The Varietal

The Appetite Economic Stimulus Plan

Start with a Pares Balta NV Cava ($18), nice and bubbly.  Warm roasted and slightly salted nuts. 

Next unscrew an Obere Steigen ($18)single vineyard HUBER Gruner Veltliner.  Creamy Butternut squash soup.

 Uncork an Azul Profundo 2006 Pinot Noir ($18)from the Bio Bio Valley, Chile.  Stilton over endive with a poke of pecan.

Sip on Jarvis Tomei with any meat you grill outside while enjoying the longer days, yet still crisp evenings. ($30)

Of course this is recommended with friends.  Meal is less than $40 total, and the wines when split among 6 comes to about $10 a person.

Try it.  Who says we need to be depressed during this recession?

CENTOBRICCHI

My new favorite wine.  I had the pleasure of drinking this wine with a friend over dinner last Thursday.  It is produced by Mauro Sebaste and is a blend of 80% Barbera and 20% Nebbiolo.  Centobricchi means 100 bricks in Italian.  This wine comes from the vineyards located in Commune of Alba, La Morra, Monforte, Barolo and Roero.  There is an intense raspberry, cherry aroma with the underpinnings of fresh anise or finnochio in Italian.  The flavor exhibits the same intese fruit with an amazing structure and the sweetest, smoothest tannins.  Like the producer knew not to relese this wine until the tannins were completely rounded.  Delicious!

Eat with fresh grilled California trout, a salad with fresh fennel chopped and served with black cured olives and doused with fresh olive oil  (the kind that makes your throat itch because it is so fresh).

The NOMAD has arrived

For those of you who know us, you know the NOMAD has arrived.  For those who have yet to meet us, please don't be scared by the leering camel, get ready for the ride of your life.  The NOMAD is the culmination of two years of brainstorming how to bring the best of Chile to the consumers in the USofA.  TJ Evans is the winemaker, a California man formerly of Alderbrook and La Crema, and his partner in crime, who makes wine himself is Jeffrey Jarvis. 

NOMAD Stats:

A blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Malbec from CHile.  The goal was to take the best grapes from different Chilean valleys to make this blend

13.8% alc, 3.65pH, and delicious!

Ask your local retailer about it or email me at jessica@thevarietal.com

Direct Shipping

As a small producer of wine one would think that the direct shipping laws for for states as far away as Michigan wouldn't affect us.  Today, I was getting ready to send our largest wine order yet to a friend in Michigan to learn that I need a special permit.  This is an improvement from a year ago where direct shipping wasn't even allowed to those poor deprived Michigan wine souls.  However, I am still unable to direct ship to Michigan because they haven't figured out the type of license required, fees, etc.  This will definitely disappoint our friend in Michigan who has been patiently waiting his allocated bottles.  Please help change the laws to make direct shipping .  Click here and send a letter to your congress person today!  Don't let big business choose the wine you drink.  Taste for yourself.

Chilean Wine....So good, so hard to sell

Chilean wine has had a reputation for being a great deal for the consumer.  High quality juice for an affordable price.  But is that basically it?  $5.99 for some good tasting juice?  NO, but some retailers may want you to keep thinking in that box.  What if you want to taste a complex wine that shows some indication of terroir, varietal tipicity, a wine you would like to share at a dinner party with friends?  The wine is out there, and all for a still very reasonable price.  The problem is trying to get wine buyers, wine shop owners and restaurant owners to put the wine in their portfolio.  We have been selling some of the best wine projects coming out of Chile in the Sacramento to Lake Tahoe region of California and the feedback we keep getting is ridiculous.  Some people even refuse to taste the wine because they feel like it is a waste of their time, that they already know what the wine will taste like.  Others are quick to balk at the price.  $15.00 for a Chilean wine? is a question I often hear.  That $15.00 wine would be $35.00 if it were to have a California appellation on it. 

What needs to be done?  The wine consumer needs to start demanding for variety from their retail suppliers.  There are many valleys in Chile that are producing blends, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and the wines just keep getting better.  However, if we hold Chile to the $9.99 and under category wine consumers everywhere will be missing the opportunity to try the wine of their life, and Chilean wine producers will be pressured to continue bulk wine production.

Cool projects:

Biodynamic wines by Alvaro Espinoza "Antiyal" (Carmenere, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah Blend) and "Kuyen" (Syrah and Cabernet Blend).

Chilean Cult wine:  "Domus Aurea" Cab blend

Pinot Noir: "Porta" from the Bio Bio Valley, "Alazan" from the Kingston Vineyard in Casablanca

Single Vineyard Syrah: "De Martino" from the Colchagua Valley

Pinot Tasting

I didn't participate in the Wednesday tasting of New World Pinot Noirs because 1) It is Harvest Time, no time to shop, 2)  I am a winemaker for a Chilean Pinot Noir producer, so I am a little biased.  However, I will add a little knowledge about up and coming valleys of Pinot Noir producers in Chile. 

I am making a 777 clone Pinot Noir from the Bio Bio valley in Chile under the label Porta.  The Bio Bio Valley is approximately 37 lattitude south. These wines tend to be floral (rose petals), and raspberry to the core.  There is an earthiness to them and their color tends to be a tad lighter than other Pinot Noirs from Chile.  San Antonio Valley which is closer to Santiago is making some California-style Pinot Noirs with the labels Matetic and Leyda being a couple to try, however they are leaning toward the over- extracted style.  Casablanca Valley has an interesting terroir and Byron Kosuge is making a Pinot from the Kingston Vineyard.  Veranda, a joint-venture between the Boisset family and Chilean Corpora (same owner of Porta) is making an elegant Pinot from Casablanca.  Keep an eye out for those new Chilean projects on the market... There are many valleys in CHile and almost everyone has a unique terroir with the influence of the Andes and the Pacific.  And the wines keep getting better.

Harvest Life

It is amazing how fast the weeks go by during Harvest.  Actually, they just run into one another and before you know it, months have past.  Every morning begins with a slightly sore body and an excitement to see where the fermentations are at.  Freshly brewed coffee in a to-go cup and a banana in hand, you rush out to your car while it is still dark outside.  The car kind of stinks of grape/wine stained clothing because you forgot to take out your sweatshirt from the night before.  You arrive to the cellar, open the doors and let the CO2 escape before you enter.  Strawberries, citrus, blackberries, and spice escape from the tanks and ease their way past your nose.  Ahhh, Harvest time. 

Morning punch-downs help break down the lactic acid built-up in your biceps from yesterday's hard work.  Before you can finish the last one grapes arrive and you find that you were not the first to awake.  The pickers were up an hour before you, with head lamps to help them see, to assure the grapes cool arrival.  Once again, you crush the grapes into a tank to begin their journey to wine.

The hourly changes that a fermentation goes through is enough to dazzle the finest palette.  Once fruity at 20 brix can rapidly change to a sulfur, omelet bomb at 18.  Attendance of the winemaker at the tanks during the fermentation is crucial to know when and if to add more DAP, nutrients, etc.  Therefore, each tank during harvest is watched like a baby, from start to finish.... and poof a few more weeks pass by.

All for the love of wine....

We harvested our second lot of Syrah from the Sun Mountain Vineyard on Friday, September 30th.  The fermentation, after 4 days of cold soaking, is finally off.  The fermentation from the September 24th pick is finishing off and so far, sooooo good.  Press date to be decided by taste.

Inoculation

I bet you didn't know how to spell inoculation.  Jeff had to evenly distribute the must among 4 fermentation vats.  We are still low-budget so we have three T-bins and two NEW (actually used) tanks.  One even has a jacket.  September 28th we inoculated our first batch of Syrah.  The cold soak left the must fairly cool so I am expecting a slow start to the fermentation.  That will be good to maintain nice, fresh and fruit-filled aromas.  I will be happy with 20C at 20brix.  That should give me a nice fermentation curve.  September 29th I added the nutrients exactly 12 hours after inoculation.  Jack cried the entire time.  Good thing we were at the winery early so Dad could help by watching little Jack.  Tomorrow we Harvest the rest of our lot of Syrah from the Sun Mountain Vineyard.

Baby's First Harvest

This is my 9th Harvest in 5 years but this will be the most memorable because it is Jack's first.  Actually, technically it is his second harvest if you count the fact that he was in my belly for the Chilean 2005 Harvest. Some may think that I am making wine while Jack is at daycare... On the contrary, Jack is in the baby bjorn right in front of me.  He especially likes it when my hands get all purple.  He is such a happy baby, as long as he is right there in the action.  If I think to put him aside in his stroller or car seat for one second, the squeals come rolling in.  If you are interested in my prior harvests, read below...

2000 Gloria Ferrer:  Worked berry-sampling, lab rat, cellar rat.  Worked with the clonal Pinot Noir research.  Harry Hansen was the Assistant Winemaker, now current Winemaker at Edna Valley.  Mike Crumly is the awesome vineyard manager and Bob Iantosca the Winemaker.  Learned lots, passed my wine chem class the following quarter without reading a page... Thanks Harry for all the lab coaching!  Lots of good still and bubbly.

2001 Antinori:  I was awarded the Antinori Scholarship from UCDavis and worked the 2001 Harvest at the Santa Cristina Estate.  I did all the additions, lots of pump-overs, cleaning of the presses, Sangiovese clonal trials (vineyard and fermentations) and learned the secrets to Solaia and Tignanello.  Piero is the main cellar rat at Antinori who taught me lots of cellar tricks.  He makes his own Prosciutto.  I will never forget the house I lived in, with the huge Tuscan fireplace for cooking.  I lived 5 minutes walking from the winery.  Lots of vines and olive trees and cingiali (wild boar).  I drove the 4x4 Panda into Montefiridolfi for my morning capuccinos. 

2002 Caliterra Chile:  A huge tank farm in the Colchagua Valley of Chile.  I just remember the smell of bell peppers this harvest due to the Winemaker's decision to pick early due to rains.  There is nothing worse than green Carmenere.  Ripe Carmenere has more attributes to talk about.  I was managing the cellar.  Lots of pump-overs and not to mention the task of being a woman managing Chilean men.  Yikes!  I will always remember being fully suited in my rain gear doing a 2 hour pump-over on a 100000 liter tank.  The winery had no roof.

2002 Robert Mondavi Carneros:  I was the right hand woman to Steve Leveque, aka Buzz.  I walked all the Pinot, Chard and Sauvignon Blanc vineyards while the grapes were maturing and helped decide when to pick.  Once the Harvest began I did daily tank tastings, sometimes twice a day, as well as run the crushing of the Pinot Noir.  Byron Kosuge was the consulting winemaker and I learned a lot from him walking the vineyards and tasting.  Steve Price even came out one time and consulted us on the Pinots.  Very interesting.

2003 Sierra Foothills:  During the Harvest of 2002 in Carneros I happened to meet Jeff Jarvis in Camino, Ca at my cousin's party.  Therefore, my next job choice was slightly swayed by our new and blossoming relationship.  I consulted for Karmere Winery to help them get their winery started and then worked with Gordon Binz, from Ridge and now at Villa Toscano, for the 2003 Harvest. 

2003 Jarvis~Tomei Syrah:  Our debut vintage of Syrah made from the Sun Mountain Vineyard in Camino, CA.  I think the Sierra Foothills has tremendous potential for good Syrahs.

2004 and 2005 Porta Winery Chile:  My first Harvest as WInemaker.  Making all the decisions of when to pick, how to ferment, blend, barrel.  Also in charge of 300 acres of Syrah grapes in the Aconcagua Valley.  Making wines from the Bio Bio, Curico, Casablanca valleys.  I am currently their consulting winemaker for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

2004 Jarvis~Tomei Syrah:  Came back from Chile to make our 2004 Jarvis~Tomei Syrah (Or should it be Tomei~Jarvis?!!)

And now here we are in 2005 with our 3rd Harvest and I will keep you informed of the entire harvest via www.thevarietal.com

Harvest 2005- Part One

We harvested the first half of our Syrah 2005 on Saturday, September 24th.  Fitting that one year to that date Jeff asked me to marry him on top of Telegraph Hill.  Back to the grapes...  We wanted to experiment with our Sun Mountain Vineyard fruit so we decided to pick half a little earlier.  The pH in Sierra Foothill grapes tends to spike right when the sugar levels are where you want them.  Not that I pick by the numbers, believe me,  skin, seed and overall maturity of the grapes is what guides me to decide the picking date, but dealing with a high pH doesn't help to make a wine that will age well. SO the grapes are in and after a 4 day cold soak the juice is almost black.  I will inoculate today and we are off.  We are scheduled to pick the second half of the vineyard (Our reserve block) on Friday.