Temperature hit 105degrees yesterday at 5:30pm in St. Helena. Hot, hot, hot. Your 2009 Andrew Lane Nouveau is scheduled for harvest on 9-30. Sugars are about to breach 23Brix, Total Acidity is .69 and pH is hovering at 3.35. East Bay Ford has loaned us a flat bed and the bins are loaded… time to pull the trigger!
Huge crop, monster clusters. A cool west wind with temperature in the mid 70’s for the next few days will curb ripening, allowing the vineyard to find equilibrium (post heat spike) by drawing moisture from the soil. In order to achieve desired acidity and a lengthy fermentation picking will commence before the sun rises on Wednesday morning while the fruit is ice cold. The entire pick will be documented by Crooked Vine Films out of Yountville, CA
The stage is set for a record breaking heatwave. For a few days every year San Francisco brushes away the “coldest winter” Mark Twain ever spent and becomes a tropical paradise. During a year spent working on the Pacific Option Exchange that meant the trading floor by 5:30am and the deck of our Boston Whaler by 2pm; skipping along the water past Alcatraz, ducking behind Angel Island, up Racoon Strait, docking in Tiburon for bait and a tumbler of nouveau on-the-rocks.
Not this week. Sugar levels are rising, acidity is dropping and the mayor is taxing. Gavin Newsom has proposed a tax on sugar in soda pop! So in the spirit of our theme “A whole NOU tradition” and vitis vinifera, we’re taking this opportunity to remind you that “grape” flavor was invented in a lab alongside high fructose corn syrup.
An apple is an apple and a peach a peach. However vitis vinifera (species of the fine wine grape) has evolved naturally to showcase the entire spectrum of fruit flavor: strawberry, cherry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry… you name it.
Aromatics of wine can be so vibrant, particuarly those produced using whole cluster fermentation, that a soda pop drinker may think some Nouveau wines are actually sweet. In America today in fact many people associate fruit flavors with sweetness. This is not the case with Andrew Lane Nouveau.
Nouveau is of the earth. It is a celebration of harvest. The antithesis of a neon colored sugar laden cocktail. Try a nouveau on ice, each vintage is a little different. It isn’t sweet, you’ll live longer and catch more fish!
Our St. Helena Merlot vineyard (source) was ripped out on behalf of flood protection a few years ago. Yesterday, the last juice ever harvested from that soil ended a 6 month run at the Beverly Hills Hotel… some might say the vineyard went out in style!
Now, the sculpting of a flood plain being recreated “as if man hadn’t yet occupied this reach of the Napa River” has created a deficit of merlot for Andrew Lane. Our barrels are dry! So, we’ve sourced fruit from a dry farmed region of Suisun Valley for inclusion into our 2009 vintage Merlot blend.
We were fortunate to retrieve a healthy vineyard sample Saturday morning before the more serious rain hit. 23Brix. We will pick the Merlot just shy of 25Brix. The Indian Summer is moving our way and by the end of the week, the fruit will dehydrate slowly and ripening will begin to accelerate.
We are expecting a drop in acidity by the middle of next week and plan to harvest in 8 days. Stay tuned!
video management, video solution, video streaming
Winemaker Andrew Dickson on the spot in the Suisun Valley vineyard explaining just where in the world it is (right next door to Napa), along with some thoughts on this last stronghold of Gamay vines and when to expect the upcoming harvest.
Thank you Montclair, we’ll see you all again soon for another swoosh, swirl and sip after harvest! The Montclair Wine & Jazz Festival is consistantly one of the top 3 Bay Area wine events (still under the radar) and today was no exception. Andrew Lane partnered with the Montclair Bistro this year to promote and host our November 12th Nouveau celebration in the Oakland Hills. About half the tables in this cozy neighborhood bistro were booked today and we are still two months out.
One barrel of Andrew Lane Nouveau will be jogged in and gravity fed from the bar top @ 6pm. Carafe’s of Andrew Lane Nouveau will flow freely, ushered by a friendly wait staff and Chef Henry Vortriede’s inspiring 3 course menu for $27/person, $12 carafe.
Contact CountryLaneTours@andrewlanewines.com for reservations or contact the bistro in Montclair Village (Oakland)
20Brix. Sitting pretty and a bit more tame this year… to be continued
Western wine country brings the farm to market, in fact we intend to float our wines down the Napa River this year and across the bay to the SF Ferry building at a pace similar to my college days at Chico State (many of which were spent tubing down the Sacramento River during class drinking Beringer Nouveau)… and we’ll still beat the French to market, Concord jet and all. California soils have always produced bigger, fruitier wines which lend themselves to a Nouveau style. Our timely and delicate delivery to the marketplace locks in freshness and lower prices thanks to healthy regional transportation. The good French stuff never leaves Paris or Beaujolais for that matter… and rightfully so. The good people of Beaujolais deserve the best from their country. Just like we do out West!
We intend to bring it back, local. Thankgsiving Turkey, Andrew Lane California Nouveau, and American Football!
LOCATION OF VINEYARD:
Carty Ranch - Suisun Valley
¼ mile from the Napa County Line in Solano County
20 miles west of Wild Horse Valley ( a Napa County AVA)
TASTING NOTES:
Bursting with bing cherries, strawberries and raspberries. Of the earth, delicate and balanced with crisp acidity and explosive aromatics… like a perfectly ripe fruit salad.
WINEMAKER NOTES:
Andrew Lane Nouveau is picked mid-September before the sun rises. Half-ton bins are hauled to Healdsburg where the grapes are loaded by hand into temperature controlled tanks and fermented whole cluster. As carbon dioxide begins to suffocate the grapes, carbonic maceration occurs causing juice to ferment inside the berry. Pressure builds and the berries explode.
This winemaking style produces aromatic wines with minimal tannin and consistent drinkabillity. The sugars from the juice are released slowly and delicately over several days allowing for a long, cool fermentation with minimal extraction. Nouveau wines are a celebration of harvest, traditionally offering the first public tasting of a vintage. Andrew Lane Nouveau is released a mere 6 weeks after harvest!
PRODUCTION:
Andrew Lane produces 10 tons of Gamay Noir for our Nouveau program, which equates to about 500 cases annually.
video management, video solution, video streaming
To get an accurate reading of grape sugars (brix), we grab sample clusters from vines throughout the vineyard. Andrew explains in this video…
“Nou” Comments