A row of Charmes-Chambertin and Le Chambertin

I finally took some photos in the cave. Every time I enter the cave I think back to how it looked when I first visited the house. Its a constant reminder to take advantage of opportunities as well as serving as a solid piece of encouragement. Here are a few pics. The whole 2009 vintage is lined up against one side of the cave.

Cheers!

3 barrels of Morey Saint Denis 1er Cru 'Les Chaffots' in the foreground

24 hours after bringing the press home and its all painted. I made sure to use odorless paint, wouldn’t want any wine taste or odor in the wine. Starting Monday, I’ll begin sanding down the wooden basket to see what it looks like underneath the surface. I’m choosing to keep the wood natural, without any sealants. Should be a lot of work, especially to keep clean, but its for the best…can’t wait!

The story of how I came to find the press is a bit interesting as well. I have been looking for a press in this exact model for a couple of years. I’ve come across countless examples. The state of the presses however were typically weathered and worn, rusted or simply just bits and pieces of what once was. Of course this didn’t stop the owners from attempting to get top dollar. These can fetch a high price, even in a terrible condition for several thousand euros since people use them as decorations in their courtyards, etc. Its a tough sell to convince your wife that you are going to buy something looking dismantled for that much money. So, I thought my dream of renovating a press was over.

A friend had given me a heads up on a website which has classifieds, leboncoin.fr . I went looking around, and hoped I would find something interesting. Then I saw it. Green, wooden, on steel wheels and seemingly in excellent condition… €450! I showed my wife and we agreed something must be wrong with it. But, my wife encouraged me to give it a shot. I secretly planned to anyhow. After given the green light, I couldn’t type my email to the owner fast enough!

We had to go nearly an hour North of Dijon to this remote location atop a mountain. The view was beautiful. I imagined the press to be in some ran down winery, or farm. What we came to visit was an actual French historic location. The area was once a meeting place for the knights of the Templar. There was a church which had old engravings attesting to this alongside a small body of water once used to baptize those from the church. This was also an important place during World War 1 when there was a great resistance here. There is much more history to speak of, but lets get back to the press.

One year before I purchased the press, the owner saw an ad for a press in a similar condition as his for €3500. It sold. He decided to sell his at €1500 since he said he inherited it with the house and really didn’t know much about selling presses and he had never made wine before. He posted the ad and waited. A full year went by without any response. He figured the price must be too high and he figured it best to just get rid of it at any price. He listed is at €450, the night that I first saw it. And once we saw the press, I wanted it. I attempted to wait for my wife’s response. It is an old piece of machinery after all. After a few minutes of staring at it, my wife again gave me the green light. A check was cut to reserve the press until we could pick it up, though the owner said it was not necessary. A few weeks later when picking the press up, the owner thanked me and remarked on the great deal I made saying that once it was sold he received a few offers for more money.He was glad that I bought it since he knew it would be used. He figured the others would use it as an antique piece in a courtyard. Its going to be very hard work using this press. What I hear from those that have used them is that they provide an unmatched level or gentle pressing. We’ll be finding out soon enough…

Cheers!

Enjoy the pics!

Two days ago, I decided it was much easier to pick up my press instead of having it delivered. Another issue was that delivery was set cost more than the press itself. That wouldn’t have seemed right.

The past owner turned out to be quite helpful. With just the two of us, we backed my rented truck and trailor into his garage where the press was located. We then ratcheted the press up the ramp of the trailor and centered it. After all of this, we made sure to cinch it down so much that I was thinking it would take forever to undo once I got home. No worries, I thought, this is several hours away…I’ll deal with it then.

Turns out that I found out the answer to that concern not 15 minutes later as on my way out of his garage, press in tow, we noticed that the height of the press atop the trailor threatened to take out a chunk of the façade of his garage if I advanced forward.

So, we dismounted it. To be specific, his idea was to back the two back wheels down onto the ramp if the trailor to lower the height and perhaps change the angle of the press screw since we needed to drive up his driveway to get out.

I told him that his floor would get damaged, but he said go for it. Several burned rubber marks, scratches in concrete and stone tile later, the press was out safely. On the way home, I was getting more and more anxious to have everything set up and in place.

Once I got home, I was greeted by a young neighbor who was having a party with about 20 people in his apartment. One yelled down from the window to me that he could help. When he came down, some of the girls threw buckets of cold water down below, drenching the poor guy. Well, we did all laugh about it. With the noise of laughter on our little street, other neighbors peeked out through their drapes. It was 10pm afterall. Luckily, more guys came down to help, about 12 in total, it was quite a sight and really an amazing thing to have all of these people I don’t know doing their best to lend me a hand. My wife and daughter came out too, startled by the amount of people helping and watching. Suffice to say, a few more people know now that there is either a new crazy person or wine maker on the block.

Cheers!

Note: Photos in garage were taken at previous owner’s garage.

I had a very long drive to pick the press up. I’d never heard of the village, but it was one of the prettiest places I’ve seen here in France. The views from the rocky cliffs were amazing. On a side note, the area around the previous owner’s house has it’s own church dating back to the 4th or 5th century. Its amazing to think exactly where simple drives will take you while here.

Today is a great day for the winery. After searching high and low for an excellent example of this particular model of pressoir on wheels, I was able to find this press which I will pick up next week! Photos simply do no justice in showing how beautiful this is in person. The press is a wooden vertical basket press, made around 80 years ago in Beaune by Cherreau. They made a great deal of equipment which I find truly interesting.

Those who have recently been to the Centre Ville Beaune exit from the autoroute will also notice that this is the same model. The only difference is that mine is not painted red…yet. Mine was last used two years ago and functions perfectly. Of note, there is a huge I-beam underneath the press for added strength while pressing. This is very similar to the press I used in 2009 with a few notable differences. The press I used last year had a ratcheting type of mechanism which brought the press head down, it also had 3 wheels so moving it around was tough. Last thing, the version I used last year was around 70 years newer than the model I just purchased.

Everything works just as it should. This is a simple machine. Grapes are loaded into the cage, with wooden blocks place on top to form a flat surface. The large handle is turned by walking it around the pressoir. As the handle is turned, the press head lowers onto the wood atop the grapes. Walking the handle around the pressoir further creates enough pressure on the grapes to compress the grapes, releasing the juice. With the amount of turns required, it is quite easy to dial in an exacting amount of pressure.

The wooden cage is in excellent condition (the split in the front of the cage closes once all of the latches are closed). However, I think it best to have a new cage built to my specific needs, possibly just a bit smaller. I’m really excited about this essential piece of winery equipment. Working with an older, fully functioning press is something I have always wanted to do. Please enjoy the photos. During harvest I’ll be sure to include video with it in action.

Just to give you an idea of what it will look like after some paint and a new cage, Robert Driscoll took a shot of the press in Beaune.

Things have been really busy around here the last week. I’ve been painting up a storm…and things are looking almost as they should. I still have a bunch of touchup work to do. I was set to get some of my new wooden tanks (for primary fermentation) this last week but one of the foudrier’s crew got sick pushing the delivery date to Monday. This gave me a few more days to paint in the cuverie and to finish the doors. This is great so I don’t have to worry about having paint around the new tanks. There are odorless paints but I wanted to be sure and just do it the right way. So, when Monday gets here, I’ll have a nice clean space for the new tanks (two of the four at least). Don’t worry, the interior of the cuverie is a plain white.

I’m excited to share that this year I will be using all wooden tanks for my fermentations. No more stainless steel. Last year, I used a Rousseau tank for the Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru. This year, I will use all wooden tanks as they mesh with a number of my thoughts/philosophies about winemaking. One of which is covered by having all fermentations done in the same type of fermentation vessel. Having a mix leaves room for someone to prefer a wine simply because of a unique choice which I made on a particular cuvée rather than enjoying the differences of terroir.

The change means a few things. I have to be sure to maintain the cleanliness of the tanks on a level that is much more demanding that which is called for while using a stainless steel tank. Also, my garage (read: cuverie) will be able to house several tanks which are wider, lower and much more space efficient than the tall cylindrical steel tanks. This is a big move and I cannot wait to take delivery of two of my four tanks next week. I won’t be using my Rousseau tank as the height makes it impossible to do punchdowns in the cuverie, also, its best to have all the tanks made by the same tonnellerie to ensure uniformity through a lack of variables. This is with the sole intention of highlighting terroir as the main (and hopefully only) variable between lots.

Lastly, I have been offered fruit from a 1er Cru in Gevrey-Chambertin. It would only be 2 barrels, but very interesting terroir. Maybe a 5th tank will need to be ordered….

Cheers!

I will post an update tonight. However here are some pics for the moment. It is a great pleasure to go down into the cave and to hear the barrels fizzing with malolactic fermentations.

Cheers

During harvest, I chose to do everything I could myself. I found out that much of making wine is just being careful, clean, concise and just a bit crazy. So I did everything just by commonsense, after I was done I ran analysis and the bet paid off. To say I was lucky would be accurate. My experience making wine for other people has given me the fundamentals, basically how not to screw up. With this, I did allow for a few hours of help on the Charmes-Chambertin lot as the sheer volume was a killer and I was helped with pressing from new friends as it was there old press and they thought it may break due to it’s age.

I could have used the help a few times, but I guess I am learning that I am a very stubborn person (who still fights with this description). As such, I was able to get really intimate with the process and I think it has paid off. With all of that said, while I was away in the US, I needed a friend, who works at an analysis lab to top up my wines for me. This was huge since it is really impractical to fly from California to Burgundy every 10 days to top up and being away from my family for long stretches was wearing me thin. The need to have someone helping me presented itself and my friend stepped up, saving me big time.

Nothing was added to the wines besides topping wine and he was kind enough to pull my samples for analysis. However, I couldn’t wait to get home to do it myself. Hearing how the wines were advancing when I was away was eating away at me. It was almost like having someone give you reports in how your child was learning things or expressing themselves while you are away in another country.

Also, I had a few friends visit the winery to taste while I was away. Reports were favorable so I was excited to see for myself. Today I tried them for the first time in quite a while and I am very happy with their development.

In short, I am quite proud to be a part of this region and my resulting wines