2012 Riesling Vinification Notes

2012 “Jean’s Block” Riesling

Vineyard:  Our Clone 49 Riesling vines budded out very early in 2012, perhaps two weeks ahead of a normal year.  Although this may sound advantageous, it was actually problematic.  A sudden frost followed bud-break and many fragile buds were frozen dead.  Luckily, we left an extra cane that could be tied down to add a few precious growing shoots to the sparse canopy.  The summer growth period proceeded nicely with warm temperatures and little rain.  A lighter crop load required less thinning and ripened quickly near the end of August.

Winery:  The bulk of our Riesling is purchased by Fielding Estate Winery.  In talking with Winemaker (and friend) Richie Roberts, I learned that he likes to harvest Riesling with fairly high acidity to give some vibrant life to the resultant wine.  As a bit of a “Riesling rookie” myself, I decided to experiment with this approach and harvest our 2012 crop at a higher TA value than I normally would.  We brought in our Riesling on September 13th (earlier than ever) and the pressed juice tasted beautiful!  The higher TA meant a juice with lower pH, and consequently a sluggish start to the fermentation.  Eventually, with the help of a little extra nutrient, the W15 yeast hit its stride and worked at a nice slow pace over the next month and a half.  The fermentation was finally halted on Halloween at a specific gravity of 1.006, a point where I perceived balance on my palate.  Over the winter months the wine was protein and cold stabilized prior to coarse filtration.  We bottled 96 cases on March 26, 2013.  The 2012 “Jean’s Block” Riesling is now available for purchase in our barn.

Price: $25.00

Alcohol: 12.0%

2010 Five Rows Cabernet Sauvignon

One decision a winemaker is faced with as a wine evolves is whether they are making that wine for now or for the future.  Variables such as the amount of time spent in barrel, new or previously used oak, French or American oak, health tannin level, acidity and pH all must be addressed.  It is where experience really comes into play, as the decisions you make now may lead to the wine being tougher to enjoy in the short term, but hopefully pay dividends later on.

Then there are rare wines like the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon that are enjoyable now while also exhibiting good aging potential.  These wines can make winemakers look very clever, but are probably the easiest to craft.  The fruit comes in ripe and clean with ideal parameters and the fermentations go exactly according to plan.  After many years of dealing with devilish Pinot Noir, this is a welcome luxury!

The 2010 Cab Sauv was harvested on October 28th and 29th.  If we push it, Howie, Wilma and I can hand-harvest and process about 1.5 to 2 tonnes in a day.  We normally tackle the Clone 169 block first, then bring in the Old Block Cab on day two.  It’s always a relief to get through these two days as the Cab Sauv is the last variety we harvest each year.  Needless to say, we slept in on October 30th.

70 picking boxes were harvested from rows 4 and 13 in the Clone 169 Block and 78 boxes from rows 5 and 8 in the Old Block.  Following a four-day cold soak, the two bins of fruit were inoculated and warmed to start fermentation.  Two yeasts were chosen to work with the specific strengths of each vineyard.  The slightly riper Clone 169 fruit was fermented with FX10, known to retain polyphenolic potential (structure and colour), release and bind polysaccharides, and aid in the expression of terroir through minimal “fermentation odour” production.  The Old Block was inoculated with CSM, a yeast that specializes in producing intense aro­matic profiles of berries, spice and licorice, while concurrently reducing vegetal aromas.  A winemaker can only hope that these yeasts live up to such bold claims!

Finished wines were racked to four barrels:  Clone 169 to a new Taransaud and two-year-old Billon; Old Block to a two-year-old Taransaud and five-year-old DAMY.  Through the years I’ve found that Taransaud barrels do magic for my Cab Sauv.  They have a way of “framing” the fruit components of the wine, while contributing just the right amount of oak spice and wood tannin.  I usually opt for a tight grain oak, medium toast level with three years of air drying to balance the longer time our red wines spend in barrel.  After 24 months in oak, the 2010 Five Rows Cabernet Sauvignon was blended and allowed to bulk age in a tank for five more months.  103 cases were bottled on March 26, 2013.  This wine is now available for purchase.

Aromas:  blueberry, cherry, Stanley prune, mint

Palate:  soft tannin, ripe cherry, savoury mouthfeel/flavour

Cellaring:  I personally enjoy drinking this wine now (call it winemaker bias), but it should really be cellared for at least another six months.  It has the tannin and structure to age and improve for many years to come, I prefer not to put a limit on it.

Price:  $50/bottle

Alcohol:  13.3%