Nevada/Washoe County NV - Harvest Notes

This succinct harvest report from Grant R. Cramer, Professor and head of the wine program at University of Nevada, Reno, where a small demonstration vineyard exists.  Lots of eager UNV students and home winemakers in Washoe County are learning about Nevada wines via full-time classes and Dr Cramer's Tuesday evening tasting program.

We harvested our first grapes, Gewurztraminer on Tuesday, October 4.

We harvested Pinot Noir today (October 6).

11 more varieties to go!



More about this UNR program:

There’s a groundswell of interest building in Nevada wines, and this is in part due to the work being done by Dr. Grant Cramer  at University of Nevada-Reno, and in part by intrepid vintners and winemakers in Fallon and Genoa.  Here's  a glimpse at the wonderful work in UNR.  

What can be done on 2 acres of vineyards in arid Reno?  A lot.  That’s being proven by Dr. Cramer’s eonology  and viticulture crew.  Each Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m., you too are invited to the wine tasting and study at UNR's Experimental Winery.  It is in a blue metal building behind the NV genomics center at 910 Valley Road, Reno.  When the sliding gate is open, go on in.

In the winery, you’ll find 30-40 folding chairs set up on the winery floor, and a smiling Dr. Cramer and his student assistants.  No doubt you will be greeted by Kitty Spreeman, an extremely knowledgeable lab technician who makes it all run smoothly.  Take a seat as near to the front table as you can.  Pay your $10 class fee,  and take a little extra cash because you’ll no doubt want a Nevada Wines baseball cap or polo shirt.  Barbar Keck did, and she's proud to wear it too!

Settle in for a wonderful tasting experience of 12-14 different bottles each week.  The Experimental Winery makes its own wines and blends right there on site.  They have a “library” of wines going back to 2003, and they often do vertical tastings of the same wine from different years, and  comparisons of wines from well-(sufficiently)-watered vines and drought-stressed vines.  Sometimes the event features blind tastings or comparisons to commercial wines.  Regardless of what you taste, you’ll be asked to fill out a tasting sheet so that the Winery can collect evaluation data of the wines as they age.

The wines are all estate wines; they come from grapes planted as long ago as 1995 on the two acres on Valley Road at the Agricultural Experiment Station.   The wines made include reds such as Pinot Noir, Lemberger,  Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet  Sauvignon, and Pinot Meunier,  and whites, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Semillion, and Sauvignon Blanc .

The vineyard is itself an experiment.  Vines are growing under conditions of well-water, and drought-stressed.  There is an ongoing study to see if drought-stressed vines increase the amount of resveratrol, which is now considered to be a heart-healthy element of red wines.  “Resveratrol might be a key ingredient in red wine that helps prevent damage to blood vessels, reduces "bad" cholesterol and prevents blood clots,”  says a news note from the Mayo Clinic.   The grapes from these vines at UNR are tested for many things (Phenolics, brix) and the buds of the vines undergo scrutiny too, including testing for different hormone levels.  It’s all very sexy for the wine lover!

If you want to taste these wines, you must come to the Winery.  By Nevada law, the college is not allowed to sell its wines in Washoe County.    In addition to tasting these types of Nevada wines, you’ll be treated to a discussion on such topics as pruning and trellis design in the vineyard, and vineyards of the world.

Dr Cramer, Kitty and the crew would love to see you there!  For more information, go to http://www.ag.unr.edu/cramer.  Or email  Kitty Spreeman for more information: spreeman@unr.edu.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

© 2010 Barbara Keck

Frog's Tooth Vineyards (Calaveras County) Harvest Report: "good fruit, lower yields"

Gary Grant,  winemaker at Frog’s Tooth Vineyards, Farmington (Calaveras County, in the Sierra Foothills region of California)  reports good quality fruit to date, lower yields, and harvest “a bit late”:

"Harvest seems to be running slightly behind again this year.  Our first harvest of the year was our estate Sauvignon Blanc on 8/28.  Weather effected crop yields and the Sauvignon Blanc was down by about one-third. Fruit quality was excellent. Acids and pH were in line and the flavors were outstanding.

Torrontes

We have also pressed 6 tons of Torrontes from Silvaspoon Vineyards in Alta Mesa on 9/13.  The overall quality of the fruit was good.  According Ron Silva, the yield this year was also down from previous years.

2.27 tons of Semillon from Chatom Vineyards was pressed on 9/20.  Fruit quality and flavors were very good.  TA was down and an acid addition was required.

Next up was our estate Viognier on 9/22.  Crop yield was disappointing, weather related issues being the culprit, but the remaining fruit was very nice. 

On 9/28, we pressed Sauvignon Blanc from Chatom Vineyards.  Once again, fruit quality was excellent. High yield of juice (180+ gallons/ton). 

Grenache

Our first red fruit, our estate Grenache and estate Petite Sirah, we are harvesting this week and watching the rain forecasts closely."

About Frog’s Tooth Vineyards, from their website (www.frogstooth.com)

"Our Story...
Once upon a time, not so long ago, in a valley known more for cattle ranching than vineyards, our story begins. 

It was the Winter of 1999 when Frog's Tooth Vineyards began its life as a tadpole with the purchase of 67 acres of land in the Salt Springs Valley of Calaveras County.

It slowly grew through infancy until the Spring of 2003 when it began its transition to adolecence with the planting of approximately 10 acres of premium wine grapes.

Frog's Tooth Vineyards entered young froghood in 2005 when we crushed fruit for what would become our first vintage wine. Our transition continued with the opening of our Tasting Room in Murphys, California in the Fall of 2007 followed by the completion of our winery building at the end of 2008. "

Frog's Tooth Vineyards Tasting Room is now open daily at 380 Main Street in Murphy's, right off Main Street, behind Murphy’s Grill.

Crystal Basin (Camino/El Dorado County) Harvest Report- "A Decidedly Odd Growing Season"

Mike Owen, Founder of Crystal Basin Cellars in Camino, El Dorado County (Sierra Foothills), sends this report:

After a decidedly odd growing season that started late and appears to be showing signs of ending early, Crystal Basin brought in its Barbera grapes on Sunday, October 2,  from the Valley Oaks vineyard in Lotus owned by winery partners Jack and Diane Wohler.  This small vineyard is set to come in at 26.5 brix and will again provide the big, structured, high-acid foothill Barbera grapes that Crystal Basin's winemaker Peter Zimmerman loves to craft into intense red wines.  

Jack was quoted as saying " this harvest is coming just in time, the grapes stabilized at 24 brix and held, but they gained a couple of extra points in last week's heat and they are going to be perfect.  We will be bringing in a normal-sized crop this year and then we can go back to enjoying the stuff."

Crystal Basin's other grape sources are set to weather this coming week's expected rain.   Crystal Basin uses a number of higher-elevation vineyards that typically ripen later the in growing season. 

"It's kind of  a crap shoot this year to figure out what percentage of the planned harvest we'll actually see", noted Mike Owen, Founder of Crystal Basin.   


About Crystal Basin, from its website (http://www.crystalbasin.com/):

Crystal Basin Cellars has its roots in amateur cooperative winemaking. Beginning under the house in 1981, CBC created a long string of vintages that captured fun times with friends. Steadily growing from 3 barrels to 25, CBC outgrew its space and was formed as a commercial winemaking operation in 2000. Since then, we've made more than 10,000 cases of wine that have been eagerly devoured by our fans and ourselves. We've been awarded a pack of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals since 2001. In fact, each of our vintages has won at least one Gold Medal at a major wine competition in California.

Our goal, to make wines from the heart, is driven by a passion to craft the highest quality wines possible from El Dorado County grapes.

At Crystal Basin, we are not grape growers but are blessed to have strong community connections to source great local grapes. We've been buying our fruit from the same super-premium vineyards for over 15 years.

One of the key strengths of Crystal Basin Cellars is our Team. We've worked together for a long time and we're all part-timers. We somehow always pull it together and look pretty good doing it.

Harvest time in the Sierra Foothills, time for visits! Suggestion: Solune WineGrowers in Grass Valley

“The reward for a daytrip to Sierra Foothill wineries is intense flavorful wines from passionate winemakers”

Andrea & Jacques Mercier

It’s Harvest Time in the Sierra Foothills, and if you’ve been following my Harvest Report blogs,  you know that the late spring and cool summer are manifesting in a later harvest than usual.  It’s a good time right now to take a trip to some of those wineries you’ve been wanting to visit.  Suggestion: Solune WineGrowers in Grass Valley (Nevada County).

Not every winemaker has the advantage of bringing the world’s “best practices” to his winemaking.  Jacques Mercier of Solune Winegrowers has done that, thanks to an extensive background as a trained sommelier and an esteemed wine judge.  From tasting and judging wines around the world – Spain, the Douro, Mendoza, Switzerland, France – he’s gathered wisdom from observation and from other wine judges who are winemakers.  The result: award winning wines from his own vineyard and winery.

Jacques and wife Andrea bought their property in Grass Valley in 2001: 15 acres with a house, barn, a 3 acre vineyard in place and another 7 acres that could be planted to vines. “We decided to name our winery Solune, which is a combination of the French words for sun (soleil) ad moon (lune),” explained Jacques.  

At 2600 foot elevations where many of his vines grow, he knows that every little valley has its own microclimate. Initially, Jacques planted 24 varieties and at the end of his first decade, he has 11 reliable varieties.

Jacques’ winemaking style is very hands-on.  He has an East Coast palate, and fine tunes every wine he makes.  “I pay careful attention to the acidity,” he says.  “I think that a lot of California wine is too flabby.  I make careful decisions about when to harvest; I pick my grapes to give my wines a smooth yet rich quality.”

At 1500 cases now, he wants to keep small in order to keep quality high.  Jacques is looking forward to a 50/50 ratio of juice from his own estate vineyards and grapes that he buys in from selected Foothill growers.   “If I don’t like my own wines, I’ll throw it out.  I can’t hype anything.  Solune will produce good wine, smooth wine, great food wine,” he said.

What to taste?  Last season when I was tasting at Solune, I had a wonderful Port.  I don’t see it for sale on their website now, but ask about it.  Try these:

The 2008 Barbera, Sierra Foothills, has intense red berry flavors and aromas, great balance, silky texture, long finish, and this vintage is unoaked, with a hint of smokiness due to the 2008 forest fires.   $25 the bottle.

The 2007 Fleur de Lune, Sierra Foothills, is an off-dry blend that combines Muscat Blanc, Orange Muscat and Gewurztraminer.   I like the touch of sweetness, which Jacques notes is perfectly balanced by a vibrant acidity, providing a refreshing finish.   $20 the bottle.

The 2006 Cinq Etoiles, Sierra Foothills, is a classic five-varietal Bordeaux blend.  The website has a great description: Cabernet Sauvignon leads the flavor profile with black currant and plum,  Petit Verdot adds color and structure, and the Merlot smooths the texture and brings spicy flavors and a hint of tobacco leaf. Cabernet Franc brightens the nose with a whiff of flowers and the Malbec helps to fill the mid-palate with a fruity lushness.   $20 the bottle.

Solune is located at 16303 Jewett Lane (Colfax Hwy), Grass Valley.  Open for  tastings Saturday & Sunday from 12 to  5.    If you want to visit during the week, call 530-271-0990 and perhaps they can arrange a time.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

© 2011 Barbara Keck

Night Harvest at Naggiar (Grass Valley/Nevada County): "season off to a late start"

Tony Tibshirani of Naggiar Vineyards in Nevada County, Sierra Foothills, sent these spectacular night harvest photos taken the week of September 25, and an update:

"This season is off to a late start for high elevation growers in Nevada County.  Naggiar's vineyards are at a 1200 ft elevation in the Sierra Foothills, between Grass Valley & Auburn.  

Our Rhone whites are showing exceptional quality.  We’ve harvested Viognier, Marsanne, & Rousanne.  We've seen very little raisining and the yields are somewhat lower than previous years due to the spring rains. We’ve been harvesting around 24 Brix and a pH of 3.5. 

We've also picked our Syrah and Sangiovese, but this next week,  we’ll be focusing on most of our reds."


About Naggiar Vineyards  (from their website)

"After searching for 3 years for a suitable vineyard site, we found a 160 acre site with ideal wine grape growing conditions in the Sierra Foothills between Auburn and Grass Valley. The 160 acre site sits on a large knoll with gentle hillside slopes providing good breezes and air circulation while at the same time reasonable hillside tractor access conditions.  We purchased the land in 1997.

The Nevada County Irrigation canal runs through the site providing an ample and dependable supply of clean water throughout the growing season.  We built a one acre surface area and 20 ft deep pond to ensure that an adequate reserve of water would be available at all times of the year.

The estate vineyards consist of 50 acres planted with 12 different varieties of grapes which provide the flexibility and choice of creating the best varietal wines or the best possible blends."

According to owner Mike Naggiar, the winery made 2600 cases 2010, and they plan to get to 5000 cases.  Their first vintage was 2003, with wines released in 2005.

Lava Cap (Placerville/El Dorado County) Reports Harvest is "latest start ever, in 26 years"

Tom Jones, Winemaker and one of the owners of Lava Cap Winery in Placerville, El Dorado County, and wife Beth Jones, Marketing & Sales, note that this harvest is the "latest start ever, in 26 years"...

Tom Jones judges grapes'
readiness for harvest

We are hand picking our Sauvignon Blanc today- it is now at 24 brix, 3 tons/acre and we should have 15 tons coming in on September 29- all estate produced (Tom’s brother Charlie is vineyard mastermind!)


Next, may be the Chardonnay ... but nothing until next week at earliest or maybe some early estate Zinfandel from our sunny slope vineyard.


Ideally the rain will stay north of us and we will have a warm Fall!

We have picked and crushed in early November before but it appears that our harvest 2011 may break that record as well! One upside… all of our bottling which we do on our line is completed this year before crush begins- That is a very good feeling!



About Lava Cap (from their website)

Family tradition is hands-on
at Lava Cap

"Lava Cap Winery began in 1981 when the Jones Family purchased an old 64-acre pear farm in the Sierra Foothills just east of the gold discovery town of Placerville, CA. It was the culmination of a year-long state-wide search for premium vineyard land by David and Jeanne Jones. David Jones, a professional geologist at USGS and later University of California, Berkeley, knew the critical role that soil plays with premium wines. They found that the old farm met their requirements: volcanic soil of modest depth, gentle sloping terrain affording numerous microclimates, a high elevation providing moderate temperatures for even ripening, and an abundance of super quality mountain sourced water. The residual “lava cap” topography had eroded from the volcanic activity in the Sierra Nevada millions of years ago. The old pear farm showed the potential of tremendous terroir and superb wine grapes, and thus was reborn into a vibrant, new enterprise.

Lava Cap Winery has always been a family affair. Family members include sons Tom and Charlie, and their wives. The family started clearing and planting the vineyard in 1981 with Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Charlie took the reins of vineyard management and pursued additional vineyard development with plantings of Petite Sirah, Barbera, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Tom completed the business from grape growers to vintners by earning a Masters degree in Enology & Viticulture, University of California, Davis in 1989.



Over the years, Tom has worked hard to forge the Lava Cap style of elegant, textured-driven wines. Today, his winemaking style creates the consistent quality and concentrated flavors recognized far and wide by Lava Cap wine lovers everywhere. Charlie has developed over 90 acres of vineyard using sustainable practices for Lava Cap’s elegant estate wines. Almost three decades later, the old farm has indeed proven the wonderful terrior that was hinted at many years ago. "

Szabo Vineyards (Nevada City/Nevada County) - Good Sugar in Grape Harvest

Sandor (Alex) Szabo of Szabo Vineyards sends this brief Harvest Report:

We recently harvested our muscat blanc and orange ----yum-- talk about sugar!

On Tuesday September 25 we harvested the Primitivo and then the Syrah today (Wednesday the 26th September).

We'll be working from 5 am to 11 am if anybody wants to visit:  fresh juice to be served!

p.s.  From the time of picking to them getting crushed is no more than 25 minutes ....we like it fresh!


About Szabo Vineyards : (from their website http://www.szaborvineyards.com/)

Szabo Vineyards is a small, family-owned operation; the vineyards, 40-acres, are at 1900 feet and on south and west-facing hillsides off of Bitney Springs Road in Nevada City.   Sitting almost exactly halfway between Grass Valley and Nevada City, the views include the Pacific Coastal Range and the Sutter and Sierra Buttes.

We are proud of our new winery building, which was designed by architect David Wright of Grass Valley and completed in July 2009. This state-of-the-art, passive solar facility is built into the hillside and was engineered to keep the wines at a constant temperature year-round. We crushed our own grapes at the new winery for the first time in September 2009.

We pride ourselves on the hand-crafted quality of our wines, which are made exclusively from sustainably grown grapes from our mountainside estate. Our Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Syrah wines are intense and fruit-forward without being dominated by oak.