We pressed Sauvignon Blanc on Friday and Saturday.  Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dick and Tanya are sorting grapes; James is cleaning up and here is a future cellar master directing all the operations.  We fill the presses by hand and sort grapes as we go.  It is a slow process but fun and we were all excited to be started with harvest.  I liked the flavors of the juice, and it is now fermenting happily away.

Tanya Stuurman, from Paul Cluver Winery in South Africa, is working with us this harvest season.  She has had four years winery experience and is here to not only experience winemaking here at Cima Collina but also to experience the US as well.  She and her fellow interns spent a few weeks in Virginia learning about grapegrowing and winemaking in the US.  Then 5 interns stayed on in Virginia while 5 came out to Monterey to participate in the crush here. 

This program is sposored by the South African Wine Industry Trust, which is an organization dedicated to the empowerment of black South Africans as well as the promotion of the South African wine industry in general.  This is the first year this internship program has taken place in the US — France has hosted interns for a number of years already — and we are really excited to be a part of it. 

There are astounding changes happening in South Africa in general right now.  Through the “Black Economic Empowerment” initiatives, little by little, black south africans have been able to take ownership of wineries and winery properties to become part of the economic mainstream of the country.  Before, during apartheid, the majority of the population — black and colored south africans — were pushed into the periphery of the economy and worked in mostly menial, low-paying jobs.  Now, combined with higher educational and vocational programs, and internship programs such as this, more folks are able to move up in the ranks.

Tanya is living with me and my family, so it has been interesting to talk with her about South Africa today.  I am particularly interested because I visited South Africa in 1991 during apartheid, albeit toward the very end, and was able to witness firsthand the culture of the country then.  It is amazing how much has happened in 15 years there.

As these things happen, the interns arrived here in a year when the harvest is uncommonly late in California.  I think only two of the interns (Lefa at Blackstone and Philani at Scheid) have been working harvest; the rest of us have been waiting.  Luckily, we do have Sauvignon Blanc coming in today, so Tanya and I will be loading the presses tonight! 

I visited Cedar Lane vineyard yesterday and the Sauvignon Blanc we will get from them this year is tasting great, so we will most likely bring some in this week.  Finally — harvest is starting.  I’ve never experienced such a late harvest.  But having a season like this isn’t bad, necessarily, and can be actually quite good.  I’m tasting a lot of fruit out there that is very, very tasty, and amazingly enough, a lot of it seems to be developing great flavor before the sugars accumulate.  The tannins in the skins are developing, stems are lignifying, and the seeds are getting brown, while Brix readings are 21 or 22.  This is wonderful and is shaping up to be a great vintage, in my humble opinion.

And, yes, I’m excited to say that we are starting a Sauvignon Blanc program here this year.  I haven’t made Sauvignon Blanc since I was in New Zealand and I am eager to use some of the techniques I learned there about how to handle Sauvignon Blanc to get the most out of it.  More to come, so stay tuned…….

 I visited Tondre Grapefield in the Santa Lucia Highlands yesterday, as well.   Joe Alarid does a nice job of managing this vineyard, and this year it looks and tastes great.  I walked the rows of Pinot Noir clones 667 and 115 that we will take from that vineyard and it is tasting great, but Brix is still in the low 20′s.  The tannins have already developed in the skins and is no longer gritty or chalky, the seeds are browing, and the stems lignifying.  Although I didn’t test the acid, it seemed that it was still pretty high, so I’m anticipating we will get a nice acidity when we actually do harvest.  If the weather continues the way it has been (cold at night, mild mornings and warm afternoons), then we probably won’t harvest this for at least another 2 weeks. (Sorry I’m short on the pictures today – it is difficult to have dirty fingers, a sticky refractometer, and try to handle a camera and take a decent photo all at the same time.)

I will visit Chula Vina again (probably tomorrow) and will report soon.

 So what does Cima Collina mean?  How is one supposed to pronounce it?  Well, don’t expect to get any help from us on the second question, but I will get back to that later.

“Cima Collina” in Italian (pronounced “Cheema Koleena”) means, essentially, Hilltop.  “Cima Colina” (Spanish — pronounced “Seema Koleena”) means, well, Hilltop also.  Hilltop Ranch is Dick Lumpkin’s ranch in Carmel Valley (Dick owns Cima Collina as well) (see more about Hilltop Ranch below), and Dick chose the phrase “Cima Collina” because he liked the phrase and because it related to the historical name of his own property.  But when asked why we pronounce it “Seema Koleena” (thereby combining the Spanish and Italian pronounciations), he said after some thought, “I really can’t justify it”.  I do believe he has both some Italian and Spanish-speaking influences in his family that may have caused this mix-up (He says:  “Gail [his wife] lived in Italy after college and was fluent in Italian.  My son in law was born in Mexico and my daughter in law is of Puerto Rican heritage..”), and I’ve also heard something about one of his grandchildren pronouncing it “Seema Koleena”, and it kind of stuck…….we are looking into this further and will get back to you on this important topic, but, I suspect Dick is just another victim of American cultural pluralism, which, I don’t think, is a bad thing, right?  So, the short answer to the question of pronounciation:  Yes, we are pronouncing it incorrectly if one is to go strictly Italian.  But, do you like the wine?

Hilltop Ranch, as of this morning

Brix is in the low 20′s and mild weather is expected for the next week.  Everything looks and tastes great, and longer hang time can mean better flavors.  I have noticed some damage as a result of the one and only big heatwave we had earlier this summer in both the Pinot Gris and the Pinot Noir.  There is some uneven ripening — green berries in a cluster of ripe berries, or shriveled berries in an otherwise perfectly good cluster – a bunch here or there with a little sunburn as well, but I’m seeing this in other vineyards as well.  We will sort these bunches out when we pick and again at the winery before we destem the grapes. I’ve noticed no botrytis, though, so that is great, considering the clusters are super tight this year, and only very little bird damage here and there.  We probably won’t harvest this vineyard for another two weeks, at least.

“Chula Vina” in Spanish means pretty or beautiful vineyard.  I went out there yesterday and, as you can see, it was a beautiful day.  The grapes are coming along nicely, although we are nowhere near harvest — it is probably a few weeks away yet.  We get most of our Pinot Noir and all of our Chardonnay from this vineyard.  One challenge we do have in growing grapes here is one I haven’t seen at quite this level in any other vineyard:  yellowjackets.  Now, in other wineries and vineyards, yellowjackets are more of a nuisance — and sometimes a painful one — than anything else.  They buzz around a lot, come into the winery from the vineyard, get into the juice and sometimes bite.  But here, they not only damage the fruit, but consume it entirely.  And they seem to especially love the Chardonnay.  There is only about an acre of Chardonnay in this vineyard that is currently producing (in the photo here, there is a peek of the new block that was planted this year in the background — this block was mostly planted to Chardonnay), and the vines aren’t heavy producers.  Not only that, but this Chardonnay is really good, and we would like to make as much of it as we can.  But I guess yellowjackets like good grapes as well, because they are going after them like crazy.  There are a number of vines where the fruit has been eaten off completely — not one cluster or berry left.  And there are other vines where half of the fruit is left.  We’ll see what happens.  The only solution to this problem is trapping them, and Henry, the vineyard owner, has done this continually over the years, but what is so amazing is that there seems to be a constant, never-ending supply of them. 

Harvest update:  There are some wineries that have started crush (Blackstone, Scheid and Chesebro supposedly all started within the last few days).  We are on hold for at least a few more weeks…….

 Coming Up:

15th Carmel TomatoFest:  We will pour wine tomorow at the golf tournament at Quail Lodge and Sunday at the big event.  This is quite a popular event and will be a fun time.

Carmel Valley Chamber of Commerce is having a fundraising event at Holman Ranch on September 17th, and we as well as a number of local wineries will be there.

Taste of Carmel, an event for the Carmel Chamber of Commerce will be at the Carmel Mission on Thursday October 5.  We will pour wine and there will be other wineries and area restaurants as well.

 MCVGA’s Great Wine Escape Weekend is November 9-12.  There are seminars, winemaker dinners, winery open houses, bus tours, tasting in Monterey and Spanish Bay, and more!