Harvest Time in the Central Coast

This week has been crazy. I received a last minute call to join in the making of some educational wine videos, for a new wine education program (that is a "teaser" which will be elaborated on in the coming weeks). The video shoots were to begin at 5:00am in the Central Coast, as one of my favorite wineries was beginning to pick Sauvignon Blanc.

Volgelzang Sauv Blanc

I left my house in the dark, in hopes of missing the Los Angeles traffic (no luck). I arrived at the Vogelzang Vineyard (Happy Canyon AVA) about fifteen minutes after Dragonette Cellars had finished picking their second round of Sauvignon Blanc. After grabbing a quick bite, I met up with my two wine buddies, and we headed over to the new winery location for Dragonette Cellars, just in time to see the truck and trailer full of freshly picked Sauvignon Blanc arrive.

Dragonette Cellars Sauvignon Blanc

The bins of grape bunches were quickly moved into the cool facility, to avoid any unnecessary heat. The morning temperatures had already faded from the cool 50's to the mid 80's by around 11:00am. The small bunches of Sauvignon Blanc were sweet, and the pips (seeds) had turned from green to brown. A good sign of nice phenolic ripeness.

The plastic bins of grapes were hoisted by fork lift, and dumped into the new Europress (a bladder press) and gently pressed to release the juice. The grapes were not destemmed. This was a whole cluster pressing.

Europress

A whole cluster press is just what it sounds like...the grapes are left in their bunches, when put into the press. This actually produces a smoother tasting juice. The grapes are not bruised or damaged, as they would be when destemmed. Since we are only extracting juice, there is no added flavor from the stems and seeds, unless over pressed. In this case, the bladder press went through seven cycles of light pressing. Every so often the juice that dripped from the bottom of the press, was tasted to make sure no bitter component from the stems or seeds was present.

Fermenting Sauv Blanc

After the juice had been extracted, it was destine for oak barrels. A pressing from a few days earlier was already in barrel, and the fermentation process was well underway. The bubbling up through the bung holes in the barrel were a sure sign that things were moving in the right direction.

Meanwhile, a number of large tanks of Pinot Noir (picked the previous day) were in the cooler. The berries had been covered with sulfur, to prevent bacteria growth, and left in the cooler to extract as much color from the thin skinned grapes as possible. As of this day, only two pickings of Sauvignon Blanc, and one picking of Pinot Noir had occurred. This year's harvest is about two weeks ahead of the 2012 harvest, but hang time remained about the same, due to an early fruit set.

Pinot Noir at Melville

We next traveled over to the Santa Rita Hills AVA, for some photos of Pinot Noir. The Melville Winery has about 16 different Pinot Noir Clones. It didn't appear that they had started harvest there yet, but some of the grapes were already suffering from the high heat and humidity,

The next day was spent in Paso Robles. The red grapes are not ready for harvest yet. In particular, we spent time checking on Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Sirah. In every case, the grape pips were still green, and the full sweetness was not there. At Barr Estate Winery, the Albarino grapes had already been picked, and were in stainless steel tanks. The sediment was settling out, leaving behind a clarified juice.

Red Blotch Virus on Zinfandel

One thing I did notice on this trip to Paso Robles is something that is a bit disturbing. There is a new virus that was identified in 2012, called Red Blotch. It is very noticeable in certain Zinfandel vineyards. At this point, they believe it is transferred by some type of insect, but no one is sure what the vector is, and there is no cure. Basically the leaves on the vine turn from green to red, and the photosynthesis process stops, leaving poor quality grapes. On top of this, it has been a very hot and dry growing season in Paso Robles. This day, it was very humid, and the temperatures were already over 100 degrees by noon.

Cabernet Sauv at Barr Estate Winery

My quick trip to the Central Coast was a whirlwind. We got some great video, and met with some of the outstanding winemakers and vineyard growers in the area. As a wine educator, I always learn something new on every visit, and this trip was an extraordinary learning adventure....as you will find out, once I can talk more about the videos. Stay tuned!

Dessert Wine

As we move into the holiday season, I thought it might be appropriate to take a look at dessert wines (not the same as my article on desert wines). When I first started drinking wine, I was immediately attracted to those sweeter style wines. As I tried more and more wine, I found that my palate began to trend towards drier wines. First, the sweet wines disappeared, next the white wines, and all I was left with was red. Now, I have "rediscovered" my love of sweet wines. In the United States, a dessert wine is described as any wine over 14% alcohol. Obviously, there are higher alcohol wines (Zinfandel, or most anything out of California) that are dry, and not sweet. This definition is outdated. To me a dessert wine is anything that has a detectable amount of residual sugar. For example, some German wines are only 6% alcohol, but are very sweet. So, for this discussion, dessert wines are any wine that I could serve at the end of a meal, that have some discernible level of sugar. Even though I could serve them at the end of the meal, you may find that they work well before and during a meal too (think Sauternes with foie gras).

Chateau d'Yquem

There are so many different dessert wines out there, how can you tell them apart? What makes them different from each other? And, what are the appropriate foods to pair with them?

Let's look at how dessert wines are made first. Grapes are sweet to begin with. Have you ever tasted a wine grape, just off the vine, around harvest time? Extremely sweet. They don't taste anything like those table grapes you nibble on at snack time. Matter of fact, wine grapes are said to have the highest sugar content of any fruit, and that's what makes them so great for wine. You need sugar, to act as food for the yeast, which eventually converts into alcohol.

Sweet wines can be made a number of ways. There are fortified dessert wines (such as Port and Madiera), where the grape juice begins to ferment, but is stopped short of full fermentation (where all the sugar is converted to alcohol, and the wine is dry). Fortified refers to the addition of brandy (see my blog on Cognac) into the fermenting grape juice, basically killing the yeast, and stopping any further fermentation. What is left is a sweet juice, fortified with a high alcohol brandy.

Botrytis Cinerea

A second method for producing a sweet wine is through the development of "Noble Rot" on the grapes. This gray mold is known as Botrytis Cinerea (Latin for "ash grape disease"). The beneficial mold (and there is a bad mold too) infects those grapes that are exposed to wet and dry conditions, usually found around bodies of water. The mold, or fungus infects the grapes, and draws water from them, leaving behind a higher concentration of grape sugars, acids and minerals. When fermented, there is a high amount of residual sugar left in the final product. Some of the best known, and most expensive wines in the world are produced from "Noble Rot" grapes: Sauternes and Tokajii. The fungus does add a unique honeysuckle aroma to the wines.

Passito Grapes

Some other methods of increasing the sugar content prior to fermentation include leaving the grapes on the vine longer than usual ("late harvest" wines), producing higher sugar content. Or, allowing the grapes to freeze on the vine, as winter conditions sets in. In this case, the ice crystals are removed, and you are left with a concentrations of solids. These style of wines are known as "ice wines". Another method is to pick the grapes at the normal harvest time, and dry the grapes. This can be done on straw mats (as is done with Vin Santo in Italy) or in drying rooms. These wines are known as "passito" wines in Italy, or "vin de paille" in France.  Again, the idea is to remove the water, and concentrate the remaining solids. The drying method adds a distinct oxidized character to the the final product. A sweet Sherry known as Pedro Ximénez (PX), is a made with a combination of drying, then fortifying.

There are some "lesser" methods for producing sweet wines, which include the addition of sugar (known as chaptalization). The sugar can be in any form: honey, beet sugar, or in some cases, a concentration of grape sugars (known as Süssreserve).

When serving these sweet wines, keep in mind that, in general, you want your wine to be sweeter than the dessert you are serving. Usually these wines are so sweet they can be a dessert by themselves. Whites are typically served slightly chilled, and reds at room temperature. There are some classic pairings that you may want to try, and not all include dessert:

Sauternes and Tokajii paired with foie gras, blue and hard cheeses.
Vin Santo paired with almond biscotti (Cantucci)
Port paired with Stilton Cheese and walnuts
Brechetto d'Acqui - While not traditionally thought of as a dessert wine, I find this sweet, frizzy wine, to be one of the best wines to pair with chocolate. I know others think of Port, but try this one if you can find it.
Madeira (Bual or Malmsey) with anything you would add caramel to: apple pie, pecan pie