Monthly Archive for November, 2009

The autumn rose is nouveau.  Sourced from a barrel on the bar top Nouveau is perhaps the most pure expression of agriculture there is plucked from the vine like a turkey for Thanksgiving.  This vineyard rose blooms in your glass with brilliant cranberry color, vine to bottle in thirty days time   ”… abuzz with finishing touches, pneumatic bottling machines and a gravity flow of Nouveau meandering toward fresh cut wine glass, corks and foils turning on carousel en route to your table for Thanksgiving.  The sound of rapid fire blenders and aromas of Starbucks Vivanno, strawberry, mocha,  caramelized banana and raspberry wafting through the air.   ”  -   Drew

Nouveau is not rose wine for two clear cut reasons.  

1.  Nouveau is released during the same year it is harvested.  It is fresh and green.  In the Southern Hemisphere harvest occurs during the early part of the calender year which affords more time for aging so make sure you are drinking a CALI NOUVEAU for Thanksgiving otherwise you’ll miss out on the “green freshness”.  Frankly it should be a local tradition.  It began as such and there is nothing “green” about burning jet fuel half way around the world for delivery of Beaujolais nouveau in plastic.  Our people deserve the best and some of the best come from right here in Napa / Sonoma County.

2.  Whole Cluster Fermentation via carbonic maceration.  Whole grape clusters are shoe horned into a closed top fermentation tank and fermented whole, green stems and all.  Next the grapes are starved of oxygen. Eventually the yeast penetrate the grape skins and go to work inside the berry.  This occurs at low temperature.  Minimal tannin extraction is part of this design because the fermenting juice inside the berry does not make contact with the exterior grape skin.   Eventually these berries explode and release natural sugar into the tank for a prolonged ferment.  Fermentation is long and cold.  Aromatics are big and mouth feel is soft.

Rose wines do not involve carbonic maceration or whole cluster fermentation.  Rose wines are often of tertiary importance, drawn from large fermentation lots immediately after crush to increase the skin to juice ratio for premium red wines, which is the true focus of the winemaker.  This is known as saignee.  Some rose wines (a.k.a vin gris) involve dedicated rose programs.  In this case grapes are picked earlier in the season at lower pH levels; essentially white wine is made from red grapes and released the following Spring.

Whole cluster fermentation is the signature of a Nouveau wine.

WHEREAS, Gamay was once the most abundant grape grown in the Napa Valley

WHEREAS, Charles Krug put Napa on the map originally with a gold medal for Gamay in the 1948 World’s Fair in Belgium, at the time walnuts and prunes where the predominant crop, and;

WHEREAS, the American palette, in the 1960- 70’s was being sculpted by cherry coca cola and strawberry shortcake, and;

WHEREAS, in the same period, “Wild in the Country” was filmed on the Battuello Ranch starring Elvis Presley and acres upon acres of Gamay were soon planted

WHEREAS, Napa Nouveau was made famous by the people of Marin County during the 1970’s disco era, hot tubs, peacock feathers and Gamay Beajolais Nouveau flowing freely like whiskey from the Tennessee Mountians

WHEREAS,  The Gamay Noir grape variety was banished from all the lands of Burgundy by the ruling class and driven from Napa Valley 500 years later by economics-Cabernet Sauvignon became the holly grail of Napa Valley grape growing and building hot tubs out of the American oak, Napa Nouveau tanks became the fashion, and;

WHEREAS, Only 20 acres or so of Napa Gamay remain planted and Andrew Lane produces Gamay Nouveau and Cru Gamay from six of these last remaining twenty acres, and;

WHEREAS, Before you lies the first taste of the vintage globally, foreshadowing what is to come from the broader 2009 Napa/Sonoma vintage, and;

WHEREAS, Andrew Lane Nouveau is a product of whole cluster fermentation and carbonic maceration which causes juice inside the berries to ferment and explode, and;

WHEREAS, Explosive aroma’s of STRAWBERRY, MOCHA, CARMELIZED BANANA and RASPBERRY… a fresh fruit style we call (mah-nyah-nah) which happens if you drink a few too many during lunch, and;

WHEREAS, The Andrew Lane 2009 Nouveau was harvested September 30th and is on your table by Thanksgiving.  The vineyards of this Nouveau include those nurtured for 30 years by the hand of Bob Carty in Suisun Valley who has allowed nature to take it’s course by following organic farming guidelines.  Without him the Nouveau wine before you would be “just another statistic in a cabernet tank somewhere in Lodi”

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED;

Cali Nouveau is BACK under the Andrew Lane label!  And it was first poured as a Sneak Preview event beginning November 1, 2009 at The Tavern at Lark Creek