It should be safe to say that all of the 2012 harvest has
been put to bed. I did have to babysit
our estate Cabernet Sauvignon until mid-December, but that is par for the
course on this grape ranch. I usually
find myself reflecting this time of year on the wines we made, the heartaches
and the triumphs. We did well; we nearly
shriveled from the heat, but survived and have some delicious wines to show for
it.
After the last wines are pressed into barrels, I tend to
want to think and drink anything but wine.
Whiskey, beer, cocktails, surfing, napping, more napping, skiing, just about
anything that allows me to recharge and adjust the attitude a little to get
perspective. I think this is true because
during harvest I tend to narrow my focus down to the task at hand, taking those
grapes and squeezing them into barrels. Friends, family, weekends, normal sleep and
waking hours, sometimes personal hygiene just goes out the window. You find yourself thinking, wouldn’t it be nice
to just sleep in, take the day off, go for a drive to beach, and nap away the
afternoon. Simple stuff right? Oh sure, right after I do my punch downs, a
pump over or two, press a couple- o- tons, clean whatever that is growing behind those tanks, process 10 tons of fruit, and
run to look at that vineyard twenty miles up a dirt road, take a sugar sample
on the way, and pick up a few harvest supplies.
Oh wait, and then get up and do it again tomorrow. Grapes
don’t wait for you to rest up. They get
ripe, and you need to move. You know…
now that I think about it, I miss it just a little bit. Disgusting.
You see that’s the
kind of sick and twisted person you are dealing with, I love to hate it, but
then miss it when it’s over. I’m not
really sick, maybe a little twisted, but I think I just enjoy what I do. So what’s next? Well as stated I have put everything to
bed. By that I mean all the wines I have made this last year have been put into barrel.
I like to age most reds in barrel
for about 18 months; sometimes a shorter aging is called for like in the case
of Zinfandel or Grenache. This can help
hold onto fresher, fruitier characteristics.
In general, aging in oak barrels is a slow oxidation process
since the wood “breathes”. This means
that even though wine isn’t leaking out, it does evaporate, mostly the water
that is naturally in wine is evaporating.
I top up the barrels every few weeks to counter this. As this cycle of evaporation and topping
continue, the wine aging in barrels is exposed to very tiny amounts of oxygen. This micro-oxygenation is good for developing
the finer characteristics of the wine, shaping the finish, and lending
roundness to the tannins. The barrel
also leaves its own mark on the wine.
The age of the wood and the level of toasting on the inside of the
barrel give the wine some nice nuance.
The climate that the tree grew in will also affect the taste of the
wine, the shape and size of the barrel matters as well. Barrels
selection for each varietal takes some thought, different coopers or barrel
builders sometimes make barrels for specific wines, it’s my job to figure out
what works best with the wines that grow in my vineyards and how to get those barrels to express the characteristics
that I love most.
So the take home
message here is that despite what you have heard, not only does size matter, so
does geography and age, shape and smell, looks a little bit. But most
importantly, like mother always told you, what counts is what’s on the inside. Oh yeah and don’t forget to breath! Enjoy
-eo
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