Don Giovanni

FLX::: Update well the harvest is in and done for 95% of us in the FLX region... we are thankful for the help in pressing help that was bestowed upon us by several of our friends in the region... this year was very good, but not 07' just close ...the flavors are intense and it's up to the wine-makers not to over extract this year... it's a year of the easy touch... 4 to 6 weeks earlier than normal and the earliest harvest we have brought in thus far in 12 years... frost will hit our region in the next day or two... the fork is well placed this year and it's humbling to work with such great grapes...

in the next 14 days it's time to finish harvest ... why push it... things are great and the frost ghost is knocking on the door... the grapes this year at least the ones brought in the FLX region from my perspective are some of the very best... now if the wine-makers don't drop the ball the vintage will be great ... I don't drop balls at this point in my life... our vintage thus far is perfect if I do say so myself... Cheers !!!

Biodynamic Wine Tasting Fruit day vrs root day . call it bunk until you experience it Fruit day vrs root day ... call it bunk until you experience it ... today when showing wines I was asked to join in and give some notes... having just done this yesterday it seemed like a no brainer, right ? wrong ... not looking at my biodynamic calendar I started to taste the wines... earth and minerals that just were not there yesterday at all... more swirl, sniff, sip, spit ... again earth notes and minerals... A very big WTF... moment ... I yell out oh no it's a root day ... the sommelier who I was tasting with says your right ...!!!... all earth no fruit... go ck your BD calendar ... sure enough the day was fruit in he AM ... we now were into the root part of the cycle when we were tasting... I taste all the time with people ... for some reason the root day unbeknown to me, took over and was confirmed by the notes and the BD calendar... you can call it whatever you want ... seeing is believing and I believe... so question ... have you ever tasted a wine one day and the very next experienced such a difference ? did you ever think it might be a different cycle such as a root day ? __________________ many of us have lived the experience not knowing why things tasted so different just a few days apart ... my post is one of knowing understanding that I had and identifying the type of BD day without looking ... this is the art in practice ... the art of the taste... this is a great BD calender... Click On Me Quote: Every day is a good day to drink wine, but some days are better than others... Fruit days (red) are BEST for bringing out the taste of the wine Flower days (yellow) are neutral in terms of taste Leaf days (green) will not do the wine any favours Root days (brown) will have a negative effect on the wine flavour If you need any proof of this - other than your own taste buds, check out the recent lunar wine tasting articles on the BBC and in The Guardian, or you can watch this 5 minute SKY News clip about Both Marks and Spencer and Tesco product buyers consult a moon wine tasting calendar so that they only conduct wine-tasting for supplier selection on Fruit Days!!! So why not use our Biodynamic Moon Gardening Calendar, and save the Chateau Lafitte for Fruit days, and drink the boxed plonk on Root days. Simply choose the red-coloured Fruit days on the calendar, or the Yellow coloured Flower days as the next-best choice. Click On Me

The World's Oldest Winery Releases Its 800th Vintage - http://www.huffingto..._b_1843948.html Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

FLX: update the harvest has stopped due to the rain... it started very early and the hybrids most of them are in... this leaves us like last year with the hope mother nature does not drench us too much in the bottom of the ninth inning... was out very early taking samples and although I like to compare this to the 07' vintage ... she is no 07' from this days perspective ... give us 10 days sun then a bit of rain then 10 more days of sun...and I will give you perfection ... give me prolonged rain and I will have sour grapes and they seem to be going around today...

2012 harvest perfect, close ? :: The air is warm, whispering Willows sway in the wind, smells of earth, flowers, grapes envelope my senses, the taste of G-d's fruit smacks my lips, chewing the seeds, tasting flavor, tannins, sugar, nectar of the gods, the delivery of the vintage, offering four corners of the vineyard to charity, butterflies dance, bees delight, workers scamper in a rhythm, wondrous adventures aromas of juice flowing ... looking great to spectacular ...

FLX ::: update harvest started today ... Aurora grapes a neutral wht grape used for blending... I was up early sun-up and saw crews at work on the East Side in Wagners vineyard then ... many fruit wines use this grape as a base ... earliest I have ever seen in 12 years and beat 2001 by 2 weeks and that was early due to the 01' drought... ninth inning all eyes on the pitcher mother nature ...

FLX ::: Update the grapes wht esp... three weeks early... the past week sugar production has been slow due to the clouds... all we need is some dry hot sunny days and it's off to the races for what could be a very good to great vintage... that said it's too early to start dancing... all eyes on the sun

TN: 2009 Cotes du Rhone red E.Guigal 88/89 points 50% Syrah , 40% Grenache and 10% Mourvedre ... this bottle was a gift from BB member Russel Spillman who stopped over for a tasting as he does from time to time and gave me the wine blind... last time I could got the wine wrong ... this time I nailed it... got the blend right picked Spain and was wrong on the country ...blind tastings are very humbling ... so dark color violet ... nose is filled with saffron and fennel spice with the fruit of red crisp raspberry, hint of blueberry, red tart cherry, violet, lavender, the mouth-feel was tart with crisp acidity followed by silk tannins well integrated that leave your mouth snapping up the red fruits raspberry, red tart cherry candy red liquorice, cinnamon long finish the alc is balanced and comes in at 14% by vol... this was a very good wine a QPR wine my score 88/89 drink now for the next few years do not hold...

ok I have a name for the organic red grape...tell me what you think... raganic red or roganic red ?

Cornell asks wine lovers for help naming new grapes any ideas... ?>>> Click ON Me

if in Germany etc ask for the “little floating white feathers” or “Federweisser” so most of us love to learn everyday and today I picked up a new term for something I enjoy every year during fermentation ... “little floating white feathers” or “Federweisser” grape juice in the process of fermenting... just don't drink a lot of it ... the treat is the juice during a very short time frame that is fermenting ... called “little floating white feathers” or “Federweisser” in Germany; although they don't have a monopoly on the tradition it's a term I stumbled upon today...enjoy...

ok ... so the bees nest was shaken ... cork has come a very long way... the failure rate is falling, just how much ? I really don't know ...any failure is one too many no matter what the closure is... I use a composite where the cork is broken up and treated and put back together ... after over 10 years we have had less than 5 cork failures and the wines are aging wonderfully out of 500,000 ... the type is called DIAM... I really don't know what is the best is ,but wine and cork have a very long relationship that we measure storage and quality of wine for centuries and I really don't think that will ever change...

how many more will due to reduction turn their back and change ... Rusden Wines abandons screwcap for cork Click On me I say screwcap wines drink now... let the experiment continue, but not with my wine( that is personal consumption wine) ... Quote: "Our wines are handmade and bottled without fining or filtration. Under a screwcap I have noticed the wines ‘sweat', producing overly dominant reductive characters, a problem we have never had under cork," he said. Quote: Last year iconic South African winery Klein Constantia returned to cork to seal its premier white wine, the Perdeblokke Sauvignon Blanc. The decision was driven by concerns over reductive characters under screwcap.

FLX update... the drought weather has caused some of us to drop fruit to take the stress off the crop... we did get a break and some rain fell the past week for a few days... the rain did give the crop a good bath and take pressure off the vines... more importantly the fertilizer now wet has a chance to be taken up by the vine and much needed nitrogen will be delivered... after a hot and warm winter we all thought the bugs would be a problem... we to date have seen very little pressure from pests ... low pressure from a very low humid summer has helped with minimal pressure of mold and mildews... I ask myself is this what growing in a warm dry climate is all about ? looking at small tight berries at this point and starting to hold my breath as we get over the hump of the growing season... in short thing look perfect and I hate to use that word...

sorry I have been very busy... Dry and hot in the FLX::: not a bad thing for those vineyards spared from the ravaging frost devils this spring ... the crop once thinned by nature and once thinned by our wandering vineyard crew is looking very impressive... dare I say on line to be like 01'05'and 07' could I witness and partake of the forth vintage of a lifetime in the FLX ? the weeds are not a issue in hot years ... humidity is very low no molds etc to worry about... the spraying is at a record low... some potash will be applied to bost the potassium after the regular fertilizer takes hold... Jap beetles that are usually a problem are not this year yet... so I sit thinking at this point we still have a long way to go,but the vintage maybe the best yet in the FLX could be a very nice ending to what was a very cruel start...

Opa! Greek Wines Create Some Buzz Drinking Greek wines for solidarity ? I think the thing most people should realize is the vines IIRC are not on American rootstock and the wine is pure expression of that sense of place from this one aspect... below is one producer who boasts this, but IIRC no vines that have the American rootstock on the Greek islands... ?... Click On me Click On Me

please note 4th Pinot clone is Pommard 4, not RC 212.

ITB tasting of Clos Pepe and presentation by Wes Hagen the wine-maker ... Wes is a very pleasant funny guy with a very deep passion for making the best wines he can... trying to express the vineyard and not some other idea of what the wine should taste like... it was a pleasure to meet him... Clos Pepe Estate 2002 Pinot Noir this was a very hot year with low yields... this wine is developing in bottle very nicely ...good tannin integration of smooth tannins ... nice rich dark ruby color ... nice vanilla with black liquorices notes followed by rich red fruits ... this wine is hitting it's stride and is drinking very well ...drink now through 2015 points 91/92 Clos Pepe Estate 2008 Pinot Noir this is a wimp compared to the other vintages I would drink you wine now as this will not be getting an better in bottle... the nose was very floral, strawberry, geranium a bit odd and a typical of PN ... notes of clove rang my bell a few times along with other white spices... the color is lighter ruby red ... 14.2 abv drink now as I feel this wine is going nowhere in bottle points 89 Clos Pepe Estate 2009 Pinot Noir this wine is all about balance picked 24.4 brix and 3.17 acid and TA 7.5 ... the alc comes in at 14.1 abv this wine is a real gem drinking very well at this time...the balance is present with every sip...good nuances of oak interplaying with the fruit of red and on the verge of dark fruits to blackberries with anise coming from the barrel...the color is a vibrant ruby red ... drink now to 2017 points 91 Clos Pepe Estate 2010 Pinot Noir a hot bruit of a vintage ...brix 26-28 and Jesus units added back to mellow it out... 14.5 abv... PN clones 115, 667, 777,RC 212 ... good solid oak structure nice interplay with the 11 months of oak and only one racking pre filtering ... floral nose, fruit notes red, strawberry, raspberry to tart cherry... rich deep ruby color and great mouth-feel...this wine is very young and IMVHO needs 5 to 10 years to mellow and deliver the hot vintage that it was to your palate ... harvested at night due to the extreme heat during harvest... drink 2014 - 2024 points 92/93 Clos Pepe Estate 2009 Chardonnay this was a very nice eye-opening wine... melon bangs you in s supple way then apricot, citrus followed by green apple... very nice mouth-feel...the color is light straw or hay ... clean finish and very yummy wine with no hint of oak... very European Chard... alc 14.3% abv... drink now - 2015 points 92/93

De Bortoli Wines launches Australia's first sparkling wine using a high pressure screw-cap Click On Me

last night 29F and the frost season is over IMVHO LT wee look great... just assessing the damage ....time to look forward...

as if last night wasn't bad enough tonight depending on the source low 25F to 30 F ... tried to be the optimist looks like it did not work...

FLX::: I might add we have not had weather like this since 1945 ...how nice...

FLX::did not do so well last night 27 F damage will not be fully realized for a few days at first, but it will be extensive...I think this is the last real bad one for the season...

nothing short of divine intervention or living near a deep lake in the "Banana Belt section " we saw coldest 31 F no damage... north and west of us the frost demons were cruel ... they saw lows 28F ... very impressed with that deep lake 750 FT and the micro-climate ... East Seneca, again comes through ...