Happy New Year’s! (year in photos)
Just an hour and a half away from New Year’s 2010 and I wanted to express a sincere ‘thank you’ to everyone that has been supportive in making 2009 such an amazing year for my family and the winery, Maison Ilan. Without support, who knows where this winery would be.
I wish all of you a Happy New Year’s and look forward to keeping in touch in 2010.
Please enjoy some of our photos from a very special year for us, 2009.
Cheers!
Burgundy Book: Les Grand Crus de Bourgogne, vus de ciel
I just wanted to put up some info on a coffee table book that I have enjoyed quite a bit. This book, Les Grand Cru de Bourgogne, vus de ciel (seen from the sky) is of course filled with beautiful photographs of Burgundy and some nice summaries along with a few dashes of history thrown in. What I like is that it puts a different visual to Burgundy than is the norm. Typically, you see that horizontal map of the Cote d’Or, trying to imagine the terrain and topography differences. This book adds vibrant life to the beautiful layout of Burgundy which I think is rewarding for anyone interested in Burgundy or vineyards in general. Sure, you can get an idea from google Earth. However, the photos in this book are far more detailed as they were taken from helicopters.
Enjoy…
Cheers
Topping up 09′s
As a few have noticed from reading this blog, I’ve tried to use older (hopefully beneficial)methods when I happen upon them. Keeping this in mind, the method I use for topping up is one of my favorite as it is so relaxing and simple. The slow pouring using a filling wand has never really been a strong suit of mine. What I now use is a flower waterer. Filling up the waterer is easy, gaining access from the bottom of the stainless steel tank with my topping up wine. Just a few precise pours, and it is all done. It’s amazing how much control you get from them, and I find it incredibly relaxing topping up in this manner.
Planning for the move to Nuits-Saint-Georges
On a cold day such as this one in California, I can’t help but think about Burgundy. The wine. The weather. The food. It just keeps going in and out of my thoughts. With such a big change coming up with the move(s), I’ve tried to pull back my excitement and let some time pass. As with most things, time has decided against this plan.
With just a few weeks until we are back in Burgundy, moving the wine (Full wine barrels!) to Nuits-Saint-Georges I have been focusing on a technical issue. Put simply, my full barrels of wine need to be placed below the house in the vaulted cave. The punchline? The only access to the cave is going down 10 stairs. This may seem like such a small detail, however, the prospect of dropping a full barrel of wine gives me the instant hollowing sensation in my stomach.
Traditionally, wine barrels were able to be moved down stairs using a rope and hook system which was anchored by two huge holes bored into the top of the stairs in the entry of a cave. There used to be a name for people that provided this service. It seems clear that others have figured out that no matter who is manning the rope system, its a potentially financially painful situation. Keeping this in mind, I’ve decided to take a different approach.
I will place an empty barrel in the cave and siphon (using gravity)a full barrel at the top of the stairs, in the cave entrance. Moving an empty barrel down to replace the now full barrel in the cave as the next to be filled. This seems to be the most practical way of doing this. Next harvest, I will simply fill the barrels in the cave using gravity and bypass the whole barrel siphoning step. I will also be filling the cave with gravel over the existing dirt. Should be fun.
Cave entrance (note holes)
Cave (larger than shown)
Bottle Storage Section of Cave
Cave. A bit rough currently. I will be adding gravel in January.
Cycle of planning continues
With my first harvest in Burgundy behind me, I’m currently looking ahead to 2010. As well as things went in 2009, there are many areas for improvement, mistakes to learn from, and shifts which are in the development stage.
Starting in January 2010, the facility in Nuits Saint George will be ready for holding my 2009 barrels. I’ll begin preparation of the cuverie area for harvest 2010 in January as well.
As for barrels, I’m planning on using a bit less new oak. For 2009, around 30% of my oak was new. I will be dropping my target number to 15% (possibly 0%) moving forward, while allowing for small changes based upon production numbers and vintage profiles. Obviously, a 2.5 barrel production wine such as Le Chambertin will be impossible to fit in this box.
The plan is to purchase a small amount of new barrels each year, and placing other old barrels which were purchased used out of commission when possible. Eventually, all of the used barrels in use would have been purchased new by Maison Ilan at some point. This is a big deal when used barrels are purchased without knowing 100% the full history of the barrel.
Also, I will be moving toward using all open top wooden fermenters. The stainless steel tanks will be phased out. My thoughts are based on the goal of having uniform fermentation vessels. The possible benefits (aromatics, longer fermentation times, less heat retention) to using this more traditional vessel outweigh the ease of use benefits of stainless steel, for my intended uses.
I’ve been thinking about winery choices quite a bit lately. With such a terroir based region, I have been trying to furthering the intention of treating each lot the same. The goal is to have the difference of the terroir be highlighted, instead of differences in oak selection such as oak age, cooperage, toast levels, pigeage regime, maceration targets, etc. With the differences in production numbers, having percentage of new oak used is (and has been) the difficult issue. The only ways to match the numbers is to go 100% or 0% (the latter is a strong option) new oak on everything across the board. I can’t see either as feasible at present.
In January, I plan to do make a choice on who to use as my sole Cooper (producer of barrels). I am leaning towards François Freres at the moment, however I am considering staying with Chassin.
My sorting table will again consist of a huge piece of laminate-topped wood. I am also on the hunt for an old wooden vertical press similar to the model I used for 2009.
More updates to follow.
Thanks again for viewing.
Cheers!
