Vintage Updates

2010 VINEYARD REPORT
June 3, 2010
Eric Miller, Winemaker

It’s happened! Our vines are flowering once again, three to seven days early. This is a critical time for the 2010 crop, but hard to evaluate because we don’t know the effect of earlier cold weather and those late season May frosts. Right now it’s hard to tell if we sustained freezing damage to the clusters; once flowering begins we give it a week, shake the cluster and if the tiny green berries fall off, we have a problem. So pray for us!

In the bigger picture, growth is pushing like mad. Weeds seem to be in control but shoots have reached the top wire and the canopy is lush, green and full. There is so much power in the vines (even though we did not fertilize with Nitrogen this year), we are seeing lateral growth. We have crews out there thinning shoots so we can get spray penetration and air movement, hoping we don’t remove too much crop. Then, as soon as we are done shoot thinning we will immediately need to go back and leaf pull and remove laterals. But right now, no mildew, no bugs, so no complaints. In my next report I’ll be able to tell you a little more about the crop size and what my crystal ball is saying about the 2010 harvest!

Cellar Report

You’ve already seen the beginning of the ’09 wines in the form of our early releases: 2009 Spring Wine in April and 2009 Rosé of Syrah in May – and I hope you like those light fresh delicious wines as much as I do for the summer season. They will actually be gone soon, but there is more coming!

This week I tasted thru the ’09 whites still in the cellar and the barrel-aged reds. Both the Naked Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio are doing the side-ways shuffle folding in winter’s exotic fruit and showing a lemon-lime zesty perfume. It’s definitely time to bottle and we will get there soon. The ’09 reds are all over the place. The Pinot Noir is light and all about cherry and smoke. Chambourcin is showing typical spice but holding back so it’s staying in the barrel. The Merlot is a Monster – where did that come from? Must be because we bled off the first 20% (free run juice) in the Saignée style, to concentrate the remaining 80%. It’s all jammy cooked fruit, tobacco,and tannin.

One new addition from the 2009 vintage is a series of small “Craft Cuvées” that we have decided to bottle for release later this year. Included in the series is a Cabernet Franc (which we have not bottled since 1998), a Barrel-Select Chardonnay (that we have not done since the introduction of Naked Chardonnay about 6 years ago) and a Jansen Estate Chambourcin. I’m excited about these tiny lots (all under 200 cases, all under $20) because doing these little scratch batches allows me and the winemaking team to experiment without the commitment of a large commercial lot…and it allows you to try some new things. So watch for the releases later this year.

That said, I'm going home for dinner and opening a bottle of any old '07 red on the shelf. What a great vintage. From Syrah to Pinot Noir to Cabernet, I'm loving what I believe is the greatest vintage of my life.

Having said that, here's a quick summary of my favorite '07s, all on the shelf now:

2007 Rubino - Medium intense blue red, opening slowly to black cherry, chocolate, hints of raspberry and strawberry laced with smoke, encompassed by a medium body and the vintage signature of fine grainy tannins.

'07 Chambourcin, Miller Estate - Like the impressive Zinfandels from Dry Creek, this wine is bursting with black berries, smoke, spice and unpredicted tannins.it only appears to be withholding something in comparison to its sister from the Seven Valleys Vineyard.

'07 Chambourcin, Seven Valleys Vineyard - Showing more alcohol than previous years, this wine is fiendishly upfront in the way it blasts out of the glass, demands attention and then pretty much stands naked, shapely and rapturously desirable. Still, it takes only seconds to go beyond lush fruit and be laid by unmentionable spice, smoke, herbs.

'07 Merlot - No one will ever accuse this wine of being soft and flabby. I think I saw her at the gym today. Her arms and legs were firm and shining, oiled, fearsome in their muscled femininity. Delicious thinking about all her curves and musky plush fruit and what we could do together. Lord, excuse me for the imagination.

'07 Cabernet Sauvignon - Stately, leanly muscled, stoic, classic, this adonis stands on his pedestal, all cool marble and untouchable in spite of his David-like open hand and sheer nakedness. While the acidity is soft, barely noticeable, the fruit barely open, I have loved this wine in the face of grilled beef for the way it stays close, climbs on top and bursts of fruit, cigar box and flowers with every bite.

'07 Essence - Enough has been said about this wine (see my notes below.see the first review here). Some have said it is simple. Some have said it is simply pure. After 40 years of winemaking, to me it is just a good wine that tastes like where it comes from. I have never made a wine like it before. At last count there were 474 bottles left. There will be no 2008 and no 2009 because it could not be perfect. It is a delicate wine, so typical of my terroir, my climate, my dirt, and if I live long enough there will be another.