Vintage Update March 2005
Spring Report, March 2005
Eric Miller, Winemaker
Life in the Chaddsford Cellar
The complex and simply delicious '04 vintage has kept our hands cold and purple this winter. But suddenly it's April, and the bottling machine has been cranked into gear. First wine off the starting block is the BRILLIANT 2004 Spring Wine, just released in time for Easter. It is my absolute favorite Spring Wine since we started -- similar to the very good '03 -- except that '04 was simply a better vintage. Big fruit in the nose, not quite as sweet as last year but a cool wet mouthful of grapefruit, peaches, apple and apricots with zingy acidity.
Coming Up: Naked Chardonnay
The next most exciting thing about the '04 vintage has been taking a new look at old friends. Faced with declining Chardonnay sales, I am departing from the big-oak, earthy, malo-lactic norm of the past 10-15 years in favor of a small lot (in a completely different style) that will be lean, green, clean, unoaked, and bottled fresh like a crisp Chablis. This Naked Chardonnay, not unlike a Pinot Grigio but with more fruit, should be ready at the end of summer. Keep your eyes out for the release, while I keep my nose and tongue on the still developing Chards of Barrel Select and Miller Estate fame.
A New Super Tuscan Blend
 After the lighter, almost Beaujolais-style ’03 vintage reds, I’m very happy to be back in bed with some super sexy ’04 reds. You may already have read about our new little “gem”, Rubino, a Super Tuscan blend (primarily Cab Sauv, Sangiovese and Merlot). We are loving its strawberry/cherry fruit wrapped up in fine grainy tannins and a smooth body. By making this hunky blend we used up our limited resources of top tier Cabernet Sauvignon, so, there will be no Cab S for ’04 -- but we do have one complete Merlot (20% Cabernet) already speaking of jammy fruit compote and chocolate!
Our other Italian, ’04 Due Rossi -- 50% Sangiovese and 50% Barbera from the Miller Estate -- has gained some real depth as the vines continue to age. As rustic as Barbera can be, this “two red” blend definitely shows the suave side of that beast. Good ripe flavors, as you will find also in the ’04 Chambourcins.
Where the Big Boys are
The '04 Pinot Noirs seem to know they are on top of the world this year, and have taken their sweet time finishing fermenting. The Miller Estate Pinot just wrapped up and went into barrel, leaving the Barrel Select cuvče on its own, perking away mindlessly. The good news is ripe flavors, soft acids and moderate color; if we can just get through this late fermentation we'll be fine, though bottlings will likely be delayed.
Watch for '04 Rubino, Due Rossi, Chambourcin and Pinot Noir at this year's Barrel Tastings and sale of Futures in July!
View From The Vineyard
 As the '04 vintage wraps up in the cellar, I must now turn my attention to the new '05 crop on the vines. Let me begin by saying the winter has not been kind. We had a wonderful feeling of "this ain't no winter" up until February. Then we got that wonderful warm spell and in a 24-hour period we dropped from warm and weeping vines sunning in 60 degree weather to damned cold at about plus 10. Shallow-rooted vines like the young Shiraz took a hit and could not move their water into the roots fast enough and we took some damage. The hot sun and cold night froze and split trunks and cordons in the Cabermet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. At this point I do not know the extent of damage but at the least our pruning costs sky-rocketed to about 200% sorting dead wood and pulling it from the vineyard. The most painful thing was taking the calls from vineyard manager Brett about his beloved vines. Every ******* day for the past month. At this point his painfully conservative approach to pruning would appear to have saved most of the crop for '05, but we will see about June when the vines' internal mechanisms work or simply collapse under the load of a crop. I have not surveyed other vineyards yet but I hear there is some loss in the ones that were pruned before the Big Drop.
I'll know more in a few weeks when I begin to physically survey the other vineyards we buy from. Check for my updates here and come see how I'm doing at the July barrel tastings.
Eric Miller, Winemaker
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