Greetings from the Old Mission Peninsula!
Just when it looked like Spring might be just around the corner, we’re in the midst of receiving 5 to 8 inches of snow as I write this. Oh well, I’ll be in Mendoza next week for the Malbec harvest until April 2nd so I’m not too worried!
It has been a good winter for us. We were able to harvest Ice Wine on 2 different days, one in Dec. and again in Jan. That stuff is still nicely bubbling away (fermenting) in the new cellar. Fortunately, we didn’t get below 0 F. this winter so we’re not looking at any winter damage so far to the vineyard. Something could still happen, but with the bays still ice free, the chance is very slim.

Vineyard Manager, Paul Dalese Pruning Vineyard
We finished all of our pre-pruning that we have to do by hand last week and will start pre-pruning with the machine once the snow is gone. After that, we’ll start back through all of the vineyards to do the final pruning.
Last Friday, Brian and I did an extensive tasting of all of the barreled wines. It was a treat! We started with the reserve Riesling. Yes, Riesling. We made the reserve in older, neutral, French oak barrels. There are no oak flavors but a wonderful, broad richness without any loss of the classic Riesling acid structure. There won’t be much of this wine but it would sure make a statement on some of our better restaurant lists. If ever there was a great food wine, this is it.
Next came the Pinot Gris. Because we had such a great growing season last year we were again able to produce both a Pinot Grigio and a Pinot Gris. The Grigio is harvested very early in the season and fermented in stainless steel. It’s showing wonderful freshness and fruitiness and was bottled last month. Try the 2010 if you haven’t already. The Gris was harvested very late in the season and barrel fermented and aged. Because they were on the vines longer, these grapes had more sugar and more concentration. The barrel fermentation in relatively neutral barrels gave just a hint of oak and a broad, almost creamy palate. Again, this is going to be a great food wine that will hold its own with any fowl, fish or pork.
With the reserve Chardonnay we used several different yeast strains and many new barrels as well as some tried and true (old friends) barrels from the past few years. The regular Chardonnay from ’10 will still be all stainless-style with bright fruit flavors. The problem is that we’re having so much fun tasting and deciding which barrels to use for the Reserve that we might never get around to bottling it!

Barrel Samples
Finally we arrived at the Pinot Noirs. What a pleasure! They are all ripe and rich and fruity (mostly cherry and plum) and every barrel is unique. Again, it is going to be difficult to decide which make the cut for Reserve and which go into the regular Pinot Noir. You will be able to taste the difference but the regular certainly won’t be lacking! Both will be GREAT values when compared with Pinot Noirs from elsewhere in the world. (Did I mention the color? Fantastic!)
Come up for a visit soon to experience some newly bottled vintages. In the mean time, have a great rest of the winter and I’ll see you when I get back from Argentina where it’s sunny and 85 degrees.
Mark Johnson, Winemaker