Fermentations almost complete
Sorry to have gone with the lights off. Things have been busy. My wife and daughter have come to visit and to help out, so now it feels like home. I bought a used car so I could get around better. Hey, trains have their limitations.
As a side note, I wanted to mention that Lisa Mroz and her friend Peter were a huge help. Otherwise I would have collapsed from the huge amount of Charmes Chambertin I had to process.
Fermentations have been going beautifully! I went native yeast on all three lots and Charmes-Chambertin was first out. I will let the grapes rest until Tuesday and then go to barrel. The wine is really nice and should develop well in barrel. The Morey is the sweetest tasting, yet lowest potential alcohol level. The Charmes is a bit brighter, however, the Le Chambertin lot is stunning.
When looking at the fruit from Le Chambertin on the vine it seemed nice, but the other vineyards looked really special. On each fruit day, I was surprised by the quality of the fruit being so high. However, the Le Chambertin just flat out tastes most interesting and complete. Odd to say at this early stage but no one would be surprised at which one was which when tasted side by side…which is a very good thing.
Also, I have to mention that the fermentation did raise the eyebrows of a few onlookers thinking, ‘what could a young winemaker from California know about making Burgundy?’
*Of note, I intentionally used very few punchdowns on the wines. The MSD recieved 4 in total, the Charmes-Chambertin ‘Aux Charmes’ 3 in total and Le Chambertin was punched down just twice in total. All punchdowns were performed near completion of alcoholic fermentation. Results? We will have to wait and see…
Let’s just say that I am glad that I kept my head down and trusted in myself.
Well, enjoy the pics and I promise to update more. Thanks for popping in for updates…
Tanks filled, floors cleaned
It’s really surprising to see the winery in it’s current state. It’s quiet now, grapes are nowhere to be seen unless peeking into a cuve. The sound of forklifts are gone, and I am just a touch sad to see it end so quickly.
I know, not the best thing to mention publicly. But to be reminded how quick and fleeting the moments you have with actual grapes are is rather disappointing.
Thankfully I can finish up this portion of the harvest knowing that I was well hands on from the word go. I literally spent nights in this winery l, leaving when most people were waking up.
Now the grapes are happily working to ferment. I am using one wooden tank that I keep blabbing about (I still think wooden tanks are well interesting) along with two Speidel stainless steel tanks with adjustable lids. These tanks allow me to customize head space (the space above the juice and below the lid) which is quite important while controlling your fermentation and when your wine is done fermenting, the oxidation or lack thereof.
I can see the benefit of always having atleast two different types of fermentation vessels, be it stainless steel, wood or even cement which I will have next year. When you have different types of vessels you have the option of using whatever would be of benefit to your wines. You also can experiment, which is where I am at. I believe somewhere down the line that my preferences will fall with 2/3 of those I mentioned above.
I am allowing the grapes to ferment with the yeasts that are already a part of the grapes, this is known as native yeasts. There are said to be benefits and issues alike that can be linked to both native yeast and innoculation which is using a selected yeast other than what the grapes already have. My fermentations haven’t suffered from any stuck fermentations, excessively fast or hot fermentations. In other words, I got lucky with my risky choice. When you innocuoate, things are much more controlled, and you even have the choice of starting native and ending with cultured or selected yeasts. Going native seems to just have the potential benefit of knowing that most of the yeasts that were involved with the fermentation were specific to your grapes. I am anxious to see the results!
As for pigeage, the plan is to start once the fermentation is underway with one time a day at most. Quite radical but I know of a few domaines doing something quite similar with excellent results. Above all I will make sure that the cap stays moist to protect the must (juice before completing fermentation) and I will avoid punching down for the sake of punching down. I am not out to produce ink colored wines with high levels of extraction afterall…not that others shouldn’t do this for their own wines. ; )
Cheers!
What a day…
What a day! I know, I should be more reserved, much more reserved and act calm. But I can’t. Today I visited my cooper, Chassin who is making one new barrel for each of my lots. as well as supplying the used barrels from a well known micro négociant. I had such a great time meeting with Stefan Chassin (he never seems to slow down, so this pic is quite accurate).
Tonnellerie Chassin
Stefan Chassin
Now my numbers on new oak are confirmed:
Morey 1er Les Chaffots : 1/5 new
Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru 1/7 new (will ferment in Wood). I will most likely increase my order for another new barrel tomorrow
And Le Chambertin at 1/2 new
I wanted the Chambertin to be lower. But thats what you get with two
barrels worth of grapes: 0, 50 or 100% new oak.
I also met Mounir Saouma of Lucien Le Moine while at Chassin. What a
humor he has. It was a great pause when the sales manager asked Mounir if
he knew me. It seemed like he paused for nearly 10 seconds and said no
with a roaring laugh that instantly had me doubled over in laughter as
well. I replied that I knew of him from drinking his wines and he
playfully apologized. What a character.
Later, I visited my giraffe (grape escalator) at the huge facility where
I also purchased some tanks.
Tank with adjustable top
Tomorrow, I will take delivery of some of my equipment and next week my
barrels start coming in. As usual, I will spend a good portion of the
night unable to go to sleep due to thinking about what tomorrow has in
store.
Cheers
PS…Anyone up for more photos?
More Chassin above and below
Just back from Gevrey-Chambertin
Fresh from visiting Gevrey-Chambertin and the gravity of it all has a grip on me. I think it was the courtier naming off the producers I will be shoulder to shoulder with come harvest time that drove the point home. I am officially in contract on all of my fruit.
Now onto the vineyards. The Charmes-Chambertin I am sourcing is all from within ‘Aux Charmes’ which is roughly 10 feet (the width of the road which separates the two) away from Le Chambertin. Grapes from close to the RN74 are in Mazoyeres, but can be labeled as Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru. My source is located higher above, on a gentle slope. The grapes were really were sorted curently. When tasted from the vine today, the Charmes had a nice thickness of skin, a soft flesh, lightly browned seeds, and bright toned fruit. The clusters hanging were very few in number, with truly a modest set of berries on each.
Chicken and Egg
The fruit from Aux Charmes is showing a generous amount of chicken and egg, which is excellent. When you have uniform berry sizes, the skin thicknesses (which are quite important for a Pinot noir), water/grape skin ratio are similar throughout the cluster. When you have both tiny and regular sized berries, older wine makers have always called it Chicken and Egg. The common thought is that with these circumstances, there are more nuances to the wine, which makes for something more interesting. When tasting the grapes, there is a noticable difference in the tannin feel, brightness of fruit, and the perceptible feeling of the flesh around the seeds. Will it be better? I have no idea, but whatever the results both the chicken and egg are apparent.
Le Chambertin
This vineyard is roughly 10 feet higher up te slope than Charmes, possibly 20 feet. The elevation has more variability than the gentle sloping soil below the feet of Aux Charmes. Chambertin has quite an angle as it reaches up the slope. My vines go from the street up to the top of Chambertin. The vines seem to point East/West as opposed to the North/South situation of Aux Charmes. The berries are just a bit bigger at times here, and at others impossibly small. There is quite a bit chicken and egg here as well. The soil has just as many stones as the other vineyard, however the stone looks finer at times, broken into rubble. The soil is also at times are a deeper hue of red than others.
The grapes have a deeper tone, the skin is thicker, more packed with everything. Deeper tone to the seed, more intense fruit impression, tigher flesh around the seed and more of the sense of acid. Before tasting these grapes side by side I would never have guessed at this point that they would have so many perceptible differences. Now, you couldn’t blind guess these at this point. However, side by side, most people, non people would clearly notice they weren’t the same.
Tonight I am happy to report all of this to my wife. My head is aching from thinking about all the variables in play. It’s a good sore. But I am anxious, waiting again for what seems like the shot before a marathon begins.
Well, to bed for now…to think, and to listen for that shot before I take off.
An amazing week
This week just keeps getting better. Well, here we are just a few weeks prior to harvest and things are firming up quite a bit. I have spent my time in Chagny at a friends house, resting in between train runs up through the region. One day, Saint Aubin, the next, Beaune and Gevrey-Chambertin. You know, you truly have no idea of the size of these villages until you are walking alongside the Grand Cru highway, cars whooshing by and wondering if you will make it to Nuits Saint George with all of your limbs in tact.
A few days ago, I decided to upgrade to a much more luxurious mode of transport, a20 year old Peugeot 10 speed bicycle. While on bike I noticed just how small these villages are, Vougeot, Vosne Romanee, whoosh, whoosh. I also noticed that I am a far cry from bring in serious biking condition. Maybe people were right about my diet of beer,wine and rich foods…Maybe not.
Anyhow, with a chain of luck, I succeeded in getting into contract on my shared facility in Morey Saint Denis, close to Magnien just off the RN74. The day before, I secured my contract for 5 barrels of grapes from Morey Saint Denis – Les Chaffots 1er cru, just next to Clos Saint Denis Grand Cru. Today, I will travel to Gevrey-Chambertin using a friend’s Kangoo transport to sign for my extended contract of both Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru grapes, all from Aux Charmes I might add, as well as for my Le Chambertin in grapes. What an Amazing week…
This year, we will produce:
5 barrels from Morey Saint Denis -Les Chaffots 1er Cru
7 barrels from Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru
2 barrels from Le Chambertin Grand Cru
everything is from purchased grapes under long contracts. Well, I am off.
Cheers
Finally Settled: Morey Saint Denis
Here we are, just a few weeks before harvest and I just signed my bail or rental agreement for the facility in…Morey Saint Denis.
After switching from here and there due to owners being unsure of whether they wanted to sell or rent I landed in the best place for Maison Ilan.
As I have mentioned before, I am getting 1er Cru fruit from Morey Saint Denis. The owners of these vines live right acros the street from the facility so we will go together to harvest the fruit and they will deliver the fruit for free. How’s that for service?
Also, being in Morey means I will be also close to my other Grand Cru fruit in Gevrey Chambertin. During harvest, the roads are filled with trucks delivering fruit, the fields aching from the surge of pickets scattered about and I am going to sidestep a major amount of this due to an excellent location.
I was previously worried about being located too far from the vines. And the caution to not be sure until you have a contract is certainly the truth. I can sleep tonight knowing I have the best place for my wines, and the contract is solid. Not too romantic, but this is how it is done.
Have a great weekend, mine is off to a great start!
