October Update - Crush 2009

Our Sauvignon Blanc just finished fermentation:


Enologist Mauricio brought by a sample for us to taste. The two components, the grapefruity, lower Brix lot and the warmer, honey-ed lot, have integrated into a lovely seamless whole. Grower Maile Field wasn't kidding when she told us early in the season that the flavenoids were there and that 2009 might be the best Dancing Crow Vineyard vintage yet.

We'll be racking it off the lees today, and it will go back into the tank until early January, when we'll bottle the wine.

It's cold here. Warehouse temps feel much different in October than in July. The leaves on the trees are changing ... as are the leaves on the Pinot Noir grapevines.











Only a few left-behind grape clusters remain.


The last grapes we will get in are Cabernet Sauvignon: from Mulhner Vineyard in Chiles Valley and several other Napa Valley vineyards.

Twenty-nine Flights of Five

Twenty-nine flights of five wine blends ... akin to five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes ... so, how do you measure, measure a Chard?

Winemaker Paul Moser and enologist Mauricio Livellara are perfectionists, and we love it.

To arrive at the final blend of our 2008 Cartlidge & Browne Chardonnay -- they tried 29 flights of five different blends -- for an end total of 145 different possible blends. One hundred forty-five is the charm!

We tasted the final blend (just off the bottling line) along with the 2008 Lot 205 Chardonnay.

And then we tasted through 2007 & 2008 Pinot Noirs.

Before the bags came off, Paul noted that they all tasted like Pinot Noir to him. Next time I'll have to throw a few other varietals in there to trip him up.

We liked them all - which was good news. Even before he smelled the wine, Mauricio knew each vintage by the temperature of the wine (some had been lab samples and others pulled from the warehouse) and different specs on the glass.

Paul was pleased with the consistency between vintages and thought the 2008, though just a baby, already aromatically had a lot to say. He talked about the lovely floral notes and cherry cobbler flavor, along with a spicy character and a supple feel.

Sign me up for tastings like this more often!

Wine Spies Infiltration!

The Wine Spies have swooped in!

They snagged a very limited amount of our 2005 Moser Scharding Sonoma Valley Pinot Noir and are offering it at a very special price this Friday only! Full details will be available on their site beginning at midnight Pacific on 5-8-09.

Winemakers Paul Moser and Rebecca Scharding Steinschriber produced this wine from fruit grown by Durrell Vineyards in the Sonoma Valley along with Parmalee Hill Vineyards, which adjoins Durrell to the west. Notes of cherry and strawberry, with soft leather and violets underneath. Swoon!