Hey folks! Really sorry I’ve been blog-free for a few weeks. As you can imagine it’s been a bit crazy with Crush in full swing the past month. But I’m back and I’m very, very pleased to announce that Harvest 2009 is officially over at Michel-Schlumberger — the last grapes were picked on Sunday, just before the dreaded typhoon storm hit Sonoma County on Monday night and dumped several inches of rain on us.

WOW, what a year! Seriously folks, I’ve worked in the vineyard and cellar of M-S for 13 years and I’ve never seen happier vines or tasted better juice. At the risk of jinxing the vintage I have to say that these will be among the finest wines ever produced by Mike Brunson (please don’t tell him I said that). I’ll elaborate on this in future posts but right now my brain is foggy and creativity is running low. What? I’m going to take the easy way out this week out and post some random camera phone shots of 2009 Crush. Check it out:

O.K., you probably can't actually see them but this shot is from the crush pad, minutes away from the end of Harvest 2009, as the pickers work their way through Bloque Loco (cabernet sauvignon).

Basura bucket.

Fermenting must in small bins. These are punched down several times each day by hand.

Brunson shows his son Zach the finer points of making wine.

Ever wonder what it looks like to clean the inside of a 12 ton press in the dark?

Intern Oren punches down some cab in an open top fermenter. Notice how the picture quality is all fuzzy -- that's what happens to your cell phone camera after you shoot pics in a dark, wet press.

This post is dedicated to Oren's dog, Gisele... A very good dog.

Last night my lovely wife and I had a bottle of 2006 Michel-Schlumberger ‘Le Fou’ pinot noir. Wow — what an experience! Right off the bat the wine was showing luscious fruit, fine structure and acid for age-ability, and a hint of that nearly indescribable “forest floor” aroma that typically characterizes a fine Burgundy. After about 20 more minutes of swirling and sniffing, the finer complexities began to show – ripe pomegranate, red cherry and Christmas spices melding perfectly with silky smooth tannins. A half an hour later the wine had reached it’s full virtually indescribable glory. And later on when the pizza arrived (yes, we paired the pinot with a beautiful NY style pizza) we were quite happy with how the spice and fruit in the wine harmonized so well with each slice.

And now I’d like to compare last night’s wine tasting experience with a quick summary of what goes down at a wine competition. A “professional taster” sits at a table with a scorecard and a pencil. An assistant opens maybe 15 bottles of wine or more and pours the wine into a whole buncha glasses. The taster sniffs and sips and ponders for a moment and gives the wine a score or a medal (or not). That’s it. Done deal. And then the believers flock to the store to snap up the 94 point cabernet and the Gold Medal pinot.

O.K., I guess I’m being a bit snarky. But, at this point, I need to make a horrible confession. I used to be a Spectator believer. Young and naïve, I would dutifully take my monthly buying guide to the wine shop and snap up all the Best Buys and Cellar Selections I could afford (which wasn’t much, actually). But eventually I saw the light and realized what wine writer Dan Berger recently commented on – wines with subtle finesse and character don’t win medals, the monster oak and alcohol wines do. And monster wines don’t pair well with food and they don’t age well. These wines are like a bad pop song, designed to smack you in the face with immediate gratification but little else. Sure you may be tapping your toe the first time you hear “Achy Breaky Heart” but after two or three more listens you realize that you’ve been had.

These days I look at wine tasting not as a singular event but as an entire experience. It’s about the people you’re with, the food you’re serving, the occasion, the ambience, the weather, the music, the mood. It’s about a taster’s relationship with the winery and Winemaker. And it’s especially about the mystical way a wine opens up and evolves over time, to be sipped and savored over the course of an hour or two. It’s really that simple.

But even if one ignores the whole “experience” argument and really, really wants an expert to pave the way then who, exactly, can one turn to? A recent study looked at the results of several thousand wines entered in 13 major U.S. wine competitions and found little consistency in which wines won gold medals. Another study found judges often rated the same quite differently when they tasted it twice in the same blind flight of wines. Hmmm….

So the moral of this story is simple — learn for yourself. Discover your own palate, not Parker’s. Eat, drink, chat with friends, rock out and enjoy the experience. And leave the medals to Michael Phelps.

Happy Sipping,

Tony

Here’s something a little different — the other day, a helicopter came down and swooped up water from our lake… and I just keep thinking how awesome this place is.

There is never a dull moment here at Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate, especially with harvest in full swing, but there is still room for unexpected events.  The other day I was giving a 36 person cheese and wine pairing out under our glorious oak tree when we were buzzed by a rather large helicopter.  It seemed to be flying very low for a helicopter of its caliber and we couldn’t figure out its reason for flying over our property.

As the party was enjoying their wine and cheeses while conjuring up helicopter tales, Wine Educator Evan Erickson was touring a group about our property and witnessed the helicopter’s true mission. As it turns out, there was a fire destroying acreage near the winery so the California Fire Department (CFD) needed to use our splendid lake as an emergency water source.

The group of 9 people on tour had the opportunity to observe the CFD operation within 100 ft!  Their timing was superb, as they were on the dam of the lake and couldn’t be closer unless they had rowed out to the love nest (our home to nesting Canada Geese) . The force from the chopper’s blades created a windy mist that relieved the folks temporarily from the summer heat.  It was quite the the sight.  Benchland Club member (that would be our wine club!) Jerry Hollister (who provided the photos) was one of the witnesses, “It was totally unexpected and tremendously powerful.”

This is not the first time the CFD had used our lake as a water source, for some of the longer tenured employees have seen this happen before. But it was the first time anyone was at the lake when the helicopter came down to scoop water.

You never know what type of wild excursion can happen here at Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate, but rest assured, it is always an experience. Come visit and see what adventure you find.

Joseph Barnwell

So Harvest 2009 is cruising along at Michel-Schlumberger. All the pinot blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir and zinfandel has been picked and squashed and is bubbling away in barrels, bins and tanks. The big reds aren’t far behind. It rained a bit yesterday (no picking today) so I have a chance to get caught up on catching people up.

Hand-picked Dijon clone chardonnay from the benchlands

Winemaker Brunson is busy walking the vineyards, sampling grapes, checking numbers, sniffing, tasting, hauling hoses, hydrating yeast, driving forklift and making the occasional beer run. But in between these activities I was able to pin him down for a quick Q & A Harvest update:

How many Harvests have you done in your life?

This is my 22nd harvest. More than half my life.

The best thing about Harvest is:

To finally have a chance to taste all of our efforts in the vineyard.

The worst thing about Harvest is:

That the growing season ends.

I know it’s early but what’s your favorite juice so far?

I have to say the Zinfandel is tasting very nice as is the Chardonnay from Bradford Mt.

What has surprised you most about the Harvest so far?

How calm things are. We have the finest crew in DCV…hands down.

Winemakers often say that they have dreams (or nightmares) about grapes during Harvest. Have you? If so, describe it.

I had one the other night. I walked over this bluff -where some of our finest Cabernet Sauvignon comes from- and everything was gone gone. Trellis wire, end posts, irrigation lines and vines…all gone. Just bare land. Even in my dream I knew that it wasn’t very realistic.

da man

What’s your favorite music to pop in the Cellar stereo in the middle of a long day of crushing?

I like reggae music. I call it musical air conditioning. Bunny Wailer’s Blackheart Man is an amazing album.

Is there any Harvest crew in Dry Creek Valley that could beat the M-S team in a game of hoops?

Winemaker Brunson doing some night dunking

Beat MS? I don’t know about that. Maybe Gallo could field a team to challenge us. They have a lot more to choose from though. Dry Creek Vineyard might have some gamers. Amongst the little wineries, probably not. Preston? Nope. Quivira? Nope. Bella? Don’t know. Unti? Probably not. Raffanelli? One of the daughters played college hoops I think, but I don’t think they have anyone else. Maybe Mauritson? I don’t know their crew that well. I think Peterson could round up a team. They just won the softball World Series. But we all know that softball isn’t the same as hoops, right?

Rumor has it that the annual Cellar and Vineyard Crew Harvest parties are legendary. True?

Yes…

We’ve all heard Winemakers go on and on about the complexities of a new vintage. I’d like one simple haiku that sums up the 2009 Harvest at Michel-Schlumberger.

Stony fruit arrives
To the careful waiting hands
Now transformation

A flock of starlings over a field. Beautiful.

I’m delighted to say September 15 marked my 18 month anniversary working here at Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate.  I have recently taken over the Wine Club giving me an amazing opportunity to further enhance and showcase our unique winery.  I will be contributing to the BenchLand Blog and wanted to introduce myself.

I was born and raised in Sonoma County, growing up on my family’s vineyard in the Russian River Valley, farming Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.  It felt I was driving the tractor, pulling leaves, and participating in harvest all before Kindergarten.  So when I graduated high school I was tired of seeing so much green, and wanted to see concrete.  College sent me down to San Diego for concrete and of course, beaches!  Upon graduation, I worked two years in Los Angeles for a bank.  After seven years of concrete, seeing a different green, my appreciation and yearning for the beauty of Sonoma County was overwhelming, and I moved back to Northern California in 2008.

It took me two years of denying loans and getting yelled at to understand how much I love smiles.  Here at the winery I strive to deliver smiles every day.  It’s an easy thing to do when our wines speak for themselves and our philosophy is genuine.

I remember back in high school working for a Barbara Hom Catering, doing events all over Sonoma County the different vibes wineries took on. It was Michel-Schlumberger who treated us with respect and not as a stranger as so many other wineries did. That always stuck with me. So when I was looking at places to work, Michel-Schlumberger was the first on my list. Luckily it all worked out.

I hope that you will enjoy reading my entries about events at our winery insight to our tasting salon. If you’re ever in the area stop on in and witness the beauty of our wines and our estate. Cheers!

Joseph Barnwell
(707) 433-7427 x-23

Bird Rescue Center handler shows off a Great Horned Owl

Wow – talk about an OUTSTANDING event! I hope you were there because, if not, you missed the event of the season. This past Saturday we hosted Bird Day at Schlumberger – a fundraiser for the Bird Rescue Center of Sonoma County. With the super-human assistance of about 15 volunteers we were able to pull off something that was both educational and entertaining.

The action started at 9:00 AM when three local bird experts armed with binoculars, a vineyard map and coffee and breakfast treats (supplied by Downtown Bakery in Healdsburg) began leading walks around our spectacular bird-filled estate. Meanwhile, Wild Birds Unlimited of Santa Rosa had scopes set up to check out and chat about the multitude of birds on our feeders. As the birders returned they were quite pleased to find plates full of pizzas and bruschetta topped with goodies from the organic garden made by Winemaker (and chef) Mike Brunson. And, of course, there were some killer wines poured for all (and an old-school lemonade stand run by Mike’s kids, Taylor and Zack).

Red-Tailed Hawk

The highlight of the day was a presentation by the Bird Rescue Center. Four volunteer handlers busted out some incredible raptors for a fun and informative show & tell. These folks know their birds and were delighted to share their knowledge with the enthralled crowd. Who knew that the Western Screech Owl doesn’t actually screech? Or that a barn owl can actually hear the heartbeat of a mouse from a distance? Or that a turkey vulture is really an incredibly beautiful bird when you get to see one up close, eye to eye?

Some vital statistics for the day:

Total attendance: 147 (including a great turnout of kids!)

Total bird walks: 11

Total bird species identified: 25

Number of pizzas consumed: 48

Raptors displayed by Bird Rescue handlers: 6 (Kestrel, Merlin, Red-tailed Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Western Screech Owl, Great-horned Owl, Barn Owl).

Percentage of happy and enlightened guests: 100

Total raised for the Bird Rescue Center: $605

Barn Owl. Very cool.

Those are some pretty impressive numbers. And in light of the success of Bird Day we have already started to plan a whole series of Nature-related activities for next year. Stay tuned for even more cool, fun, informative and thirst quenching events in 2010. In the meantime, check out the website for a list of what else is going down at Schlumberger for the remainder of the year.

Happy Harvest!

Tony

Ok, it has been nearly 8 weeks since I started here and even though I had these grand plans of posting weekly, it is amazing how learning a new job at a new winery can just engulf you.  Even as the “seasoned (or grizzled)” wine industry professional that I am, jumping into something new can be truly humbling.  Processes are in place, people have been doing it this way for some time, don’t fix what isn’t broke–all of these things are part of what I have experienced in the first two months.  So far so good.  Let’s review briefly what I have learned about running the retail operations at Michel Schlumberger:

1.  There are a lot of very hard working and dedicated people working here.  They are willing to put up with the craziness of this business and have an amazing attitude about doing it.  And they all appear to really love their job.    Or at least they fake it well.

2.  I work with a very tolerant group of people.  They are willing to say things like, “that’s ok, we can handle it” and “don’t worry about it” or “It’s ok Jim, we can handle 5 different groups at the same time with a staff of 2″ and really make me feel like they mean it.  And I am positive they aren’t mumbling under their breath things like “what the heck is he thinking?” or “yeah, right”.

3.  Mike Brunson is a helluva winemaker.    I worked at a couple of wineries in Dry Creek Valley that made what I thought were some of the best wines I have ever enjoyed.  They were big, rich, hearty, and as it turns out, over extracted, high-alcohol barnburners that simply overwhelmed everything they were paired with save a fine Monte Cristo cigar.  The Michel Schlumberger way of winemaking is a better way…make great wines from a great piece of property and let the land express what you taste…period.  Our wines our elegant, delicious layered beauties that all have their proper place.  The Pinot Blanc has been an amazing surprise to me.  The Coteaux Savages, this Syrah/Viognier/Petite Sirah blend just curls my toes.  The Deux Terres Cabernet is in the ranks of one of the best wines I have ever enjoyed.

4.  I love that we are an organic estate.  I love that we have so many differents aspects of our property that exhibit our commitment to being gentle stewards of this land.  Our beehives thrive, our garden filled with heirloom veggies is bountiful, our flowers are plentiful, the blackberry bushes are full, the bird life is abundant, heck we even saw a bobcat chasing a jackrabbit so our wild life is….wild.

5.  This is hard work.  There is a lot to do at a winery, especially when it comes to dealing with the great unwashed masses.      We are in the hospitality business and it is my philosophy that customers are always right and I want them to be thinking about their next visit as they walk out the front gate.  We will do anything that is required of us to insure that happens.

6.  We have an incredibly loyal group of wine club members.  While many wineries have seen dramatic drops in their wine club numbers, our Wine Bench has actually increased in size over the past year.  It reemphasizes to me that people want to be part of a good thing and our Wine Bench is a very very good thing.

There is a lot more but those are the highlights.  I will endeavor to visit with you more in the coming months.  Thank you for humoring me and making it all the way to the end.  I like you. 

All the best,

Jim Morris

Folks who stop by Michel-Schlumberger during the Harvest season are almost always shocked to see the Cellar and Vineyard crews drinking beer instead of wine in the afternoon after a hard day’s work. And, believe me, it’s not just us – our local little store in Dry Creek Valley can barely keep the coolers stocked with the stuff come late August. If you don’t see the Winemaker or Cellar Master around the crush pad during Harvest there’s an awful good chance he (or she) is out making a quick beer run. And why are we not sipping a nice Pinot between press cycles? Well, I guess mainly it’s because we’re working with and tasting wine all the time, every day. It’s just simply nice to mix it up – give the brain and palate a break from all that is grape.

In that spirit, this blog post has virtually nothing to do with wine. No, I’m writing about salad. Or more specifically, I’m writing about the greatest salad in the world — Salade Niçoise And I have about 20 minutes (and half a can of beer) before the next press load to do it.

As suggested by the name, Salade Niçoise is a specialty of the Cote D’Azur region of France, originating in and named for the city of Nice. There are all sorts of variations on this classic but I’m going to focus on what I know and love – my wife Lorraine’s rendition. It’s quick, cheap, easy, healthy and oh so French. So here’s how Lo rolls:

Slice up some nice heirloom tomatoes from your garden or your local Farmer’s Market. Plop ‘em down on a plate or shallow bowl. Break up nice good canned tuna over the tomatoes. Yeah, you can be all hardcore and use a seared ahi steak but, to be honest, I’ve tried both and canned is actually better in this dish. Besides, Salade Niçoise supposed to be simple and quick.

Next, dice up some fresh bell peppers, green onions, and red onions. Sprinkle liberally. Toss on some very thin slices of radish. Toss in some green or black olives. Plop on a quartered soft-boiled egg.

O.K., now for the critical last touches. In my opinion there are two types of people in this world – folks who realize the indescribable brilliance of anchovies and folks who just don’t get it. Lay down a few choice anchovy fillets right on top of the heap. Don’t be bashful. And just before you serve up your masterpiece drizzle on some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Add a sprinkle of kosher salt. Maybe some black pepper, too.

There you have it. Light a candle, put some fresh cut flowers on the table, call up some Miles Davis on the iPod and you’ve got more than a meal – you’ve got a Salade Niçoise.

And what to drink? Well, I guess technically you could pair it with a crisp Bandol rose but that would be too predictable. Instead, I go for a bone dry Tanqueray martini with Noilly Prat vermouth. Oh my gosh…

Peace and Salads,

Tony

I’ve never had much of a good memory for childhood things but I never forgot a good (or bad) scary movie. For example, I can’t remember the name of a single one of my elementary school teachers but I can vividly recall slurping on a rootbeer float and munching on popcorn in my family’s living room when the robot Yul Brynner freaks out and starts shooting cowboy tourists in the movie Westworld.  And I certainly remember sitting with my brother in the back seat of Dad’s Chevy Caprice, trying to see around Mom’s head, gripped in horror as I watched Soylent Green at the local drive-in. Sadly, I may not remember a single line of the wedding vows I recited to my wife but Charlton Heston’s horrific proclamation is etched in my brain forever:

“It’s people! Soylent Green is made out of people! They’re making our food out of people! Next thing they’ll be breeding us like cattle for food…”

Pretty heavy stuff for a little kid. I guess it’s simply a part of our culture or maybe it’s genetic (or both) – we are fascinated by fear. And, as a kid, few movies generated more fear in me than The Swarm. If you’ve never seen it, it’s a fairly simple storyline: African honey bees invade a military complex, take down a few Army helicopters, smother a VW Bug, and really, really ruin a nice couple’s picnic. You never know where they are and when they’re coming but once they do, you know you’re toast. It’s classically horrible horror.

So with images like this impregnated in our minds from childhood it’s no wonder that most people are terrified of honey bee swarms. Fortunately, the real story is much, much different and even more fascinating than the movie.

Honey bees swarm to propagate their colonies. It’s a completely natural and normal thing. When a hive gets too stressed from health issues or overcrowding the bees will swarm — the queen bee leaves with a large proportion of the bees (maybe around 20,000!) to find a new place to set up a home. They don’t have much time. Before they leave the hive they will gorge on honey and nectar in anticipation for lean times ahead. The bees generally can go without food or shelter for only a few days.

At first the swarming bees will form a huge cluster around a tree branch or other semi-protective structure near their old home. Then, while most of the bees wait it out in the mass of the swarm (with the queen in the center), around 200 or more scout bees search the area for potential nesting sites. Successful scout bees return to the swarm and communicate specifics on distance, direction and quality of the site via a waggle dance on the surface of the swarm. Typically, numerous scouts return to the swarm, presenting the swarm with many options. The more excited a scout bee is about her findings the more excited she dances. If she can convince other scouts to check out the location she found, they may take off, check out the proposed site and promote the site further upon their return. After several hours and sometimes days, a favorite location eventually emerges from this decision making process.

Once a site is agreed upon, the trick is to communicate the decision to every other of the 20,000 bees in the swarm. It was recently discovered that the few scout bees on the surface of the swarm and “in the know” will crawl into the center of the mass, emitting a high pitched tone which is transmitted into a vibration to all other bees they come into contact with. Each bee that gets the message begins to raise her body temperature until, eventually, the entire swarm begins to “glow” with heat. Once the swarm temperature reaches about 95 degrees it “explodes” as all the bees take off into the air at the same time. Individuals that know the new location will then lead the huge, buzzing cloud of bees to their new home where wax production and nectar and pollen gathering begin immediately.

And does a honey bee swarm really create a path of death and destruction in its wake? Well, fortunately for humans and our military bases, no. Although coming across a swarm of honey bees certainly inspires awe, swarming bees are extremely mellow. Most honey bees only attack in response to intrusions against their hive. Although they may attack if they perceive a threat, most swarms are too concerned with finding food and shelter to be bothered by much of anything.

So go out and enjoy your picnic, free of fear. Just watch out for the yellow jackets…

Tony

Pinot blanc juice right from the press. Wow -- this stuff is nectar!

IT IS ON! I am extremely pleased to announce the start of the 2009 Harvest Season at Michel-Schlumberger Estate. Busy Brunson will no doubt check in soon with juicy details on the vintage but, for now, I wanted to post a quick photo series of the action.

It all began around 6:30 this morning when our very fine vineyard crew began picking the WPB block – west pinot blanc. I was hoping to get some cool shots of the crew harvesting the grapes in the beautifully misty morning but harvest prep in the Cellar took precedence (there’s always plenty of scrubbing to be done each day before the grapes hit the crush pad). So anyway, here we go. It’s Harvest 2009:

After hand-picking, Ramon drives the pinot blanc grapes down to the crush pad. I tried to get him to pose and smile but he's kinda shy...

There -- I caught him smiling!

Plump pinot blanc grapes ready to be pressed.

But before pressing the crew assembles for the annual Winemaker toast for a happy and safe vintage.

Brunson's blessing.

Sparkling wine at 9:00 AM. Tis the season!

The first load of grapes is dumped into the press.

A lovely cluster of pinot blanc.

Our first tank of juice for the vintage. Soon there will be more. A lot more...

This is NOT Jerry

My fingers started to itch and tingle, and then an arm. I had a serious case of the heebie-jeebies like I hadn’t had in years. Even worse, I was behaving like a whacked-out driver in a Max Sennett movie as I jammed down the highway toward the City at a million miles an hour. I had someplace to be too soon and a long list of “not mets” scrolling through my brain. I clung menacingly to the steering wheel. Outside, it was way too hot. Feelings like this came over me in the old days, in other lives: the Sixties, rough times at home, bad places at the edge of night – I had kicked a bunch of habits. If I had time, I could tell you what they were.

Suddenly changing lanes, I pulled in behind a slow moving semi-trailer, took a deep breath, and just as quickly reached for the Blackberry and glanced down. It had been way too long. My body relaxed. Before the guilt set in, I knew for those few seconds that I really needed that phone in my hand. I would have used my Jawbone, but I left it in a rental in Seattle, or maybe Columbus. I hadn’t replaced it yet. I was none too sure a hand’s free device was much safer than the real deal. I had been trying to cold turkey the phone/car thing for weeks. I had gotten so close. Then it happened; the semi lunged back at my car like an enormous dervish. I heard myself gasp. Brakes jammed and tires screamed. The Blackberry crashed against the rear window and fell to the shelf behind the back seat. It started ringing.

An hour later, I sat on Folsom at Third Street in a nightmare of traffic at rush hour. I was going to be late for a cause that was great: hosting a wine dinner at Local Kitchen to begin at 6:30 P.M. It was going to be a Syrah Extravaganza, with delicious wines and special seasonal treats and it was Sold Out. There must have been a Giants game, or something else that had caused several thousand cars, buses, and taxis not to move. Long minutes after that, I still sat; the car idled, the Blackberry occasionally rang or made its annoying bling-blang sound. I glared at it in my rearview mirror. The phone’s little red light glared back.

At 6:25 P.M., I pulled a Winston Churchill – which wasn’t easy.  When he still drove his own car, he would become equally frustrated with traffic to the point of driving off-road to find a more convenient route – often, the sidewalk. If I inched up onto the curb with only two wheels, crept forward the short part of a block, I could lay claim to a whole alley and a legal parking space, which I could clearly see. I sensed Churchill smiling as I moved the old Benz with boldness. Properly parked, I heaved a case of wine to my shoulder and ran in a semi-professional manner for three blocks and arrived on time. Of course, everyone had called from their cars about the traffic. Dinner delayed.

Jerry 'Road Warrior' Craven

So it all started with a little crow. I was walking my whippets (Devo & Jimi) around the neighborhoods of Santa Rosa when we were stopped in our tracks by a group of large and raucous crows in the trees above, caw-caw-cawing up a blue streak at us. After a few more steps I saw what all the commotion was about – a baby crow sitting along the edge of the sidewalk, obviously unable to fly. I quickly turned around and led my dogs away (Jimi, I reckoned, might have trouble differentiating a little crow from a little squeaky toy).

I honestly didn’t really know what to do next. But I knew that if I did nothing, the crow would certainly end up an easy cat’s meal. Once I got the dogs home I turned to the trusty phone book. I called the City for advice. They told me the crow was not dangerous to the general public and, therefore, was not their problem. They directed me to The Bird Rescue Center. Wow, I thought. I never knew such an organization existed in Sonoma County. Now I was getting somewhere.

The lady on the phone at Bird Rescue was very helpful. She informed me that the crow was almost certainly a fledgling that had left the nest too early. She said that they had many crows at the facility in the same condition and that they were usually able to nurse the baby birds back to health and release them back into the wild. Very cool, I thought. Then she instructed me to “secure” the bird in a pillow case and bring it to the Center immediately. I have to admit I was a bit taken aback. Surely (and stupidly) I thought that  there must be a team of kind-hearted bird rescue volunteers who had nothing better to do than drive around at a moment’s notice and pick up injured birds and nurse them back to health and not get paid a dime for it. Right? I was, of course, wrong.

So I grabbed a pillow case and drove back to the baby crow and “secured” it. Then I drove the little guy (or gal) out to the edge of town to the Bird Rescue Center. Two very nice ladies were waiting for me and they whisked the crow away for examination and care. Impressed and interested, I returned to the Center a week later for an open house. There were all sorts of cool birds on display — hawks, owls, falcons, osprey and vultures, as well as smaller songbirds. Trained volunteers took the birds out of the cages one by one to show them off. It was a very happy and caring place. And the most amazing thing? Nobody was making any money doing this – they were simply doing good.

So I wrote out a check and became a member and met Mary Ellen, the Community Education Coordinator for the Center. The next thing you know we’ve got the crazy/brilliant idea of hosting a bird education event at Michel-Schlumberger to raise money for Bird Rescue.

With that overblown introduction I am very proud to announce Saturday September 5 as Bird Day at Schlumberger. This is gonna be one of the greatest events of all time. Details are still being worked out but here are the basics:

9:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Tim Stewart, expert bird guy and proprietor of Wild Birds Unlimited in Santa Rosa, will be on hand with spotting scopes and binoculars to identify and chat about the numerous bird species gracing the grounds and vineyards of Michel-Schlumberger. A group of expert birders will lead short bird walks around the vineyards, lake and creek of the property. Coffee, tea and homemade zucchini bread will be provided for sustenance.

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Winemaker Mike Brunson will serve up homemade pizzas topped with heirloom tomatoes, peppers, garlic and basil from our organic garden. World class wines will be poured, of course, along with a lemonade stand run by Mike’s kids, Taylor and Zack.

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
The fine folks from Bird Rescue will give a show-and-tell with some big raptors. And I mean BIG. And we’re not talking about a buncha photos and some feathers – These folks will be walking around with the birds on arm. This is your chance to meet some hawks, owls, falcons and other raptors up close and very personal, and learn firsthand about their natural history.

Seriously, is this cool or what?!? And it’s one of the precious few kid-friendly events you’ll find at a winery. As you can probably tell I’m very excited about this event. You will be, too. Mark those calendars!

Peace and birds,

Tony

It amazes me to think that our Harvest lunches are just a few weeks away.  That means harvest is just around the corner, and that just can’t be…where did the year go?  But it is true — every year our early ripening varietals come in right around August 20 or so, and this year, my money is on August 22.

Seriously…I have money on the line for this.  We always have a winery contest for picking the correct first day of harvest — and my choice this year is August 22.  I might be out of luck this vintage, however, as the weather has been so delightfully moderate, harvest may be a week or so later.  Regardless, it is just ahead of us, and it will be here sooner than we think.

Harvest is such a reaffirming time for me.  The ‘cycle of life’ is a magical thing and each vintage brings back so many memories.  I think of people I’ve met and the changes in our lives — both personally and globally as a human race.  2009 will be remembered for so many things — from Obama to the world economy — from Afghanistan to Cuba — from space shuttles to global climate change.  But it will also be remembered for individual personal impacts in each of our own lives.  Very personal things, important only to us individually.  And each time we open a bottle of a 2009 wine, a little bit of that memory is stimulated in our brains and we transported vicariously to that time & place. 

OK — at least for me that’s how it works — but I’m a hopeless romantic.  And I encourage you, every time you open a bottle, to look at the label, check out the vintage, and tax yourself to remember the people, places & things important to you that happened that year.  What happened for you in your own personal vintage that year?

When you think about 2009, maybe one of your memories will be a Harvest Lunch at Michel-Schlumberger.  If you’ve never been, you HAVE to experience one (or more!).  If you’ve been before, you know how fantastic they are & will want to sign up again.  Starting on September 17, these Bacchanalian feasts run every Thursday, Friday, & Saturday running through October 17 from 11:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m (or whenever we finish eating, drinking & having a smashing good time).  Here is the line up:

- Sept 17, 18, 19:  Dan Lucia Catering
- September 24, 25, 26:  Fred Langley – Langley’s
- October 1, 2, 3:  Jeff Mall – Zin
- October 8, 9, 10:  TBD (but maybe we can get the folks at Relish to come!)
- October 15, 16, 17:  Sandra Bernstein – The Girl & the Fig

Each of these culinary artists feature the bounty that is Sonoma County featuring fresh, local foods paired beautifully with Michel-Schlumberger Estate wines from our hillside, organically grown vineyards.  And no doubt, each meal will be hosted by winemaker Mike Brunson, Vineyard Biologist Tony Wasowicz, Proprietor Jacques Schlumberger, yours truly, Judd Wallenbrock, and/or any number of others on the team.  Did I mention there will be wine?  Yeah, plenty of it — it is a celebration!  And all for only $65!!  (Call now for reservations — they really do fill up fast.  And here’s an idea — grab a whole group of your friends and take over an entire day.  Way too much fun!  707-433-7427).

And I’m also serious about just around the corner — both calendar-wise & geographically.  Well, more like around the corner from a corner around another corner.  You see, Michel-Schlumberger is located a little off the beaten trail in the Highlands above Dry Creek Valley off of West Dry Creek Road.  It is a little slice of heaven that feels as if it is miles from anyone, yet is only 10-15 minutes from downtown Healdsburg.  You might get lost…wouldn’t that be just what the doctor ordered?  Lost in a culinary Eden!  I can think of worse things.

Yep, harvest is just around the corner and so is Michel-Schlumberger.  Remember that this is not just the end of the year for the grapes — it is the beginning of a new year for the vineyards and the birth of Vintage 2009.  Come celebrate the New (Vintage) Year with us breaking bread, popping corks, making new friends, and embracing old ones at the Michel-Schlumberger Harvest Luncheons.

As “Vineyard Biologist” at Michel-Schlumberger, this is one of the most common questions I get from visitors (and one of the toughest to answer):

“Exactly what is sustainable farming?”

Very good question. There seems to be a lot of confusion about sustainability, and for good reason – there is no simple answer. For a little help, I turned to Google.

The National Safety Council, I discovered, offers a reasonable definition:

Sustainable Farming: Environmentally friendly methods of farming that allow the production of crops or livestock without damage to the farm as an ecosystem, including effects on soil, water supplies, biodiversity, or other surrounding natural resources. The concept of sustainable agriculture is an “intergenerational” one in which we pass on a conserved or improved natural resource base instead of one which has been depleted or polluted.

That definition, I think, is a bit vague but I like it alright. Most of the other links I looked at described the term in a similar way. But as I scrolled down through a few pages of search results I came across something that really caught my eye — a link to the Monsanto website. What on earth, I wondered, does Monsanto Corporation have to do with sustainable farming? A quick perusal of the company’s homepage left me stunned. The word “sustainable” is plastered all over the Monsanto homepage, along with cute sprouting seedling icons and photos of smiling third world farmers tending their lush crops. One of the headers boldly declares:

By 2030, Monsanto commits to help farmers produce more and conserve more. That’s sustainable agriculture. And that’s what Monsanto seeds are all about.

Wow. There are so many reasons why that statement is blatantly, shockingly, horrifically untrue. First of all, ironically, even the Monsanto seeds themselves are not sustainable. Billions of people on the planet are supported by farmers who save seeds from the crops and replant these seeds the following year. Most farmers cannot afford to buy new seeds every year, so collecting and replanting seeds is simply how farming works. This is the way food has been grown successfully for thousands of years. With Monsanto’s terminator technology, however, seeds have been genetically-engineered so that when the crops are harvested, all new seeds from these crops are sterile. This forces farmers to pay Monsanto every year for new seeds.

And Monsanto’s genetically modified “Roundup Ready” seeds simply encourage more herbicide spraying which results in more erosion, less soil fertility, the promotion of “super weeds” and a buildup of toxic chemicals in our food and water. That’s not very sustainable.

But enough quibbling over the semantics of sustainability. I was looking for the very guts of Monsanto Corporation. What’s it all about? What makes it tick? I took a look at their official Mission Statement. It starts off:

Our Pledge. Growth for a Better World. We want to make the world a better place for future generations.

Then that’s followed by a whole lotta silliness on how caring they are for the poor farmers all over the world. Interestingly, on the same menu bar as this mission statement is a button to access updated stock performance charts. Now that’s convenient. You see, Monsanto is a corporation. Its mission is to make money. A lot of money. How many Monsanto executives really are deeply concerned with making the world a better place for future generations? Do investors sit and discuss all the worldly good they’ve done at their board meetings? I doubt it. After all, these are the same fine people who brought us Agent Orange and still, to this day, deny that the toxic herbicide has any negative health effects, other than a possible skin rash. From 1962 to 1970, the US military sprayed 19 million gallons of herbicides, mostly Agent Orange, on over one million Vietnamese civilians and over 100,000 U.S. troops. As a result, within ten years of the close of the war, 9170 veterans had filed claims for disabilities caused by Agent Orange. In 2002, Vietnam requested assistance in dealing with the tens of thousands of birth defects due to Agent Orange. In order to avoid medical compensation expenses, Monsanto continues to claim this now banned chemical is not toxic. Real caring people at Monsanto.

Anyway, I know there are a lot of intelligent and caring  people who disagree with my not-so-favorable impression of Monsanto. It is a very complicated issue and I would certainly urge everyone to take the time to read up on the claims by all sides and decide for yourselves. But I think it all really boils down to one simple question:

Who are you going to trust with the health of yourself and the environment – your friend and neighbor the small sustainable farmer or Monsanto Corporation?

Tony

P.S. Out of sheer, morbid curiosity I couldn’t help checking out the Monsanto gift shop on the website. For a very reasonable $4.05 you can purchase a nice ball cap printed with the phrase:

Monsanto
Imagine

I guess I’ve got an overactive imagination. Surely, any reference to the John Lennon song is completely unintentional. They couldn’t really sink that low, could they? It’s hard for me to imagine.

This morning I awoke to the pleasant sound of clucking chickens. That’s not an especially novel sound to me as Michel-Schlumberger has maintained a happy flock for years. But, alas, I don’t live on the estate. In fact, I live on a very small lot on a very busy street smack dab in the middle of the city of Santa Rosa. That’s right – my neighbor’s birds are city chickens.

And it’s not just poultry that are new to the neighborhood. Suddenly, it seems as if small urban veggie gardens are popping up everywhere. In general, nursery sales to city dwellers in the U.S. are way up these days. This is partly due to the obsessive nature of hard core gardeners as myself, but mostly because Americans are tightening their belts and eschewing daily runs to Safeway and Taco Bell in favor of growing and harvesting food themselves. The growing awareness of environmental issues doesn’t hurt the cause, either.

Whatever the reason, it’s very cool indeed to see more people growing their own food. And it’s remarkable to see chickens roaming freely in a backyard instead of being “mass produced” in enormous warehouses packed with dark, tiny cages. But, really, the most amazing thing is that today’s chicken is probably one of the few examples in the world of an animal species actually increasing in diversity. And why is this?

Well, industrial breeders select from only a very small pool of poultry breeds. These breeds are the ones that fatten up quick and lay the most eggs and suffer confinement well. Fortunately, backyard chicken enthusiasts and small scale farmers have begun to recognize the importance of the heritage breeds, many of which are more flavorful, lay multi-colored eggs and are more attractive than the chickens laying all those eggs that fill the shelves at Safeway.

And with that, I’d like to introduce you to the latest additions to our ever-growing flock of chickens – we received our latest batch of heritage breed newborn chicks just last week.

Dominique

The Dominique, also known as the Dominicker, originated in the United Kingdom. It is considered America’s oldest breed of chicken, having been brought to New England from southern England during colonial times. Sadly, by 1950 the breed was so rare as to be considered nearly extinct. Fortunately, due to a revival of interest in rare breeds, the Dominiques have made a bit of a comeback in the past few years.

Blue Wyandotte

The Wyandotte originated in the United States. The first examples of the breed appeared in 1870s. Wyandottes tend to be quite friendly, and not flighty, and so make good pets for people. They are also very vocal, uttering soft clucks on a regular basis. There are a total of 17 colors within the breed.

Light Brahma

Brahmas are an Asiatic breed of chicken, originating in the Brahmaputra region in India, and are believed to be closely related to the Jungle Fowl (Gallus Gigantus). The first Brahmas were brought to the U.S. from China in 1846. A very beautiful bird.

Black New Jersey Giant

The Black Jersey Giant Chicken breed is largest chicken produced in the US — Cocks are generally 13 pounds, hens are 10 pounds. This heavy fowl was developed between 1870 and 1890 by John and Thomas Black in Burlington County, near the town of Jobstown, New Jersey. Despite its intimidating size, this chicken is known to be quite mellow and friendly.

Heritage chickens, English Babydoll sheep, honey bees, barn owls, moon & stars watermelon, mosquitofish… the goodness continues at Michel-Schlumberger. Come on out and check out the life.

Tony

P.S.

Lab results from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) found that the eggs of pastured chickens contained 34% less cholesterol, 10% less fat, 40% more vitamin A, twice as much omega-6 fatty acid, and four times as much omega-3 fatty acid as the USDA egg standard. Anybody shocked?

Just past high summer out here in Wine Country, most of us people our lives with friendly visitors from afar and use their arrival as catalysts to disinter fine bottles.  I offered one up last week to Aunt Agnes, who seemed to relish the opportunity.  It was an old Cabernet from the Estate that I had tucked into the floorboards back in 2000.  Agnes paused, recalled the year as a special one for her (she had visited Washington DC during the famous recount), and went off to dig a bag of walnuts from her overnight bag.  She handed them over in a kind of hospitality swap.  I went to the pantry and came back with glasses, some cheese, a cork puller, but no amount of rummaging produced a nutcracker.  I excused myself and went to find a good ball peen.  

Agnes made a more robust choice; she bolted to the front sidewalk where her little size 8’s cracked the jollies out of those walnuts.  “Almost finished,” she said when I found her on all fours picking up the last of the nutmeats.  Overhead, a raven circled and came to rest in the Pistache tree, then another ruffled onto the fence.  Feeling a chill, I suggested we hustle back in for that glass of wine before Hitchcock showed up.

As she settled into her chair in the front room, Agnes readied herself for storytelling and wine drinking.  We were game.  The wine was good and had mellowed enough to work great with the walnuts and some Gorgonzola.  She relayed that George Washington started losing his teeth about age 27 because he cracked open walnut shells with them.  Good lord!  He must have been ravenous or fevered.  Agnes had toured Mt. Vernon when our 2000 Cabernet had still been berries on the vine and learned an exhaustive supply of facts that held us past our usual party time.  Besides, we were headed to the Bastille Day Party at the Estate the next day while Agnes was headed onto the City.  I rose to say good night.

“You know, there was more than one Bastille Key,” she murmured, stopping us in our nightshirts.  We settled slowly back onto the sofa.  She told us with continuing authority that the Marquis de Layfayette sent one key to Washington via Thomas Paine back in 1790, and brought another with him when he visited the United States on a return trip.  This second key, he donated to the Masonic Chapter in Alexandria, famous for its ties to General Washington.  The second key was enormous, weighing over five pounds.  I pictured the door that must have been opened by a five pounder and the room behind it – my mind started arranging a perfect wine cellar, one that Dennis Searles, one of our wine club members would surely appreciate.

The next morning, I took Auntie to the bus station in Santa Rosa.  While we waited for bus arrival, I got the dirt on one more Bastille key – ready for one more?  It seems the world famous Madame Tussaud collected an elaborate wrought iron one with a crucifix cut out of the end.  Madame had been an art tutor at Versailles and on the 15^th, a day after the famous “storming”, she hustled over to the old fortress before it was torn down and snatched herself a keepsake.  She was later arrested, but nailed a reprieve by agreeing to make death masks of aristocrats who had their heads lopped off.  A few years later, she relocated to London where she founded the wax works exhibition that still carries her name.

Thanks, Agnes, and a pleasant Good Bye… this is just the kind of info that puts me in the mood to start drinking before 9:00 A. M.  Bastille Day Party – here I come.  We really had a great, festive celebration this year at the Estate and the crowd was revelry-centric.  Our day was filled with fine food prepared by Chloe with an elegant French touch, a magician, sparkling décor and flying banners and flags.  In keeping with the emotion of the day, there were also a number of speeches – the last one a bit of a warm ramble.  But with sentiment, sincerity, and inspiration, the wines never tasted better including the 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Even Madame Tussaud would have agreed.  Certainly Aunt Agnes would.  And believe me when I tell you, every Bastille Day I’ve enjoyed both in France and here at Michel-Schlumberger has been better than the one just before – well maybe not that first one back in July, 1789.  Right, Dennis?  à votre santé.

Life continues to amaze me.  Two years ago, I had what I considered to be the last job I would ever have.  I was hired to run a small winery that had just been launched by two of the most respected people in the wine business on a property that I helped develop with the previous owner.  Their business plan was rock solid, our visions for the property and winery were aligned, and at last funding was in place to create a very special place.  There was one small thing that was left out of their business plan, a crippling worldwide recession.  As the business world goes, you need to do what you can to keep your business afloat and alas, with a very heavy heart, I found myself very underemployed in a very downtrodden business market in the industry I loved.  How would I land on me feet after that sort of loss?  It was truly the darkest of times I have ever known professionally.  I lost what I loved.

Three months later, I found that love again.  To a higher level than I even dared to wish for (sorry, I hate dangling participles too).  Working with Michel-Schlumberger is one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that come around, oh, say, once in a lifetime.  From their audacity to produce Bordeaux and Rhone varietals in an appellation best known for King Zin, to their organic farming practices that are truly understated but pure and true, to their passionate and quiet owner who loves his bees most of all, to the intense beauty of their Estate, Michel-Schlumberger is the kind of place most in the wine business can only aspire to be part of (yes that’s another one).  Now I come to them with the goal of creating the ultimate customer experience.  It is my job to share this place with the outside world.  Just you wait.

 Whether it is through the myriad of events we have and are considering, to our Winebench packages you receive, to

The Ultimate Customer Experience

 your visits or stays at the winery or the bottle of amazing Michel-Schlumberger wine you are enjoying right now, I want you to always be thinking about the next time you are coming to visit us and recommending us to your family and friends.  I want your experience to be the best there is to be had in the wine business.  Heck, if it means that I have to start offering winemaker massages with every case then…..well maybe not. 

 We love what we do and it will show through everything we do.  I am honored to be part of this crew and I do believe lost love is now found.

At your service,

Jim Morris
Director of the Consummate Consumer Experience
(Or something a bit more formal)
jmorris@michelschlumberger.com
Twitter – @m_schlumberger
Facebook – Michel-Schlumberger
707 433 7427

Welcome Jim Morris!

As the General Manager of Michel-Schlumberger, I am often the guy behind the scenes trying to connects the dots linking the vineyards, winemaking & commerce of the Estate.  In theory, my job is to do this profitably, sustainably, efficiently & seamlessly.  In reality, the first thing you learn in a job like this is that you simply can’t do it alone. 

What is needed is a strong team – one that is galvanized, inspired, motivated & communicates well with each other.  There are a lot of moving parts & one person simply cannot micro-manage every element.  When you find people who just ‘get it’ — you are blessed.  I gravitate towards people who, even though they do not own the company, act as if they do.  And at Michel-Schlumberger, we truly do have a ‘human terroir’ as I’ve called it before, that is unparalleled, and one that complements our distinctive physical terroir.  We have people here  who create a ‘flavor’ to the place as much as the land creates a flavor to the wines.

And every once in a while, even a blind pig can find an acorn  — and this blind pig (me!) just found an acorn.  Allow me to introduce to you the newest member of our family, Jim Morris.  Picking up on my exceptionally corny habit of creating acronyms for just about anything that moves, Jim created one for himself — he is a self  described ”ACORN” (Absolute Customer Opportunity Recognition Numerologist).  Or more simply, he is The Director of the Consummate Guest Experience (also known as the Director of Consumer Sales & Marketing — but thas sounds so…corporate).  Jim is responsible for all Retail Operations, Wine Club, Events, and anything related to ”Having (the) Ultimate Guest Experience” at Michel Schlumberger (’H.U.G.E.’ – sorry I couldn’t resist!). 

I first encountered Jim in the wild world of social media.  For those of you new to social media (aren’t we all!?), it is those strange unknown worlds hosted by Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace among others.  We met through the Wine Bloggers Conference in 2008 and the activities therein that involved his winery and Michel Schlumberger.  He ran a small winery located in Dry Creek Valley owned by a friend of mine, Paul Dolan.  Our paths would cross on occasion and I always enjoyed our interactions.  When a position opened up at the winery recently, I was contacted by Jim who found himself in an underemployed state.  Once we met and the rest of the staff had a chance to get to know him, we realized it was a great fit and brought him on board. 

As a member of the team, he will now also be a contributing member of the Benchland Wine Blog (named the Best Winery Blog in the Country by the way by people who know winery blogs) and an invaluable member of the Michel-Schlumberger family.  Should you find yourself at an event or the winery, make sure you welcome him aboard, and enjoy the latest ‘flavor’ in our human terroir.

“GM Judd”

I don’t know about you but I’ve always wondered –What happens if you give a honey bee cocaine?  Well, fortunately, researchers at the University of Illinois have recently come up with the answer.

The study was fairly straightforward.  Scientists applied tiny drops of cocaine solution to the bee’s backs and then monitored their dance communication system, which is used to tell other bees about the quantity, quality and location of a food source.

The researchers found that the bees on cocaine ate less and danced much more enthusiastically than normal.  (Just like humans?).  But, interestingly, the dancing of the drugged bees wasn’t simply an expression of unstructured hyperactivity.  The research team demonstrated that only the foraging honey bees dance on cocaine, that these bees don’t move more than other bees except during the dance and that the dances of coked up bees still accurately depict the location, quantity and quality of the food.

“It’s not like they’re gyrating wildly on the dance floor out of control,” said one researcher. “This is a patterned response. It gives distance information, location information. That information is intact.”

So, really, what’s the point?  Well, the conclusion was that honey bees on cocaine dance more because of the altruistic high it gives them.  In other words, the bees are getting a buzz off of being nice to each other.

I don’t know if this research will have any significant lasting impact in the World of Science but I do know that honey bees work up a mighty thirst with all that dancing.  Bees, in fact, seek and collect quite a bit of water to carry back to the hive every day, especially in the hot summer months.

Which brings me to the point of today’s post – the unveiling of the Michel-Schlumberger Bee Fountain!  As usual, we’re very proud.

The fountain sits in the center of our circular and extremely floriferous Bee Garden, practically at the doorstep of our 3 hives (probably around 60,000 bees).  It’s made from recycled stuff from the vineyard and it’s powered by a small solar panel.  It’s not big, but doesn’t need to be – just a steady trickle of water over a small pile of flat rocks is the perfect thirst quencher for bees and birds (and raccoons and fox and dogs and cats).  A few aquatic plants and mosquito fish were the final touches to aid in purification of the water.

And I swear this is true.  When at last I had set the final rock in place and plugged in the solar panel to start the fountain flowing I stood and stepped back to bask in the gurgling glory.  Right then a beautiful western bluebird swooped down from the oak tree and landed on the fountain, just 3 feet from where I stood.  The bird took several long, happy drinks of water.  Then a large squawking scrub jay dove down and chased the bluebird off to do the exact same thing.

That, I figure, is an auspicious beginning.

Tony

…I love the annual Michel-Schlumberger Wine Bench Picnic even more. I already know that you do too. Or you would if you haven’t been able to attend one of our club picnics before. These undemanding, but famous gatherings are always held on a Saturday in early June, when the air starts cool in the morning and warms to a temperature just right for plenty of delicious, distinctive Benchland Wine, fine food, and plenty of friendly conversation that hovers on a human scale. 

On the morning before our picnic last Saturday, I was at home in bed watching through the window as a Swallowtail butterfly dried its wings in the early morning sun. The wings glinted and were shockingly beautiful. It was the second one I’d seen in as many days. It may have emerged from its chrysalis around dawn – about the time I began rolling out of mine. A swallowtail’s caterpillar stage favors the gauzy diet of the bronze anise that grows to eyeball height under my bedroom window. I eat anise too, though I enjoy other foods as well.

By 10 A.M. the Swallowtail fluttered about and became airborne. Whoops. Let’s try that again. Wow! Now off it went, last seen flitting northwest at great speed; it had brilliant yellow and black wings dotted with blue and a dash of red – nice and racy. I saddled up my rig and took off after it, soon mingling with a bunch of critters, winged or otherwise, heading to the 17th annual Wine Bench Picnic out at Michel-Schlumberger.

Heavy clouds began to break apart and lilt into the late forenoon sky, exposing a crowd of us being pulled down Wine Creek Road by anticipated pleasure and a big dose of tradition: Mike’s excellent wines, Tony’s natural carnival show of beneficial vineyard critters and myriad insects, sleek kayaks on the lake, lots of savory snacks, and big platters of baked chicken and a heap of lamb chops. This year, a tent full of music played by Carlos Herrera pumped out toe tapping, fiery tinged notes at the edge of the Estate’s robust organic garden where butterflies hovered about. I went looking for mine as the music welcomed us through the open gate.

Even better, Jacques and Barbara Schlumberger, who hosted us for lunch under the big oak tree, presided beforehand over a busy display of resident honeybees, bee keeping implements, and tastes of honey fresh from the comb. Jacques and Barbara have, for several years, been international advocates for the protection of honeybees and keep a large number of hives both at Michel-Schlumberger and at their home ranch (each guest went home with a prized gift of honey from their hives). The Melissa Garden, Barbara’s organic flower garden habitat for pollinators near their house is now well-known. Her flower garden tips are being applied to the beautiful bee-garden just inside the winery entrance. The flowering plants and shrubs provide food and nectar to a thousand winged insects that help keep our world healthy and balanced. The plants also enhance the banks of the restored Wine Creek that flows nearby.     

The Wine Bench is a club, for sure, that provides lots of great tastes of our vineyard throughout the year. But the picnic has evolved over the years into a personal bond that draws members from across the country, and even off-shore. This year was quite a mix: new friends, old ones, a few Texans, Ohioans, a man from Philadelphia, City folk, mountaineers and two from Costa Rican mingled easily with the day. Everyone was smiling.

Not long into the lunch, even Healdsburgundians and Southern Californians found their conversational stride. And here and there, a winery staffer chatted while pouring one of seventeen wines offered up to celebrate this year’s seventeenth annual: Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Coteaux Savages, and succulent aged Reserves were just some the hits of the day. The picnic was a sweet, lazy time and a perfect break from the crazy, oversized lives that we almost all have to live to maintain our toehold on the fast moving world just outside the winery gate, which, if I’m not mistaken, is where we will be waiting for you next year for the Annual Eighteenth.

Jerry Craven

Grapevine bloom, and the pollination that follows, is one of those amazingly simple but ridiculously complicated things.

First, the basics: Before bloom the only visible part of an individual grape flower is the fused cap of petals known as the calyptra. Once the calyptra is shed, pollen is liberated from the anthers of the stamen. Pollen are shed as the anther ripens
and are primarily
transported by wind, though rarely more than 20 feet from the source. Pollination occurs when pollen lands on the female parts of a flower. Each pollen grain grows a long tube towards the eggs within the ovary, and sperm cells move down this tube. And you’ve got pollination.

Following fertilization, the fruit begins to form and the flower begins to develop a seed and grape berry to protect the seed. Generally, only around 30% of the flowers on each cluster get fertilized, with the unfertilized flowers eventually falling off the cluster – a term called “shatter.” Climate and the health of the vine play are important factors in the degree of shatter each year.

Grape cluster at about 80% bloom.

Anyway, this is fine and good and educational and all but what I really want to talk about today is the SMELL of bloom. If you’ve ever wandered around or even driven by a vineyard in the month of May you can’t miss it. High tone, sweet and green, not exactly pleasant but not quite obnoxious. And if you think coming up with accurate descriptors of the aroma of certain wines is difficult then take a good strong whiff of a blooming vineyard and tell me what you smell. I’ve heard everything from “herbal shampoo” to “sour Mountain Dew.” Personally, I think of mulched hay soaked in vinegar and honey and topped off with fresh crushed chamomile flowers (organic, of course). But that’s a bit silly, isn’t it? In search of something better (and less silly), I turned to Winemaker and Master Smell Descriptor Mike Brunson. Here’s what he had to say:

Time and time again people ask what I think about a particular smell (being a guy who makes a living from describing smells). For the most part I can come up with something. Then there are certain smells that escape description. Grapevine bloom presses me year after year to come up with something that I can nail down. Bloom is one of the more subtle smells in the vineyard, yet it can be overpowering on the right day. Here’s what I came up with after this season’s bloom:

Grapevine Bloom…

1. A soft entry, grapevine bloom quickly turns into cheap perfume with a distinct spicy jasmine/death smell finish. It is fairly short lived. In other words, bloom doesn’t hang around like cheap perfume often does.

2. With a bit of dried flowers (the kind you normally find in potpourri), Grapevine bloom delivers the soft smelling punch that stymies the senses with it’s small power. It smells like cotton candy that somebody sprayed cheap perfume on.

3. Perfume, apple blossom and light bee’s wax all come together to showcase the vineyard’s potential for the season.

It’s a one of a kind smell that happens only once each year.

So there you have it. I guess. Maybe it’s like trying to describe the smell of your favorite childhood meal – it just can’t be done. Or maybe, just maybe, we can turn to science for clues. With a bit of digging through the latest research journals I learned the source of the smell of bloom: Valencene synthase (VvValCS) enzyme activity, which produce major sesquiterpene volatiles.

O.K… That didn’t help much.

I also discovered that the unique aroma of the grape flower comes from the pollen, unlike other flowers such as roses whose scent arises from their petals.

That’s kinda cool.

But, really, why do grape flowers smell at all? It’s believed that flower fragrance developed evolutionarily to attract pollinators. But grapes are largely self-pollinated. It could be that the aroma serves more as a defense mechanism to protect their male reproductive tissues from predatory insects. Or it could be some other reason. Or it could be that the odor has no particular function.

Maybe it just is.

Tony

We have taken a roller coaster ride here at the winery with the weather. The last few weeks we have seen temperatures over 100 degrees and today we woke up with showers and clouds. We certainly need the moisture, but those cooler temps are going to make the garden slow down its great start. Just as those seeds and plant starts were put in the ground, Spring jumped right back into the picture.

There are some things that I so look forward to….those great heirloom tomatoes for one, but while I cool my heels waiting for them to arrive, I grab what I can from the garden. Herbs are the quickest to grow and I love to just add them to the dinner I prepare at night for that “just picked” taste.

One of my favorites is sweet Basil. It’s one of those herbs that gives and gives as you cut it. I have to wait for those fresh sliced tomatoes to pair it with fresh mozzarella cheese slices, olive oil, s & p, and of course a few thinly sliced tendrils of basil. But tonight it’s grilled shrimp that has been marinated briefly in olive oil, lemon juice, s & p, slices of basil and just a splash of Michel-Schlumberger Pinot Blanc. Thread the shrimp on a skewer, find some fresh vegetables and rice to serve with it, and you’ve got a delicious and quick supper. Oh, and don’t forget to use the remainder of the Pinot Blanc to enjoy with your meal!

Cheers!

Carol

I mentioned in a previous post that the vines seem to do better when they have a little company. Hogwash? Well, if that was a stretch for some of you, this may be way over the top. What influences do you think music has on wine, if any? I’m a firm believer that music shapes and directs feelings of human beings and animals. I’ve seen it too many times to count on my hands and feet. In many cases, it’s so obvious that you can’t ignore it. Have you ever been to a punk rock show and ended up in the mosh pit? Or what about going to the symphony and being moved to tears? For years now, we’ve been able to listen to whatever kind of music we wanted to.

We all love music here at the estate. For Ramiro, Tony and myself, music is an integral part of life. So we’re always in search of new music, long forgotten favorites, the music you’ve had since you were a kid, music that reminds you of days gone by, music that makes you sad, angry, happy, hungry…thirsty? Seriously, any of the Banda music that we listen to makes me want to drink Budweiser! So, what sort of effects does this (the music and the Budweiser!) have on the wine here at M-S? I couldn’t tell you specifically, but I do know that wine tastes different with different types of music playing. Here’s a list of Michel-Schlumberger wines paired with some of our musical favorites that you can test out in your own home. If you have any suggestions, let me know. Since I’m a huge fan of music and wine, putting the two together can only lead to enjoyment, right? Cheers and here’s to spring!

Pinot Blanc with Calexico’s House of Valparaiso.

Chardonnay with Charles Mingus’ Better Git It In Your Soul.

Pinot Noir with Charlie Hunter’s Oakland.

Merlot with Eagles of Death Metal’s Miss Elissa.

Syrah with Ween’s Gabrielle.

Cabernet Sauvignon with the entire album Led Zeppelin 3.

Coteaux Sauvage with Thelonious Monk’s Ruby, My Dear.

Deux Terres with anything by Django Reinhart, but it has to start with the song Night and Day.

I just got back from an afternoon in the vineyard, hiking around and keeping track of bloom (underway in the chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot blanc right now).  Have I mentioned that it’s incredibly beautiful out there in the vineyard?  And although it’s quite easy to get caught up in the grand scheme of things in the vineyard – the soaring turkey vultures, the shimmering lake with serenely-floating geese, the very happy acres of grapevines — it’s the little things that were the focus of my attention today.  I spent quite a bit of time literally crawling through the clover, vetch and native grasses cover crop looking at bugs.  And I’m very happy to say that it’s another big bug year at Schlumberger!

In past posts I’ve written (some might say “harped on and on”) about the importance of beneficial insects at Michel-Schlumberger.  Prepare for more harping.  In this post I’d like to personally introduce you to some of my hard working buddies in the vineyard and garden.

This is an adult lacewing.  It’s a beautiful bug.  They feed on flower nectar, which is one big reason we plant plenty of wildflowers in the vineyard and garden.  Amazingly, this lovely and harmless insect will lay eggs that produce a voracious predator of all sorts of soft-bodied pests.

This lacewing larvae is doing some serious damage to an unfortunate aphid.  Kinda looks like something out of a Godzilla movie.  Except a lot smaller.

This is a soldier beetle.  It’s constantly crawling and flying and it’ll eat nearly every pest in its path.

Also know as “Lady Bugs”, these classic beneficial insects aren’t very lady-like.  Both adults and larvae are voracious predators of bad bugs.

These tiny guys (the parasitic wasp) take a more indirect approach to pest control. Certain types of plants have compounds that work in part with the saliva of caterpillars. When the saliva of the caterpillar and the juices of the plant mix, a fragrance is emitted that certain parasitoid wasps are very attracted to. The parasitoid wasps then kill the caterpillars and lay eggs inside the carcass.  The young hatch and then…well, you can guess the rest.

Maybe my favorite of all the good bugs.  Also know as a “hover fly”, these beautifully shiny little Syrphidflies lay their eggs near colonies of soft bodied pests.  The maggots hatch and a feeding frenzy ensues.

Seriously cool bug.  Wow. The Snakefly.

These guys are extremely fun to watch.  They hover as they sip flower nectar.  They’ve always reminded me of tiny fuzzy hummingbirds. Not to be confused with a bee — it is the Bee Fly.

  The Honey Bee! I took this photo in one of our chardonnay vineyard blocks.  This girl is foraging for pollen or nectar on a mustard flower.  I just had to show it off…

So there they are.  And there are actually quite a few more.  And they’re everywhere in the vineyard and garden at Michel-Schlumberger right now.  And we’ll do everything possible to nurture them.  Conventional farming practices encourage spraying of herbicides and pesticides (organic or not) which kill these good bugs and eliminate their food and habitat.  This type of farming, to me, is lazy and senseless.  These guys are on our side.  Besides, how could anyone want to wipe out entire populations of tiny fuzzy hummingbirds?

Pictures are fun and all but I highly recommend visiting these very good bugs in their own home.  Come out to our garden and take a stroll.  You’ll find flowers teeming with all of these good bugs.  And you’ll find seriously great wine.

Tony

Last spring, at one of the many fun festivities under the oak tree at Michel-Schlumberger, I overheard a bemused young woman as she wandered through the organic vegetable garden.

“This garden is a mess!”

Ouch.  That wasn’t one of the better compliments I’ve received on my gardening but it did get me thinking.  And I can kinda see her point.  I’ve seen plenty of Sunset Magazine gardens — Perfectly manicured raised beds of color coordinated crops in neat rows.  Comparatively, our garden is certainly on the wild side.  And what makes a wild garden?

I’m fairly casual about weeds.  I try to go after the big, invasive ones before they re-seed.  I also clean out the weeds right around the vegetables to reduce competition.  But, really, is it worth the time and energy to obsessively pick at every last little weed in the garden?  Besides, some of those “weeds” may not be so invasive and may actually provide food and habitat for beneficial insects (plantain is a good example).

My planting rows aren’t perfectly straight and the beds are bumpy.  And the sight line of my tomato stakes and cages is certainly no picket fence.  What can I say?  I’ve never seen too many straight lines in nature.

In any given season there are all sorts of vegetables and herbs in my garden that have bolted and gone to bloom.  Most gardeners avidly pinch their herbs to prevent bolting.  And most harvest all of their plants before they go to seed.  I try to always let a few plants in each crop fully mature to seed.  For one thing, beneficial bugs and pollinators LOVE veggie and herb flowers.  Right now there is a patch of incredibly beautiful blooming broccoli that is teeming with honeybees, bumble bees, bee flies, tiny wasps, syrphid flies and soldier beetles.  These are the good guys and that’s exactly what I want to encourage in my garden.  Also, by letting veggies go to seed I’m blessed with all sorts of “volunteers” each season – veggie plants that pop up unexpectedly from seeds set by the previous crop.  I suppose some might think it looks messy to have lettuce and cilantro plants popping up among the garlic but I think it looks perfectly natural.  Again, look to the wild – not too much orderly segregation of plants species out there in the woods.

In short, my idea of the perfect garden is one that is as wild as possible.  I want it to look natural, not sterile and linear.  I don’t mean to criticize those gardeners who have perfect little rows of gravel-lined raised redwood planting beds.  Everything has its place.  Gardening, I think, is a very personal thing.  And just as some folks are happiest with a perfectly clean and organized desk there are others (like me) who do just fine with a desk covered with stacks of papers, old junk mail, numerous dried up pens and several empty tea cups.  Diversity – you gotta love it.

Natural Farming.  Savage Hills.  Worms to Wine.  All that good stuff.  Come on out and get wild.

Tony “Green Thumb” Wasowicz