Cima Collina

Archive for the ‘In the Vineyard’ Category

Vern Fisher of the Monterey County Herald came by one day and photographed us as we processed Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on the same day. Click here to see and hear the slideshow he put together. By the way — I’d have to get my arm twisted to do both whites and reds simultaneously here, because, well, you’ll see why…..but sometimes I’m reminded that Mother Nature is stronger than me, hee hee. Anyway, I’ve long admired Vern’s photographs in the paper, and I think he was able to capture what we do here on a very busy day.

The slideshow starts out at Chula Vina….the first photo is Henry Carrasco, owner of Chula Vina…the crew is shown harvesting the Chardonnay and Pinot that we subsequently are shown processing. Chula Vina is in Chualar Canyon, BTW, and it is one of my favorite beautiful places. Enjoy…

• Posted in Cima Collina, Harvest, In the Vineyard, News & Happenings, Winemaking
• Comments Off on 15 Minutes? :)

***Update: 11-9-07 It looks like Tanner will make it! Thanks to all for the calls and well-wishes! Annette

I’m not sure why I missed this one and I have to say this is disturbing and embarrasing for me given that I have been in the wine industry for awhile and own dogs — but I did not know that grapes are toxic to dogs. My dogs go with me everywhere and spend a lot of time in vineyards and in the winery. They have eaten grapes or grape skins here and there with no effect. But the other day, my little dog Tanner got into some grapes and is now experiencing kidney failure in a vet hospital in Capitola. The veterinarians tell me that this is not well understood — they don’t know what it is about grapes that is toxic to dogs and have no idea how it affects the kidneys, just that it does, and often does alarmingly quickly, but yet doesn’t affect all dogs. So, there you go. Tell your friends that have dogs: raisins, grapes, grape skins (and, I would venture to say wine as well) can be toxic to dogs. And maybe while you’re getting the word out, could you say a little prayer for Tanner, too?

• Posted in Cima Collina, In the Vineyard, Uncategorized, Winery
• 6 Comments

Due to harvest crew constraints, we all finished harvesting Hilltop Ranch Pinot Noir yesterday ourselves. It had rained earlier that morning, but it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day, and the fruit looked great, as well. Most vineyards we sourced from produced a short crop this year, but Hilltop came in with a good yield & high quality to boot. Here are some photos:

Mark & Kara

“No cauliflower pickers in my vineyard!” Appolonio — da man.

“Here are your assignments…”, says master Luke, and..

…hauling buckets.

Dick….”Now why did we train these cordons so low??”

And me with Sweetie.

• Posted in Cima Collina, Harvest, In the Vineyard, Uncategorized
• Comments Off on Hilltop Ranch Harvest

Where’s That Wascally Wabbit?
These two are so happy because harvest is almost here. They don’t particularly care about Brix or the quality of tannins in grape skins. I can assure you that only three things are on their mind: riding in the car with me, having the opportunity to find some nasty thing to eat while out and about, and most importantly, the chance that harvest time brings to chase — and catch — jack rabbits in the vineyard. Yes, these two may look unassuming and downright harmless, but together they are sublime jack rabbit chasers and faster than you might think — far more efficient than Elmer Fudd ever was. And much like Mr. Fudd, they don’t know quite what to do once they catch the rabbit, but that’s OK with me and probably with the rabbit, too.

Harvest is almost upon us

It’s a pretty amazing fact that we haven’t started harvest yet. There are some grapes being harvested in Monterey, and I’m seeing (and smelling) onions being harvested, and also lettuce, and broccoli. The artichokes above are past their prime, but I took that photo so you can see the haze of smoke from the fire near San Jose that has been hanging over the Salinas Valley on and off for a week. Not one grape has entered this facility. It’s amazing because most every other area in California is in full picking mode (a friend at Sonoma-Cutrer says they are halfway done already — and it’s not even the middle of September!). We are bottling the remaining 2006 wines tomorrow, and will also bring our first load of Sauvignon Blanc in tomorrow as well — it will be interesting to see how that works out. Crops are definitely small this year, quality is looking great, and it looks like everything will come in at once.

Speaking of Bottling…
James, Mark and I have been finishing our 2006 Pinots and here’s a view of wine that most don’t see…..this photo was taken as we were just emptying our last tank.

• Posted in Cima Collina, Harvest, In the Vineyard, Winery
• Comments Off on Are We There Yet?

This is one of my favorite times of year here in Monterey County, maybe because I like suspense. This is bloomtime for the “earlier” varieties of winegrapes such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc. The challenge here in this region and in this climate, though, is getting the right weather to achieve relatively good “set” or good pollination and fertilization of each berry on the cluster (the grape flowers are bisexual, by the way, and are self-pollinating, so bees are out of the picture). We tend to have extremely variable weather in the spring which can include late frosts, heat waves, gusty winds, rain and even hail. This poses a challenge to get good, consistent set.

These are photos from Chula Vina today, and I’ve attempted to capture the infant clusters, on the verge of blooming. This is Pinot Noir — Dijion clone 115 to be exact — and is at the bottom of the hill in this vineyard. This block tends to be last to do most everything. The blocks further up the hill are just starting to bloom, and the Chardonnay — at the very top ‘o the hill — is just finishing.

******

Speaking of Chula Vina Chardonnay, here’s a nice review on Appellation America of our 2005 offering. Unfortunately, we are nearly sold-out. The 2006 should be released this November, and dare-I-say just might be the best yet…..

Wondering who does our graphic and package design? We get compliments all the time on our label design, product photos and advertisements and because of that feel I should mention one of the folks behind the scenes. The wonder woman behind all of that design is none other than Ginny Westcott. She has an incredible talent and great sense of style (and is also a joy to work with)!

• Posted in In the Vineyard
• 2 Comments

 

Working starts to make you wonder where

the fruits of what I do are going 

He says in love and war all is fair 

But he’s got cards he ain’t showing 

Sunshine come on back another day 

Pretty soon I’ll be singing 

This old world, gonna turn around

Brand new bells will be ringing

—Jonathan Edwards “Sunshine“

We are spoiled here in California compared to other winemaking regions.  Most every year the weather is pretty predictable (dry and relatively warm) and we can usually count on getting ripe grapes with few exceptions.  But any little deviation from our usual weather pattern can make some of us spoiled Californians turn into questioning, complaining brats.  I was one of those “brats” this year and complained quite a bit when our Indian Summer didn’t show at it’s usual time (mid-September thru October) and worried that we wouldn’t have a very good year (“Oh No!”).

In contrast to other regions (like Burgundy, Bordeaux or Oregon) that have to deal often with summer rains and frost during harvest.  Our summer season here tends to be quite moderate — we get lots of fog during the day and at night, especially when the Central Valley is burning up as that weather pattern in the interior seems to pull the cool moisture up and out of the ocean here.  This makes for a relatively cool summer and is what makes this growing region so wonderful for grapes as these cool summers essentially extend and improve flavor development.  But, for those of us who like to see and feel the sun a little and also think that our harvest depends upon our Indian Summer, this was not such a good thing.  But on second thought, maybe that’s not necessarily so……

This harvest has changed my views a little on what is required to ripen our grapes here as our Indian Summer hasn’t appeared until recently, after we have finished with harvest.  We had an incredibly long growing season this year with very few really hot days, and as a result there was, admittedly, more rot in many vineyards, but otherwise there were great flavors….incredible flavors…..that warrant an exclamation of “This is one great winemaking year!”.

And now, today, I awoke to a brilliantly glorious Indian Summer day, on election day no less, after a great harvest, I have to say I’m in a great mood – positive and hopeful, with great expectations of how the wine we are putting into barrels right now will develop and blossom into something just a little different, a little more beautiful and maybe a little more mysterious than last year.                    

 

 

 

 

 

• Posted in Harvest, In the Vineyard, Winemaking
• Comments Off on Sunshine, Finally

What is so interesting about going through wine country here in Monterey is that there is so much else going on besides grapegrowing.  I’ve learned a great deal about row crop agriculture from driving by every field and seeing what they are doing.  How many times do folks get the opportunity to witness a sea of asparagus in glorious feather-like leaf in the fall, or broccoli growing in gray-green brilliance?  How about romaine lettuce emerging just next to a pinot noir vineyard?  Seeing these things makes me appreciate the diversity of this area and reminds me that although the majority people in the world think of California as a hip, palm tree-covered, fast-moving, metropolitan-centered state, this is really what California is all about…..agriculture and all of the hard work that goes along with it.

Tondre Grapefield

I visited Tondre Grapefield in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and here are some photos.  We will pick this pinot noir on Monday, and it is tasting very good.

 

The vineyard is owned by the Alarid family who has farmed this land for quite a long time.  They grow broccoli, lettuce, beans, and lemons, to name just a few crops.  As the story goes, they never really knew what to do with the land that the vineyard is now planted on as it wasn’t a whole lot good for anything else.  Then one day, Tondre, the father of Joe Alarid, the vineyard manager, had a heart attack.  While recovering at home — and after hearing about the health benefits of red wine — he decided to plant a vineyard, and took advice from neighbors on how to do it.  Today, Tondre is healthy and doing well, and Joe does a great job of managing not only the winegrapes, but all the other crops they grow as well.  They named the vineyard “Tondre Grapefield” to honor both Tondre and their farming heritage.

Watch Out for Grape-eating Wild Dogs!

OK, maybe not so wild in the conventional sense.  This is Sweetie, and she is a Rat Terrier and premier grape sampler on-the-job.  She also does well keeping the floors in the winery free from grapes, as well. 

 

• Posted in Harvest, In the Vineyard, Stories
• Comments Off on An Agricultural Paradise

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.

• Posted in Cima Collina, Harvest, In the Vineyard
• Comments Off on Sauvignon Blanc & a start to Harvest?

 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.

• Posted in Cima Collina, In the Vineyard, Uncategorized
• Comments Off on What’s in a Name?

“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! 

 

• Posted in Cima Collina, Harvest, In the Vineyard
• 2 Comments

• Carmel Valley, CA 93924
• 831.620.0645