Tarara

So, How About All This Rain - The 2011 Vintage

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:51:00 -0800

It has been the overwhelmingly most popular question of the fall, “What does all this rain mean for the grapes?”

Well…The short answer would be that it is exactly what we hope not to happen at harvest and that it creates a wicked spike in my blood pressure. That said, when have I ever given the short answer? If I could have this harvest all over again would I prey for no rain, absolutely! But, the vintage is not as bad as some are making it out to be. We seem to have forgotten that we did have a brilliant summer leading up to the harvest season. I have heard comparisons to the 2003 vintage which is really quite crazy. In 2003, the rain started in April and never really stopped. There was simply no real ripening in 2003.

The 2011 vintage will really be a test of several aspects:

1) Vineyard Sanitation
2) Vineyard yields
3) Trellis Systems
4) Vine Age and Root Depth
5) Soil Drainage Capability
6) Risk vs. Reward policies
7) Winemaking Ability

To start, vineyard sanitation is always important. That does not however mean that it needs to have excessive amounts of chemical sprayed. If the vineyards are well maintained with a well managed canopy and the fruit is not laying over each other, what spray and air that does get to the vine, can achieve more effectiveness. It is also important to have maintained a healthy vine throughout the entire growing season and pay close attention even when the pressures seem low. If there is any mildew spores present as you lead up to a wet month like September, it will be nearly impossible to stay on top of it when the pressure gets bad. Luckily this year our vineyard looked meticulous which gave us a better chance to hang through some of the rain and get what ripening was available.

Vineyard yields are one of the most heated debates among growers. Obviously if someone is buying fruit from you by the ton, then more sounds better and really can be for the grower. This is why we prefer to purchase by the area from any of our outside vineyards, or even lease the entire property. This gives us better control of the yields. This year that was vitally important. If a vineyard was growing substantial yields (anywhere over 3 tons per acre) this year it will have been incredibly difficult to ripen at all. With our vines they are generally aimed to be between 1 to 2.5 tons per acre and we have slightly higher vine density then most at around 1350 vines per acre. This means less fruit per vine. We simply only allow one cluster per healthy shoot and none on a shoot that is not 100%. This meant a lot of our fruit was further developed with flavor and physiological ripeness then many that had excessive yields thinking the hot summer would ripen more fruit. People will argue all the time about having more fruit for balance, or that 4-5 tons per acre is not excessive, but the reality is, lower yields often offer better ripening, better concentration, and more even ripening. It is more expensive, but in years like this year in particular it pays off hugely.

Trellis systems are crucial in moisture maintenance. There are several styles of training systems that include split canopies, vertical shoot positioning, etc. Unfortunately in years like 2011 if the canopy is too dense or divided it is simply too hard to have good maintenance on all the leaves and there are several pockets that will hold moisture which you need to dry fast in years like this. Split canopies this year were also problematic where 25% to 50% of the shoots were trained downwards because it kept the shoots to close to the wet ground. There was also a lot of weed and under vine growth this year from the rain which would then get intermixed with the canopy making it impossible to dry out and in many cases this bottom half of the trellis lost all its canopy earlier. These leaves are needed to generate sugar and ripening so the lower half of the canopy would be lesser quality. Luckily, most of our vines are Vertical Shoot Positioned and are cane pruned (all on Neveah are like this) which means the shoots are directed upwards away from the wet ground, get whatever sunlight was available and is not a dense canopy so it was easier to maintain.

Vine age and root depth is critical in assessing how vines will uptake water in years like 2011. This is where older vines pay off. If the vine has been around long enough and is not excessively irrigated (we no longer irrigate at all in any vintage) then the roots dig deeper. This is helpful in wet years because so much of the soil moisture is at the surface and it is helpful in dry years because the vines can often still uptake the water needed for survival from deeper subsoils. This year we definitely saw that some of our younger vines struggled more then the older vines. By this I mean we were able to physically see the size of the berry growth be far more in younger vines due to heavier dilution. So the simply fix was how we went, and simply harvest them separately as micro blocks so that they could be treated differently in the winery and be assessed later on.

Soil drainage capabilities vary all over Virginia. Some of our vineyards have heavily compacted clay that can hold lots of water and some are shallower clay soils with more limestone and granite that allows drainage. Each block from each vineyard had to be assessed this year to better understand the water up take. Were any of them dry, well no, but there were some that were less impacted then others. Once again it was simply telling us to harvest the micro blocks separately to preserve some of our best fruit.

Risk and Reward are not words tied only to wine growing, although some of us winemakers think we are the only people doing this analysis so often in years like 2011. It was very hard to gauge when to pick this year. On one side you were saying to yourself, this needs to come off or we will simply lose more crop. On the other side you were saying, “But it’s not ready”. Ultimately we took the approach that we always take and that was quality over quantity. We lost a good amount of crop be simply dropping fruit or leaving it on the vine. We took some risk and let the grapes hang until as close to maturity as possible this year. We were once again one of the latest to finish (really we are not even finished yet with Mourvedre and some Cabernet Franc still hanging and Cabernet Sauvignon still drying on straw mats) because we held off. There was still ripening happening during this rain. The seeds were still developing, and the skins were ripening to release better color and softer tannins. There was not a lot of sugar development in September, but that is only one parameter. We actually stopped checking sugar in the vineyard to not allow it to change our thoughts. Our risk of letting the fruit hang longer did result in some lost yield, but we firmly believe we were able to get some fruit in that was superior to if we had simply played it safe.

Winemaking for once actually does play a bigger role in years like this. There are a lot more decisions to be made by good winemakers in years like this. Even with all the steps above, we were absolutely dealing with more rot and dilution then any normal year. Every lot had to be analyzed closely for flavor development, berry weight showing dilution, seed ripeness, etc. This year we did a few things differently then most years. We did use enzymes on our white wines to accelerate settling to get clean juice for ferments and to settle out more botrytis that was often on the fruit. We have done shorter fermentations on our reds to not allow as much time on the seeds and skins trying to extract color fast while not over extracting tannins that were greener then in past vintages. We did a lot more small lot fermentations to micro-manage each block more and more. In fact we did not even use our 4 largest tanks in the winery this year which was quite an accomplishment. It was very fast paced, where we are normally quite relaxed with our winemaking and most of the ferments this year we did use the safer commercial yeasts that are available instead of our general indigenous yeasts that we prefer. One really cool thing that we did this year that we would have never dreamed about in the past is some appassimento. That is simple a process that is used in North East Italy for Amarone wines. It is the process of allowing the grapes to dry prior to processing them. It is also known in other ways like Passito or Vin de Paille but is generally used for dessert wines. We did this with some of our Petit Verdot, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Some is actually still drying on these straw mats as they average being out there about 1 month before we have go the concentration we are looking for. Overall, for winemaking this vintage has encouraged us to micro manage even smaller blocks and smaller fermentations as well as experiment to make some great wine in a year many are saying is quite challenging.

So while the 2011 vintage certainly was not ideal, we really don’t think it is as bad as many people are saying. There is definitely some dilution causing issues with intensity, but if managed properly there was still a chance to get some good flavor and physiological ripeness. It was certainly a year that took a great attention to detail and won’t garner the results of 2007 or 2010, but with most of the wines finished fermentation we are quite pleased with a lot of what we taste. We tended to make wines with more elegance and subtleties as apposed to pure power, intensity and complexity. It is a vintage that many wines may however be ageable due to their brighter acidity, but we will have to wait and see if the fruit intensity remains powerful enough for aging. It was not a year we normally wish for, but there are some gems that we can’t wait to share with you.

A Great Summer with me Acting like a Teenager

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:02:00 -0800

I am sure you are wondering how my warped mind has me comparing winemaking with acting like a teenager. Well…you would have to start by knowing I was not always a rationale teenager, even though I thought I was. I also often argued with my mother like almost any teenager does and always figured I knew better and when it didn’t go my way would simply have a hissy fit.

So what has changed? Well my actual mother and I get along beautifully and she accepts that I know better. I wish. My mother actually just went home from a great visit before harvest starts and not it is on to the other mother that I now have frequent arguments with. Mother Nature!

So far the 2011 season has been great. I almost feel very Bordelaise in that I want to come to you at the end of the year and say 2011 is the best vintage we have ever had. I haven’t said that since 2010 and 2007 before that. We do seem to be having a pretty good string of vintages. That said, so far 2011 really is the best year I have seen here yet in the Nevaeh Vineyard. The big difference this year is that the vintage has been far more scattered throughout Virginia so some of our vineyard are fairing better then others. At Nevaeh we have had an extremely dry year again, but it has been slightly cooler then 2010 and even then 2007 for August. There have been a few rains at the start of August as well which is giving a little more water for the vines headed into the harvest season. We also had a very wet spring just before bud-break before it became beautiful, sunny and dry.

What does this all mean? The wet spring leading to a drier and sunny bud break with great warmth through the later half of April and May meant the vines got an incredible jump start. Since my arrival at Tarara I have never seen such vigor at the start of the year with the shoot growth. This developed a great canopy for ripening the fruit through the summer, but also meant a lot of work to maintain it and ensure it stayed under control and we didn’t get mildew problems from an overly dense canopy. That was simple, since our vineyard crew is the best out there in my opinion. We also had the best fruit set that I have seen here. We made our entire way through bloom without any rains, still moist soils and no heavy winds. Wow! Perfection so far which is a first. The only downfall to this was that we knew we had some extra work ahead of us dropping fruit since we tend to grow very light yields to maximum concentration and ripeness uniformity. This year we had to drop more fruit then ever to get our vines to 1 cluster per healthy shoot, and none on less vigorous shoots. This is our normal yield in the end, but Mother Nature really wanted to give us more this year and test us to see if we would allow it. The great thing about dropping the fruit was that we were able to be far more selective on the clusters we could leave remaining. The takes us up to about June with no real issues at all.

Through June, July and the start of August it was simple vineyard maintenance. There was very little disease pressure since it didn’t rain until August and the vigor of the vines started to slow a little. We simply did our regular work of tucking shoots, very little shoot thinning and opened up the canopy a bit around the actual clusters to allow better air flow and more sunlight to the fruit. This all while finishing the job of dropping the unwanted clusters. It was a great time of the season. Mother Nature didn’t bother me and I didn’t bother her.

August has been a little more challenging in that we have had more of a balance of rain and sun. At this time of year my attitude gets far more “colorful” when it rains. The grapes have gone into veraison (changing color, soften and the final stages of ripening) and the vines just suck up everything and send it to the fruit. That means, too much rain can mean dilution. It has not been a problem this year actually so far though. It has slightly pushed harvest back which could be a good thing for added tannin and flavor development. That said more rain now can be downright bad. Certain varieties like Chardonnay, Viognier and especially Pinot Gris are right around the corner. In fact Pinot Gris is being harvested on Friday and Saturday before any potential rain, but that is sold anyhow to another winery. All three of these varieties and Pinotage from Honah Lee are very tight clusters and earlier ripeners. What that means is right now the berries are pressing quite hard on each other and added water can cause them to split before being quite as ripe as I would like.

This is when I start acting like a teenager again. I try to defy Mother Nature and tell her, “No you want drop 2 inches of rain on us, or heaven forbid a hurricane!” We have had a great season so far, but the most critical time is now. It becomes me against Mother Nature and I have to admit, every time she tests with a sprinkle of rain I have to be sent to my corner because I will have a bit of a tantrum.

So here is to hoping for some great weather for the next 7-8 weeks to complete what could then be another banner vintage. I can’t say it is yet, it is way too early, but my excitement is balanced with my fear of the unknown over the next few weeks.

Until we know better, happy sipping and I hope you are enjoying the 2008’s, 2009’s and 2010’s that are currently available for you. Cheers!

Rose - Is it getting more popular, or is it just me that thinks its cool?

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 08:27:00 -0800

It was not long ago there were a lot of people that had a saying "Friends don't let friends drink Rose". My new favorite saying comed from a great winemaker in Washingont State, Charles Smith, who says, "Yes, You can drink Rose and still be Bad Ass."

Rose took on a really bad name several years ago when the market was flooded by Mateus and sweeter styles of White Zinfandel that show more like a fruit cocktail then a wine with balance and intrigue. Now there are tons of interesting Rose's coming from all around the world whether it be it's home in Provence, Tavel, California or even here in Virginia. Now, is Rose great from all places and done in all styles? In my opinion, no, but this is something I learned more about yesterday.

The three Rose's could not have been more different in style from each other. The first one was a darker style, almost Ruby like with deeper fruit, lots of intensity and clean characters, if not slightly too soft to be as refreshing a Rose I normally enjoy. The second wine was my personal favorite in that it was crisp, bright and clean. It woudl make a great summer sipper which is part of the charm of Rose to me. I also found it somewhat complex, but not as much as I found it perplexing. If I had tasted this wine from a "Black" glass and couldn't see the color I would have said Sauvignon Blanc 10 times out of 10. It was grassy, showed grapefruit and boxwood notes, had bright acid, what else could it be. Turns out it was a Mourvedre, Grenache and Syrah blend, what do I know. The third wine was the one that stuck out from the buch. It was full, rich and lucsious. There was intense aromatics and flavor profiles that showed strawberry preserves, stewed raspberry, caramel, and smoke. The palate was full, soft and generous. Once again, I though, well, it I couldn't see the color I might have a different impression of the wine. It was potentially my least favorite of the three as a Rose, but I was certainly alone. The other 6 people tasting unanimously said this was their favorite wine. It wasn't that I didn't like the wine, it was just different as a Rose.

So it turns out, and I did know it before I even sat down because of the color, that wine three was our own 2010 Rose. So why that glowing review I gave my own wine? It simply shows that there is often a matter of preference. All three wines were very well made and you could understand their direction in which they took. The first wine was a Rose from Viader (Their Dare line) from 2008 in Napa Valley and it is clear that it is going after the deeper Tavel style that is classic of the Southern Rhone appellation but using Bordeaux varieties. The second wine was clearly more in the traditional provencal style (almost Bandol like) in its bright acidity, lighter nature and it was from predominately Mourvedre which makes sense. I would also not be shocked to taste something like this made from Cabernet Franc in the Loire or really anywhere for that matter. It was the 2010 L'Aventure Cote de Cotes Rose. Ours, was coming from the 2010 vintage which was obscenely hot and dry. The fruit just had outrageous concentration so I was somewhat stumped on how to treat the wine. the flavor development started to occur only once the sugar was much higher then we would normally aim for Rose. Knowing the wine was going to have some higher alcohol for a Rose (just over 15%) I knew we could not simply do a cool stainless ferment, clean it up and get it in bottle. The wine would not have had the depth or weight to stand up to the alcohol and would be out of balance, so what did we do? We did a much warmer barrel ferment getting up to the mid 70's at teh peak of the fermentation. The oxygen exchange also gave the wine some extra "fat" to handle the intensity of the fruit. The finished wine is different, but everyone is telling me it is their favorite that we have produced. I think it would be a great Rose for sipping at a late Al Fresco dinner once the sun has gone down with some Roasted Game birds in Pan juices or some other rich poultry type dish. That said, it is pretty high octane for sipping at 100+ degrees in the middle of the afternoon and I also like it a bit warmer then most Roses.
When I asked around the table why everyone loved this wine so much over the others, the answer was pretty uniform in that it offers more substance acting like the structure of a Chardonnay, but the flavor style of a Pinot or other lighte red. It has appeal to those that don't tend to go toward a Rose. So I wonder, how many people really like Rose the way I do? We are coming up to harvest time for 2011 and I have myself guessing, was the 2010 Rose on to something even if it is not the style I gravitate toward? We are having a similar vintage so far (maybe a touch cooler which I know is hard to believe with the last two weeks heat) so it could be in the cards. Maybe we should do as we do every year and make that a gut feeling at the time of harvest?

So many decisions to make, but it is so hard without knowing the right questions. I know one question I have is, "Where is Rose going in the next 10-20 years?"

A Winemakers Blog about Wine Bloggers

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:55:00 -0800

I was lucky enough to spend this last weekend in Charlottesville at the Wine Bloggers Conference 2011 with some of the countries most passionate wine people. There is a lot I learned or at least realized while I was there. I think the most important lesson was that these bloggers don’t get paid for the most part, they do it because they love wine. So really that makes them a lot like you most likely if you are reading this.

Bloggers came to Charlottesville from all over the United States and Canada to explore different blogging ideas, learn from two of the worlds most renowned critics and hopefully a strong portion were there to learn about Virginia wine and taste a few. We had the opportunity to pour for several of these bloggers on Wednesday here at the Tarara, and then again four times in Charlottesville. The opportunities included two “Live Blogging” Sessions, a massive tasting at the Monticello (way too awesome) and an event called “The Other 46”. The Other 46 was a tasting of wines from anywhere in the USA not including California, Oregon, Washington and New York.

What I found was an overwhelming excitement and appreciation for our wines. It really did not matter where they were from, I seemed to only hear positive feedback. This was difficult for some because they had been outside in the blistering heat as we experienced over 100 degrees with crazy humidity that day.

So, besides a great experience meeting several bloggers (check out our twitter page or look up the #WBC11 on twitter) what do we at Tarara think of the boom of wine bloggers? Though still new, we are trying to understand it a bit more, but in short it is great! To put this in perspective, we poured wine for close to 300 people on the weekend. One of the people we poured wine for was Jancis Robinson who is arguably the second most influential wine critic in the world. Will she write about our Viognier, Nevaeh Red or TerraNoVA? I have no clue. I hope she does, but I just don’t know. If she does, it will absolutely not be a cover story so will be part of a much larger program and it will only be there from one person regardless how influential she is. We have currently received 72 tweets directly involving the rest of the group that tasted our wine. Most of these are brief tasting notes about particular wines and all are very positive. I have no idea how many blogs might link us by the time they are all tallied from this group, but certainly there are some and it is great to be viewed by people from all over. Many of the bloggers were not local and it was exciting to read their streaming comments. It was all is very cool.

The blogging world is not without its flaws though. Most of the bloggers in the world are not classically trained in wine like most of the traditional journalists. That said, Robert Parker, Jr. is a classically educated lawyer, not sommelier or Master of Wine, etc but he is the most influential wine person in the world and has been said to have the greatest wine palette in the world. Does he? I don’t honestly know, I have never met him or tasted with him or most of the world. I have tasted now with a lot of these blogger peers though and there are some very talented tasters. There are also some that are still learning, but what is cool is that they want to learn more so this media format should constantly get better and better. I think what is really key in reading blogs is that everyone needs to find particular bloggers that seem to match their own style. Find a blogger that enjoys similar wine as you, similar wine experiences as you and follow them for their suggestions. The biggest difference I find with bloggers and traditional media is that traditional media is forced to shy away from biases. They are supposed to attempt to taste simply on qualitative aspects regardless whether it is a Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, crisp Riesling, Carbonic Maceration Gamay, or massive Syrah. Does this ability to turn a blind eye to preference really exist? I don’t know, I know I can’t do it. Bloggers include their preferences which can be great, but can also upset some wineries. I don’t think there is any need to be upset by it though. If someone slams Tarara Winery for not having sweet Chambourcin or fruit wine, why should I be offended? We don’t offer that and I would hate for someone who is only interested in fruit wine to arrive at Tarara only to be disappointed. There would be nothing for them to buy and would just leave miserable. It does not help the winery or the customer. If someone is only interesting in unoaked whites, or lighter reds, same story. We have limited offerings. But, if someone is interested in more extracted reds and rounder lush whites with terroir as a focus, then the likelihood is they will enjoy our wines, and that goes for bloggers as well.

There are bloggers that have wine preferences and there are bloggers that focus more on the experience than the wine. Some love dog friendly wineries, some family friendly, some want a more formal tasting experience and some really don’t care as long as the wine is awesome and to the style they want. Are any of them wrong? NO! That is the difference with new media instead of traditional journalism. It is far more opinionated. They tend to also lack scores for the most part which is a good thing in this case. If you are not trained and cannot act without bias, then you shouldn’t “score” a wine or an experience because that is a critical analysis. To add scores is to quantify a result so scoring should be left to those that have specific criteria other than opinion. Opinions are great in written word so the reader can understand why someone loves or doesn’t love a wine or experience.

A great quote that I remembered that might have seemed off putting to some was from Jancis Robinson. “Bloggers are, like people”. This really was a great quote, because what is says is that it is far easier to connect with a blogger about their experience with a wine than a critic in hard copy form. You can interact with bloggers and comment on most of their sites. It really can open up a dialogue and a relationship with the blog you most like to read.

In conclusion, what do I think of how bloggers are so prevalent in the wine industry now? Well, it doesn’t matter what I think because the reality is the Internet was created and it has developed into a place where everyone has a voice. But, I do love it anyway. I think it creates a challenge to consumers to find the voice of someone who might have similar tastes. Bloggers are bringing a new focus to all wine styles, all experiences and truly are helping to remind many of us the importance in supporting local since many of the bloggers are massive advocates of local. Most serious bloggers are on a constant mission to better their personal blog and their knowledge of the subject matter and that is why there is a Wine Bloggers Conference. I look forward to the future of wine blogging and seeing how it further benefits not only the current world known wines and regions, but makes wine more global for all regions and wine styles. I also hope that we do not lose traditional media as they both hold separate uses in my mind. Blogging simply gives more accessible information to the broader public at the touch of a button. Very Cool.

Just for a little plugging of our local bloggers, here are some great blogs if you have not already checked them out:

1) www.drinkwhatyoulike.com

2) www.swirlsipsnark.com

3) www.myvinespot.com

3) www.cellarblog.com

4) www.virginiawinetime.com

5) www.vawineinmypocket.com

6) www.wineaboutvirginia.blogspot.com/

7) www.thegoodwineguru.com

8) www.virginiawinetrips.com

9) www.dmwineline.wordpress.com/

10) www.beltwaybacchus.blogspot.com/

11) www.winecompass.blogspot.com/

12) www.vawinenb.blogspot.com/

13) www.virginiawineknow.wordpress.com/

Patience: A Winemaking Necessity

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:13:00 -0800

Over the last ten year I have seen more and more wine enter the market to have me say, "Wow, is that already a such and such vintage?" I have already seen loads of 2010's on the market and it seems a huge majority of the wines on the market are 2009 both White and Red. I think about it and say (if from the Northern Hemisphere), "Hey this wine was only harvested about 21 months ago.

If you look at most of the old world, or traditionally crafted wines of the world you are just now seeing the 2008 reds hit the market and a mix bag of 2008 and 2009 whites. Are the younger wines here because of the want to maintain fresh primary fruit, or are they here because there is an urge to get some revenue from the wine the owner paid for over a year ago?

I am a huge fan of the school that believes wine requires patience to be truly great. When a wine is too young it full of energy and can have gobs of fruit. In my opinion, that fruit driven wine can often be one dimensional and can really mask some of the great complexities that the vineyard wants to show. This may be completely suited to some styles of wine like a village level Beajolais, or an entry level Shiraz when the focus is on that lush fruit that will seldom gain complexity and was never meant to be an expression of a great terroir or be the most "complex" wine. They are for sheer enjoyment and are not built to intrigue the senses.

Our traditional style of winemaking is simple. On average our reds spend between 20-30 days on the skins to get great extraction before being racked to barrels for 18-20 months to get the best integration and let the wine mature a little prior to being bottled. This also allows us to have a far "cleaner" wine at the time of bottling from better settling so we can bottle unfiltered. It is about a patient way of taking a minimalist approach. We then aim to allow the wine to rest in bottle atleast 12 months prior to release, as we believe it takes this long for the wine to truly recover from the aggression of bottling after being locked down for 18 months in a barrel. So in reality for our reds it normally takes almost three years before we believe it is ready to be show to the customer. With our single vineyard whites and Chardonnay it is a bit shorter, as we tend to only have a 10 month elevage because we don't want too much oak extraction. That will start to change as we get a better percentage of older oak from tje Jupilles forest to help with longer elevage and still getting less oak dominance. The whites are then held atleast 8 months prior to release for the same reasons as the reds, but with the short time in barrel they can handle a little less bottle time before they come back around.

The big reason that this intrigues me is that we are currently sold our of our 2009 Three Vineyards Chardonnay, Nevaeh White and Honah Lee White that were all released in April. Great problem to have, but still a problem. We will be bottling our 2010's of these wines in 5 weeks from now, and my thought is that many wineries would get them on their shelves right away to fill that void. Well, I question if this is a good idea. While it would be great to have the cash flow from selling these wines, I would be concerned that they just are not showing how we want them to show. At this point we are down to one white wine that we produced in our tasting room until April of next year if we don't release our single vineyard whites early. While we will be carrying some other whites from great friends
(Glen Manor Sauvignon Blanc 2009, 8 Chains North Sauvignon Blanc 2009 and Delaplane Maggies Vineyard Viognier 2008) to fill some of the void, I am anxcious to get our new Single Vineyard whites out there. I just don't think we should comprimise. I am also concerned our Nevaeh Red will be gone by the end of the summer only to be released around the same time next year.

So, as a consumer, do you believe it is better for you to be able to get our best white wines as soon as possible knowing that they do have limited quantities? Or, should we be sticking to our guns and only release the wines when we think they are ready to be released? It is a question so many wineries around the world have to ask themselves and it is the reason I think we are seeing more and more wines made for early release to keep sales rolling, instead of having some patience and offering what they believe is the very best wine.

At what stage of the winemaking process do you blend the wines/grapes together and how do you make the decisions on the blends?

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:27:00 -0800

We make our blending decisions generally in the spring following harvest. We will do several sessions tasting through different varieties, vineyards, winemaking trials, etc until we start to get a good understanding of all the wines right down to individual barrels as best possible before we make and true decisions. This starts from the day the grapes arrive until we are actually blending.

With Single Vineyard whites the decision is generally done in the late spring as the wines have really started to show what they will be as finished wines. This is because we will blend them and then generally bottle them a month or two later after we have finished stabilizing, settling and doing any filtrations that are necessary. At this point we are looking at the individual barrels to see what the barrel best describes (Nevaeh, Honah Lee, or Chardonnay – although no Nevaeh or Honah Lee can be blended into each for their respective bottlings). Some of these barrels at this point will have also already been pulled out previously because they were best suited from the start to add to the complexity, balance and depth of the Charval or because the wine was more “Viognier” then “Nevaeh” or “Honah Lee” in our minds so the barrel would have been blended to Viognier. This year being the first “Viognier” of this style actually got not of this as all barrels were best suited to the Single Vineyards, Chardonnay or Charval.

The Nevaeh white blending is generally assessed for being crisp yet with ripe and intense aromatics showing more stone fruit, anise and floral qualities from the Viognier and tight fresh mineral driven Chardonnay.

The Honah Lee white is blended based on the fact that it tends to be richer and more of an exotic and lush style of white wine with more fat, power and intensity as apposed to Nevaeh’s elegance and poise.

The Chardonnay is blended from Chardonnay that tends to be more “Chardonnay” then site influenced. So it is fruit and oak driven, may have some buttery or butterscotch character and even a pineapple like flavor profile, but is not necessarily reminiscent of the vineyard in which it came from. The barrels are then blended from these different vineyards (Indian Springs and Mountainview always show great varietal character, but we have yet to understand their site influence and differentiation) to make a varietally correct and bold Chardonnay that tends to be very new world styled.

The Charval is blended from fruit that tends to show bright acidity, flamboyant aromatics and just an overall freshness that does not fit toward individual vineyard programs. A lot of the Charval is made differently from the very beginning completely planning for it to be Charval using Stainless ferments and short aging. This could be new vineyards we are using, vineyards or varieties that we deem are best to be in this style in a given vintage or simply pulled from the vineyard designates in some cases just to increase the production of the Charval in some cases. When this happens we can normally bank on a truly special year for Charval.

The reds are a different animal with blending. The original blending is done the spring after harvest but for completely different reasons. The barrels are still selected for the same reasons, which is to be fit into the best representation of what they are whether in be Nevaeh, Tranquility, Honah Lee (2010 was the first year), Long Bomb, or Cabernet Franc (not made in 2009).

We do these rackings in the spring to get the blends made early and get the wine back in barrel. This gives the wine some aeration through racking that is needed after being barreled down after the fermentation. This is because we are extremely aggressive at harvest with our extraction and the wines really need oxygen throughout their elevage in barrel to integrate the tannins and really let the wines integrate well together before their eventual bottling and later release.

The Commonwealth Collection wines are simply blended as out very favorite barrels from our Single Vineyards wines.

With the red in particular there are sometimes barrels that don’t get blended early since we just cannot make up our mind. This is usually that they simply have not opened up enough yet to give us the best expression of which blend they should be in and we do not want to rush it. We want to ensure every barrel is properly allocated to the wine that it will be help.

The Bin wines are often experiments or exceptions. These could be a new vineyard that is incredibly striking to us, but is too soon to designate since it has not shown repeated results, or they could be individual varietal wines that simply did great in a year that we can not always expect and we just can not bring ourselves to blend them into other wines because they end up so good on their own.

Really there are a lot of variables that go into our decision processes, but it remains a solid start that we just create the blends for the best expression of place or style. Whites are done very early in some cases for Viognier and Charval, then a touch later for the Nevaeh, Honah Lee and Chardonnay when we get a better idea what is happening in the barrel. The reds in the spring to integrate after being put back in barrel for another 12-18 months.

The other variable with Blending is in our Syrah which sometimes gets co-fermented with Viognier, if the harvest times work out. This is a very classic practice that comes from Cote Rotie in the Northern Rhone Valley. It is also done with many Syrah around the world, some stating it and some not. The main idea behind the co-fermentation (for us it was 9% in 2007 and 6% in 2008 of Viognier into the Syrah) is that Syrah is high in anthocycanins (color) and Viognier is high in phenolics (mostly tannins) which locks color in to make it more stable. It will to some extent also potentially add some extra floral character and add a touch of complexity, but Syrah can already get a lot of Violet character on it’s own and the wine becomes so well integrated it is hard to really understand what the Viognier is doing to the aromatics and flavor profile. This blending is done as a field blend, meaning the grapes are actually harvested together and brought into the winery together to be processed together.

Explain why we are more blend focused and less single varietal focused. Some customers are surprised by the amount of blends we have and they often see blends as lesser quality.

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:19:00 -0800

To start off I will make the statement that there is nearly no such thing as a wine that isn’t blended. Almost every wine is a blend of barrels, vineyard blocks, varietals, yeast strain trials, vineyards, vintages, etc. Most varietal wines are even blends of several grape varieties. The TTB requires that 75% of the varietal composition in a varietally labeled wine be the variety that is labeled. The remaining 25% can be any other grapes in your cellar. There are similar regulations for appellation (State labeled wine has to be 75%, AVA’s must be 85%), Vintage (95% must be from the vintage labeled). So what does this all mean?

Well a varietally labeled wine can be so far fetched it is unbelievable by being blended. Think about the concept that if you were to blend 25% Tannat or Petit Verdot since they are so dark and tannic with 75% Chardonnay? In theory that wine could still be labeled as Chardonnay but would be as deep and red as many Pinot Noirs or Gamay Noirs. Obviously that does not happen very often because of how obvious it is, but this does happen to a huge extent with most varietally labeled wine. Out of the probably couple hundred Cabernet Franc’s in Virginia that I have tried, I have only tried maybe a dozen that have been 100% Cabernet Franc. In many years, Cabernet Franc struggles to ripen and shows overt green vegetal or overly herbaceous characters in Virginia. As a variety that many look at as a flagship for the State it creates concern. Because a Winery cannot afford to not make a Cabernet Franc, they use their 25% to blend in Merlot which ripens earlier and will give more fruit, Tannat which also ripens earlier and will add structure and color or Petit Verdot also for color and structure enhancements. Is this wine a blend, or is it Cabernet Franc? I would say this is a blend through and through since the idea of the wine is to change the profile of what the Cabernet Franc offered in that given vintage. The same happens all the time for varieties like Tannat that alone are overly aggressive in their youth and simply need to age for long periods of time to acquire the best balance. This is often battled by blending in up to 25% of a grape variety that might be softer like an over ripe Merlot or Chambourcin for their low tannin perception.

Winemakers are always doing blending trials regardless of whether the wine is going to be varietally labeled or explained as a blend with other characteristics being the focus. We will go barrel to barrel, vineyard to vineyard and find the best wines in our cellars to create blends that are the best definition of the style of wine we are aiming for. There is nearly no winemaker in the world (at least none that I know) that bottle all of their wines as individual barrels from a single vineyard, with exact winemaking techniques and from the same variety for all of their wines. That would mean there are only 25 cases of each of the wines if they have been in traditional barrels. You can obviously make that as large as your largest tanks as well as long as it stays on its own all the way through production, but this is not what happens in winemaking in order to increase quality and due to logistics. Plus, sometimes a barrel simply does not perform well. Should you bottle it as is just to avoid blending?

Now, the big difference that people see between our wines and others they may have tasted is that we blend our wines to be an expression of their site or a style instead of their grape variety. This in my opinion is quite the opposite of being lower quality. This means we have a freedom to make the very best wines of a particular style for our Long Bomb and Charval since there are no rules. We can simply take the best fruit we can source based on vintage that we are having and blend accordingly to get the best wine possible. If we have a cool, wet year and Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon don’t ripen because they are so late, we can use less of them and use more Merlot, Tannat, or Syrah that ripen earlier. Conversely, in hot dry years where we can ripen all our fruit to the specs we want we can use more of the Cabs to create a more complex wine and increase our production overall for great years.

Our main area of blending however is our Single Vineyard wine. My belief is that this is far more important and better quality than varietally labeled wine. Our wines are blended to reflect the site and the vintage. The way we do this is to find the very best vineyards that are planted to the appropriate varieties for the site. Our Nevaeh wines are influenced by the limestone deposits, cooler temperatures and wind from the Potomac. This creates wine with brighter acidity that can hang well getting mid season ripeners to ultra-ripe levels and wines that often show great minerality hence you see very little of the Cabs going into this blend. They are not the best representation of continued quality for our site. Tranquility on the other hand does do well with Cabernet Sauvignon when blended with Tannat because it gets plenty of sun to get bright fruit, but the Cab Sauv still needs structure that the Tannat lends as a well rounded vineyard. Our belief is that you get better wine from choosing the best vineyards instead of simply the grape varieties that you feel like making regardless of their track record on a given site. Our blends are to showcase the site instead of trying to manipulate varieties vintage to vintage to have a consistency that cannot be offered to individual varieties in the varied vintages in Virginia.

The last piece to note is the history of blending. To state that varietally labeled wines are better quality is to say that the wines of Bordeaux, Southern Rhone Valley, Northern Rhone Whites (excluding Condrieu and Chateau Grillet), Cote Rotie, Chianti, Super Tuscans, Gaja wines in Piedmont, Amarone (and all the Valpolicella wines) Spanish wines, and Portuguese wines are all lesser quality. All of these wines as well as many old world wines are based on the fact that the vineyard dictates several varieties that work well together and are blends of varieties. Some like Cote Rotie are even blending whites into the Red (They are Syrah dominated with up to 20% Viognier allowed, this is what influences our first two Syrah). To say that blended wines is lesser quality is taking away the most prestigious and sought after wines in the world. This is not only true in Europe either, but also in California, Australia, Chile, and even here in Virginia.

Here is a list of some of the most sought after wines in the world that are based on blends to best define their site or several vineyard designated wines.

Bordeaux (every wine is a blend, but here are the five first growths and top St, Emilions, Sauternes and Pomeral anyway)
• Chateau Lafite Rothschild
• Chateau Mouton Rothschild
• Chateau Latour
• Chateau Margaux
• Chateau Haut Brion
• Chateau Cheval Blanc
• Chateau Ausone
• Chateau le Pin
• Chateau Petrus
• Chateau d”Yquem

Rhone Valley – South and North
• Chateau Beaucastel
• Guigal La Mouline and La Turque (La Landonne is actually 100% Syrah)
• Any Chateauneuf du Pape, Gigondas

Italy
• Solaia
• Sassicaia
• Many Gaja wines (he chose to forfeit the names of Barolo and Barbaresco to do single vineyard wines and sometimes include some Barbara with his Nebbiolo when it made a better wine)
• Quintarelli
• Romano del Forno

Australia
• Penfolds Grange (almost always contains some Cabernet Sauvignon to go with the mainly Syrah based wine)
• Cullen Diana Madeline
• Several Torbreck wines

California
• Screaming Eagle
• Continuum
• Opus One
• Saxum (many single vineyard wines)
• Linne Calodo
• Silver Oak

Virginia
• Linden (Single Vineyard Reds – Hardscrabble, Boisseau, Avenious)
• RdV
• Glen Manor Hodder Hill
• Delaplane (Single Vineyard reds and a couple whites)
• Barboursville Octagon
• Tarara (Single Vineyard whites and reds, Charval and Long Bomb)

Even those that believe most passionately about Single Varietal wines tend to be based on Pinot Noir around the world and these winemakers tend to find the site is still more important and hence Pinot Noir will grow there, like in Burgundy where the wines are all labeled as an appellation and the Premier and Grand Crus are all single vineyard sites that are what expresses the given grape variety.

What is Roussanne (i.e. where does it originate from, what characteristics does it have) and why are we using it for blending with Viognier?

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:17:00 -0800

Roussanne is a classic variety that is most known for its home in the Rhone Valley. It is a more dominant variety in the Southern Rhone where there are several wines that are truly dominated by Roussanne, particularly in Chateauneuf du Pape. The most famous Roussanne in the world would be the Chateau de Beaucastel Veilles Vignes Chateauneuf du Pape. It is also grown in the Northern Rhone appellations of Saint Peray, Saint Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage and Hermitage. As you get any further north the whites become Viognier. In the Northern Rhone appellations it is usually blended with Marsanne to make luxurious and soft whites, but in Saint Peray it is also used to make a crisp white sparkling wine. In the Southern Rhone it is also grown all over the place including most of the Villages appellations (not in Massif d’Uchaux, Plan de Dieu, Puymeras, Signargues which are all newer classified villages and may have whites later) and the Crus of Vacqueyras, Chateauneuf du Pape, Lirac (though not much Roussanne), and Rasteau. In the Southern Rhone Villages, Cotes du Rhone and Cru wines Roussanne is usually part of a blend often dominated by Grenache Blanc and often also contains Bourboulenc, Clairette and sometimes Marsanne and Viognier. In some areas around the south of France, close to the Rhone Valley, Roussanne will also be known as Bergeron which is usual a far more acidic, fresher and leaner style using the grape variety. Roussanne can also be found in several Southern France regions surrounding the Mediterranean, Australia, and California.

Roussanne can have several different styles to it. Some prefer to treat it like Chardonnay and vinify it using barrels or larger oak foudres, and some prefer to keep it tight and anaerobic using stainless steel or concrete for it’s up-bringing. Therefore Roussanne can range from being a tight, lean, angular style of wine that is dominated by citrus and crisp granny smith apple like notes, or when picked riper and allowed some barrel it can become more floral and show persimmon, melon and guava like notes. Roussanne is right across the board in styles from lean and green to fat and exotic depending on the terroir, winemaking and picking decisions. Here at Tarara we aim to make a more opulent style with exotic aromatics and great weight to blend with the Viognier from Honah Lee. The vineyard offers an abundance of sunlight that helps to ripen the flavors very well and at the same time holding some good acidity. It tends to be very viscous, but balanced.

The hardest part of working with Roussanne is that it is very prone to oxidation. It needs to be handled with extreme care and should be treated very anaerobically until fermentation begins and sulfite management is a must one the wine is completed fermentation and there needs to be a strong topping regime if it is in barrel or ensure the tank is always full if in stainless steel. Roussanne also tends to go the “dumb” phases in the bottle where the fruit disappears and the wine will become boring, flat, nutty and often reminiscent of oxidative qualities. There have been occurrences of where this wine has bounced back and become as opulent as it once was which is a strange phenomenon know one seems to understand. This happens quite often with a lot of the top Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc.

We use Roussanne to blend with Viognier because together they create a great example of what Honah Lee Vineyard whites are all about. Starting in 2010 we will also introduce Petit Manseng into the blend. The blend is based on being rich, round, full and loaded with exotic fruit characters that come from both the Roussanne and the Viognier. The Roussanne tends to add a little more fat to the wine, while the Viognier tends to be a bit more floral. Together they create a well rounded and more complex version of what we feel Honah Lee’s expression should be.

Difference in Barrels

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:01:00 -0800

One of the most overlooked aspects of winemaking is the barrels. I cringe every time I hear someone describe a wine as having used French or American Oak. In my opinion if this is the main difference between the barrels that you may or may not use, then you are either simply cheaping out, or you are paying way too much for your barrels. I say this because you really have no clue what the barrel is doing for you and are simply buying French oak because there is a stigma that they are better and they cost more so they must be, or you are buying American Oak because it is cheap.

There are so many variables in selecting the best barrel for the style of wines. The starting point might be looking at French vs. American, but in this though it is really Quercus Alba vs. Quercus Robur which is ultimately the main difference. It is usually Quercus Alba that grows in the USA and Quercus Robur throughout much of Europe, but there is also Quercus Petraea in some forests. Quercus Alba (White Oak) tends to have a bit more vanillin character and is a slightly more vigorous tree so has a slightly looser grain if grown in the identical climate and soils. This grain and amount of vanillin in the wood can also be dramatically altered by the forests surroundings and how the wood is treated through air drying, toasting and coopering.

Within the USA there are three main regions that Oak comes from for wine barrels. Missouri is definitely home to the most vigorous forests which create very loose grain barrels, then there is Appalachian Oak which stretches from New York down into Tennessee through the Appalachian Mountains and then Minnesota which is the least vigorous due to the colder climate creating quite a tight grained barrel. We actually break down the Appalachian Oak here at Tarara to individual States as NY, PA, VA and TN. The barrels we use here for our reds are from Virginia for many reasons. One is the local aspect and therefore being more sustainable, but the other is through many trials using several French forest and the major American forests, we have found it is the perfect grain for the extraction of tannins and level of alcohol we have in our wines.

French Oak is far more widely varied than American Oak. There are popular forests like Troncais, Alliers and Vosges that tend to have the tightest grains (Vosges tending to be the tightest as it is cool and dry in the Alsace regions that it comes from). Then there are the smaller forests like Jupilles that not as many people use because of its greater cost. Another factor that has impact is that there are sometimes allocations that are imposed as there are only so many trees and they must maintain a forest with an average of 150-200 years of age in the trees. The forest close to the Loire Valley by far has the most consistent tight grain in France and is where we get barrels for our white wines. We tried several forests including the above French forests and the American forests with our whites, but they were simply too powerful for the elegant nature we strive for in our white wines dominated by Chardonnay and Viognier and hence we use Jupilles. Conversely from France if one is not careful they will get barrels with extremely loose grains that they are paying a premium for because they are coming from France. If a winemaker does not specify the forest selection they may end up with wood from Limousin or blends of the lesser quality staves from other forests that could not be used in a premium program from a winemaker that gave their specifications. Limousin oak is extremely loose grained, often more so than Missouri Oak even and is therefore often used in Cognac making, but does often come here for winemaking to those that simply want French Oak and are not careful of what is shipped to them.

Then there is the toasting level. Toast the inside of the barrel is often necessary in order to help shape the barrel, but also to help tame it’s tannins and “sappy” character that the raw wood would impart. Lighter toasting is going to generally offer more raw barrel characters, and in American oak will impart a lot of that vanillin character to the wine and allow more tannins to be extracted. Heavy toasted barrels (lots of char) will show almost nutty, almond, and chocolaty tones up to simply burnt wood notes. We always order our barrels with a medium toast because we want the fruit to dominate, but we also do not want to extract the harsh elements from the lighter toasting. We will however ask for a portion of our Jupilles forest barrels to have un-toasted heads to offer a little bit of tannin extraction to offer structure to our whites.

One of the most over-looked factors in my opinion with barrel selections is the amount of air drying. On average barrels are left to “season” for 24 months in the stave yards. The idea behind air drying or “seasoning” is to allow the sap to ultimately dissipate and not influence the wine as much. If a winemaker simply accepts the average 24 months air drying, it may work with some forests but not with others that may be excessively sappy from vigor or species. Quercus Alba (American Oak) tends to be a little more “sappy” and hence the elevated levels of vanillin which is why we only order 36 month air dried for our Virginia Oak. This allows us to have less of the overt flavor profile while still having a slightly looser grain for our reds to help integrate the tannins and alcohol due to our quite aggressive extraction at harvest. With our Jupilles oak we find the barrels do not require added air drying as the grain is so tight and the barrels contains less “sap”.

In conclusion, barrels are not simply French and American. You need to first know the style of wine that is being made, and then get a better understanding of the barrels that best suite your style. It is just as important to look at the individual forests, toasting and air drying of the oak as it is which country it comes from, in fact probably more so.

Why didnt we put 3-vineyard Chardonnay through ML? Did we want to maintain a more crisp finish?

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:48:00 -0800

Precisely. Every year we will gauge the Chardonnay and every grape for that matter as to its acid, fruit, alcohol, tannin, etc to assess the wines balance. This is done through sensory methods as apposed to based on numbers. Our goal is to make wines that have balance from start to finish and we do not want to make clumsy Chardonnay’s that do not stand up to food or have any refreshing qualities to them.

In some cooler years we will allow the wine to go through Malo if we feel it is beneficial to the wine.

It is also important to state that we don’t try all that hard to stop a wine from going through Malo-Lactic Fermentation. We will leave it as cool as the cellar and clarify the wine as best possible without filtering prior to its elevage in barrel, but don’t add anything to attempt malo. Some barrels may go through a portion of malo at some point in the elevage and get worked in to the appropriate wines when doing our blending trials.

Difference Between Honah Lee and Nevaeh Vineyards

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:12:00 -0800

Explain why Honah Lee has lower acidity than Neveah White (i.e. different ripening conditions) – also the different grape flavors that resulted from the different ripening conditions (i.e. Honah Lee – more tropical, lush characteristics, Neveah White – more crisp, stone-fruit characters).

This is why we are making these wines and designating vineyards. It is the concept of terroir, or wines with a sense of place instead of having wines designated for varietal correctness.

Honah Lee Vineyard is a much hotter site then Nevaeh. Honah Lee is dominated by hard clay soils that impede deep root growth and do not offer as much “soil driven” characteristics. The soils and general soil moisture levels drive the wines to be fruit driven instead of mineral driven. Also the pH of the soil is slightly lower from its lack of lime content which results in wines with a higher pH (less acidity). The vineyard is also a very steep South and South West facing slope. This means there is an abundance of sunlight that is received by the clusters creating softer acidity and driving the fruit characters up in ripeness. All this results in a wine that have a much softer structure and often exotic taste profile.

Nevaeh on the other hand gets lots of minerality, freshness, and brighter fruit characters for a multitude of reasons. As vines get older they develop expansive root structures that bring nutrients from the soil into the fruit. If the soil is dominated by certain elements like granite, schist, limestone or other mineral driven soils, that can show in the wine. We have a lot of limestone deposits through our vineyard, primarily in the Hill and Pond blocks from ancient waterbeds due top it’s proximity to the Potomac. These limestone deposits offer minerality to the aromatics and flavor profile, but also keep the acidity lower (or at least more regulated) because it increases the pH of the soil. Higher pH soil = Lower pH wines and vice versa. We also have a lot of wind in the vineyard that cuts through gaps in the hills from the Potomac River valley that helps to maintain acidity and keep the vineyard dry. There are also lots of sandier areas on the Pond and Hill blocks that don’t hold soil moisture as much as the clay soils of Honah Lee or the Road block making wines with more concentration from less water. Lastly, the Hill Block is mostly South facing (the Chardonnay portion comes from hear) which receives great sunlight, but not always high heat. This evenly ripens the fruit, maintaining acidic structures and a longer growing season which helps with flavor development (getting more peach and floral type notes). The Viognier is on the Pond Block which is the coldest area in the vineyard since it gets very little morning sunlight. It is also quite windy. This also gives better acidity to help hold the grapes on the vine for a longer growing season and developing more intense and ripe fruit. The biggest influences to the Nevaeh Vineyard are the limestone, sand and wind.

All and all, every vineyard we work with has its own interesting terroir and that is our goal to express that above all else.

What is the difference between Dry, Off-Dry or Semi-Dry and Sweet and how are they classified?

Wed, 25 May 2011 12:27:00 -0800

The actual definition as to what is dry, off dry and sweet is really quite loose. Each region and to an extent each variety will have their own “definition”.

The easy answer is that these are simply the level of sugar that remains in a wine. In general someone might say that a dry wine is one that has less the 10 g/l of residual sugar which is the equivalent of 1%. There is usually a level between off-dry and sweet as well that would be “Medium or Semi-Sweet” which might be in the range of about 30-50 g/l (3-5%) and then Sweet wines would generally be something that is in excess of about 60-70g/l (6-7%).

The one style of wine that does have definite quantities of residual sugar dictating it “dryness” is Sparkling wine. It is as follows:

• Brut Natural – 0-3 g/l (0.0-0.3%)
• Extra Brut – 0-6 g/l (0.0-0.6%)
• Brut – 0-12 g/l (0.0 – 1.2%)
• Extra Dry, Extra Sec, Extra Seco – 12-17 g/l (1.2-1.7%)
• Dry, Sec, Seco – 17-32 g/l (1.7-3.2%)
• Demi-Sec, Semi-Seco – 32-50 g/l (3.2-5.0%)
• Doux, Sweet, Dulce – 50+ g/l (>5%)

Sparkling wine in general is much easier to categorize by actual residual sugar since a well made sparkling wine is also going to have an abundance of acidity and has CO2 which offer freshness and balance to the sugar. It is not often that one will find a sparkling wine with no residual sugar as it is usually added as part of the dosage after it is disgorged and then corked.

Table wines have varying amounts of acidity, tannins, concentration and flavors that play with the perception of sweetness. In many occasions a wine can have up to 20-30g/l (2-3%) residual sugar while tasting quite dry. Some Rieslings from Germany, Finger Lakes or Canada or Chenin Blanc from Savennieres or Vouvray are great examples of this. On the same note a wine with as little as 2-3 g/l (0.2-0.3%) can come across as being off dry due to lower acidity, higher alcohol and elevated fruit concentration.

In theory all of our current wines could be classified as “Dry”. The highest level of residual sugar is 0.5 g/l (0.5%) in the Charval. However, the wine that definitely tasted the sweetest is the Honah Lee Viognier which has 3 g/l (0.3%) but has far lower acidity and more dominant fruit. The grassiness and crisp apple and grapefruit like characters balance the sugar in the Charval making it come across slightly drier.

Major elements to the perception of sweetness include:

• Alcohol – generally higher alcohol percentages come across sweeter, however, after a certain point they also come across as just “hot”. Alcohol percentages can be in balance at any level, but in general as you exceed the 14% range, it will at least start to taste sweeter.
• pH – this is the strength of the acidity. Lower pH will create a more tart palate that will mask a lot of sugar. Nevaeh being our most acidic in regards to pH is about 3.59 pH. Wines will range from about 2.9-4.2. 4.2 is very soft (think Long Bomb Ed 2) and 2.9 is very tart (we will never see this in Virginia) and I have tasted wines in this range with over 3% sweetness that came across almost bone dry.
• Total Acidity – Higher levels of acidity generally match a lower pH and vice versa, but it is not always the case. There are some varieties that have awkward acidities with high pH and high acid like Chambourcin, Norton or Baco Noir. Generally the higher acid wines will also have a tartness to balance more sugar and cause the wine to be perceived as drier. Our highest acid wine is Charval with 6.48 g/l (0.648%). This is not a really high acid wine in the grand scheme of things. I have seen many wines that will hit 12-13 g/l (1.2-1.3%) that need far more sugar just for balance. Charval’s residual sugar will be different each year based on balancing it with the Total acid and the pH.
• Malo-Lactic Fermentation – Malo-Lactic fermentation will often give a perception of sweetness since it offers “Sweet” flavors like butter and butterscotch, but also because it softens the acidity, raising the pH. It also rounds out the palate giving a creamier texture that can be perceived as sweeter.
• Ripe fruit with big concentration – This can not be so easily defined by numbers, but really ripe fruit has sweeter fruit character. Take Cabernet Franc for a great example. A less ripe Cabernet Franc might have some herbal or even vegetal flavors, whereas a super ripe Cabernet Franc is going to have more stewed or jammy fruit. Which is sweeter tasting? Also ripe fruit also tends to have more viscosity which is palate filling and can come across as sweeter. This is often also the result of lower acidity and higher pH which is a by-product of riper fruit.
• Tannin – tannin does balance off and dry out wines with sweetness. It is normally not something we have to think about since most tannic wines (bigger reds) are fermented dry anyway, but there are a couple of exceptions like some Amarone’s or Sparkling Shiraz. There might also be some whites that have a certain amount of time of skin contact to increase the structure slightly and add complexity, but this will add a small amount of tannin to the wine. As will aging a wine in barrel. This will have some effect on the perceived sweetness.

So, all and all, it is not so simple as to look at the residual sugar and deemed its dryness solely on that one parameter. Like everything in wine, there are so many elements that play a role, and the taste of the final wine is really the only definitive way to know.

How do you stop the Fermentation Process to leave residual sugar in the wine?

Wed, 25 May 2011 06:11:00 -0800

There are really four ways to have residual sugar left in your wine. Add sugar, Sussreserve, sulfites and cold. We tend to utilize two of these options the most being cold and Sussreserve. We do add sulfites to wines, but often not at the concentration that will stop a powerful ferment and it is a fairly week way to do so anyway.

Fermentation is the product of yeast absorbing sugar and creating alcohol and CO2. To leave remaining residual sugar you must kill the yeast or add sugar back. You can kill yeast through sulfites (but it is slow to react and often will not stop the ferment in time) and cold (also often not fast enough unless you have flash chilling capabilities). You can also filter them out, but it requires certain filters that we have no interest in owning to run wine at this stage since it is so dirty. (You would need to go through Diatomaceous Earth filtrations generally). For Charval we will try to stop the wine slightly before the desired amount of fermentation is done by chilling the wine to 28 degrees. We do this early knowing it will often take over 24 hours for this to happen and a fast ferment can complete in just a couple days from start to finish. If we get it bang on, great, but usually we do not.

The other way that we will try to control our residual sugar is through sussreserve. This is just a German translation for sweet reserve. We will have wine that we intentionally stop way too early to have an abundance of sugar in order to blend to the precise levels that we want using this “very sweet” wine. The combination of this and the stopping of the ferment by cold is how we will work on getting the best residual sugar balance for a given wine (really only Charval). The last couple years we have also not had to do much of this since we have a slightly drier style now and we are using indigenous yeasts for the most part. Using indigenous yeasts we sometimes run into an issue where a barrel does not completely ferment to dry. These barrels are often used as the “sweetness” to the Charval blend since we do not need much anymore.

The only way we will not do is adding sugar post fermentation. We find it creates wines with a disjointed balance and may come across cloying as it is hard to integrate well into the wine.

Explain the White Wine Aging Process.

Fri, 20 May 2011 06:38:00 -0800

     This is a very broad request as all wines white and red age very differently both during elevage and after being bottled. (Note: Elevage is the term used for the aging or upbringing of the wine in barrel or tank after fermentation and before bottling). For the basis of trying to not write a novel I will simply cut this into three styles: Early release/early consumed whites, whites great for extended bottle aging, and longer elevage whites.

     Early release and early consumption white are some of the most common wines that can be found, especially around Virginia. These are wines like most Albarino, Sauvignon Blanc (New World styled, like New Zealand), Unoaked Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer and the more common Virginia Viognier style. Ultimately with these wines no time is ever going to benefit the wine. The idea is to get the work done in the cellar ASAP and get it in bottle and get to selling as they are always better the day before. There really is no aging process with these wines in the cellar. We would simply ferment them (most likely in stainless steel at cool temperatures) stabilize them, filter them, and bottle them. These wines are known for their freshness and abundant fruit. As they age in the bottle, they won’t necessarily oxidize in the first few years, but they will lose their appealing fruit more and more everyday, often leaving you with a simply tart wine with little balance from the flavors and aromatics as their intensity has decreased. They will also oxidize however earlier then many wines (particularly those with lower acid levels like Viognier and often times Chardonnay). When this happens the wine will start to get more golden in color until it eventually starts turning brown (just like an oxidized apple). At this point the wine will like be more “nutty” or “sherry-like” in flavor and aromatics. Tarara’s wines that fit most into this category are Charval and our new wholesale only Viognier.

     Whites that are great for extended bottle aging can come in all shapes and sizes. A lot of time people believe whites overall do not age well, but that is a very flawed thought. One of the best varieties in the world to age is Riesling. The main elements that help a white wine age are acidity, aromatic and flavor intensity, sugar and minerality. There are always exceptions to every rule, but traditionally whites like Rieslings that have austere or even tart palates when young and have an abundance of primary fruit and in many sights a great streak of minerality, will age well. Riesling is usually made similarly to the early release wines, but their genetic make up (especially their acidity) give them this ability. Other wines in this category often include Chenin Blanc (though it does strongly depend on style and the terroir), Petit Manseng and Gruner Veltiner. It is also quite possible to have some Chardonnay and Viognier or similar wines to age well. These ones tend to be more traditionally made using barrels and having an extended elevage. These wines can sometimes age well just due to their massive extraction (bigger body, very intense). It is important to note though that as with aging any wine, they change, for better or worse. These wines will start to loose some of their primary vibrant fruit, but could gain complexity from earthiness (mushroom character is very common in Chenin Blanc), nuttiness, more mineral dominated wines, and leaner textures. The downfall with this category is that there are definite circumstances where wines pre-maturely age and sometimes come back, sometimes don’t. White Chateauneuf-du-Pape and white Hermitage are known for going through awkward phases between 3-10 years of age often times where the fruit disappears and oxidized qualities seem to play a role. Some of these wines have rebounded, but it is a real mystery. The other big mystery is with Chardonnay. Classic Burgundy whites have been known to be almost immortal, but over the last couple decades there has been a new phenomenon where these wines are oxidizing pre-maturely and no one seems to know why. It could be new winemaking techniques (be more anaerobic, specific enzymes, yeast…) or it could be in the vineyard with over-ripe fruit, degrading soils, etc. No one has figured it out yet. They way that many Chardonnay and Viognier are able to handle some bottle aging is due to the barrel fermentations and slow oxidation that occurs. This is called micro-oxygenation which ultimately will protect these wines from being harmed by excess oxygen that could harm other wines. Like the early release wines, these will eventually meet their demise and no longer be enjoyable. The nutty flavors will start to dominate the wine and the wines will start to brown leaving you with something that is call over the hill. It is tired, lacks freshness, complexity and simply pleasure. Tarara really does not have any wines that we make in this category. Our whites tend to be great in their youth and have not proven they really benefit from bottle aging. The Single Vineyard whites and the Three Vineyards Chardonnay will hold for a few years, but will likely not get better.

     Lastly are the extended elevage wines. Some of these wines age well in the bottle, some don’t. Really it depends strongly on terroir and the vintage. The aging process in the cellar is much slower and traditional. These tend to be the wines that are fermented and/or aged in barrels to gain further complexity and mouth feel. The aging process of these wines in the cellar are more about oxygen control then temperature and are about gaining secondary characters to add complexity before the release of the wine. Chardonnay, most Rhone white varieties and sometimes Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon tend to fall in this category. Traditionally these wines were fermented and aged in barrels or large oak foudres and aged longer periods of time just because the oak was a storage vessel and there was less filtration ability so the wine needed time to clarify itself. Now with some new world styled winemaking we understand there is so much more that happens from barrel fermenting and aging. The wine is introduced to small amounts of oxygen (micro-oxygenation) that rounds out the body and can enhance the aromatic potential early on in the wines life. These wines will also be slightly darker upon release then most anaerobically produced wines. They will often have a more golden style as apposed to a paler straw type color. (Note: color can also be differed by varieties like Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer which have color in the skins and also from some vineyard variances like Botrytis making more golden wines). At Tarara this is the style of wine that dominates our white wines. Our Three Vineyards Chardonnay and our Single Vineyard whites are all fermented in barrel and aged around 10 months prior to being bottled. Other elements that will often come in to play with these wines that will alter how a wine ages are Lees Stirring (Lees are the dead yeast cells from after fermentation) which will make a wine fatter and almost have a sweet nutty character and Malo Lactic Fermentation which will also ad weight to a wine while often also lending a “buttery” characters and softens the acidity. As stated before, these wines will all age differently in bottle and sometimes require bottle age to allow the oak elements to soften off and let the fruit express it. Other times the wine will be in perfect balance at release and will not benefit from aging. The wines will tend to get earthier with time and also show minerality coming from specific sites. The fruit will fade rather quickly in a lot of barrel fermented wines and showcase more of the aged wine notes and winemaking techniques. Some great examples of these wines for the varieties many don’t put in these categories are many Pouilly Fume’s and Bordeaux whites for the Sauvignon Blancs and many Condrieu and Chateau Grillet for Viognier. I mention this because many equate Viognier with the style that is common in Virginia and Sauv Blanc from New Zealand. Our Viognier is made in more traditional styles then what is often popular around Virginia.

     All and all, white wines, like Reds all age differently and the best way to understand them is to try to get some aged wines and try them. The whites will tend to get darker as they age and show more earthiness, mineral (in certain sites), and nuttiness with age and will shed off some of their original barrel regime and primary fruit. But like everything, there are always exceptions to every rule. White dessert wines are often an exception.

What Trellis Do You Use and Why?

Wed, 18 May 2011 07:50:00 -0800

In a new series of blog posts for us, I will be giving responses to questions from our staff and customers for the past week. This week I was asked three questions:

1) What Trellis System Do You Use and Why?

2) Explain the white wine aging process.

3) How do you stop a fermentation to leave residual sugar?

We will start with question one today and the next two days will reveal the answers to the other two.

What trellis system do we use on our vines and why?

     The trellis in general in the structural elements (posts and wires and how they are set, sometimes with T-Bars for certain trellises or Pergola’s for over head trellising) in which hold your vines. The system in which the vines sit is often referred to as a training system.

     The trellis we use is simply single post with four sets of wires. There are bottom wires that are there simply to support our drip irrigation (note: we have not turned on our irrigation since prior to 2007. Our goal it to dry farm), then at 30 inches above the ground is the fruiting wire that holds the canes, then there are two sets of catch wires to support the years shoots and canopy.

     Our vines are all trained on Double Guyot which is a Vertical Shoot Positioning system using canes instead of cordons. Three key terms to understand here are shoots, canes and cordons. Shoots are the current year’s branches, canes are second year and cordons are older. We do not use any cordons in the Nevaeh Vineyard, but Cordons are used at all the other vineyards we use. The key difference to canes and cordons are crop consistency and disease/pest management.

     Cordons are spur pruned meaning each shoot is cut down to one bud from the previous years shoots to allow new growth. The Cordon can be left for decades in some cases. The big advantage is that once you have a well spaced (between spurs), healthy enough and long enough cane, you can get far better crop load consistency as the buds tend to perform well annually. The big disadvantage is sanitation and keeping the cordons pest free. Mildew, phomopsis, and certain pests like mites can over winter in cordons and create havoc on the vine early in the growing season and may require more sprays to be used.

     Cane pruning is when we lay down the best of the past years shoots and let the new shoot grow from its buds. The biggest downfall to cane pruning is there can be some inconsistency with the buds growth, especially depending on the winter. That said, I am in full support of Cane pruned as it can rid the vineyard of a lot of pest issues that may have harbored over winter in the what would be cordons. This starts the vintage clean and with less pest worries, so therefore also less need to spray.

     Now, the vertical shoot positioning (Double Guyot for us) is simply from tying the canes down on the bottom fruiting wire and guiding all the years’ new growth upwards into the sets of catch wire so all the shoots are vertical. The fruit grows within the first 2-3 buds on each of the shoot so remains close to the fruiting wire. This allows us to vigorously remove leaves from around the fruiting zone to allow air flow and better sunlight penetration. The air flow helps for disease and fungal issues creating cleaner fruit with a little less needed spray needs. The sunlight helps us to ripen the flavors in the fruit and generate better levels of color and ripening the tannins in the fruit. In denser plantings you might find a Single Guyot which just means they lay down one cane. I have not seen this yet in Virginia, but it will likely be coming soon. Each of our two canes tend to have about 8 shoots and each shoot is allowed to carry one cluster of fruit, if the cane is healthy enough (shorter, weaker shoots will not carry fruit). This works out to roughly 1 bottle of wine per vine. This is much lower then the average, but our goal is concentration and ripeness over quantity. The canes are also laid 30 inches above the ground (which is lower then most places and a little harder to work) but it assists in ripening through having the soil temperature radiate up and moderate the temperature in the fruiting zone. In future plantings we will start to have these canes even slightly lower at 24 inches which is as low as we feel comfortable with due to frost potential.

     There are several other training methods that are designed to balance highly vigorous sites or to assist in getting higher quantities of fruit since most grapes are sold by the ton. Some of the popular ones around here are called Smart Dyson, Geneva Double Curtain, and Lyre. We have very little interest in these training systems at Tarara as they simply don’t match the style of wine we want to make.