Left Coast Cowboys

Mark Twain said: “Everyone complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Good point. And I wish someone had taken action on this terrible season back in May when it just wouldn’t warm up and wouldn’t stop raining. With a few scattered periods of hot, hot weather, it’s been mostly cooler and wetter than a normal season in Sonoma. And that’s not good for the grapes. Now we have word that a huge storm is going to sweep in Monday, dropping so much rain, it will put an early end to fire season. Which is a good thing for the brush. But not necessarily a good thing for ripening grapes which might start sprouting mold. John the Baptist and Louis are already putting out straw bales to brace for what they are saying will be a big one.

Meanwhile crews have been lined up for 7:30 Sunday to bring in all our Mourvedre and Grenache — even though they haven’t reached the optimum Brix level. With the Cinsault already processed, that will leave only Cabernet out in the field. But our vineyard consultant says Cabernet can pretty much stand up to anything.

While a crew of professional Mexican grape pickers will have no problem bringing in our grapes in a few hours (our vineyard will be a “little earner” for them between “real” jobs), Andy and I have never tried to process this many grapes by ourselves before. I think we have more than two tons out there. And with our sophisticated processing system, that means I sit on the concrete wall above the crush pad and drop grapes bunch by bunch into the crusher/destemmer. So I, in effect, will be “repicking” two tons of grapes. Andy, of course, handles the complicated task of turning the machinery off and on. It’s going to be interesting. And may end with me developing Pop-Eye arms. Instead of Lucille Ball’s comic timing.

Various Unrelated Notes

Chuck the Buck is back in a big way. In fact, I think our wacky weather and the presence of a full moon has brought on an early mating season. Apparently, male deer, at that time, can be very aggressive and fearless. Little Oscar found this out when he went running up to bark at Chuck who has taken to hanging out very close to the barn. The big buck just lowered his horns menacingly. Little Oscar scampered down the hill. Oh, he’s very brave dragging a deer carcass around that the coyotes have killed. But he’s not about to tangle with this.

Chuck the Buck is back. His rack is as impressive as ever. And he's not taking sh*t from anyone. Especially small yappy terriers.

The coyotes are back! Wiley, Wilma and two or three young’uns. John the Baptist and Louis saw them frolicking around the barn a few days ago. Like Chuck the Buck, they showed no interest in running off. As do most of the critters around here, they’re pretty much convinced they own the place.

Our coyotes look like this. Not scrawny, but fat and sassy as German Shephards. This photo from this site: http://www.plumas-eureka.org/mammals.html

Even if my grapes aren’t ripening as fast as I’d like, my prickly pear cactus is. John the Baptist brought in one of the fruits and showed me how to peel one and eat the fruit.

Tastes surprisingly like...pomegranate.

Last week, Two Terrier Vineyards hosted a prestigious group: The McNabb Family of England. Old friends from way back, the McNabbs are also very knowledgeable about wine. Knowledgeable as in lifelong oenophiles with two members (Paul and John) being graduates of a prestigious and difficult wine course in France which I understand is aimed at training top level sommeliers.

You may ask if we were nervous having such distinguished palates at Two Terrier Vineyards. That is given that it was just a few seasons ago we created our first wines (with somewhat disastrous results.) In reality, this year is probably the last one for awhile where we can confidently expose our efforts to such a knowledgeable audience. You see, grapes don’t even come to the first hint of maturity for at least three years. Due to a late rainy season when we planted, our grapes are only two-and-a-half years old. The result, the wine we made this year, if good, can be attributed to our skill and innate winemaking ability. If bad, well, the grapes aren’t ready yet. That excuse will fade with the coming seasons, so this is the time to have experts expound with minimal damage to the ego.

So last Wednesday, with McNabbs in tow, we headed to Two Terrier Vineyards for a professional barrel tasting and analysis of this year’s vintages.

The tour got off to a slow start as John became enamored of my father's old Winchester rifle. As a former British Army man, John might be a valuable ally in my war against the foxes and gophers that are sabotaging my fava beans.

Then a brief detour of the architectural delights of the ranch — given that we haven’t yet gotten around to building traditional human dwelling places.

Here Andy (center) explains to Paul (left) and John about the amphitheater which is built with stones from the property.

Then a foray into the vineyards themselves to inspect how the vines were tied and trained.

Paul and John pronounced the vineyards "First Rate".

Finally, the moment of truth: the tasting. Reverently, samples were drawn from the oak barrels where most of our wines are currently resting.

This is what a serious tasting looks like. Can you sense the hushed tones and concentration?

Again, no trepidation on our part to expose our wine to these distinguished palates. If it’s bad, we can just blame it on those immature grapes.

The verdicts were:  the Cinsault was appley and too young, but John thought it may develop very nicely. The Grenache was ” just okay”, but the Mouvedre was deemed better. and the Cabernet was thought to have potential although too much woodiness. Unfortunately, that was our lowest yield grape, without enough to fill an oak barrel so it rested in stainless steel with the inferior method of adding oak chips.

Then in an interesting twist, John and Paul decided to take two of our Rhone varietals and make a Rhone style blend. They mixed two-thirds of the “just okay” Grenache with one-third of the better Mouvedre. The result: added structure to a wine that we will have to call “McNabb Blend”.

In our book, as completely self-taught novices, this was a major thumbs up.

But the best was yet to come. At lunch at Sonoma’s Girl and the Fig restaurant, Paul uncorked two gems from his extensive wine collection: a 1994 Chateauneuf du Pape white and a 1994 Pommerol. Some would say, these are two of the best wines in the last two decades.

As we oohed and ahed over this special treat, Ruth, John’s wife, finally spoke up: “Actually, these wines are fine, but I prefer Andy’s.”

Thanks Ruth. You’ll be writing the tasting notes on the label!

Paul shoots Ruth the kind of look you would expect from a wine expert who has just heard someone declare that Two Terrier wine is better than some of the best the French have to offer.

After a few weeks’ hiatus, we’re back up at the ranch to see how things are progressing. With just about everything in dormancy, that means nothing is really progressing anywhere. But it makes for a good opportunity to put on cowboy gear and sleep in a barn.

As you heard in a recent post, the only crop I have going are the Brussels Sprouts, which I’m afraid are completely ruined by the recent warm spell of temperatures in the seventies. NOTE TO SELF: Sonoma Valley is not Brussels Sprouts growing territory.

The next thing to check was the wine, which has been safely resting in oak barrels. For an expert opinion, we invited our friend, Julian, eccentric and wine connoisseur, and his lovely wife, Vickie. Julian gave the stamp of approval to our Cabernet which is showing a lot of fruit, body and structure. He was very kind about the Grenache, Mouvedre and Cinsault. But what can you say about wine made from grapes from immature vines. It’s a little thin and not yet ready for primetime as bold Rhone varietals. Maybe we’ll pass those off as Rose.

Wine aficionado, Julian, passes judgement on Two Terrier Vineyards' latest vintage.

The Cabernet was judged as best.

Did I mention that Julian brought his giant hounds?

Accompanying Julian and Vickie were their giant hounds, Elsa and Dougal. They are a breed called Leonberger. These are dogs of German origin and were developed from Newfoundland , Saint Bernard, and Pyrenean Mountain Dog. I’d say there is also a fair amount of Sasquatch in them. These dogs are massive. But then Julian has never been known to do anything by half.

These dogs are so huge, they even made Oscar scared. And Oscar is a fifteen pound dog who thinks he’s bigger than the biggest Pitbull, Shepherd, or Labrador in the park. At Crissy Field, playing in the Bay, he’s actually figured out how to get Labs to go fetch things from further than he can swim, then drop them on command so that he can take them. Oscar is a BIG dog in a small package.

Oscar reassessed his size self-image when massive Dougal jumped into Lake Charles after him.

And he beat a hasty retreat from the huge hairy monster.

Oscar and Lucy only reappeared when Julian got out the hose.

Unfortunately, Julian had not gotten the memo that terriers are ALWAYS on hose patrol.

And that's the report on cowboys, dogies and doin's at Two Terrier Vineyards.