Carolyn Tillie

Our vine hasn't changed much since its pruning: So, until there is more to show you agriculturally, I'll show you some of the business part... This is Karen Culler, our fabulous wine maker: We had a tasting last week of some of the Howell Mountain 2002 wines in Karen's office: And a close-up: Here is where some explanation is needed. When you drive around the wine country and see acres and acres of grapes, these are broken up into lots. The lot can vary in soil quality, irrigation, number of vines planted per acre, etc. All that together is the terroir. When the grapes are picked, crushed, and barreled, it is not as one giant amount. Each lot is carefully kept separate from one another until bottling day. Throughout the wine-making process, the lots are tasted individually. Some might need different types of fermentation. When we taste the lots in this fashion, everyone tastes first and makes notes - then the notes are compared. There might be decisions made that a certain lot does not have the quality as the lot next to it and perhaps it should be sold out for bulk wine or only require a mild amount of blending with other lot to make it exceptional. Very specific notes are kept and compared from year to year. A certain lot may not be producing as well as it did last year and the amount of irrigation needs to be changed. Sometimes two or three years' worth of experiments are given and if the quality is not up-to-snuff, the entire lot might be budded over with another grape. Or a lot is producing exceptional wines and that technique needs to be mirrored. All these things are determined when these types of tastings are done.

How odd. I am the first girl I know to have had purple hair....while I worked at TGIF in San Diego and Torrance. Not stained-glass purple, but eggplant-colored. I also had Lois Lane comic book blue-black hair. Nobody ever said anything to me about it. I was on the Traveling Team, even. (This was in the Eighties.) It was also California. I believe you can get away with a lot more in the bizarre department on the West Coast than you can on the East... (just my opinion, having lived here on the West with a variety of hair colors!)

BTW, Lixey, welcome to eGullet! On the La Jolla recommendation, I agree, but that would be an awfully expensive taxi ride...

And I'm a Rubio's fan from way back...

So our winemaker, Karen Culler, came in today. She's really cool and consults for us but also makes her own wine, Culler Wines, wines for Wolf Family Vineyards, and yet another, Tres Sabores. BTW, here is an interesting Wine Spectator article about Karen. Anyway, when I asked her about this early Spring, she said she was thrilled. Barring a freezing cold front, this means that the grapes will be able to be harvested earlier. This is beneficial only in the idea that if the vines bud and fruit later, than the harvest time is later which runs into the potential of having an early, cold Fall. It is all about getting the maximum maturation on the fruit. If there is a late harvest because of a mild Summer and Fall, the risk runs into the idea that the grapes may not come to their full potential before the cold come in.

For the first ten years of my adult life, I lived in San Diego and miss it terribly. There ARE taxis in San Diego but unless you are planning on heading out of downtown, I don't think you really need one. It is a great walking town and the only area I might recommend using a taxi to get to would be Hillcrest (up Fifth Street) or into Balboa Park. Favorite restaurants in downtown include Ida Bailey's in the Horton Grand Hotel (Ida Bailey was a notorious San Diego Madame at the turn of the century - the restaurant has definite old world charm). Walking the Gaslamp will provide a wealth of fabulous restaurants - I visit once a year and each time go to a new place so I can't exactly recommend a specific restaurant there (I've never been disappointed, though!). A MUST visit, however, is Extraordinary Desserts at 2929 Fifth Avenue. It is adjacent to the Park and HIGHLY recommended (lovely garden setting where fabulous cakes and pastries are served in beautiful surroundings). Have a great time! Edited to add that I always liked the Horton Grand Hotel for breakfasts as back in the 80's, they were one of the first to serve artisinal, handmade sausages...

And a Poor Man's Black Velvet is half Guinness/half Hard Cider. I'm fond of both versions of Black Velvet...

Great site, Katie! You will also appreciate Guild.com.

Never a big coleslaw fan (something about mayonnaise-based salads never did it for me), but I adore pickles (especially Japanese ones!)

No problem about your ignorance! I was completely ignorant to it as well, until I opened my expensive Pinot! I couldn't explain what I was tasting other than it was "spritzy" and very minerally. It was a very bad thing.

Not to say anything against the California Wine industry, but isn't that like giving Jacques Torres a Snickers? Offense accepted.

The maple syrup suggestors must be East Coasters... From a West Coast'r, how about a lovely bottle of California or Oregonian wine?

I'd paint you a picture, but I've had my hand slapped for that sort of thing before and won't risk it again! I'm not a brandy-sort-of-gal, but yeah, it would work...

When I was into Paganism, Beltaine was marked with Venusian-inspired food like oysters on the half-shell, strawberries and cream, chocolate and champagne, caviar, or most anything that would enhance one's libido. I used to also make a cake inspired by the <ahem> May pole (if you get my meaning...) Samhain was marked by the end of Fall and the beginning of Winter - lots of Fall-inspired foods like pumpkin soup, spiced cider, dried fruits, etc.

I think right now, there isn't concern because there is no way to anticipate what the weather will be doing over the next few months. The concern has to do more with the idea that some were unprepared for the early warmth (i.e., not completely pruned which made for some scrambling to get it done). The issues are as-yet unnamed (if any). There COULD be a myriad issues or they may be none. There is no way to anticipate the what-if's because there are so many variables (a freezing storm, a deluge of rain, a heat-wave, or simply perfect weather from here on out, etc...) Also, bear in mind that this winery is on a mountain at elevations that range from 1,300 to 1,800 feet. We tend to have milder weather than those wineries "on the valley floor" which will see more heat during the "dog days of summer." Yes, the grapes are inclined to mature earlier with this early budbread, but that would ultimately mean they could be picked earlier, not stay on a vine longer. Last year, due to our incredibly mild Fall, our grapes were able to stay on the vines until mid/late October while some wineries were picking as early as the end of August - it all depends on the grape varietal, its growth cycle, location, etc... Of note was last year's odd Fall. There were a series of bizarre rainstorms that came in late August and early September (we usually don't see rain that time of year). One storm started in Healdsburg (a bit northwest of Sonoma), rained through Sonoma but stopped at the mountain range (the Mayacamas Mountains) and never hit Napa. A week or two later, there was a rainstorm in Napa that never hit Sonoma. It was the sparkling wine producers that were concerned by this as their grapes were mostly mature and the rain was a detriment as keeping those grapes wet could have produced a fungus. Those were the folks that were picking early last year. A bit of a convulated answer, but I hope it makes sense...

Racking is done quite often... Don't they worry about oxidizing the wine by racking it so frequently (this is a real issue for home brewers)? Or do they do it under CO2 or Nitrogen or some such thing? I'm learning so much! I was informed this morning that we don't rack with carboys, but from barrel to barrel. And, in fact, there is really more racking done in the first year a wine is in the barrel (we generally barrel our Cabs for 24 months in 100% French oak). It is done to separate the wine from the heavy sediment. The first year a wine is barreled, it could see racking every three months or so. With a full barrel, CO2 or Nitrogen is not needed (and we don't use any). The second year, racking need only be done once or twice and sometimes only to top off the barrel. The oxidation you mentioned is minimal and what exists is a desirable part of aging the wine (it is in a controlled cave after all, and not someone's garage...) Does that make more sense? (It certainly does to me!)

He has a new book out? Yeah, didn't you know? Pure Limitless Energy!: How to Get and Keep It He's also an expert on Angels: The Lifting of the Veil. and a German tome on John F. Kennedy

This is a day late because I knew the vine was next up for pruning and I wanted to be be able to show it. In case you haven't heard, Spring has arrived VERY early in Northern California this year. I heard there was a snow storm in the Plains this morning and here we are going into our third week of heat being in the 80's, hence, very early budbreak. It is going to be an interesting year as I've heard <ahem> through the grapevine, that everyone is scrambling to get their pruning done due to the unnaturally warm weather. As a point of reference, I remember last year, on the first day of Spring, seeing the very first hint of budbreak. This is Jose Luiz Alvarez pruning our Pedit Verdot. I'm secretly enamored with Jose Luiz because he makes the best carnitas I've ever tasted (you'll see it, come harvest time). I have an agenda to get the recipe out of him (and he knows it!)... To show you how remarkable the warm weather has been, this is the Merlot vine that is immediately to the left of our PV vine, in the next block over. This vine was only pruned last week.

No, no! Please go on!!!! I'm lov'n this stuff!

Exceptional! I am in the presence of greatness! I'll share as well, a song of praise for a dinner I prepared and from which my avatar is a remembrance...

In general, I agree with most of it, except #5.

My salad days, When I was green in judgment: cold in blood, To say as I said then! Very, very good. Note me duly impressed.

<ahem> I think back then, we all did... (either her's or Dorothy Hamill's!) okay, I've just dated myself...

I always avoid Caeser's Salad on this day...

Is it a regional thing? I've never heard of of it...