Hey Mr. Postman, look and see...

Finally we finished putting the posts in the second new vineyard plot at HJW! This plot, like the first one, is all Riesling. Just north of the winery you can see this new vineyard along Route 14.

But there was more... a small section in the Magdalena vineyard. This was a quickie - only took a day and a half. Here we have Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc.  All our reds are planted on the Magdalena site since it is the warmest. We have Chardonnay at HJW and Magdalena.

The plants look great and are all tied and contained. In 3 years we'll be able to make wine from these sections. Wine from young vines can be very interesting and great - in fact, I recently learned that our Reserve Cabernet Franc 2007 came from a section of the Magdalena vineyard site that was planted in 2004, and you can taste the difference from our regular Cab Franc that was planted in the late 90's. The Reserve Cab Franc is very complex and rewarding, with smooth tannin and flavors that will definitely age well in the bottle.

Speaking of vineyard plots, we're continuing to move wines from the 2009 vintage that have finished their fermentations and making blending decisions. Since we vinify vineyard plots separately, around this time of year its time to decide how to blend the final wine. We base this on the varying flavors, sweetness, and acidity of the different tanks. Fred, our winemaker, is a master blender. In France he would be called a Chef du Caves. It is fun to taste the different components of a blend and then the way they come together.

Last week we worked on the Semi-Dry Riesling. This is one of our top sellers - we'll make about 3000 cases of it. We're also getting the Chardonnay cuvee ready to become sparkling blanc de blanc - which literally means white of white but refers to sparkling wine made from white grapes.  So, we moved the Chard cuvee from barrels to tank for cold stabilization, which helps with tartrate precipitation. Then we'll filter it and bottle it for the second fermentation, which will make the still wine sparkle.

Btw, I've been getting into stainless steel tanks to clean them and it is pretty fun. When I was a kid growing up with 3 siblings I fashioned a solitary space underneath an end table in our living room and hung out there with my books and toys. I find a similar comfort inside a stainless steel tank. Except instead of books and toys there are tartrate crystals, fermentation lees, and a lot of water :)