This morning, our winemaker, Fred Holloway told me we'd be receiving a couple of new open top fermenting tanks around 10am if I'd like to take pictures of the installation. We're really happy with the results we're seeing with the new tanks (more about that later), so I wasn't surprised to hear we were adding a few more to the tank farm. Part of my job at the winery is to take pictures of everything. Literally everything. It is not uncommon to see me wandering around the vineyard following our workers around snapping photos of them pruning, weeding, picking, etc. as I attempt to talk to them in my (extremely) broken Spanish. I'm also responsible for taking photos of large trade groups, winery events (if you make it out for our Annual Wine Society Gala - and you should! - you will definitely see me walking around with a camera around my neck), construction projects, and anything else of interest that happens at the winery.
Typically I wear jeans and flats nearly 5 days every week. There's a reason for that. It's just not practical for me to dress up when I could get bright purple juice splattered all over me or if I have to go climbing up to the top of a pyramid of barrels to get a good shot of the Barrel Chai. (If you've ever been here for a Guest Chef Dinner, there's a 90% chance you'll see me early in the night atop my perch, camera in hand, snapping away a few shots of the tables.)
Today, of course, I decided not to wear my typical uniform of jeans and flats...I wore a skirt and heels. To get the best pictures of the tank installation, I needed to walk the catwalk...and I'm not talking about the runway catwalk, I'm talking about a metal grate 20-60 feet high (or so) with stairs. Did I mention it was breezy today? It was a bit like this:
So now that I've disclosed my embarrassing Marilyn moment, I thought you might also enjoy some photos from the tank installation. It's pretty amazing how just two guys are able to unload and move into place these heavy tanks in a matter of minutes.
The tanks arrive at the winery on a large semi with a crane.
The tank is hooked up to the crane, hoisted into the air and moved into place. (That's our tour guide Jim in the red shirt waving at the camera. He was just about to give the 10:30 tour as the tanks were being installed so he came over to check it out.)
The tank is moved into place using the crane and then lowered down and released.
I'll be back soon with a post about how our open top fermentation tanks work and why we're so excited about the results. If you have any questions you want me to address, please post them in the comments section below.
Thank you to all of you who posted a comment or emailed me
in response to yesterday’s post. I’m mailing your corkscrews next week.
Yesterday I asked you a few questions about what the differences are between
organic and biodynamic farming and what sustainable farming means. A lot of you
had good comments, but I gather that there is some confusion about what it all
means. I’m going to try to clear up that confusion and expand your knowledge
(and mine! – I’m not an expert myself, but, I have an open dialogue going with
our production staff and they’re more than willing to help me out.)
So, from
yesterday:
1. What
is the difference between Organic and Biodynamic farming?
Although organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, pesticides
and herbicides can still be used when farming organically as long as
they’re not created synthetically. According to the USDA's definition, organic farmers emphasize the use of renewable resources and conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. (For more information on organic farming, check out the California Certified Organic Farmers website.)
Biodynamic farming takes things a step further and looks at the farm in relationship to the environment as a whole. Biodynamic farmers use special teas to give the plants the nutrients they need. Predatory animals and beneficial
insects are used to control pests instead of pesticides. (Organic farmers may
also utilize predatory animals and beneficial insects to control pests.) Additionally,
in biodynamic farming, the focus is on looking at the farm as part of the
ecosystem, and considering forces outside the realm of the fence line. As
such, everything that is done in the vineyard (picking, pruning, weeding,
etc.) coincides with the lunar cycle. For a more expansive definition of biodynamic farming,
please browse the Demeter website. Demeter is the only Biodynamic certification agent in the
Unites States.
2. What
does Sustainable farming mean?
I’m
giving you the definition and standards set forth by the Central Coast
Vineyard Team (CCVT). We’re currently in the process of applying for the Sustainability
in Practice (SIP) Vineyard Certification offered by the CCVT.
Sustainability rests on the principle that we must meet
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs. Therefore, stewardship of both natural and human
resources is of prime importance. Sustainable farming systems are
biologically-based and designed to be productive in both the short- and
long-term.
Sustainable agriculture integrates three main
goals—environmental health, economic profitability, and social equity. Because
it is more a philosophical approach to agriculture than a set of farming
practices, the specific practices that can be called sustainable vary depending
on the crop and the specific environmental and social issues important to a
region. Therefore, it is important that all those interested in making
agriculture more sustainable—consumers, growers, environmentalists, farm
workers, processors, retailers—educate themselves on the related issues.
(This
definition was taken in its entirety from the Central Coast
Vineyard Team’s website. I highly encourage you to browse their site for
additional information.)
...
At JUSTIN, we are always striving to find new ways to improve
the quality of our wines, and farming biodynamically started out as an
experiment in five vineyard blocks totaling 7 acres. We’ve been monitoring the
progress of those blocks and we like what we see, so we’ve expanded the program
to 4 additional blocks for a total of 20 acres. Additionally, we encourage our growers
to incorporate biodynamic farming practices into the management of their
vineyards as well.
Farming biodynamically is a labor-intensive process and
we’re converting vineyard blocks gradually. We expect to eventually extend the
program to the rest of the estate vineyard in the upcoming years, assuming it
continues to produce high quality fruit.
As part of our biodynamic/sustainable program, we’ve added bird
boxes to encourage predatory birds such as Barn owls, Hawks, Eagles, and a
Kestrel Falcon to nest on property to help control our squirrel, gopher, mice, and
small bird (Starlings and Sparrows) populations. You can read more about our
predatory birds in Paul’s article in the current issue of the JUSTIN
Times.
Yesterday, during our vineyard tour, Paul showed us a
variety of teas that we use in the biodynamic blocks of the vineyard. Some of
the teas are less exotic, like Chamomile (just like what you’d make at home!)
and other teas such as Horseweed, Nettle, and Yarrow. Some of the other more
offensive sounding preparations include cow stomach and horn manure (horn manure is cow manure stuffed into a hollowed out cow's horn and buried in the vineyard until it is ready to be made into a tea and sprayed into the vineyard).
Yesterday, Paul also taught us about predatory insects…predatory mites
to be exact! And we all happily assisted in releasing them into the vineyard. Bad
(spider) mites cause dead spots to form on the leaves and high populations of
spider mites can render the leaves nonfunctional. To ensure we maintain
healthy, functioning leaves, we released two different types of mites, the Cali
Predatory Mite and the Western Predatory Mite to eat the spider mites. The
mites arrived in a brown bag on bean stalks which we distributed by placing a
stalk on every sixth vine throughout the affected block. The mites are barely
visible to the human eye, and will crawl off the bean stalks and make their way
through the vineyard, eating the spider mites as they move along. Once these predatory
mites consume all of the spider mites, they will move on to the rest of the
vineyard to find more food or die off.
Check out the following video of Grower Relations Manager
Paul Kaselionis talking about the mite release.
Did you find this interesting? Confusing? Do you have any
questions? Do you want to learn more about our biodynamic program?
Today I went on a vineyard tour with our Grower
Relations Manager, Paul Kaselionis. I arranged the tour for myself and anyone
else who wanted to go from Sales & Marketing, Wine Society, Accounting, and
the Tasting Room. I thought it would be interesting and useful for all of us to
learn more about our Biodynamic Farming Practices.
Paul started out the tour with a couple of questions…I
thought it might be interesting to post them here as well. Please respond with
your answers. I’ll add the official answers, more details on the JUSTIN Biodynamic Farming Program and some video from our tour
tomorrow.
I’m interested in your
thoughts…
What is the
difference between Organic and Biodynamic farming?
What does
Sustainable farming mean?
Is sustainably
produced wine important to you? Why?
If you post a response before noon tomorrow (5/22/09),
I’ll send you a JUSTIN logo corkscrew! (send an email to tracy@justinwine.com with your name and address after you post your comment)
Every so often we like to hold an open house for the local wine industry. We feel it's a great way to get to know our winery neighbors, give them more information about all that we have to offer, and, most importantly, encourage learning. On Wednesday, we opened the doors to our Winery Caves, Barrel Chai, and Wine Society Lounge after hours to over 200 local wine industry professionals to share our new releases, appetizers from Executive Chef Will Torres, and a variety of artisan cheeses.
Industry nights allow us to not only foster good will within the local wine community, but to encourage other wineries to learn about us and our wines. We hope that when a guest walks into another tasting room and asks about JUSTIN or asks for a recommendation for a winery that is well known for Bordeaux-style wines that the Tasting Room Attendant will be able to answer their questions or tell the guest about their most recent experience at JUSTIN. We also encourage our own staff to visit other wineries (both local and in other wine regions) to learn more about different wines, other regions and to be able to better answer guests questions or point them in the direction of other wineries we think they might enjoy, should they ask our opinion.
Learning about wine is an ongoing and never-ending process. A process that should be fun! We take learning seriously and encourage everyone on our team to continue to build upon their wine knowledge by participating in wine tastings, visiting other wineries/wine regions, and attending industry nights! If you'd like to check out photos from our Open House, please click here
If you've ever wondered how wine gets from barrel to bottle, I took
some video that I thought I'd share with you (it's a bit shaky, so if
you get motion sickness, this is your warning!). After our winemaker
determines the wine is ready to be bottled, the wine is transferred
from the barrels it was aging in to a tank which connects to the
bottling line. We don't have a permanent bottling line on property, so
we bring in a portable bottling line to bottle all of our wines.
It's
pretty neat - everything is self contained in a large trailer that gets
dropped of by a semi truck. This week we're finishing up bottling of
our 2007 Cab, and each day as I arrive to work I hear the familiar
"clink clink" of the bottles moving through the line as they're filled
with wine, corked, foiled, labeled, and boxed up.
Check out the video and post a comment to let me know what you think!
I read the recent weekly column by Eric Asimov in the New York Times about Paso Robles zinfandel. Now, I am certain that this is a piece that has made many Paso producers happy, for it praises many of the wines of the region, mostly zinfandel driven ones, though. Zinfandel does indeed have a long history in the region, but due to market factors and brand visibility, North Coast zins from Napa and Sonoma have more cachet. No doubt many of our neighbors have done very well promoting zinfandel as their primary wine, and with good reason; old head-pruned vines, warm climate, and interesting field blends all make zin work well in Paso. It's been a workhorse variety here since the mid-19th century. But it has been eclipsed in the 20th, and now 21st--and many producers have moved on.
Asimov's work in the Times is must-read wine information, and I am a huge fan of the column. It is better written and more entertaining than anything else I read about wine, especially in newspapers and magazines, local or national. I like the rating system, and the allowance for idiosyncratic styles to be praised by the often-changing panelists. But in this case, I think the panel was looking at an outdated model of Paso Robles wine--the Oldsmobile or Plymouth, if not the Hudson or Studebaker of wines here.
Of course, JUSTIN has never really been much of a zin player, and that is by design. Justin and Deborah Baldwin explicitly sought out their corner of the region to grow the Bordeaux varieties precisely because it was different from most of the rest of Paso: at higher elevation, closer to the Pacific Ocean, it is a cooler place than most zin growers would like. And the Baldwins' aim was at a very different style and market from the zin "traditionalists." Fact is, most of the zin grown in the 19th century in Paso Robles went into nondescript if bold red blends or fortified wines. Much still does. And much of it also leaves the region and any regional labeling too. JUSTIN wines are 100% and exclusively Paso Robles grown - and we don't make very much zin (it is one of our boutique wines, only available through the JUSTIN Wine Society and while supplies last once a year in our tasting room).
Of particular curiosity to me was how many wines listed in the Times article were made outside the region, by estimable producers no doubt, but somehow a little less homegrown because of that. Ridge, Turley, Kunin, Rosenblum . . . all very fine and even iconic producers, but why can't Paso growers keep and make the "good stuff?" I am in no position to answer that. But I also don't wish to overlook the achievements of locals Peachy Canyon, Gravity Hills, Paso Creek, or Opolo in making the list among these stalwarts.
I am particularly intrigued by the notice given to Linne Calodo for its "Problem Child" blend. Here zin is teamed with syrah and mourvedre, an unlikely trio anywhere else, and it is a stunning wine. Wine Spectator's James Laube featured it in its Wine Experience tastings in October in New York, and it's the kind of blend that makes sense for the region. It uses zin to add generous fruit to two rather spicy and tannic Rhone varieties. And those varieties in turn temper the typical high alcohol of zin left by itself. This kind of idea has a future here.
We're making a most interesting blend at JUSTIN using syrah and cabernet, our Savant. I wonder how we'd do with a bit of zin in the mix? Of course, I'm no winemaker, nor vineyard manager. But we're all used to thinking creatively in Paso, whether traditionalists or not. So never say never! The twist coming up in Savant, as I've just tasted, is that winemaker Kevin Sass has used a small percentage of Malbec in the 2007 blend, due for release in summer of 2009. It's a long way from zinfandel, and we are excited about it!
We move on to football season! (Don't ask about my White Sox or Cubs.) And of course I want to drink more good red wine. So as long as the propane is flowing into my grill, I can keep the protein coming! Lately I have been trying to use less beef. I have worked on a recipe I truly love, using a deboned and butterflied leg of lamb, slathered in a multitude of fresh herbs and garlic. If that doesn't scream out for JUSTIN Savant or Syrah, I don't know what will.
Mind you, I'm not one for recipes too often. I see ideas in magazines (of which I get far too many) and then riff on them based on what I have in the cupboard. I am an undisciplined cook. But at least I know how to avoid burning it all up! And if something doesn't work, I can always resort to grilling a few encased meats.
Speaking of burning it up, I had the opportunity to again host several seminars a the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta at the end of September. (This immediately followed a presentation I gave on Paso Robles wines up at Willamette Valley Vineyards, in Salem, Oregon. Crazy itinerary as usual.) It's my favorite event of the year, with dozens of good local restaurants hosting dinners and demonstrations, and scores of very good wineries represented all around town. I had the pleasure of speaking about JUSTIN wines at La Fonda Hotel, hosted by Bert Leyva and the talented kitchen team of Lane Warner. The historic room was full, and full of energy. Somehow we found enough Isosceles 2005 to serve there, alongside several new releases, including Obtuse 2007. Although it's often difficult to match our wines precisely with food, most of them being red, we tweaked some menu items, like salmon, to be red wine friendly. Sometimes all it takes is a sauce modification, or the addition of a meat element. Vitamin "P" always works--Pork!--that is, a bit of bacon, pork belly, prosciutto, jamon, smoked butt . . . but I digress. In this case the added item was chiles! A bit of heat really picked up the spice of the Syrah as paired with a salmon terrine. Isosceles was served with a classic duo of beef preparations, one poached and the other in a slow barbecue preparation. Very fine indeed. And topped off by Obtuse with a banana flan and chocolate custard dessert. Mmmmm.
OK, so the surprise: After October trips to New Orleans, Dallas, Toronto, New York and Boston, I wondered if restaurants and the wine business are really hurting all that badly. New ones keep opening; our wines are allocated or sold out in many cases; and I see full rooms all around. The one sign that perhaps the glamour of trophy wine has worn a bit was the empty seats at some of the seminars at Wine Spectator's "California Wine Experience in New York" (confusing, I know). I was privileged to be part of the sommelier team there and tasted many grand old and young wines. As I got around the city to see a few dining rooms, no one seemed to be suffering. Perhaps I am deluded, and of course there remains high anxiety, but the city was its usual pulsing self, including the top dining rooms, from what I was hearing.
In any case, wine collectibles are vulnerable in a soft market, as most people in the auction business will tell you, and I suppose so are trophy wines--which is why I'm very glad that wines from JUSTIN like Isosceles and Justification and Savant are still reachable, valuable pleasures.
Now as baseball reaches its crescendo and winds of change are in the air, the travel schedule has heated up and the market beckons. There is a palpable nervousness in many places, and the deepening worries about the financial future have made wine buyers skittish. Not that folks are drinking less wine--the consumption levels are static--but what the average or even above average consumer will spend on a bottle of wine for dinner, or even for a gift or special occasion, has declined somewhat according to most observers.
My visits to several major restaurant cities this month have borne some of this out. Many restaurant wine buyers are indeed apprehensive. In many cases this is due to slow summer seasons in warm places like Las Vegas and central Florida; in others it is a direct gauging of the rates of hotel occupancy, convention bookings, and other core business activities within a given city.
Yet, restaurants are still aiming high to deliver extraordinary product. And one note of caution that I must raise is the movement of much food-related beverage activity from classic wine to craft cocktails. Other beverages have also entered the fray: sake, craft beer, even sophisticated non-alcoholic concoctions. Not that I don't enjoy a properly made Manhattan or a classic Negroni from time to time--just that I didn't think they'd ever be considered food-friendly!
I enjoyed two grand restaurant experiences that I would like to dwell on. One was at the splendid new Restaurant Charlie, in the Palazzo Tower of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. I tasted incredibly delicious and creative food--about ten courses, I recall. I also had numerous tastes of splendid wine. Dining Room Manager Nick Rimedio was psyched that I was able to come in, and the beverage team pulled out all the stops. And amidst all this, I was treated to a wildly inventive range of house-designed specialty cocktails--specifically created to pair with menu items. This is a rather jarring experience to most of us traditional sommeliers, who see booze as a competitor for wine on the table. As a floor sommelier, my primary interest was always to discuss, recommend, pair, and properly serve an ideal bottle or two alongside several dishes. This idea has refracted over time, with degustation menus especially, to focus on ideal individual wine-and-food pairings through the course of a meal. We did this at Charlie Trotter's fifteen years ago and it seems de rigueur at any self-respecting high-end dining establishment now. The fact that ideal pairings now include non-wine items takes some getting used to. But it can be fabulous.
The second dining experience I found intriguing was the new L2O, a gorgeous Lettuce Entertain You/Chef Laurent Gras restaurant that has replaced the grand old Ambria in Chicago's Lincoln Park. Here I tasted many pristine and spare seafood driven dishes, and was served nothing but wine all the way. Sommeliers Chantelle Pabros and Doug Merello were most professional and even classical in their approach. An immediate flute of Champagne was offered upon arrival. The already formidable (for a two month old restaurant) wine list came along with the menus. I reviewed the wide-ranging troops, selected a crisp Alsace Grand Cru, and away we went. How lively a good bottle can be with so many intricate flavors! How malleable, how changing, how enriching. I still think it's the way to go, with perhaps pre- and post-meal augmentations.
These two meals made me also wonder: Where do rich, ripe reds like ours from Paso Robles fit in? As a representative of JUSTIN Vineyards, this is an ongoing question, and task, for all my sommelier friends. Neither meal sported more than a course of red-wine oriented food. Yet we know that most restaurants, even seafood-driven ones, serve more red than white wine. So maybe our new non-malolactic style of Chardonnay can hit the spot! If not, perhaps JUSTIN Syrah or Cabernet has a shot after all. In any case, please let's not make a cocktail out of it!
So, the many Wine Spectator survey participants have spoken! And they say, according to the cover of the magazine, that wine service in the US is "not good enough." Well, let's see what they really mean.
As a former restaurant sommelier and manager myself, and as current Chairman of the Court of Master Sommeliers, American Chapter, my first reaction is defensive and ultimately dismissive. I would argue that wine service in the US is better than ever--mostly, because the wines are, and the breadth of their origins is as well. And of course the sommeliers and waiters are better trained, more knowledgeable, and more involved in the experience of the diner. What once seemed a rarity, like a wine list of vertical selections from many key regions like Bordeaux and California and Tuscany and Rioja, or a range of aromatic, unoaked, corkless fresh wines, is now rather commonplace. What once seemed impossible, the adoption of quality glassware and cellar conditions by even chain restaurants, is a norm. And what once seemed elitist and classist, a tuxedoed servant acting as butler in a darkly draped parlor, has morphed into the very democratic, and well-informed, up-to-the-minute expert on wine in the restaurant. The modern, business suited, tastevin-less sommelier who also knows food, has traveled extensively, and acts as a customer's ally, is now expected at fine restaurants. So who could complain?
Well, the bottom line on complaints is just that: what we pay for wine in restaurants can be exorbitant. Well, at least relative to the "retail" price. Indeed, many restaurants mark up wine noticeably high--although the markup on wine is nowhere near as high percentage-wise as it is on beer, liquor, or coffee. After all, there are the aforementioned enhancements to pay for, not to mention energy, linen, labor, and decor. But I'm sorry, I have no sympathy for the diner who imposes a BYO bottle on a restaurant staff or chef without warning; I don't believe in shorting a tip because wine service is somehow not equivalent to food service; and I don't believe that sommeliers who know what they're doing give bad advice.
Wine is a highly charged subject in restaurants precisely because there is so much of it to be chosen--an aesthetic, economic, and even political choice, at the very least. And many wine-savvy diners are also smart shoppers. But I would hope they would be loathe to be considered cheapskates. The best way to object is to support only restaurants that you trust, and avoid cynical chains; support chefs who involve savvy staff members in their service; and, once in a while, to splurge, and see what kind of respect you'll get from the service team. That experience feels grand, and everyone shares in it. In fact, it's part of why we go out to dine.
Well, hello, curious wine drinker, and welcome to my new space! I
plan to drop a few thoughts here about once a week, and will be truly honored
that you might read and respond to anything I put forth here. As you may know,
I have been with JUSTIN for just a half-year now, and couldn't be more
delighted by what I see in the vineyards, in Paso Robles, in the broad spectrum
of restaurants and shops who carry our wine, and in the enthusiasm of our Wine
Society clientele. Not to mention the excitement of a growing group of wine
professionals that I'll christen today the Flying Sommeliers!
Now, what do I mean by that? Well, you may have heard over the
years of flying winemakers--those indefatigable consultants who work in
multiple time zones, hemispheres, and continents. I think now that the
sophistication of wine service at table as well as the myriad post-restaurant
sommelier positions, such as the one I have, constitute a new intersection of
talent, and since we seem to be in many places in a very short time period, we
must also be "flying!"
Many of my fellow Master Sommeliers certainly know what I'm
talking about. Some are rabid importers and some are intense winemakers; some
are running incredibly complex multi-restaurant programs under one roof, and
some are doing so in five time zones. Whatever the case, I count myself proud
to sometimes be in their company. And in rather exotic and exciting places!
For example, just in the past month, I have had the opportunity to
share new JUSTIN releases with sommelier friends in Aspen (hey MS pals Jay and Richard!); Boston (Juicy Fruit,
anyone?!); Seattle (howdy MSes Shayn and Joseph); and Maui (a veritable
softball team's worth of Masters!). I know that many of my colleagues,
including those I saw hither and yon, have even more hectic travel schedules
than I do--but who could complain? We are all in the pursuit of diversity and
excellence in wine, and love to share and compare wherever we meet. And don't
forget the primary reason we are all flying about: to educate, stimulate, and
irrigate the many consumers who attend these events.
Just to detail one of these: I was truly honored to represent
JUSTIN Isosceles 2005 at the Kapalua Wine and Food Festival in Maui. I was on a
"Cult Cabernet" panel with many estimable producers from California, Washington,
South Australia, and Bordeaux. Now, before you jump at the idea of our wine
being part of a "cult," stop to think what we have achieved simply by
being considered part of this set. No, we're not making a $200 wine, nor a wine
of a total production of five barrels (125 cases) that mostly sells at auction
to folks with bagfuls of non-dollars. But we are keeping company with many more
hyped wines and regions, and I'd have to say, we tasted pretty darned good that
day. Many attendees, including three other Master Sommeliers on the panel (Rob
Bigelow, John Blazon, and Larry Stone), said so!
Whether you're a sometime wine taster or a full-fledged collector,
you should recognize and appreciate the role that the sommelier performs in the
wine trade. It is well beyond pulling corks (or twisting off screwtops!)--and
certainly more complex than finding the right glass or bottle for that special
dish. We are all trying to communicate some broad experience with efficiency,
accuracy, and grace. We share a common goal: it's integrating the grandeur of
fine dining and technical achievement in this beverage we all love.
