Maison Ilan's Blog » burgundy, wine, pinot noir

Back to the roots

Ray Walker — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:40:00 +0000

Following up to some ideas I had before arriving in Burgundy, I will be back in the vineyards in 2010, during Our winery’s down time. There is a great benefit to being a negociant in Burgundy. Less intensive capital needs, ability to pick and choose fruit, etc. However, I believe that there is a connection to the vines when you work within them that somehow aligns both fruit and man that can be somehow lost by simply staying within the walls of a cuverie without stepping out and getting your hands in the soil.

A few days ago I posed the question to my source in Morey Saint Denis if I could spend some time in the Les Chaffots 1er Cru vineyard and others to experience first hand what this vineyard feels like on a more intimate level. I’m not talking about a one hour photo op here. I will be just another hand working the vines. As connected as I feel with my wines, I know there is a benefit to be found in knowing your sources personally. Hopefully this will prove to be valuable experience for when I have my own vineyards here as well…

Cheers

An outside view to the Hospice de Beaune

Ray Walker — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:59:36 +0000

People were in the streets watching the auction until quite late at night. I had no idea what to expect. But this is really an important time of celebration for a good many people. The streets were filled with carnival food like fare…French style of course. Cheeses, sausage, chicken, pizzas, tarts, hot dogs, kebabs, and pretty much all the food that is there during the Saturday market. The covered market was filled with auction goers and the crowd looking into the large windows was massive.

I did not visit inside as I had no intention of purchasing lots, and also arriving in Beaune just yesterday at noon. Peeking into the large windows to view the auction was easy if you didn’t mind being huddled in with the growing collection of onlookers scrambling to look over one another to get the best views of the lot monitor, the aution caller or the bid board. Meanwhile, at the foot of the Hotel Dieu, and throughout Place Carnot speakers were positioned in a way that all points around the area centre could hear the lot names and the bids as they were announced by the host.

The food was great. I spent more time going vendor to vendor sampling everything I could get my hands on while bumping into many friends caught taking in the local fare as well. The light shows were a hit as well. The church was lit up with a light show accenting each detail and curve while the walls of te Hotel Dieu played lightshows with angels with harps and other designs. From the outside walls of the centre, huge shows were plays with wine themes displaying views of cellars and ancient designs unique to Burgundy. It was a site seeing everyone there, frozen in interest, fighting the cold to experience the sights, sounds and tastes of this event. It was much more an inviting event than I expected.

Beaune us such a beautiful city, especially by night. From coming to the city, fresh from the train, (before that the 3 airplanes I took) it was well refreshing to just relax while just taking everything in.

I also did a bit of work. Well, I went to the winery to check in on the wines, which are moving right along. What a way to end my first night back.

Cheers!

Off to Burgundy

Ray Walker — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:24:32 +0000

After being back in California for just 3 weeks I am leaving to go back to Burgundy tomorrow. I have a 7:45a flight into Paris.

Things have been nice being back in California. Seeing my family, playing with my daughter. Its unexplainable how much I missed my wife and daughter. The thing is, the winemaking isn’t quite over and it’s time to get back to business.

I’ve had a good friend, one of my grape brokers topping up my barrels since I was away. The wines were located in a temporary above ground facility in Saint Aubin while I set up my own facility. This upcoming week, I will be moving the wines to my facility in the center of Nuits Saint Georges. No more winery partners sharing space, just Maison Ilan. The facility also has a nice house attached where we will live starting next year.

Being so far from the wines has made me a bit nervous, impatient and now quite excited to get back to see them.

For now, it’s back to packing. I should make it to Burgundy just in time for the Hospice de Beaune vente de vin this Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Malos starting to take off

Ray Walker — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:31:04 +0000

Before harvest, I had an idea on some of the details of the winemaking process figured out. Sure, picking early in the day, hoping to get nice acids, as little intervention as possible, natural primary and malolactic fermentation, etc. The reality is that sure, it’s excellent to have an idea of what you are planning to do, what your preferences are. When reality hits, and your back is to the wall, your decisions can make themselves.

This is what I prepared for. The bad surprise. I heard this all harvest by countless locals. I planned to have things not go my way at some point. I had backups.

One thing that is worth mentioning is the primary and secondary fermentations. Innoculating the wine with commercial yeasts can help a winemaker sleep better at night as there is much more control in the fermentation process. There are arguments that something is lost when using non-indigenous yeasts. I decided early on that I would use the native yeasts for the primary fermentation. What if the fermentation stuck? Well, I would warm up the tank and wait? If that didn’t work? Well…I was mentally prepared to act fast if things got pear shaped. This was a real fear of mine.

Thankfully, the fermentation went well. More possible downsides of native yeast fermentations are terribly fast and hot fermentations, odd aromatic notes and stuck fermentations. None of the above happened. The fermentation was steady, and did not exceed 29*C. No odd notes aside from the whole cluster in the Morey Saint Denis being reduced.

Looking forward at this point my thoughts went to the secondary fermentation. In Burgundy, this process can take around a year to get underway when the malos are native. I’ve tasted countless wines that have been produced this nerve racking way of just letting the wine ‘do it’s thing’ so I figured, why not?

This vintage, many have reported on having low malo numbers while others shot through malo fermentation in record time. My native numbers looked low when I last checked, however, they just took off. There is still a good amount of time left for the process to be complete. But this is very good news as the timing is much earlier than I expected.

Thanks again for stopping by…

Cheers!

Done and done

Ray Walker — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:49:02 +0000

Finally, I am back with some more updates! I have been using my iPhone while in France and my WordPress app has been keeping me from updating everyone. With a quick delete and reinstall I am back up and running.

The wines are now resting comfortably in barrel. I enlisted the help from the guys from South Africa from Domaine Clivet in Beaune. I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm for starting the pressing process. This was an excellent year apprently for juice. Most that I spoke with reported a great amount of free run with exceptional color.

I ended up with a shortage on both my Morey Saint Denis and my Charmes-Chambertin. However I was able to fill 2 full sized 228 liter barrels and a 114 liter barrel (feullette) with Le Chambertin which is quite a bit more than the 2 I was expecting.

I am very happy with the results. Is this the vintage of the decade that many are making it out to be? I think 2012 is shaping up to be a bit better. Meaning, it’s best not to get too caught up in the best, greatest and so forth. Being in France has taught me that I should be more focused on the benefit of one without depreciating the other. There is no best, just different. This vintage is showing to be one with many strenghts, however the enjoyment will only be known to the person with the glass in hand.

Here are a few pics from the weeks that the blog was down. My apologies for the down time.

Thanks again for the emails and replies. It means a lot knowing that others are along with me for the ride.

Cheers

Fermentations almost complete

Ray Walker — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:08:23 +0000

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…