Aug 23rd TopnTaste Report

We met to check wines and talk about the Fall schedule. We celebrated a "Best Blend" award for Riverwoods and a Third Place for Best Cabernet with Michele and Tom!  Salute!  It was a busy busy night. Here's what I remember of it.

 

Troy

 

It's always so fun to taste the wines at the end of the summer. They've gone through their mid-life crisis and are entering a point where they're stable and ready to bottle.  This year's no different. All the wines are starting to shine!  Here are some notes from tonight's Top N Taste. 

• The Merlot continues to surprise us on how far it has come. It's still tannic but it tates like Merlot! Next step is to try the Boisique blend.
   
• The Petite Sirah has nice fruit and some barrel tannins on the finish. Simple, fruity and nice.
  
• The Syrah continues to be a bit thin but with a nice finish.
  
• The Cousins blend of Syrah and Petite Sirah is the best of both. Fruit, body and finish.  The barrel has a 50/50 blend and tonight we tried a step towards more p. sirah and liked it.  We need to do more blending but a 70% Petite Sirah 30% Sirah is tasting very promising.
   
• The Malbec continues to be smooth with loads of white pepper. We broke down a carboy for topping and it had a funky layer on top but was OK underneath. We took off the top bit and added some meta to it and to the barrel, which also had a slight surface film but smelled and tasted fine.
   
• The WA Cab was smooth and had a great nose. It had us thinking that maybe we should bottle cab early this year!?
   
• The ID Cab had good flavor and body, but less nose, although Ray's barrel had more vanilla nose from the French barrel.
   
• A few weeks ago the port had some oxidation and a VA smell. The smell has subsided and the port tastes great. We think we want to bottle it first to make sure we get it safely into a bottle. We want to add 10-15ppm meta when we bottle to help protect it.

We talked about a new barrel. Ray thinks we could use to get some newer wood. The oldest barrel is his 22G recoop French. The most neutral is Troy's 15 Hungarian or Lee's 15G French.  For size we could use something smaller like a 10 G.  We don't need the new wood this year (less cab) but will be looking to rotate in some new wood this year or next.

 

We need 1 more racking before we bottle for clarity.  We are going to rack this Monday Aug 30th for sure, and possibly Sunday Aug 29th as well. NOTE: We need to add 15ppm meta before we rack to get ready for bottling.  Add the meta after racking OUT of the barrels and before racking back IN.

  - 15PPM SO2

    - 1/4 tsp meta = 15ppm in 15 gal

    - 1/3 tsp meta = 15ppm in 20 gal

    - 1/2 tsp meta = 15ppm in 30 gal

Proposed bottling for the Port is the week of September 13th. We'll firm up a date as it gets closer.  Mike will check on splits for bottling. Troy will check on corks.

We need to do tasting trials for the magnafique, boisique and cousins blends in September.  People should also give some thought to if we want to bottle the cabernet NOW or hold it a few more months in the barrel.  This is a very good cab and can take some extra wood and it will make a great Reserve. But if we bottle it now we could take an extra 1,000lbs (60G) of wine this year.  We need to decide right away if we want to get more grapes to fill those barrels.

We reviewed grapes for 2010 and decided with the shorter growing year we wanted to go long on merlot and syrah and do less later ripening varietals like Cab and Petite Sirah.  We never know what we're going to get until it's in the barrels, but here's what we're going to try for:

Wood River-- Mike and Troy will follow up.

- 1,000 lbs of Merlot. Could take up to 1,500lbs.  (500 lbs confirmed so far).

- 1,000 lbs of Malbec.

 

Williamson -- Lee will follow up

- 250 lbs of Cab or Syrah

- 600 - 800 lbs.of Viognier

 

RiverRock

- 500 lbs of Clone 6 Cab

 

Hells Canyon -- Lee to follow up.

- Glean Syrah and Cab Franc

 

Periple -- Troy will confirm.

- 1,000 lbs of WA Syrah through Angie.