immeasurably culture-changing novel “On The Road” was released; one of the most influential American novels in the history of American letters.

2. Some years ago, courtesy of a wonderful literary grant I received, I was given the opportunity to live and write in the very same house Jack Kerouac was living in when “On the Road” was released.

So it is with special pleasure that I celebrate this special anniversary.

And I wish to share with you a great quote –a great WINE quote– from this incomparably strange, challenging, exhilarating, maddening, delightful, beautifully flawed and magical book:

 

“Ah, it was a fine night, a warm night, a wine-drinking night, a moony night, and a night to hug your girl and talk and spit and be heavengoing. This we did.”
 
 
That, my friends, is wine.
 
 
Also, here is a photo for you; my writing room in the Kerouac House; the very same room where Jack, while awaiting publication of “On The Road,” was already beginning what would become his second novel, “The Dharma Bums.”
 

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Posted in History, Wine & Poetry, Wine Quotes | 3 Comments »

New Fall Releases: The Winemaker Video!

September 2, 2011

As they did with the Spring Releases, our winemaking team recently got together for a tasting of all the wines we’re releasing this month, and again as with the Spring edition, we captured it all on video!

So, for your viewing pleasure, please enjoy Paul Draper, Eric Baugher, and John Olney as they discuss 2009 Lytton Springs, 2009 York Creek, 2009 Pagani Ranch, 2008 Monte Bello, 2008 Chardonnay Monte Bello, and 2009 Lytton Estate Petite Sirah! (Moderated by David Amadia, Vice President, Sales + Marketing)

2011 Fall Releases – Tasting with Winemakers from Ridge Vineyards on Vimeo.

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Petite Sirah, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Video, Winemaking, Zinfandel | Leave a Comment »

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