Chemistry

* The Amber Ridge 115 clone must was at 28.8 brix, 3.72 pH, and 7.9 TA. Flavors were great; but to bring down the alcohol (multiply brix by .55 to get a rough idea of where final alcohol will be) we added water (58L) and tartaric acid (615g) to balance that. The 115 was inoculated (with RC212 and some GoFerm) on 9/15 and went to dryness on 9/22; we pressed it into a neutral

Francois Freres barrel.

* The 667/777 clone field mix (70% 667) must was at 29.6 brix, 3.93pH, and 5.43 TA. (Note the nicer acid from the 115, which comes from the valley floor). Here we added 63L water and 700g tartaric acid to balance. The ferment was slower but not sluggish: inoculated on 9/17 and it went to dryness this morning (9/26); will be pressing into a 50% new-oak barrel this evening.

* The must from the cooler Devoto Garden site is measuring 25.3 brix, 3.73pH, and 5.9TA. Will be inoculating this coming Wednesday, 9/30.

* Both Amber Ridge bins were hit with 60ppm sulfur, a very modest amount. We put 80ppm in the Devoto Garden must, also not an extraordinary amount but more than the Amber -- the fruit was much more 'live', coming from a generally much richer ecosystem than the hotter, dryer Amber site, and had higher potential for microbial growth from spoilage organisms.

* Am considering a very small amount of enzyme (pectin) in the Devoto soak to loosen the (relatively) tougher skins and extract more phenolics.

Some shots of yours truly on the Amber 667 sort!

Devoto Harvest!

Hot weather early in the week confirmed our pick on Thursday the 24th. That morning I started out early in a rented 12' Penske into dense fog all the way from SF to Sebastopol. Could barely make out pedestrians on the Golden Gate bridge while driving over it.

Stan's crew had been picking since 6am when I arrived at about 8:30am. Here's the first bin already filled, fog still hanging over the vineyard.

Here's my meager bin, I filled one of these (selectively of course!) to everyone else's five. The flavors were decent though and I measured the median sugar at about 24 brix.

So it turns out the bins are 48"x44" and the 12' truck bed is actually 136" long -- one needs to orient the bins just right to fit three of them. We got it right the second time. Thanks to Stan's neighbor we had a tractor with the right size picks to deal with the bins.

Made it back to SF to sort and de-stem by 12:30, fruit was in the the cold room for a five-day soak as of 3:00pm. The sort was challenging; the variation in ripeness amongst clusters was significant. That's Bill W. on the left, trusted friend of Wait Cellars, and Chip, a Crushpad employee working the harvest. The must entered cold soak at 23.9 brix and had risen to 25.3 by Sunday morning.

Wait Cellars supports SF Bay Area Emerging Arts Professionals!

Did we mention that we contributed our 2006 Russian River Pinot Noir to this fine event at the DeYoung:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145497281135&ref=mf

Devoto pick: 9/24!

Just a short post in lieu of a 9/19 field report: we're picking this Thursday! Flavors, ripeness coming together, time to get off the pot! Pictures coming.

Devoto Field Report 9/15, Amber Notes

The rains and cool weather through the past weekend have put the grapes back -- on Tuesday 9/15 my field measurements put the median brix at 23. Back at the lab, I got the following from cluster samples: 22.9 brix, 7.2 TA, and 3.45 pH. (My hand pH meter put it at 3.2). Still some green flavors from most of the vineyard, though the grapes up on the swell are ahead and tasting good.

Am putting the pick date on Tuesday 9/22, supposed to be hot weather through the weekend, would love to pick up another brix degree without too much dimpling. Am afraid to go too much longer with the young canopy! Will be hitting the water for 2 hours tonight (Friday) and Saturday (1/2gal/minute drip).

The Amber Ridge fruit is looking and tasting fantastic, as always. Brought the 115 out of cold soak Monday and inoculated; the 667/777 field blend came out yesterday, inoculated last night. Start the punch downs!

Devoto Garden: 9/12 field report

I borrowed Josh's truck Thursday to run three picking bins up to the vineyard. Will be taking back about a ton and a half and then (aggressively) sorting/selecting down to a ton...






Median brix at 23! Some 90+ degree days projected through Friday, turned on water for four hours (.5gal/hour drip) Wednesday 9/9, these vines have very young canopies. Colder though this weekend. Tentatively putting pick on Thursday 9/17.






Have I mentioned that Stan is an apple grower?

Amber Crush!

The Amber Ridge fruit came in Friday 9/11! Am making a barrel of the 115 clone and a field blend barrel of 2/3 667 and 1/3 777, which I'm hoping will make a magical final blend down the road.... Fruit was gorgeous and tasty, as usual, a pleasure to sort and eat! Nice intensity in the smaller-berried 667, brighter candy notes from 777.


Awaiting better photos, here's a crappy one from my phone, hands slick with grape juice.

Haven't been posting my Amber brix readings but it's been climbing steadily since the beginning of the month, very even and warm weather in Windsor. We picked at 26 brix, 3.45 pH, and 8.00 TA. The must has risen a few brix; will do some minor amelioration. Everything was 100% destemmed; the 667 I lightly crushed to release some of the nice tannins I was tasting, maybe give the 09 a little more traction than the 08 in the mid-palate?

Will be cold-soaking for five days, then inoculating next week with RC 212, my usual Burgundian yeast. (One day will go native when I have a more controlled facility!)

Devoto Garden field report: 9/2

Just a quick catch-up post here: on 9/2 I met with winemaker Chris Nelson at the Devoto Garden vineyard to take more measurements and get his impressions of the progress. I measured median brix at 21, and we both thought that pick was still a couple weeks off, e.g. 9/15-9/20.

Chris agreed that this site has the potential to be great in a few years. Right now though the vines are young and the variation in the vineyard is going to make the winemaking this year challenging -- will definitely require some aggressive sorting.

Finding great flavors right at the swell in the 828 block. Eastern edge is sparse; western edge seems to be the last to ripen but showing better berry canopy development.

Wait Cellars To Produce New Green Valley Pinot Noir

Have been slow to post this, a formal announcement of our relationship with Devoto Gardens is here!

http://www.sfwineassociation.com/article/22/Wait_Cellars_to_Produce_New_Green_Valley_Pinot_Noir.html

San Francisco, CA (1888PressRelease) August 25, 2009 - Wait Cellars announced today that it will produce a new wine from Pinot Noir grapes purchased from Devoto Garden Vineyards of Sebastopol, California, located in the acclaimed Green Valley appellation.

"We've been looking for premium, cooler Russian River Pinot [Noir] from a small, careful grower, and I think we've found it here at Devoto Gardens," said Wait Cellars' founder Bob Wait. "Stan [Devoto] has been farming this ridge for 30 years. It's beautiful soil, a fine expression of Green Valley. He takes a sustainable, low-impact approach, and I think that's coming through in lean, concentrated berries. I'm very excited about this fruit."

The Green Valley AVA is one of the smallest appellations in Sonoma County. The fog and soil give a distinctive nuance to Green Valley wines. Green Valley Pinot Noirs are especially prized. For more information, visit http://www.greenvalley-russianriver.com.

Devoto Gardens produces primarily heirloom apples and cut flowers, but recently turned over several acres to Pinot Noir. The Wait Cellars Devoto Garden Pinot Noir will be the first commercially produced wine from their planting of the 828 Dijon clone. For more information, visit www.devotogardens.com.

Wait Cellars has been producing small amounts of premium Pinot Noir from the Russian River area since 2004 for the local San Francisco market. For more information, visit www.waitcellars.com.