January is the calm before the storm in the winery. The 2016s are on their last stages of their secondary fermentation. Once that is completed, then the wine has to be racked into barrels or other maturation containers, ridding the wine of the spent yeast (lees) sediment.
The lees add complexity to the wine but once the secondary is complete there's a fine line where the complexity can become too overbearing.
The wines are tasting good and I am looking forward to racking the wine off the sediment. I monitor the bubbles every day at this juncture and await the secondary completion with baited breath.
The winter has been as snowy and cold as I have seen it in at least a decade. The vines are unscathed however with no evident damage but I anticipate a later than normal bud break which probably corresponds to a later harvest. We've been spoiled with early harvests the last three years. La Nina is probably not my favorite phenomenon.
As soon as it warms up some, I will begin spring pruning. It is a time consuming process but a rather satisfying endeavor combining art and science. I like to leave only 14-16 buds per vine for the new crop but I tend to not count any more.
We picked the remaining Cabernet Franc in 12-degree weather on January 3rd and made a light port wine. I am excited about this. Not sure how it will mature, though. Could be a couple years before it is ready.
Bottled some 2015 Cabernet Franc and 2015 Malbec for release in May.
2014 Merlot and Red Blend are still available.
All for now…Looking forward to getting out in the vineyard when it thaws out!
Cheers,
Todd
