Vashon Winery Journal (vashonwineryjournal.com)

The Tramp Harbor Red is now in bottle. I brought together my bottling crew of John and George and we bottled the THR and the 2006 Pinot Noir.

I am out in the marketplace selling the wine now and it is going well. Now I have to worry about running out and what am I going to do for an encore, another THR.

This wine is really good. The Malbec is forceful and rich backed by some other pedigree grapes. Though I couldn’t seem to use the Malbec in my normal Reserve blend it does well with the THR blend as it is the dominant grape. The wine is beautifully structured with a rich fruity character and a long taste profile. It is decidely fruit flavored with hints of blackberry and raspberry. The tannins are just right and the acid seems perfect.

The Pinot Noir is being Pinot Noir, finicky and transient; every experience with the wine is different. One thing for sure: it isn’t done changing yet. For that reason I have decided to release it on May 1 rather than April 1. I think it will still be young but it should be closer to what we will see later.

I am working with a family on Vashon Island who is planting grapes to sell to the winery. The initial vineyard is quite small…..though try telling that to the person responsible for upkeep of the vineyard such as pruning, shaping, trellising, weeding, spraying. We are planting four grape varieties: two clones of Pinot Noir (777 and Precoce), Chasslas Dore, and Siegerrebe. With more room it might have been of interest planting Pinot Gris as well.

I am also working with others as well. This is all very exciting and with the cold spring, a little unnerving. Luckily we don’t have anything in the ground yet.

Hope to see you soon at the winery.

I have been busy the last three or four weeks. I have been getting my wines ready for blending. I have chosen a range of wines from three vintages to combine into a blend, Cuvee Rouge or Tramp Harbor Red.

I did an egg-white fining on about fourteen barrels, then did a very light filtration through loose cellulose filter sheets. The egg-white attracts the opposite electrical charged proteins in the wine and settles out of the wine at the bottom of the barrel. This helps to soften some of the harsher tannins. Then the filtration removes the egg-white and sediment from the wine and “cleans up” the wine. The resulting wine is smoother and brighter (or polished).

Then I put the wines back into barrel, ready to be bottled. I have already blended the ‘03 Reserve Red, the ‘04 Reserve Red, the ‘04 Cabernet Sauvignon and a new blend of half Cabernet Franc and half Merlot from the ‘04 vintage. Each of those wines is exciting but the new Tramp Harbor Red is even more exciting. Into this blend went a bit of each of the fore-mentioned wines plus some ‘05 Cabernet Sauvignon and ‘05 Merlot. Also I added to barrels of Malbec, one each from the ‘03 and the ‘04 vintage. The Tramp Harbor Red (THR) is concentrated and elegant, and a terrific deal.

It will be selling in the stores in about a week at an incredible price of around $16.99. I hope to sell it out. I need to sell it out to help pay off my loan that I used to purchase the winery.

I will pay off the loan. And I will do it in whatever manner it takes. I have a lot of inventory, not too much mind you, but enough that I am willing to sell it a bit cheaper to pay off the loan.

That is my mantra in ‘08: sell lots of wine!

I was invited to taste some of Vashon Winery’s wines from our cellar. I chose six different Cabernet Sauvignons, plus two Semillons. The Cabs that we tried were the ‘90, ‘92, ‘93 (Reserve), ‘96, ‘98 and ‘02. The Semillons were the ‘05 and the ‘93.

This tasting was suggested by my friend Nina Milligan for her Ladies Only tasting group. They are a group of lovely women that all have been in the industry, and most still are.

We started with the ‘05 Semillon. It was rich with great fruit, almost buttery.

Then we served each wine one at a time but saved enough in our glasses to go back and taste again. The ‘90 Cab was remarkable; the color only barely hinted at its age with just a tinge of orange. It smelled of crushed leaves and wilted rose petals. The ‘92 was beautiful with a great fruit, hinting at raspberry. The ‘93 was our reserve with the special label, The Wine Project. It was still muscular and rich and just starting to open up. Then the ‘96 that I thought had a wonderful direct fruit character and I nice linear character. Then the ‘98 was just beautiful, simpler, but younger. Then finally the ‘02 Cab which drank great with nice rich flavors but without the qualities of the older wines.

All were impressive. I was most impressed by the ‘90, ‘96 and ‘02.

The ‘90 and ‘96 were cooler vintages. And the quality that they had were higher acids…the key to aging the wine.

We finished with the ‘93 Semillon which was interesting. The fruit character that I thought would be richer had dried out, and the wine seemed sharp and a bit acid. It was a good wine and would have gone well with either a white fish dish or maybe pork.

This is a poem I wrote that expresses my discovery of European cider. Malus, by the way, is the genus that apple belongs to. 

On that London Park Bench

 
Alone, on that London Park Bench

She sat down next to me

In her splendid red coat, with green lapels

Streaked with yellow.

She said she saw me from her bakery

And I noticed flour on her apron.

 
I looked into her dark languid eyes.

Mirrors of antiquity.

Her voice soft and familiar,

Echoed from distant lands.

 
Behind us

An ancient apple tree

Stretched up to catch the sky.

A lone apple hung

And dewdrops sparkled in the autumn sun

Like tiny chandeliers.

While at our feet

A carpet of leaves

Rustled in the wind.

 
She inched closer

And whispered her name, Malus,

As she reached up and kissed me.

I tasted her parting lips, crisp

Tart fruit;

a softness in the middle of the tongue.

Saliva warmed a gentle fire,

A taste of pure desire.

 
My eyes closed,

A delicate mist

Of green perfume

Lingered over me.

And Malus stayed with me all my life

Though I don’t know where she went.

 
                                                                        Ronald Irvine

                                                                        February 7, 2008

I have been fining many of my wines this week, adding two or three egg-whites per barrel of red wine. I have been fining the 2003, 2004 and 2005 vintages. Fining using egg-whites is an ancient way of reducing some of the tannins in the wine; the protein in the egg-white combines with the wine’s protein to settle out; what nature would do if you had all the time in the world.

It is amazing how quickly it changes the wine. I would take a little wine out of the barrel with my wine thief (kind of like a glass baster that works on gravity) and then after adding the egg-whites and stirring vigorously I waited just a bit before removing another sample from the same barrel. The difference was immediate and amazing. The fined wine was a bit rounder and the fruit a bit more forward. The tannins were still there but less obvious.

Now I will wait for a week and then I will filter the wine gently doing what is called a polish filtration using less tight filter pads. This will, yes, polish the wine and make it brighter.

My big plan is to come up with a blended wine, a new Tramp Harbor Red (THR), and for those that don’t like that name, or that label, another label, Cuvee Rouge.

At the same time as I am blending a new THR I will be blending the new reserve wines from both the ‘03 and ‘04 vintages. I’ll use parts of them in the THR. I want to sell alot of wine this year. I think the new THR is going to be my best yet; virtually a blend of everything. And for the consumer, it will represent a terrific value. I hope to have it in bottle by mid-March.

At the same time I am getting ready to bottle the 2006 Pinot Noir, grown here on Vashon Island and the 2006 Chasselas Dore, also grown on the island.

These wines are exciting. I think they are great and I can’t wait to sell them. This time of year though is scary; it is rare to get an order for wine even though I know that people like my wine. It is just that there are so many wines out there. And really, why buy mine? And most of us, me included, are looking for $10. to $15. wines; great wines from southern France or Italy.

 I know that I will sell my wine, especially during the season when people are out touring, visiting, or showing their parents the island. When they taste the wine, they almost always buy it.

I was just tasting the Pinot Noir after I racked it into a stainless steel barrel out of an oak barrel. I turned down the music (so I could taste better, really), opened the door to get some natural light so that I could see the true color of the wine, and breathed in the fresh air. Standing in the door frame, the wine smelled beautiful, like fresh raspberry…..but it was the yellow light that lit up the dark green grass that struck me. The apple trees next to the winery are barren of leaves and are dark mossy skeletons. But the light sang out that spring is right around the corner……..if I can just make it til then.

You see it is always like this, this time of year. I am cash poor and the bills keep coming in. It’s not terrible but its not fun, yet there I was looking out at the orchard, at that light, with a taste of promise on my palate and thinking to myself that I love, that I really love what I do.

I don’t try to make the greatest wines. I just try to make really good wines, wines that I like and wines that I know others like. There just aren’t enough of you and there are too many other wines to try and to enjoy.

I’m sorry for the bittersweet message but I don’t know how better to say it.

Look for the new Tramp Harbor Red in March or April and for the new Pinot Noir about that same time.

My summer concert series is taking shape. In early June, Michael Meade will be at the winery exploring the Bacchanalia and Dionysus of wine. He has a national following and I know this will be spectacular. July is open at this time but August is full. On August 2, Danny O’Keefe will be back for an exciting concert with a new CD. Danny is a crooner with a unique driving rythym. In late August, the 23rd, we will hold our first Folk Festival anchored by Larry Murante with help from Wally Bell. Then in September we go back to a poet, Samuel Green, Washington State’s first Poet Laureate.

I’ll be publicizing the concert and but please help by making early reservations.

This is going to be a special year. 

I just had to write about this.

Yesterday I participated in a presentation entitled “Pinot Noir Winemaking and Tasting” led by a panel, headed by Ken Winchester of Victoria, BC and owner of Ken Winchester Cellars. It was part of the Western Washington Horticulture Association’s annual conference.

We tasted five Puget Sound-grown Pinot Noirs. I thought the quality was outstanding, especially considering that many of these wines were barrel samples (and first-time efforts). Most were from the 2006 vintage, one from the ‘05. Three were commercially made, one homemade and one experimentally made.

I know that Bainbridge Island Winery and Vineyards has already released their Pinot Noir as far back, I believe, as the ‘92 vintage. That was also historic; the first. But, this tasting somehow had its own sense of history as it was a affirmation of Gerards work at Bainbridge. Literally we are seeing (tasting) the fruits of those efforts.

I thought as a group the wines were very exciting and very good. They were a bit acid. Personally, I liked that. Also all had great pink-red coloring with bright hues. They smelled like fresh fruit, not jammy, not cooked, not toasty…..just wonderfully expressed aromas of cherry and raspberry.

On the palate the fruit aromas were confirmed with the tart bite of fresh fruit. But what I really liked was the way the wines sat on my tongue….with great length; not heavy, not demanding….silky almost. Close your eyes and imagine your very first taste of raspberry right off the vine. 

All had very little tannin which surprised me.

It will be exciting to see these wines change.

The three commercial wines were Vashon Winery (Monument Farm Vineyard) and Glacier Peak Winery (from Marblemount area) and HollyWood Hills Vineyard (Woodinville).

The homemade wine was made by Bill Riley of Vashon Island from grapes grown at his home vineyard.

The experimental wine was the Pinot Noir (Precoce clone) grown and produced by WSU-Mt. Vernon.

They were as a group much more European in style with the obvious tart flavors but also with the wonderful weight of a European Pinot Noir. They reminded me of Pinot from just beyond Burgundy or even of some of Burgundies lighter versions. They could have been from Germany, or Alsace, or Morey St. Denis, or the Haut Cotes de Nuits.

How exciting to be able to watch this wine evolve.

Thanks go to Joe and Tony for planting the grapes at their farm.

I hope to release this wine (all of about 20 cases) in March or April.

Oh, the big three slowest months of the year.

December this year was decent, though not quite as busy as it felt. December is really important to the winery as that is how I am able to pay for my grapes.

Luckily I didn’t buy too many grapes this year; good for the cash flow.

In fact, I have a lot of inventory. So much that I am going to make a new blend, likely calling it Claret, to sell as soon as I get it fine, filtered and into bottle. It will be a blend of younger and older vintages, and a blend of different grape varieties. A good table wine; the kind of wine you don’t mind opening for dinner tonight.

I am excited about this coming year. I plan to bottle the 2006 Pinot Noir from Vashon grapes grown at the Monument Farm Vineyard at the south end of Monument Road. The vineyard is about a thousand feet from the Stewart Vineyard that supplies us with grapes for our Chasselas Dore wine. I will likely bottle both at the same time and release them in March; that will help the cash flow.

Also this year I am trying to expand the concerts at the winery. I am in discussions with Michael Meade, respected lecturer on mythology, and a remarkable storyteller. He will explore the Dionysian connection to wine and look at some of the Bachanalian rites that are associated with wine.

Also up is Danny O’Keefe, island singer, singing songs from his newly released CD. Danny is a terrific entertainer and draws his audience in.

I’m hoping to host a folk festival with a number of noted folk singers playing throughout the day.

And, I am attempting to bring in a poet. Last year we had David Wagoner reading in the winery. It was remarkable. I hope to repeat that great success.

The 2007 vintage wines are in barrel. It is way too early to understand the wines but the blend that I co-fermented is very interesting with a concentrated mid-palate that is nearly black in color. But the flavors are all over the palate, front, bakc and along the sides of the tongue. The Cabernet Franc is going to be good but at this point it is light and almost delicate and it drinks like a Pinot Noir. And the Semillon seems particularly good with great acidity and a nice fruitiness. This year we crushed the grapes directly into the press and I think it preserved a bit more flavor.

Oh, I have drunk a few of our wines from the cellar. I opened the 1990 and the 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon during our holiday Open House. The ‘91 was particularly good. It had a really nice crushed leaf quality with great rich ripe berry-like flavors. And it still seemed young, not showing any orange edge to. That amazed me; the wine is sixteen years old.

The ‘90 was also good. It was softer but less layered with mature flavors but without the vibrant flavors in the ‘91.

This is important to me. One of the great virtues of wine is its ability to age and I make a number of winemaking choices to increase the likelihood that our wines will age. In fact, it starts in the vineyard. I like to find cooler vineyard sites, usually near the Yakima Valley with grapes that are not overripe nor too soft in acidity.

Actually, I can’t take any credit for those two older wines as they were made by the former owners, before I even started working at the winery (in 1992).

Well, I think it is going to be an interesting year and I hope you join me for the ride. I look forward to working with some new vineyards, and like this year being suprised! 

Charming title, huh? We started pressing our reds on December 1st. It was cold, but not too cold, until it started snowing.

We pressed two batches of Cabernet Sauvignon, both from Walla Walla. One ton came from the Dwelley Vineyard in Walla Walla. These grapes were brought to me by Bob Jones who lives on the island. They are very kind and help to crush and press the grapes. The wine tastes fantastic and the grapes looked really good this year, albeit a bit late, which was just fine by me.

The other batch was from a new vineyard in Walla Walla but I don’t know where. It was brought to me by another islander, Rex Noah, and he told me it was from a neighboring vineyard to his vineyard in Walla Walla, I think north of the town of Walla Walla. These grapes were beautiful too but they may have been picked just a bit too soon. The flavors are terrific with just a touch too much tannin and acid…..which to me means a long life.

Wednesday and Thursday I’ll finish pressing. We’ll press the Cabernet Franc and then do the “Accidental Blend”, a blend of also too early Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blended to overripe Malbec from up by Quincy. This one is co-fermented and I think it is going to be an amazing wine. It is dark, dark, dark with a big (Malbec) mouthfeel and good structure with the addition of the Cab Sauv and the Merlot.

This has been a fun harvest. I used grapes from a bunch of new vineyards and I ended up making far less than I wanted to, but much more within my meager budget.

I have a lot of wine in barrels. I am going to look at combining some of them into unique blends, like Tramp Harbor Red, and sell them at a slightly reduced price. I am selling less wine but more of that is being sold at retail which has been my goal this year.

It’s the make or break month. Last year we had some terrible wind storms that really hurt but I am in much better financial shape than last year because I didn’t make as much this year.

Happy holidays to all if I don’t get back to this journal.

Oh, by the way, I am launching a new site, NW Wine Writer (nwwinewriter.com), and plan to review everything wine in the NW: other writers, the wholesale side of the business, retailers, the wine country, wineries and their wines…..and maybe some consumers. And, wines from the cellar. It should be up and running in a couple of weeks.

Things are a little slow at the winery right now. Most everything has been put back in order after crushing the grapes. Right now I am waiting to press the wine from the skins.

I do things a little differently than most wineries these days. I allow the skins to stay in contact with the finished wine, post-fermentation, for up to a month. This is known as extended maceration. It is scary to do because initially the wine becomes very tannic. Imagine leaving your teabag in your cup of tea for an extra five minutes. It would become more astringent.

But something amazing happens. The wine scientists tell us that the tannins polymerize which as I understand it means that the small molecules join and become larger molecules. This happens with most of the polyphenols including the tannins and the anthocyanins (color pigments). Larger molecules are more stable and feel softer on the palate. But the trick is that you have to wait……and then wait a little longer.

Meanwhile, it’s getting colder in the winery and it’s not fun relishing the thought of pressing in late November or early December.

Because of this technique my wines have deeper richer flavors. They sometimes have a bit of astringency when young but are still drinkable.

I also think, and I can’t state this on the label, that my wines are healthier for you with all of these polyphenols, the stuff of anti-oxidants; of course in moderation, served with dinner. Plus my wines tend to be lower in alcohol as I search out vineyards that are slightly cooler.

The winery will be open November 17, 18, 2-5pm.

Then I will be open the two weekends prior to Christmas, Dec.15, 16 and 22, 23. Each of those December days I will have some wonderful cheeses and Partners’ crackers along some wine pulled from my cellar.

Also the Christmas Case will be available with descriptions included and a special price.

October 24, 2007

I am expecting one more load of grapes from Walla Walla, this one from the Dwelley Vineyard owned by the Jones family. One of the family members, Bob Jones, lives on the island.

He is driving over tomorrow morning to bring the grapes back.

 It is late in the season but I am sure that his brother wanted to make sure that the grapes were ripe. I haven’t heard the latest numbers yet but I am sure the sugar measurements are going to be quite high.

Crushed and pressed cider apples. One of my friend’s sons organized a cider pressing day at the winery. About twenty-five people showed up and helped, either press or drink wine. It was fun and they pressed about 100 gallons of juice. It is just starting to ferment after about a week of no obvious activity. Same as last year.

I have about four pressings that I will have to do, probably starting in about a week, maybe two. The first will be the Accidental Wine, then a Cabernet Sauvignon, then the Cabernet Franc. And then finally the Dwelley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Speaking of Cabernet Franc. I got grapes from two different sources. Most came from Desert Aire in Grandview. The grapes looked great. The other came from Upland Estates vineyard in Sunnyside. I am most excited about this vineyard as it is planted at the original Upland Vineyard planted by Mr. Bridgman back in 1912. They even still have some Black Manuka grapes. The vines are nearly 100 years old.

I am looking forward to doing business with them next year and plan to expand my purchases; more Cab Franc and more Merlot.

That was a tough week. I had to drive to the Yakima Valley three times, the first time, Tuesday, to take picking lugs over for the Semillon which got picked the next morning. I drove over then to pick them up on Wednesday. Then with help from friends we crushed and pressed the Semillon the next day at the winery. And then finally I went and picked up Cabernet Franc on Friday and crushed it on Saturday. I was pretty wiped out on Sunday.

I am so small. I can’t imagine what it must be like at some the bigger wineries crushing 50 or 100 tons per day, though most of their equipment makes it easier, and they probably don’t drive back and forth.

 I’ll let you know how the pressing goes over the next month.