Vintage Update June 2003

Cellar Report, June 2003

At this point in the year we are winding up a good part of the 2002 vintage. This is as it should be. In another month all but the big barrel aged reds will be in bottle and our thoughts will move rapidly to the 2003 vintage hanging on the vine. At least we hope the massive rains of spring and early summer will leave something hanging!

As for the ‘02s we are currently bottling, make no mistake about false modesty – this vintage is right up there with ’01. I shed tears to have lived the ’01 vintage but I have never lived such a back to back triumph. Oh, there has been a price, but what we bottle will knock your socks off (and what I disposed of you will never taste).

Our first bottlings have been ’02 Spring Wine (a bit softer and higher alcohol with sweeter fruit than other recent vintages), ’02 Sunset Blush (bright fruit cocktail of cherry and citrus) and the down-homey ’02 Niagara (loaded with outrageous fruit). Just this week (mid-June) we bottled the Pinot Grigio, displaying a delightfully smooth honeysuckle and lemon. Also just bottled – and making us very happy – is the ’02 Lake Erie Riesling. On-line for late June and early July is the vanilla and melon laden ’02 Chardonnay and the ’02 Reserve White with it’s almost sweet, crisp, fruity peach-pit flavor.

We are sweating it out on the ’02 Big Gun Chards (Barrel Select and Miller Estate) and a few of the reds. On one hand the lab numbers are telling us to bottle ASAP but we are holding for a little more cellar/barrel time. For the second year in a row the ’02 Pinot Noirs (Barrel Select and Miller Estate) are big, rich, and fruity, with fine tannins that will bring them to your table by next year. You will appreciate the extra depth and concentration from our decision to hold off picking and let them begin raisening.

I expect the generous jammy cooked fruit of the ’02 Merlot will cause us to bottle somewhat early in July; it has so much chocolate and smooth stuff it is driving us crazy-happy to no longer be using Long Island grapes. All fruit in the ’02 is from Lancaster County, PA. As for the ’02 Reserve Red it is all spice and black fruit – with a very special distinction this year in that we have added about 15% steely raspberry Sangiovese to the typical Chambourcin – don’t ya love that Chianti grape?

What we are NOT planning to bottle this summer is the ’02 Cab (easily the equal to the brilliant ’01) and the Miller Estate and Seven Valleys vineyard bottlings of Chambourcin. Hopefully they will just get richer and riper in barrel until after the first of the year. At this time I reserve judgement about the ’02 Merican. We taste it frequently but the thing is so closed it makes the ’02 Cab seem like a shouter/screamer. I think that means good. Very good. We don’t plan to (publicly) taste it until the barrel tastings of July 2004, but don’t miss this years offering of the brilliant ’01 Merican, now bottled and to be shown/offered at the July 2003 Barrel Tastings (on July 19 and 26 – see Calendar of Events!).

I’m skimming over the fact that we lost the ’02 Roth Chardonnay. I don’t really want to talk about it. I just don’t know what happened. As it turned out, we blended it with the ’02 Barrel Select Chardonnay, which, by the way is like an undeclared Montrachet....so big, so bold with brilliant fruit and mineral that won’t stop. If you want to know more about the Roth, ask me at this year’s Barrel Tastings, or whenever you come by the winery. Or send me an e-mail at eric@chaddsford.com and I’ll pour out the story.

That’s it for my ’02 report, but stay tuned and I’ll be back soon with word on the upcoming ’03 vintage. Meanwhile, here are some notes about a few other wines currently on the shelf, or in your cellar.

Eric Miller, Winemaker

WINEMAKER’S TASTING NOTES

I love to taste wine and this year has been a good one for getting a perspective on some incredible New World offerings. It has been fascinating (and a real revelation) for me to taste the striking new wines from Chile, New Zealand and Australia and to note similarities in style to what we have been working towards in the Chaddsford cellars. I’d be interested in your observations too!

1997 Chaddsford Merican
While it is still lean in the mouth, the harsh Cabernet Sauvignon tannins have smoothed out and married with the now riper flavors contributed by Cabernet Franc, Merlot and a touch of Carmine. It is almost smoky with a bright cherry fruit and shows no sign of tiring out. Complex and definitely more Bordeaux-like than New World. I’d say the time is right to drink that bad boy. For those with a cellar, it might go another 5 years, but this in not a 20 year lay-down.

1999 Merican
Ahhhhhhhhh. The window on the future of wine as I know and love it today. Just released and really good. Indeed, it has some of the leanness that reflects the essence of what I have focused on for the first 20 years in this region, but it has an inkling of the kick-ass fruit (‘scuse my french) we have been growing into all our new our reds. We’ve shown it blind with Phelps Insignia, 1998 Chateau Talbot and a few other notables – and it holds its own.

1999 Cabernet/Chambourcin
Thank you Bill Harris, sales manager/seer extraordinaire. You ruined the simplicity of my life with the suggestion of blending these two grapes, but, man, this first attempt is holding up nicely. Still has great fruit, light tannins and body and goes with just about any food a red will go with – including some medium weight fish dishes I’ve tried.

2001 Merlot
Move over Long Island, the big dog is coming in. In this wine we changed the amount of out-of-state grapes to less than 25% and the ripe plush well-structured local grapes cranked things up a notch. There is nothing dull or run-of-the-mill about this complex mass of dark, jammy, up-front fruit, layered over licorice and hints of fresh tobacco. Barrel-aged, unfined, unfiltered and unfettered.

2001 Pinot Noir
Because we made a change in style during this vintage (which reduced the available amount considerably), this will be a very limited lot, actually two small lots. Both were offered as Futures last summer, and the remaining amount will be released later this spring. See son eric’s notes below for an in-depth view of the 2001 Pinot Noir.

NOTES FROM ERIC. S.
ABOUT 2001 PINOT NOIR

Pinot Noir is my baby and I just can't wait to tell you about our stellar achievement in 2001. What we have in our cellar shows every sign of developing into a big juicy, sumptuous Pinot Noir, the kind we've only dreamed about in the East. The kind you won't see bottled as "Pinot Noir" because it goes so far beyond anything we've done before.

Instead you'll see two lots coming out of this extraordinarily perfect vintage. The first will be labeled as Pinot Noir, Barrel Select and will be a combination of the ripest fruit we've ever seen from our Miller Estate Vineyard, combined with the record breaking 25º Brix fruit from the Philip Roth Vineyard in Gettysburg. In addition we are nurturing a special Reserve Miller Estate (only) lot made from a block of vines cropped at a "How can we afford to do this?" weight of 1½ tons per acre, resulting in only four barrels of "Wow, this is Phenomenal!" wine.

In the cellar, we are all giddy about this achievement...but it does raise a few qustions. Can we consistently create a wine this good? How much do we have to charge to continue to crop this low? Will everyone who already likes our Pinot Noir like the "new and improved" version (remember New Coke?)? Only time will tell - but keep your eye out for these two very small, very special lots. You can probably try them at our annual Barrel Tastings in July. Until then, keep on grilling that salmon and enjoying Pinot Noir!

2000 PINOT NOIR - I got so carried away by the brilliant 2001 Pinot Noir, that I'd almost forgotten how nice this little '00 is. But I was reminded recently by a glowing 4-star review that just came out in Restaurant Wine magazine describing it as "a moderately complex, fine Pinot Noir....softly textured, well balanced, ready to drink...reminiscent of plum, dried flowers, clove and nutmeg." My notes say still young and just developing.

Eric Stauffer, Assistant Cellarmaster