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Blogs
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Looking for that great pizza wine - Rocca di MontegrossiRead more...
I'm always on the lookout for a great bottle to have with pizza. And a high-acid, earthy Sangiovese-based wine is typically
my style.
So I snagged a 2004 Rocca di Montegrossi Chianti Classico from K&L the other night. I'd have to say that I'm probably still hunting
Fermenation Wraps UpNine days after fermentation began we're pressing the Pinot 3.0 juice tonight. It'll be pressed slightly sweet, and finish fermentation in barrel. The color came out quickly during cold soak. I hope it holds. Cold Soak and Fermentation beginI swung by the cold room a few nights ago and grabbed shots of the new juice. The color came out fast this year. I threw a new photo album up on the group detail page showing this color called: "Pinot 3.0 Cold soak begin ferm" cold soak day 2 Read more... Rat Packer taking over SeattleIt looks like Sarah Munson and her business partner Allison have hit a home run with their new Wine bar in Seattle. For any of you up that way, stop through and give us a report. Considering the fast approaching harvest, I think taking last Friday off was my summer vacation. Maybe I can hit Seattle and plop down in from of that fireplace when the rains move in after harvest. Congrats Sarah and Allison. --------------------- Read more... It's Alive!
Pressing the Pinot 2.0 wine to barrel
The pressed wine after being pressed and captured before pumping to barrel. This is the actual color lit by camera flash.) Exactly two weeks to the hour after we destemmed the Pinot Noir from Wentzel Vineyard into bins for the Pinot 2.0 project, we were pressing the wine to barrel.  The cold soak and fermentation phases were absolutely textbook perfect for both bins with both bins taking about eight days to complete fermentation after a five-day cold soak. I’ll have video of all this up soon in the Pinot 2.0 video series. Read more... Pinot 2.0 Must ready for inoculationWell the grapes have finished their cold soak, and we got nice color extraction.You can see the color in the photos below. It's really pretty. And the flavor is very full. (don't know how else to describe it) The bins have been pulled from the cold room to the warm room to come up to room-temp where we can inoculate the bin with yeast that we are inoculating, and we'll let the other bin go with whatever naturally occurring yeast is there. (We'll use AMH Assmanshausen yeast on the bin with 15% whole clusters, the other bin will "go native") Several group members have come to help during the midday sessions. Carl, Camille, Jen, and David have all gotten into the act. Thanks for the help everyone, both in person, and via our electronic channels. Images from the final day in the cold room: Read more... Pinot 2.0 Podcast #3, The Highs and Lows of the 2006 Season
a close-up of the decomposed sandstone soils of the Wentzel vineyard One final Podcast before we head up to pick the Pinot 2.0 grapes. And, I actually expect the harvest date of 9/12/06 to stick this time. Really, I do. No, seriously... Click here to watch/download Pinot 2.0 Podcast #3, 2006 Growing Season Recap TPT: 5:54 I talk with Casey Hartlip about the 2006 season in the Wentzel vineyard, and with Crushpad CEO Michael Brill about why you typically don't just pick wet grapes after a rain. Read more... Pinot 2.0 Video Podcast #2, A Conversation With David Dain
The rains came, the rains went, and we delayed harvest till Monday 10/9/06, or so we thought. It only rained about a quarter inch in Anderson Valley, and we wanted to give the grapes a chance to dry out a bit. Pinot Noir is a very thin-skinned grape, and it absorbs water through the skin. We don't want to dilute the flavors with a burst of new water in the grapes. And sugar measurements on Saturday confirmed that the grapes did indeed fatten up a bit with water, and the sugar levels are just on the edge of being high enough. So at this point we're in a holding pattern. Read more... A Vineyard Managers view of 2006 - Wentzel Vineyard
Looking down on the Vineyards of Eagle Point Ranch in Mendocino What is it that makes a wine taste like it could come from no other place? There are short answers like, "Terroir," and long answers.. well, like what follows in Ratcast #55. Some things can’t be boiled down to a set of variables that when stacked up, will give you a predictable result. Wine is like that. Even for the most talented and seasoned winemaker there is always an element of surprise in what comes of their labors. Read more...
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Thank you all for the thoughtful inquiries here on the Rat and to my personal email. I assure you I have not been hit by a bus, at least not literally. I'm alive and doing very well in San Francisco. I left Minnesota almost two years ago with the vague notion that I could combine my two strongest passions, wine and technology, into something that might actually pay the rent. 
