vashonwineryjournal.com Blog

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.

Grapes are coming in, apples too.

Tomorrow I am off to Mt. Vernon to get cider apples though I probably won’t crush and press them until the following week.

I got Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from Walla Walla that I think was picked too early but the berries are very small and I think flavorful. I ended up getting some Malbec from up by Quincy that was super ripe and high in sugar, bordering on 30 Brix which I blended together with the juice from Walla Walla. Together I think they are going to make a perfect wine. I have never joined grape varieties and co-fermented them together but I think this is going to be really good. I don’t think the Malbec would have fermented to dryness without adding a bunch of water. As it is I added just a touch and then added the deficient juice. It is just finishing up and looks and tastes great….the Accidental Red.

I also have a batch of Cabernet Sauvignon going from another vineyard in Walla Walla.

All this happened by accident as my long time supplier said I had to pay cash to get grapes….well, I don’t pay that way. He was concerned because I was late paying for last year, but I and many others, I’m sure, got hit by the double wammy of rain in November and the wind in December last year. 

Next week I will be getting Semillon followed by Cabernet Franc…then I will be done with grapes.

 Sadly, I won’t be gettting any grapes from Vashon Island. Monument Farm Vineyards’ Pinot Noir got hit completely with Powdery Mildew….all that hard work gone to naught. It was really sad, especially as I was hoping to get a bit more wine this year from a bigger yield….but you know, with the rain and the cold we’ve had I’m not sure that they grapes would have even ripened.

I check on the Chasselas Dore grapes at the Jim Stewart Vineyard. All gone…the raccoons got every grape. It is beyond sad.

Oh well, I gotta keep looking ahead.

I’ve been getting help from friends but I have had to do a lot of stuff on my own. I am just busier than ever. Really, business it good, too good; I am running out of bottled wine. So, in addition to making wine I have to worry about bottling wine to have enough for sales over the holidays.

But I can handle it.

September 13, Thursday.

It’s time for harvest. In your mind everything ripens at the same time; in my case, apples and grapes including all the different varieties.

You start thinking about how you are going to do everything. You have to have all your bins, tanks and barrels ready….lining up all your ducks.

 This year I am hoping to make Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon in reds; and Semillon and Chasselas in whites. I won’t be making Pinot Noir this year. My growers got hit with a terrible outbreak of powdery mildew, sucking the life out of their well manicured vineyard.

I’m getting grapes from four different locations in eastern Washington: the Malbec will come from White Heron Vineyards up north near Quincy, the Cabernet Franc from Portteus at Zillah and some from Upland Estates in Sunnyside; the Cabernet will come from Dwelley Vineyard in Walla Walla; and the Merlot from Paul Portteus.

I get my Semillon from various uncontracted vineyards from Bill Den Hoed near Grandview.

Today, I was trying to filter some Semillon into stainless barrels and my pump gave out on me. I had to scramble to order a replacement. And now I have to wait for it to arrive. I need to move the Semillon out of tank so I can use that tank to pick up grape juice at Portteus next week. Hopefully the new pump will arrive on Monday or Tuesday. Portteus grapes are ready way ahead of normal. Others don’t seem to be this early.

Today I talked to the supplier for Semillon and they said they are about normal which means mid to late October. Yesterday I checked the Chasselas and it read about 12.4 Brix and is right on schedule for the first of October.

Suddenly, things are falling into order. I should be getting grapes next week, maybe the Malbec then the Merlot, then the Cabernet Franc. Regardless, I’ll be doing a fair amount of driving.

This time of year the drive to eastern Washington is spectacular and I love it, or I forget how much I love it until I actually get on the road.

Apples a bit weird this year. There must have been an early warm period because early apples are plentiful but later varieties are as available. I haven’t checked on my sources for cider varieties.

Oh well, c’est la vie! Be ready for anything life can throw at you. I am amazed at how life is thrown at you and how you have to respond. I have learned to fix all kinds of stuff. I thank Willie for that, the person I bought the winery from. He wasn’t afraid to tackle anything. I’m not nearly as mechanical as he is but I am observant and can often figure it out especially if I have someone like him to work with me.

Oh, geez, I almost forgot. David Wagoner read his poetry at the winery. It was absolutely spectacular. Forty people paid to hear him. His poetry is very moving and usually follows a story line. Now when I read one of his poems, I read it in his voice.

I wonder who will be part of our summer concert for next year?

Ron

It’s August. I lost my job at South Seattle Community College as one of the teachers in their wine program. I had applied to be the program director but lost out to our interim director……and then for conflicting reasons I was told that I was being let go.

I really miss my students and the feeling of connection to wine, tasting wine, helping others understand wine, and just the comraderie of the classroom.

 I hosted a great summer party for the students and it was really fun to see those that made it. We had great music from a very talented band cobbled together for that evening. It was very special.

At one point, I was a bit tipsy, and I was drinking a glass of red wine. I noticed that I was suddenly hungry (as I was too busy to eat). I went over to the grill and grabbed a sausage off the grill and burned my fingers. I promptly dropped the sausage into my wine glass and discovered sausage in a red wine glass; bite and sip, bite and sip. Try it sometime.

A few students spent the night. I rode into camp and dragged Chris Goh up to the tennis court. He was really good and we whipped some…you know what.

Well, August has been good. The winery has been really busy. Scott Cossu played outdoors at the winery and his piano music accompanied by flute floated and drifted up amongst the surrounding trees. It was really special.

I am very excited about David Wagoner coming on September 8. And I am anxious about how the concert will go. Wagoner is a great poet, well respected nationally. He has just produced a new play being run at ACT Theatre about Theodore Rhetcke (spelling?) called First Class.

 Grapes are ripening, though I assume everything is a bit late this year with our cooler, damper summer.

I’ll let you know.

It’s July.

I actually tried to post about two months ago but my post got eaten by the computer…..it just never got posted. So much for technology.

The winery has been busy, though not as busy as last year. Saturdays have been tough as I do the Vashon Farmers’ Market in the morning from 10-1:30, then dash to the winery to be open from 2-5pm. Until recently Art was helping work one of those shifts so it was much easier.

This week I did both, then the winery hosted Orville Johnson and Mark Graham, the Kings of Mongrel Folk, in the winery. Their music, their personalities and their performance was very skillful. It was irreverent, yet poignant. It was very impressive. We had about 28 people and filled the winery.

Rain fell and could be heard on the roof…..kind of like applause.

I’m not teaching this quarter. I was dismissed, as I was told, because I was too honest to my students and I would tell them that I didn’t know some of the answers to their questions.

I may be back in the fall.

However, it is a blessing. I have been able to get alot done at the winery, mostly racking (transferring) wines into fresh barrels and general upkeep around the winery.

I also have been able to get out and sell some of my wine.

 I have a lot of good wines in barrel. Today I racked the 2005 Merlot. It is bright and concentrated. I think the ’05 vintage is going to be good; it was a nice combination of a cool spring and a hot summer followed by cool conditions at harvest, even some unusual rain. The wine is bright in acidity and the fruit flavors are concentrated.

I am trying to develop some growers on the island and I have had a fair amount of interest but I think most people want me to plant the vineyard for them but I just haven’t had that kind of time.

Art helped plant one vineyard on Maury Island and that should complement the Monument Rd. vineyard. Both are Pinot Noir.

It is now the end of July. I watch the apples on my tree at home…..they are growing quickly this year. The apples are kind of like an hourglass; I can feel time ticking with their growth. Soon it will be time to harvest. It seems to happen so quickly. I’m not sure how much wine I will make this year.

I’m still trying to pay off the grapes that I bought last year.

Today, I was just thinking how difficult it is being a producer. It is totally different when you are a retailer.

As a producer you have to make the wine….no one else is making it for you. And you can’t screw up. It is nerve-wracking but I love it. Well, I don’t love it……I appreciate it.

I am kind of making it. I raised my prices last year just a couple of dollars. It was kind of scary because I was going from the magic $20. price to something higher (to $22). Doesn’t seem like much but it definitely hurt my sales slightly but now I am actually keeping some of my dollars. Before I was losing money.

I am not trying to make a great wine; just a very good wine; a wine that is reaonably priced and expressive. So often making a great wine also means making a fashionable wines. I leave that to others.

That’s all!

March 24.

I got screwed up here. I opened the winery for the first day of the season, thinking that it was the weekend of the 1st. Oops!

Actually had some customers.

 Art and I drank a couple of glasses of the ’89 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon. It was good, but parts of it weren’t. It was smooth and tasted pretty fresh….it was older and tasted vegetative….it was a contradiction. I think we liked it; the wine was almost 20 years old.

My Wine

I love my wine

That sits in barrels and waits for me.

I draw it out with gravity, a wine thief

And the hand of God.

 I slide the wine into a glass.

The color is vibrant,

Deep dark red like blood,

Its edge bright and cheerful, pink-red.

I can taste the salts of the earth,

The place; the ancient sands,

The northern sun that ripened the grapes

And even the wind

And frost that nipped the buds.

I remember crushing the grapes,

A mix of pulp, skins and seeds;

Grapey and sweet, like a new-born.

Fermenting, the pungent smell

Of CO2, of yeasts and baked bread.

Tasting the sandy tannins,

Right from the tank;

Youthful bright flavors,

The crisp bite of apple.

And the pressing in the old

Wooden basket press,

Squeezing the strong bitter wine

From the skins.

Now in barrel, it marries the free

And the pressed wine.

I don’t want a wine of silk

But rather leather and earth,

A bite of bitterness, the bark of trees.

Young fruit now.

Winy smells,

Of clouds racing by,

And of oak forests

Where Druids roam.

I can smell the earth’s

Mushrooms, gunflint

And coffee grounds in the compost pail.

And Flowers intermixed with fruit:

Raspberries, red roses, and cherries,

Brambleberries and stems, of weeds

That grow along the ditch.

All very heady stuff.

Another sniff and then a taste;

Cold right from the barrel,

A breeze amongst the vines.

Fruit and fauna,

Acid, tannin, oak;

All in one mouthful

In the middle of my tongue.

Its fruitiness

Cascades down

The acid edge.

Of tea leaves left too long,

Grates solftly at my teeth

And at my lower jaw.

The fruit and earth, and all that is,

Lingers, astringent,

At the back of my palate.

A memory, immediate,

Promising much more,

I hand the glass to you.

                                 Thanksgiving, 2006

Yo, February is here. It is one of my favorite months, caught between the bleakness of winter and the hope of spring. Everything is warming up quickly.

It is warmer in the winery. I had Art move some wine around the other day, racking the ’06 Semillon off of their lees into fresh neutral oak barrels. He also racked the ’06 Pinot Noir, which is tasting amazing. It is a lightish pink, more magenta, than red but still a solid color. It is very aromatic, more like a white wine, with lots of cherries (bright fresh cherries). On the palate the wine is a bit light, and a bit acid, although I think both are appropriate for a young wine. There is very little tannin and then the flavors are bright cherry with a peppery-ness.

I think it is amazing just by itself, not comparing to Oregon, California or Burgundy.

I guess I don’t know what young Burgundy tastes like but I like the complexity of the fruitiness mixed in with the peppery quality and the balance of the acid and fruit.

Also tasted the ’06 Chasselas which Art also moved to clean barrels. It is really nice with great fruit and that kind of tell-tale rice wine quality but with a richness.

Also tasted the ’06 Semillon. It is classic Semillon, with a bit more yellow at this point. I read a good description for Semillon. Someone in The Wine Bible said it reminds them of the memory of running through clean sheets drying on the clothesline outside.

That’s good. My Semillon has a bit more character and reminds of sheets drying on the clothesline at the ocean, with just a touch of salt and kelp.

Sales have picked up lately and I am looking forward to a bunch of great events at the winery this year, including two concerts: Mindy Little in July and Scott Cossu in August.

Oh, I served my ’03 Merlot to my Washington Wines class. It was really good; scary good. It was deeply flavored and rich. It reminded me of a French Merlot, perhaps something from Pomerol. I read my poem, My Wine, as students tasted the wine. After I read and they tasted they gave me an ovation. It was totally spontaneous and somewhat embarassing. But big fun. 

Mid-January. This has been a tough, tough season. The wettest November in history, followed by a terrible storm in December, pre-Christmas. It is really tough as I was looking forward to a very busy holiday season based on my sales year-to-date going into November. But geez, the bottom fell out.

I’m amazed that I seem to be doing okay, basically filling retailers’ shelves.

I’ve got a lot of work in the winery that I would like to get started on but it has been too cold, or outside my cement pad is covered with ice and snow. I’ll just wait.

The really good news is that I have some great wines on the market right now with my release of the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon. Currently all of my wines are wines that I am totally responsible for as I bought the winery in December of 2001. And even though I was responsible for the grapes and the winemaking I still was pre-occupied with purchasing the winery and there was no guarantee that I could pull the sale off.

The bad news is that my sales were so bad that I am going to have to figure out a way to pay my grape suppliers. I’m going to see if I can get a loan from the Farm Bureau.

This is going to be a good year I think. I am going to do alot of events at the winery, like BBQ night on Fridays. I’ll provide the BBQ pit, customers bring their own BBQ foods and we will have music every Friday.

I will be back at the Saturday market on Vashon. It turned out to be one of my better revenue streams.

Also, I hope to get my website up and running. This blog will be linked to it. I am hoping to pick up some new business from out-of-state customers, and at retail.

That’s my theme this year: sell more wine at retail from the winery.

The other thing I am going to get more aggressive on is getting wines to wine journals or newspapers. I need to get Paul Gregutt to taste my wines and then look at some other writers or magazines. I would like Jancis Robinson to taste my wines. I know that she will like them as they are much more European in style.

Oh well, it should be a good year; one that is challenging and exciting.

We, my family, survived the pre-Christmas storm, I guess. My home got power after four days. The winery got power on the fifth day.

By that time I missed the busy weekend prior to Christmas weekend and business was down considerably prior to Christmas.

My business was down about 50%. Luckily, I had just raised my prices back in October. But still losing that much business was tough.

 Vashon Island was a disaster. Some people had power early on, while others waiting about ten days. Regardless, most of us were still digging out, if not physically, then mentally.

Now I have the dreaded three months of the year to look forward to: January, February and March.

Oh well, this is a good time to get a lot of barrel work done. Transfering wines into clean barrels, washing the used barrels and tucking the wines back into bed.

It is also a time to set my books straight, entering my checks into my computer and making sure the sales are in there. Then I get to submit my federal summary of inventory and sales and pay the annual federal excise tax.

That is one of the benefits of being a small winery: I only have to do the federal taxes annually. Most wineries have to do them quarterly or monthly. But larger wineries hire people to do their accounting and compliance things.

According to my year end books, I sold about 375 cases of wine, not including cider. That’s nothing. But I am convinced that is the perfect size for me…….I can’t make money, but, I can’t lose it either.

It allows me to find other ways to make money such as teaching, or helping other wineries sell their wine.

Believe or not, I actually believe I can make money if I can expand to 500 cases and get all of my prices up to $25 with my reserve about $30. But that is based on selling the wine mostly at retail.