For the Love of Winemaking

As a Sommelier, part of my calling is to break wine into its component parts based on sight, smell, taste and my understanding of geography, grape varietals and regional winemaking styles. And while I can have dramatic impact on how a wine is presented, described, paired and, ultimately, enjoyed, the winemaker is really King (or Queen) in the mix.

While all great wines do indeed start with great grapes, the winemaker's influence really does make or break the final outcome of a wine. Part scientist, part artist, the winemaker must deliberate and labor over many variables and decisions during the process of shepherding fruit through to its ultimate destiny as fermented glory.

But a few of the decisions a winemaker is entrusted to make:

• When to Harvest: juice flavor, sugar level, acidity, upcoming weather, skin conditions, rot conditions, seed ripeness.
• Pressing/Crushing & Fermentation: sorting, pressing cuts, crushing vs. destemming only, use of SO2, yeast types, malolactic fermentation, acid and sugar correction, barrel choices, punchdown / pumpover regimen, temperature management
• Aging: time in barrel, racking, blending, bottling

There are many confounding factors in making winemaking decisions. To learn more I rely on my friend, Aimee Baker, head winemaker at Pichetti Winery. She is teaching "Wine Appreciation: From Vineyard to Glass" on Monday Jan 25th and Feb 1st at Savvy Cellar Wines in Redwood City, CA. Come learn from her experience, gut feel and execution skills in making great wine. (Pre-registration required).

Gobble, Gobble Tofurkey Time

It's time for the obligatory blog post about wine to pair with your Thanksgiving feast. Apologies for the lateness as it is Thanksgiving eve and the short week has slipped away.

Check out "Can't-fail guide to Thanksgiving wines" for a more traditional set of Thanksgiving wine recommendations. Laurie Daniel of the SJ Mercury News has a good article as well.

My hubby Brent weighed in last year with his "It's Cool Whip Time Baby!" post last year.

Let's take a peak at the wines that I brought home from the Savvy Cellar for our Thanksgiving celebration. We are doing a potluck with friends (10 adults, 5 kids) this year, complete with BBQ turkey, potatoes, dressing, gravy, broccoli slaw, mac & cheese and, yes, tofurkey - it is N. CA after all!

We'll start the festivities with a little Prosecco. Should be crisp, fruity, acidic and refreshing - a gentle start as the hoard walks through the door!

• Chateau de Montfaucon from the Rhone Valley. 5-varietal blend dominated by viogner and marsanne. Bright, big, aromatic with plenty of acidity to cut through our fatty fare.
• Talbot Chardonnay from Santa Lucia highlands. This is a CA chard drinkers' crowd please. Lush, buttery. I might have a sip or two pre-dinner. Will do well with butter basted turkey.
• Georges DeBeouf Beaujolais Nouveau. So what does young french wine have to do with the quintessential America feast? Well, despite its simple flavor profile, this wine is fairly acidic and will not shy away from the big and competing flavors of a Thanksgiving spread.
• Paraiso Pinot Noir. Bright sour cherry and cranberry on the nose along with balanced acidity make this an obvious choice.

More important than the wine or food, is the great appreciation I have for my family, friends and neighbors who'll skip out on their families to join us tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Organic Winemaking with Jim Milone, Terra Savia

Apprentice winemaker Joel Kampfe interviews Jim Milone, winemaker with Terra Savia. Jim shares how is able to get tropical pina colada flavors in chardonnay while keeping alcohol low. He also shares how to soften tannins in Petit Verdot through maceration (soaking after fermentation) without wine turning to vinegar.

For a more general interview with Jim Milone, click here.

To see Jim review some of his Terra Savia wines, click here.

Terra Savia Wines

As part of our recent launch of Winemaker Wednesday at Savvy Cellar Wines, Winston Jones sat down to review three wines from Terra Savia. Joining Winston in reviewing the wines is none other than the winemaker himself, Jim Milone. Enjoy the reviews and enjoy the wines.

(For a longer interview with Jim Milone, Winemaker from Terra Savia, click here).

Jim Milone, Terra Savia Winemaker

Savvy Cellar kicked off a winemaker series last week, hosting Terra Savia winemaker Jim Milone. Jim sat down with my partner in crime, Brent Harrison, to discuss Terra Savia, organic farming and other topics around sustainability in practice in the vineyard and winemaking. Enjoy Jim's perspective and go forth and try his wines!

See Jim review his Terra Savia wines, click here.

Wine is Not Always Serious

Every once in a while I find something amusing. Even less often I get surprised. So it came as a welcome break from the pressures of running a wine business in this grinding environment when one of my star peeps, Winston, made the following. I hope you enjoy (and giggle) as much as I did . . . . .

Do Points Matter? The Results

SWE 2009 Do Points Matter? from David Glancy on Vimeo.

Last month, I attended the Society of Wine Educators conference and sat on a panel "Do Points Matter?"

Well I'm not sure we resolved anything conclusively, although there was lively discussion among the attendees as to the merits / demerits of point-based ratings of wines. My personal take was that many professionals who have been in the wine industry for years, lamented longing for "the old days" where points didn't exist. For those younger professionals, it seems that points are a non-issue, merely accepted as part of the rating practices of the industry.

Perhaps most interesting than the whole points debate was the results of the tasting. My fellow panelists joined the audience in a tasting of 8 wines, some rated 88 points and some rated 92 points. Our challenge was to predict whether each wine we tasted received 88 points or 92 points. Results were surprising: the audience (at least 60%) was able to correctly guess the points on only 1 wine.

So it seems we all have our own unique rating systems. My thanks to David Glancy for moderating the panel and providing the following recap of the % of the audience who was able to guess the actual Wine Spectator (WS) rating:

1. Chateau Ste. Michelle Canoe Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Horse Heaven Hills 2006 (WS88) - 33% correct
2. Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon Napa 2005 (WS88) - 46% correct
3. Joseph Phelps Sauvignon Blanc Napa 2007 (WS92) - 49% correct
4. Jacob's Creak St. Hugo Cabernet Sauvigon Coonawarra 2004 (WS88) - 51% correct
5. Rodney Strong "Charlotte's Home" Sauvignon Blanc (WS88) - 54% correct
6. Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc California 2007 (WS88) - 59% correct
7. Beaulieu Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford 2005 (WS88) - 59% correct
8. Grgich Hills Cabernet Sauvignon Napa 2005 (WS92) - 79% correct