Does vintage really matter?

You may recall an earlier post (actually a short auto-biography) written by Ross Workman. As a result of that post, I asked Ross if he would consider writing some future posts. Here is the first of what may become an ongoing feature to this blog. Ladies and Gentlemen, Ross Workman:

Ross Workman -- Thinking About Wine

Does vintage really matter?

Probably not in California. Wine critics’ practice of rating the quality of one vintage compared to another is an artifact of English wine writing. English importers of French wine were the first wine writers. And, because the summer weather varies considerably from one year to the next in European winegrowing areas, there was often considerable variation in the quality of different vintages. So, for some people, it was important to know whether a particular year was thought to produce better or worse wine. Hence the experts got in the habit of telling us what years were better than others. And drinkers got in the habit of believing them. The practice continues today.

But many winegrowing areas have weather that is not nearly as variable as Europe’s. California’s weather is almost boringly predictable. We have very little serious rain between May and sometime in October. The Napa Valley latitude is about the same as Sicily, while Bordeaux is about the same as Vancouver. Being father south, and largely rain-free in the growing season, it is much easier for us consistently to achieve the desired level of ripeness winemakers seek. Moreover, the ocean temperature from Santa Barbara north is quite cool -- mostly in the 50’s. That results in a significant diurnal (daily) temperature variation in coastal grape growing areas. The 30 – 40 degree swing from high to low and back again preserves the acidity allowing the extended hangtime now common to achieve full physiological maturity and full development of desirable fruit flavors.

Since this happens pretty much every year, we don’t have many years where the quality of the grapes is materially better or worse than other years. But, obviously, the weather is not quite exactly the same from year to year. Bud break, for example, when the vines come out of winter dormancy can occur in March or April. Heat spikes, when temperatures rise above 100 degrees for several days straight, can occur in June, July, August or September and the grapes are in different states of maturation in different months so the effect on the grapes can be different. Unseasonable rains do occur and are unwelcome, but they are rarely significant. The relatively minor year-to-year variations in the weather do result in differences in the grapes. But, for me the differences are pretty insignificant.

When I drink wine from the same winemaker and the same vineyard for successive years, I can tell them apart. And I might like one better than the other. But I have a hard time convincing myself that one vintage is significantly better or worse than the other. They more often strike me that while they may be a bit different; both are about the same level of overall quality. A little variation in the flavor year-to-year is welcome and interesting. But a marked jump up or down in quality just doesn’t happen for me. And, since the whole experience is subjective anyway, I find vintage a pretty useless concept for California wines.

Where the notion of rating vintages really gets hard to believe though, is when the critic opines on the quality of the year, not for a particular wine, but for a single varietal and for a broad region. I’m generally more amused than impressed by the 100 point scale of rating wines, but its application to whole vintages for large areas seems to me to have no credibility at all. Reading that a particular year of, say, California (or even Sonoma) Pinot Noir rates 88 – 90 points is just downright funny. How many growers, farming how many acres of Pinot Noir vineyards, making how many myriad farming choices, were there that year in California or Sonoma? Am I supposed to believe that that year’s weather affected them all the same and that none of them did anything different that year and that the thousands of winemakers who vinified their grapes slavishly failed to adjust for any differences in weather that did occur? Gimme a break! The critic tastes a lot of wines, but not all of them. And he’s delivering his own subjective judgments anyway.

So is the critic telling me that I will be wise to avoid buying Pinot Noir from that year because he rated the following year much better at 94 -96 points? Maybe I have a misplaced or exaggerated faith in my own ability to decide what I like and don’t like, but I’m not going to let somebody else tell me that a whole year in a whole region is better or worse -- and by how many points on a 100 point scale it is better or worse.

Besides. I don’t even like Pinot Noir very much. But that’s another story.

Cheers!

Ross Workman

More on John's Pumpkins

Some kids REALLY got into John's Pumpkins!

Others were a bit more hesitant

Pumpkin Time

Ranndy's Note: The pumpkins above and the post

below are both the work of my brother - John C. Piña

Why grow a pumpkin? I guess everyone has their own reason, but I think many do it for the same reason. To see how big a pumpkin they can grow. Personally, I have always enjoyed seeing the pictures and stories about those people that grow those Atlantic Giant Pumpkins that always win the contests. How is it possible that a plant that starts from a seed can grow a fruit that large in only seven or eight months? It doesn’t happen without a lot of hard work and some luck. The plant does its part by setting, expanding and ripening the fruit. The grower does everything possible to give the plant ideal growing conditions, including monitoring water requirements, fertilizer needs, aiding in pollination and even monitoring and mitigating sunlight. Have you ever seen a pampered pumpkin with its own parasol? I have.
Thought I began growing a pumpkin to compete in a local contest (I even won, 185#, small potatoes); I realized that first year, it was for the kids. Kids do enjoy carving pumpkins, but you should see them light up when you pull up with the truck and unload their own personalized pumpkin. So, for the past 10 years I have grown them for my Grandkids, other kids and myself.

Saying Goodbye to 2009

Piña Vineyard Management (PVM) had their end of year harvest party yesterday (Friday, Oct 30).  At this annual event, all the employees are given a shirt & a hat. My brother, John C. Piña, designed this year's shirt. He wanted to say Goodbye to 2009.. or maybe it would be more appropriate to say: Go Away 2009!   

  

Rosa models John's shirt

2009

Recession

Poor Wine Sales

No Grape Buyers 

Swine Flu

Rain

Come on 2010

Clair Palmer - Sewer Pipe Sailor

Clair Palmer

(That's Clair, front & center)

All of our wine educators are interesting people. For that reason, I've encouraged each of them to share their stories with us.

The (short) Autobiography of Clair Palmer

Born in Culver City, California, but lived all over the state in interesting towns like Turlock, Oakdale, Modesto, Tracy, Manteca, Alameda & Oakland – All in 10 years. I saw a lot of different grade schools. My father was a carpenter and went to where the work was during the depression. Finally Oakland, he drove to Richmond to build Victory/Liberty ships. He was a Joiner Supervisor. But we moved during WWII and it took us four weeks to drive to Seattle because of the wartime gasoline rationing - The coupon book.
Grew up in the Seattle area and fortunately the Korean conflict put me in the Navy, and I spent 10 years, most of the time in submarines - Sewer Pipe Sailor. I was stationed in Pearl Harbor on a submarine and I met my true love, Audrey on Kalua Beach. She was in the Islands going to the university of Hawaii for a Public Health Degree. We were married at Mare Island in the beautiful St. Peters Chapel, which was the second oldest chapel in the Navy. We had three daughters over time, and we are still married after 54 years.
When I got out of the Regular Navy, the GI Bill got me through the University of Washington with a forestry chemical degree.
I stayed in the Seattle area working for a chemical company for six years, but like my father, moved on. I got interested in Agricultural Chemicals and spent the next 35 years working in the industry. I was hired in New York city as the first American in BASF’s United States group – Myself and a German Ex-patriot. My job was placing experimental agricultural chemicals in all state universities that had an Ag-Chem program, and setting up an Ag-Chem research farm in Greenville Mississippi. From that job, I then moved into Product Management and Sales Management. I worked all the states either in R & D or sales except Alaska. But a clever head-hunter convinced me there was gold in them hills, and I moved on. This time my job was the World Ag Chem market. I had an office in Brussels, Tokyo, and Sao Paulo with people who could communicate with the business, because I do not speak any language besides English. Working rice in Asia was a challenge since not one word was close to anything I have heard before, so I smiled a lot. Bananas in Mindanao, Central America, the Caribbean and South America for protection from Nematodes, was probably the most interesting business. But this all came to an end with consolidation of the Ag Chem business. I ended up in Florida at an Ag-Chem research farm ten houses later (if you move enough, you don’t have to paint the house).
I retired from three companies. Finally the odyssey is over and I transferred myself to Napa, California, and now I will have to paint a house… besides play a lot of tennis.

Blue Skies

Blue skies shining on me,

Nothing but blue skies, do I see…

Things are looking better today for getting some grapes harvested.
The above picture was taken this morning. This afternoon the temperature is in the high 70’s throughout most of the valley.

Hung out to dry

That was quite a little storm we had and there are still lots of grapes hanging in the vineyards. The weather forecast that I had heard for yesterday was partly cloudy, but no rain. Well, we did have some precipitation in the morning, and only caught the sun peeking out a bit for brief periods in the afternoon. The humidity will foster rot in the grapes still out there.

But yesterday, I passed a vineyard in the Rutherford area where they were fighting back. They were removing leaves and canes in the vine fruit zone to promote better air circulation. Look at that picture above and you will see LOTS of vegetation on the ground. This is labor intensive work in an effort to save the crop.

The vineyard foreman said they would be picking on Sunday or Monday. Innocently I asked "You mean if we don't get any more rain you'll pick on Sunday or Monday? He looked at me with an expression that asked "What didn't you understand?". Then he restated that they would be picking on Sunday or Monday.

Buena Suerte, Mi Amigo!