Debutantes' March

Old Gregg aesthetic/Old World spirit

Waking up in Boonville is never easy. Maybe it's the Mendo bush weed smoke wafting about the valley, hanging heavy like city smog, slowing the reflexes and desire to pull oneself up, out of bed. Or perhaps it's the drafty, makeship cabins that double as housing units that fail to disguise the cool morning temps. The most likely reason, however, is that I am a lazy pile of shit. That and knew damn well our fruit was not going to arrive at the winery until at least noon.

Ahhhh, Anderson Valley! Preparing a quick breakfast, I could taste the steely pioneer spirit in a couple slices home-baked caste iron bread and a cup of gritty burnt joe. Off to the winery to throw on a pair of gum boots and sort some fruit...

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Los Pinche Debutantes

What fruit you might ask? A ton of Syrah coming from a reputable vineyard in Laytonville, CA. Northern Mendocino county for those unfamiliar with Californian geography. Our goal was to create a food friendly, acid driven wine with the ability to age for the next 5 to 10 years.

Let's backtrack shall we. Sometime during last year's vintage, perhaps over dinner, I overheard Shaunt (my collegue in this endeavor) casually mention that he was planning trying his hand at making a barrel or two of wine in the upcoming fall. Keeping quiet and not quite sure of where I might be in a year, I tucked the omission away in the back of my head.

After frolicking for months with Kiwis down under, Shaunt returned to los Unite and I contacted him through via a high traffic social nettworking site. My message was sweet and simple: you want to make wine, I want to make wine, let's make wine together. Thus, our plan for a fermented baby was born.

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Picking a varietal was our first chore. Pinot Noir would have been my preffered choice, but astronomical prices and a desire to focus on less worshiped grape varieties led us to pursue other varietals. My collegue had other designs. Shaunt mentioned he was impressed by a number of Syrah based blends on Waiheke Island. "Not a bad idea," I offered. "Let's see what we can find." Hell, I loved Cotes du Rhone Village blends. Pepper, dark brooding fruit and well structured bodies at affordable prices made the Rhone one of my favorite wine regions.

A summer passed by and I didn't hear from Shaunt, who apparently spent a summer eating frozen lentils and taking pre-requisite classes at a community college in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, I was caught up moving tractors and turning irrigation valves that I didn't have a moment to check into the possiblity of purchasing grapes. If anything I became more apathetic than proactive, leaving our project up in the air.

Finally, in August Shaunt emailed me and expressed renewed interest. We began the search for our Syrah in various Sonoma and Mendocino County appelations: Dry Creek, Bennet Valley, Petaluma Gap, Spring Mountain and finally Northern Mendocino. Due to the shape of the economy and a decrease in luxory wine sales, many wineries have dropped existing fruit contracts, freeing up highly sought after grapes that would be unavailable in any normal vintage. Two months, multiple incidents of presidential flip-flopping, and a bottle of wine later we settled on our Syrah. We made an offer to a highly prized vineyard at half the going rate, they accepted and of course we couldn't refuse. It seemed to good to be true.

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No berry left behind

Then the rains came, oh did the heavens piss down! Five inches of rain fell on October 13 and it continued to fall on and off for the next week. With the rains often come the increased chance that rot will form on the bunches. Syrah, however, being a thick skinned grape, is typically rot resistant.

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D-day arrived and our grapes paraded into the cellar on Friday afternoon. A quick glance into the picking bins saw no signs of rot and what seemed an increased incidence of creepy crawlers. For the real test we popped a few berries into the mouth...then a few more. Just as I had suspected; the rains had done their dastardly deed of dilluting the grape flavors. Instead of bright blue fruit I had tasted in the 470 clone at Los Leones, our grapes boasted only subtle nuances of red fruit. Sabotage? Well maybe, but no vintage would be unique without the finicky hand of Mother Nature.

If anything, I think the fruit will be a great learning experience. Our original plan to make a formidible wine fit for long-term ageing quickly needed to be re-drawn. Low sugar levels, less flavor and watered down acid levels have assured that an imperfect vintage. Shaunt made a good point that instead of trying to craft the wine we want to make we have to work with the fruit we recieve. That means, including little to no whole clusters and a shortened maceration period; essentially less tannin extraction. In the end we will be shooting to create a wine that drinks earlier and has less structure rather than a big behemoth that will take years to open up.

To break it down in more simple terms, if you are reading this you can expect to be drinking our wine sooner rather than later.

We're excited. Maybe not piss your pants excited. But excited nonetheless. Stay tuned...

Moondance Stomp