--In which Wes discusses the week's cultural practices, unloads some barrels,discusses vegetative vs. fruit ripening in the vineyard, and eats and drinks very well.

Year in the Vineyard Blog with Wes Hagen
Week #11, June 6-11, 2009

Caps, Skins and a Kiss of Botrytis

Bucking Barrels

Root 246 and a Bitchin' Rose'

Vineyard status: The vineyard continues to advance through the season with relative ease. We are basically done with flowering-I would say 85-90% of the clusters have dropped all their caps and flowers, and we're starting to see a small increase in berry size, which will continue until bunch closure in the next few weeks. This is a vital time to get a good fungicide spray down to make sure the berries start and stay squeaky clean.

A mildew or rot infection at this point could be disastrous for the crop. I have yet to see any indications of mildew anywhere at Clos Pepe, although I have seen a bit of what we call early blight or shoot blight-which is a slight botrytis infection that is visible only on shoot tips and (more commonly) on the tips of the tender tendrils. The edges of the tendrils appear almost burned or dessicated. With the cool, spring weather we've had I suspect a little botrytis is turning up just about everywhere in California-we are watching closely to make sure it stays under control-we've seen no evidence of it spreading, and the fungicide we've been using (Flint) as good botrytis control built in-so we should be good! Burned tips usually means the infection has been killed--so this is sort of a good sign.  Note the shoot tips are still unaffected...that's the important part.

Why it matters: Botrytis and mildew can split the skins of the grapes and make them unusable for wine production. Of course a kiss of botrytis is considered a blessing for Chardonnay production-it adds a honeyed complexity-but does nothing to help red wine production. Mildew is always bad-and can open the skins to insect damage, and oxidation/volatile acid production. Mildewed fruit used in wine production can wreck a wine even at incidences around 2%. We have a zero mildew policy for our fruit-our pickers leave it on the ground, and we sort again at the winery. Keeping the vineyard clean this year also makes the vineyard harder to infect next year. We have not seen any conspicuous pockets of disease for over 8 years at Clos Pepe-so we really have no worries.  Stay onschedule with our sprays and we should have pristine fruit.

The vegetative growth cycle of the vineyard will last for another four to six weeks, at which time we will cut the water way back, attempting to slow and stop the vine's vegetative cycle and promote the vine switching modes from growing shoots to developing fruit ripeness (producing sugar and ripening phenolics). The goal now is to watch the growth to the level of 4-5' of shoot growth, which will give us the 30 leaves for 2 clusters to keep the vineyard in balance, and provide adequate and consistent ripening.

Why it matters: Vineyards that are wildly variable from vine to vine produce fruit of varying ripeness at harvest-some fruit will be very ripe, and other clusters will still be green. Variability is the hobgoblin of pinot noir production-we want every cluster to be within 1 degree brix (roughly percentage of of sugar in juice solution) of all other clusters.  Consistenly ripe fruit makes consistently delicious wine that represents the vineyard and the vintage.

What the Crew's Doing: Most of the crew (4 of 5) continue to position vine shoots vertically between the shoot positioning wires on the trellis, and removing leaves from the fruiting zone (on the morning/east side) to promote sun flecking and air movement. Our foreman is doing weed abatement, cultivation of weeds in the vine row, and spraying fungicide to keep mildew and rot under control.  In other words, he's on the tractor most of the day. Why it matters: Sun exposure increases flavor, color and complexity in resulting wines, and also makes sprays more effective and the clusters naturally resistant to mildew and rot. We will be nearly half way done with the leafing and positioning by the end of the week-may be the second week of July until the vineyard is dialed in on canopy management for the year.

What Wes is doing: While the crew's been hard at work in the field, I've been taking care of customers, checking wine stock at hand and picking up more wine at the winery, shipping wine to areas that were cool this week, running to Santa Maria for tractor parts, working to get the new winery in Lompoc all set for the upcoming harvest, and received a big shipment of used white barrels from Monterey to use for the 2009 Chardonnay and Rose.

We're increasing the production of our Chardonnay program this year, and we plan to put more Chard in neutral oak-the most since 2001. I've also been looking into the production of blueberry wine and fruit-based port-style wines. Our neighbor Sandy grows unbelievable organic blueberries, and she has at least 1000 pounds extra that we dream of fermenting into yummy, yummy alcohol. I found 37 gallons of neutral spirit with which I can fortify the fermenting wine, and stop the fermentation. My goal would be to make the perfect wine for pancakes. And at 20% alcohol, it would put a wonderful glow in our morning!  Now to make sure it's legal with our current permit...

Restaurant review: Root 246 by Bradley Ogden. Don't get me wrong. We have some very nice restaurants in wine country Santa Barbara. I eat happily at Patrick's, Grapollo, Brothers, Hitching Post, Sissy's, Ballard Inn and the other great spots between Lompoc and Santa Ynez. But Bradley Ogden's new eatery in Solvang (at 420 Alisal Road), owned and managed the Chumash Band, is a new kind of dining experience in the ‘Valley'. It's obvious that there's something sexy and fresh when the front door opens. Glass, stainless steel-the immediate impression is slick and Michelin-Star Continental. The front of the house is still being trained-and it's a huge challenge to get Valley service from uninterested equestriennes working nights to pay for hay, to the point where the hospitality can warrant a Michelin Star. We're in the grey area between the two now-there's no doubt some of the best service in the Valley is in Root 246, but to be honest that doesn't say much. But with a bona fide Euro Floor Manager who's worked in tons of real ‘Starred' restaurants, and a vigorous training program unlike anything our servers have experienced, there is a sense that the service is good moving towards great. Plus they have the best bartender in the North County, Jeremy Ball, doing his mixology magic. 

From good service we hope 246 moves to effortless, and effortless (in the best restaurants in the world) becomes invisible and intuitive. Food will arrive in a short pause in conversation-servers know what a diner needs before the diner. You don't ask for anything-water, a pour of wine, a check, where the bathroom is. I have faith 246 will be able to make it to the great to effortless level within this decade, and who knows how good it will be in 2011 and beyond!  I spend so much time speaking of service, because the kitchen is really firing on all cylinders, and I do think that proper restaurant service is one of the biggest deficits in SBC Wine Country.

My food last night included a carrot and curry soup (served hot but not spicy) that was poured over laughing bird shrimp and a julienne nest of raw ginger, carrots and vegetables. The soup was a revelation-one of the most balanced and playful flavor combinations I've had in a while. Our organic greens salad was anything but normal: deep fried coquettes of goat cheese were complimented with earthy flavors of paper-thin radishes, and incredible root vegetables (turnips and the like)-and underneath, waiting to be discovered was a generous napping of raw, creamy goat cheese.

A few weeks ago I feasted on bar dishes like the delectable pulled pork sandwich on a house-baked roll (good god!  with fries only $12?), and also (a week before) a short rib stew that was as comforting as comfort food gets.

Next time you're in Northern Santa Barbara County, I suggest you check out the new Root 246 one night, and a classic Valley restaurant the next. See which you prefer and keep supporting all of our wonderful local restaurants!

 A Great Wine from this week: Tercero 2008 Rose'. Larry Schaffer's tenure at Fess parker has not gone without notice. Whether it's the increase in quality of the wines coming out of the Parker cellar, or his own Tercero wines causing a buzz around the Valley, Larry knows how to make wine and sell it. He's a passionate soul that lives and breathes the wine lifestyle. With inexhaustible energy and enthusiasm, he is always willing to welcome visitors to Santa Barbara Wine Country, take good care of them and promote all of our wines. And he obviously has chops. Last night I had one of the nicer food/wine matches of the year with Root 246's carrot and curry soup with his 2008 Rose (Grenache/Mourvedre).  The wine is crisp and extraordinarily pure-an explosive strawberry and bright raspberry nose with excellent acidity and grip-clean and fresh and delicious. Also tasty were his 2006 Syrah and his Cuvee Christine (red Rhone blend).  His wines showed an extraodinary level of craft and purity.  Find em, drink em, and agree with me.