A Winter's day playing with Spring's notes like our two dogs wrestling below in the yard. A still-crisp warmth flows through opened windows and rooms weary of their chill. The doors of the barrel room are opened and beckon. The big doors are open in the tank room gulping in the sun's rays; illuminating the furthest shaded corners. It's a drying trend also; the dampness has left the air. Its touch is cool yet warm, dry and crisp, and smells refreshingly of Spring.
At the winery's front entrance the crocus rise to the challenge. Are they too early? Or is it really warm enough to nurture their tender and verdant needs? I say it is the latter and they are right on time. I trust the rising green crocus more than the burrowing prickly groundhog.
My office window is open. It is almost 6pm on Thursday. Yesterday. The beautiful day. Warm as today, but not with rain so we could be out in it. Today we unloaded fourteen hundred cases of empty bottles -"the glass" which will be used next week to make capsuled, labeled, and finished bottles of wine. The first of the 2008 season! In about two weeks we'll be ready to release an extraordinary wine made from the Traminette grape. Clear, white, tender, and redolent with tea rose and jasmine. We love it. You're going to love it. Sharon & Rick's style of wine begins to truly emerge! Last week Rick had me try a beautifully constructed 2008 Cab Franc. Light and Burgundian; perfectly balanced and incredible to drink. Ironically, the 2007 Cab Franc, with its intensely lush berries and pepper had been my favorite wine until that sip. Two wines from the same grapes yet so completely different and extraordinarily crafted. Ah...terroir! We have fallen in love with terroir! And after all of the wonderful help we have received from this amazing winemaking community, Sharon and Rick are finding their own voice.
My window is still open and the sun has set behind Little Cobbler Mountain; first teasing footprint of the rolling Piedmont behind. How the seasons roll from the sweeping vistas of our patio. In the depths of winter -only two months ago(?) - the sun sets much further southward on the ridge: down behind Big Cobbler and much closer to Marshall from our perspective. In the height of summer the sun is due West and behind the highest point of the Piedmont, up where the Appalachia Trail crosses, where the radio and television towers rise. On this lovely evening the sun is almost half-way returned from the South and well on its journey Northward. The suitcase is well past packed and the travels are long underway. Our sun warms and makes its majestic journey northward, carrying the Spring on its back and joy in its path. My office Window is still open and it's 7pm on February 26th.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
There is a story behind BOW's New Patio
If you've been to BOW in the past few weeks you've probably noticed a large ring of rock and boulders off the end of the outdoor patio. This area is our new patio. Once the ring of rock is in place we'll grade the inside and pour concrete. This will more than double the area we have for patio seating. Perhaps more importantly, we'll also put in a large outdoor tasting area where guests can taste and purchase our wine under cover of a large tent. Just off the edge of the patio will be the newest vineyard featuring Chardonnay and the noble Viognier grape. Around much of the perimeter of the patio will be an outward facing curved table where you can sit and drink in the beauty of our sweeping and historic vistas. We are really excited about this project because it will prevent crowding in the tasting room and provide our guests and friends with a lovely way to experience BOW wines in the outdoors.
But to us the new patio also represents many other things. Change, growth, opportunity, challenge, success, staffing, and logistics come to mind.
We have had an amazing first season. Where we had expected a significant winter drop off in business there really hasn't been one. In fact last Saturday was our second busiest day since opening. WOW! BOW WOW! That's great because it means our customers really appreciate what we are doing and it really helps to pay the bills. (You can see a video of all the fun at our BOW Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14661977550. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the video of all the folks, kids and dogs enjoying our wine, their picnics, and having fun dancing!) All this fun also means that we are not getting the break we expected allowing us to regroup and organize for the business headed our way this Spring. That said we are in fact spending a great deal of time planning for a very busy season! Every Monday we spend several hours meeting and training with staff and Thursdays the managers all sit down for several hours to plan for current and upcoming needs. It's really exciting to plan for the future! Let me share with you a few of our thoughts.
We foresee a significant increase in business. This is due to several developments: continued growth in business brought in by our regular customers (thank you!), word of mouth (thank you, thank you!), and lastly the traffic we will be getting once the new vineyard is planted around the winery and becomes visible from the interstate. To handle this increase we are more than doubling our serving and sales capacity with three permanent tasting areas rather than just the one and with the addition of three more sales locations. We don't want our customers waiting in lines and this plan addresses that goal. The result: when you come in on a busy Saturday you'll be greeted at the door and guided to the best possible place to be served by one of our friendly and well trained service staff. Sharon and Rick have also made quite a bit more wonderful wine for your tasting and enjoyment. The quality is excellent and the heart that has gone into each bottle shines for all to see. We will add over 100 additional seats for guests. While we will still do regular tours, we will soon have signs downstairs that tell you about the production process when you take a self-guided tour of the winery. More importantly, we will more than double our staff with added emphasis on service in front of the tasting bar as well as behind. We'll have additional managers to keep an eye on the quality of our service to our customers and to address potential issues before they ever pop up.
Our ultimate goal is to maintain the quality, comfort, professionalism, and intimacy of our tasting experience for our customers so that you continue to want to visit and to be a part of this amazing journey that Sharon and I, our partners and staff and regulars, and of course the dogs, have been on.
Even though these improvements will take the next few months, we are working on them now. By anticipating what is coming, we want to maximize the continued quality of your experience before it is impacted by our success. I have shared with staff that it is possible to be too successful. It is possible to have unlimited visitors but lose most of them to never return. That would be a shame and it has no place in our vision for BOW.
Making great wine and the satisfaction of your visit is our ultimate goal. Everything else that we do serves this one aspiration. When next you are in, please share with us any suggestions that you have for BOW as we continue to grow and enhance the quality of your every visit.
Cheers!
But to us the new patio also represents many other things. Change, growth, opportunity, challenge, success, staffing, and logistics come to mind.
We have had an amazing first season. Where we had expected a significant winter drop off in business there really hasn't been one. In fact last Saturday was our second busiest day since opening. WOW! BOW WOW! That's great because it means our customers really appreciate what we are doing and it really helps to pay the bills. (You can see a video of all the fun at our BOW Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14661977550. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the video of all the folks, kids and dogs enjoying our wine, their picnics, and having fun dancing!) All this fun also means that we are not getting the break we expected allowing us to regroup and organize for the business headed our way this Spring. That said we are in fact spending a great deal of time planning for a very busy season! Every Monday we spend several hours meeting and training with staff and Thursdays the managers all sit down for several hours to plan for current and upcoming needs. It's really exciting to plan for the future! Let me share with you a few of our thoughts.
We foresee a significant increase in business. This is due to several developments: continued growth in business brought in by our regular customers (thank you!), word of mouth (thank you, thank you!), and lastly the traffic we will be getting once the new vineyard is planted around the winery and becomes visible from the interstate. To handle this increase we are more than doubling our serving and sales capacity with three permanent tasting areas rather than just the one and with the addition of three more sales locations. We don't want our customers waiting in lines and this plan addresses that goal. The result: when you come in on a busy Saturday you'll be greeted at the door and guided to the best possible place to be served by one of our friendly and well trained service staff. Sharon and Rick have also made quite a bit more wonderful wine for your tasting and enjoyment. The quality is excellent and the heart that has gone into each bottle shines for all to see. We will add over 100 additional seats for guests. While we will still do regular tours, we will soon have signs downstairs that tell you about the production process when you take a self-guided tour of the winery. More importantly, we will more than double our staff with added emphasis on service in front of the tasting bar as well as behind. We'll have additional managers to keep an eye on the quality of our service to our customers and to address potential issues before they ever pop up.
Our ultimate goal is to maintain the quality, comfort, professionalism, and intimacy of our tasting experience for our customers so that you continue to want to visit and to be a part of this amazing journey that Sharon and I, our partners and staff and regulars, and of course the dogs, have been on.
Even though these improvements will take the next few months, we are working on them now. By anticipating what is coming, we want to maximize the continued quality of your experience before it is impacted by our success. I have shared with staff that it is possible to be too successful. It is possible to have unlimited visitors but lose most of them to never return. That would be a shame and it has no place in our vision for BOW.
Making great wine and the satisfaction of your visit is our ultimate goal. Everything else that we do serves this one aspiration. When next you are in, please share with us any suggestions that you have for BOW as we continue to grow and enhance the quality of your every visit.
Cheers!
Friday, February 13, 2009
The Game is On!
In the spirit of the 25 things phenom sweeping the FaceBook Nation, I thought that this week we'd share some not so random thoughts from several vantage points.
So here's the game. Which of the below are:
A. From our FB 25 list,
B. From our guests,
C. From past emails.
Let's see how well you know us.
Please Enjoy!
1. I came to your winery this past Friday and enjoyed it tremendously. This was my first time at a winery. My mother and I were visiting my sister in the Manassas area and traveled to Delaplane to your winery. I purchased three bottles to bring home to the Birmingham area and share with my husband. Your wine expert was fabulous. She answered my questions and further educated me on wine. We are hosting our first dinner club next Tuesday night and I purchased the Chocolate Lab just for the occasion. I cannot wait to share it with my friends. When I return to the area, I will definitely be back.
2. We first met sitting next to each other during orientation at GU's MSFS grad program. She had bangs and looked like a doll. I had neither gut nor grey. Surprisinigly, the..chemistry... was...not...instantaneous. Love didn't stick till about 7 months later when my knee exploded while dancing. She's been taking care of me ever since.
3. Wanted to say we had a great time this past Saturday (1/31). We loved all of your wines. Also liked being to be able to bring both of our dogs with us. We had the 2 goldendoodles (They loved all the attention they got). Unfortunately I didn't get the name of the photographer who was there taking pictures. Does he have a website or contact information. I would love to be able to get some copies of some of the photos he took. We will definitely be coming back out. Probably when the weathers warmer and we can be outside with the dogs. It was worth the 80 mile drive from Waldorf.
4. There before me was a very large meatloaf-looking object without discernable bird shape or fowl form. I couldn't comprehend what I was looking at and what I saw was horrible. A bird had been sent out and this had been returned, stuffed and shapeless. There was no leg, no thigh, no apparent dark or light meat, no savories stuck in the nooks and crannies of anything even resembling a bird, no pope's nose and no wish bone. And yet the skin of the bird was still whole and intact! It was like reading a very bad tabloid: the juicy particulars had been removed with every last potential bone of contention. The eviscerated turkey flesh was now just a wrapping around the stuffing placed grandly inside. To this day I don't know how that butcher made those bones disappear. And I have no idea how many hundreds of dollars he must have charged to create the strange magic of that formless boneless turkey presented on that far away table.
5. I purchased and systematically destroyed a 1985 Kawasaki 1000R, the fastest production motorcycle in its day in a series of four ill-conceived and badly executed catastrophic accidents that have left me partially loopy (like my dog) to this day. The whiplash was cured in 1992, thank you.
6. My sister sent on the email she sent to you letting you know how much fun she and I had at your winery last Friday night---she wrote something along the lines of “ sister and I came, I will be back” sounded like I didn’t enjoy myself! But I had a wonderful time – it is just that I live in N.C. and the drive would be prohibitive!! Just wanted to clarify that. PS: the singer on Fri night was fantastic – please have her again – tremendous evening!! And I really have enjoyed the first red wine on the list I brought back some bottles for gifts too.
7. Fire and ice, silly and sensible, leather and lace, loud and quiet, joyful and joyous, common and regal, beast and beauty, brunette and blonde, big and small, gastronome and athlete, steak and pita, red and white, sales and manufacturing, promotions and product, cents and sensibility, challenging and challenged.
8. We love Barrel Oak for the regular and obvious reasons... great wine... beautiful place to relax... right down to those awesome faucets in the WC - lol But for me, my best reason is just the mentality of you and your lovely bride when it comes to giving back to the community who so loves you.
9. If I have a choice of drinking wine at a place where I feel like cattle being moved through a chute with commercialism written all over it... or a place where I come in and feel appreciated and welcomed as a friend by staff and owners and the main order of business (aside from crushing and bottling) is "who can we help this week with food or donations?" then by golly, we're going to patron the place that realizes that success is just another opportunity to help those who need it.
10. It was a bit early for us. We've been sleeping in a little later and recovering from the craziness of the harvest and crush and tasting room. My feet don't hurt these days and she has been getting back into the gym. But this morning was different. Our customers have been patient, at first quietly waiting for the ChocoLab, then persistently asking for it, then beginning with the pleading, and more recently threatening us with beatings if we didn't get more soon. Lying there...we felt...safer. I rolled over and smiled at her. 'hmmmm....not gonna be any beatings.' she smiled back.
11. I have thrice accidentally seriously electrocuted myself. Not the 110 volt stuff which I have done 100s of times as a remodeler, but the 220 stuff that cooks. Once in the head, once in the chest, and once in my hand. Each time I made a noise very much like ununununununaaaaaaaagggghaahhhhhununununaagagagagakkkkakaka! As a result I have an irregular heart beat that occasionally makes me feel like absolute hell. Two operations have not yet solved this situation. The question is if I am up for a third.
12. I just loaded your website on my Facebook Page......I want allllllllll my friends to know how incredibly awesome you are! Thanx for all the good times, as we just moved here. We shall be certain, to bring all our "Peeps" from MD, DC, and NY out to see you when they visit!
13. Wow. The sun is rising in a thin sliver of light. I am looking out my office window westward toward the PIedmont ridgeline. The clouds are wispy and high and because the sun is just clearing the hills behind me, it fills that gap between the earth and the cloud cover. The light is falling intensely on the Oak Hill estate and on the trees surrounding the old house and it is lovely. There are so many warm colors in the woods. The words that we use to capture these colors such as orange and red and yellow do not do justice to this beauty. Of course there is still the green in many of the trees and that makes the other tones so much more striking. This is the beautiful time of year.
It is peak in the Piedmont. It begins here and now and will last maybe a week...two if we're lucky. Soon the leaves will be mostly brown. In place of the warm and strong shades wrapped in their remaining crisp greens, the forests will be turning away toward winter. Soon thereafter they'll shed their leaves and the smoke of our fireplaces will drape their bare branches like a shawl around grandmother's shoulders.
14. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! And THANK YOU so much for a wonderful experience........ Just found you last week.........You are so AWESOME, and set the bar above and beyond most Winery's. in NoVa....(and Restaurants for that matter!!!!)..........We came upon Barrell Oak, just on a "jaunt" as we just moved here (Haymarket) less than a year ago. From New York.......We Hop in the car, and just drive about the area, and happened upon your FABULOUS PLACE................Your Wine is Bar None, and........because we have two little luvs, in which we rescued, we were AMAZED that you are DOG FRIENDLY.............We loved the atmosphere, the staff, and everyone there. It was one of the most pleasant experiences we have had, and the view is incredible, Your Patio, with all the "Fire Pits", Wood, and View of the mountains makes for one incredible experience. We shall tell all our DC Friends, and MD friends, if they want a most relaxing day/eve........to stop by. You truly are, the "Best, of the Best".......Thank you again! For such a wonderful experience...............You DO Raise the Bar!
15. Our friends and family are the absolutely most important thing in our lives. We would sacrifice all we have for any of their welfare.
So here's the game. Which of the below are:
A. From our FB 25 list,
B. From our guests,
C. From past emails.
Let's see how well you know us.
Please Enjoy!
1. I came to your winery this past Friday and enjoyed it tremendously. This was my first time at a winery. My mother and I were visiting my sister in the Manassas area and traveled to Delaplane to your winery. I purchased three bottles to bring home to the Birmingham area and share with my husband. Your wine expert was fabulous. She answered my questions and further educated me on wine. We are hosting our first dinner club next Tuesday night and I purchased the Chocolate Lab just for the occasion. I cannot wait to share it with my friends. When I return to the area, I will definitely be back.
2. We first met sitting next to each other during orientation at GU's MSFS grad program. She had bangs and looked like a doll. I had neither gut nor grey. Surprisinigly, the..chemistry... was...not...instantaneous. Love didn't stick till about 7 months later when my knee exploded while dancing. She's been taking care of me ever since.
3. Wanted to say we had a great time this past Saturday (1/31). We loved all of your wines. Also liked being to be able to bring both of our dogs with us. We had the 2 goldendoodles (They loved all the attention they got). Unfortunately I didn't get the name of the photographer who was there taking pictures. Does he have a website or contact information. I would love to be able to get some copies of some of the photos he took. We will definitely be coming back out. Probably when the weathers warmer and we can be outside with the dogs. It was worth the 80 mile drive from Waldorf.
4. There before me was a very large meatloaf-looking object without discernable bird shape or fowl form. I couldn't comprehend what I was looking at and what I saw was horrible. A bird had been sent out and this had been returned, stuffed and shapeless. There was no leg, no thigh, no apparent dark or light meat, no savories stuck in the nooks and crannies of anything even resembling a bird, no pope's nose and no wish bone. And yet the skin of the bird was still whole and intact! It was like reading a very bad tabloid: the juicy particulars had been removed with every last potential bone of contention. The eviscerated turkey flesh was now just a wrapping around the stuffing placed grandly inside. To this day I don't know how that butcher made those bones disappear. And I have no idea how many hundreds of dollars he must have charged to create the strange magic of that formless boneless turkey presented on that far away table.
5. I purchased and systematically destroyed a 1985 Kawasaki 1000R, the fastest production motorcycle in its day in a series of four ill-conceived and badly executed catastrophic accidents that have left me partially loopy (like my dog) to this day. The whiplash was cured in 1992, thank you.
6. My sister sent on the email she sent to you letting you know how much fun she and I had at your winery last Friday night---she wrote something along the lines of “ sister and I came, I will be back” sounded like I didn’t enjoy myself! But I had a wonderful time – it is just that I live in N.C. and the drive would be prohibitive!! Just wanted to clarify that. PS: the singer on Fri night was fantastic – please have her again – tremendous evening!! And I really have enjoyed the first red wine on the list I brought back some bottles for gifts too.
7. Fire and ice, silly and sensible, leather and lace, loud and quiet, joyful and joyous, common and regal, beast and beauty, brunette and blonde, big and small, gastronome and athlete, steak and pita, red and white, sales and manufacturing, promotions and product, cents and sensibility, challenging and challenged.
8. We love Barrel Oak for the regular and obvious reasons... great wine... beautiful place to relax... right down to those awesome faucets in the WC - lol But for me, my best reason is just the mentality of you and your lovely bride when it comes to giving back to the community who so loves you.
9. If I have a choice of drinking wine at a place where I feel like cattle being moved through a chute with commercialism written all over it... or a place where I come in and feel appreciated and welcomed as a friend by staff and owners and the main order of business (aside from crushing and bottling) is "who can we help this week with food or donations?" then by golly, we're going to patron the place that realizes that success is just another opportunity to help those who need it.
10. It was a bit early for us. We've been sleeping in a little later and recovering from the craziness of the harvest and crush and tasting room. My feet don't hurt these days and she has been getting back into the gym. But this morning was different. Our customers have been patient, at first quietly waiting for the ChocoLab, then persistently asking for it, then beginning with the pleading, and more recently threatening us with beatings if we didn't get more soon. Lying there...we felt...safer. I rolled over and smiled at her. 'hmmmm....not gonna be any beatings.' she smiled back.
11. I have thrice accidentally seriously electrocuted myself. Not the 110 volt stuff which I have done 100s of times as a remodeler, but the 220 stuff that cooks. Once in the head, once in the chest, and once in my hand. Each time I made a noise very much like ununununununaaaaaaaagggghaahhhhhununununaagagagagakkkkakaka! As a result I have an irregular heart beat that occasionally makes me feel like absolute hell. Two operations have not yet solved this situation. The question is if I am up for a third.
12. I just loaded your website on my Facebook Page......I want allllllllll my friends to know how incredibly awesome you are! Thanx for all the good times, as we just moved here. We shall be certain, to bring all our "Peeps" from MD, DC, and NY out to see you when they visit!
13. Wow. The sun is rising in a thin sliver of light. I am looking out my office window westward toward the PIedmont ridgeline. The clouds are wispy and high and because the sun is just clearing the hills behind me, it fills that gap between the earth and the cloud cover. The light is falling intensely on the Oak Hill estate and on the trees surrounding the old house and it is lovely. There are so many warm colors in the woods. The words that we use to capture these colors such as orange and red and yellow do not do justice to this beauty. Of course there is still the green in many of the trees and that makes the other tones so much more striking. This is the beautiful time of year.
It is peak in the Piedmont. It begins here and now and will last maybe a week...two if we're lucky. Soon the leaves will be mostly brown. In place of the warm and strong shades wrapped in their remaining crisp greens, the forests will be turning away toward winter. Soon thereafter they'll shed their leaves and the smoke of our fireplaces will drape their bare branches like a shawl around grandmother's shoulders.
14. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! And THANK YOU so much for a wonderful experience........ Just found you last week.........You are so AWESOME, and set the bar above and beyond most Winery's. in NoVa....(and Restaurants for that matter!!!!)..........We came upon Barrell Oak, just on a "jaunt" as we just moved here (Haymarket) less than a year ago. From New York.......We Hop in the car, and just drive about the area, and happened upon your FABULOUS PLACE................Your Wine is Bar None, and........because we have two little luvs, in which we rescued, we were AMAZED that you are DOG FRIENDLY.............We loved the atmosphere, the staff, and everyone there. It was one of the most pleasant experiences we have had, and the view is incredible, Your Patio, with all the "Fire Pits", Wood, and View of the mountains makes for one incredible experience. We shall tell all our DC Friends, and MD friends, if they want a most relaxing day/eve........to stop by. You truly are, the "Best, of the Best".......Thank you again! For such a wonderful experience...............You DO Raise the Bar!
15. Our friends and family are the absolutely most important thing in our lives. We would sacrifice all we have for any of their welfare.
Friday, February 6, 2009
It's Kinda Like That....
Each Monday at BOW we have our gathering of ideas, gripes, queries, excited observations, and occasional bewilderment. We call it our staff meeting. We've held these since before we opened our doors and I occasionally wonder whether we should be spending precious funds in the slower winter months asking people to come in for a few hours of generalized jawboning. (Sometimes the jawbone is cordially persuasive, occasionally it's used as a club, more often than not it is used by staff to inform and educate management.) At the end of the day we all agree that these meetings are the best way to prepare for the challenging enjoyment of working with the public. It's fair to say that we are all at BOW because we really enjoy serving and assisting and sharing our enthusiasm and educating and telling our stories. But imagine doing that with fifty strangers over seven hours and you can see that it might be a challenge for us all.
The results of all of this effort are gratifying. Sharon and I get to hear wonderful thanks and congratulations from our customers about how great our staff is. They are great! And like anything that is done well, they work hard to excel. They study about wine. They try it at other wineries. They ask us questions and want to learn more. Each week we focus on some aspect of the business and it often regards the production process. This week we did a tasting trial on our Seyval Blanc , Traminette, and Rose.
These wines are still in tank and won't be bottled until the spring. But they are getting close to final maturation and we still have the chance to work with them to get them right. Monday we were considering the effect that enzymes have on the wine's flavor and aromas. "After crushing, negatively charged pectin molecules form a protective layer around positively charged grape solid particles. This keeps the grape solid particles in suspension. The main enzymes used during winemaking are pectinases. Pectinases occur naturally in all fruit - including grapes - and are partly responsible for the ripening process. Pectinase enzymes break the pectin molecules into smaller components thereby exposing some of the positively charged grape solid particles underneath this protective layer. These positive charges bind to the negative charges of the pectin-protected grape solids and bigger particles form. When particles become too big, they settle out." This information is from the online resource Wineboer and makes for dry (pun intended) but fascinating reading.
http://www.wynboer.co.za/recentarticles/0411enzymes.php3
What this chemistry really boils down to is that by understanding the naturally occurring processes of wine creation, we can maximize the role of the enzymes in post-fermentation to further bring out the favorable aspects of the grape in the wine. This is because enzymes clean up the wine by separating the desirable from the undesirable. I find this amazing! By knowing the chemistry of winemaking, we can actively engage in the winemaking process and make certain that the magic of great winemaking occurs when and as it should, rather than risking that it fails to happen at all. -When you think about it, It's kinda like romance in a way...it takes a little work to make certain that it actually happens.
Now as our winemakers, my lovely wife or certainly her gifted colleague Rick might be appalled at my over-simplification of this complex and somewhat secretive process. Of course I don't really care because I want everyone to know that I nearly flunked chemistry and this is chemistry! And I'm starting to get it now! As someone new to this business, I am amazed at what we have been learning! It is exciting to think that when Chemistry 101 is applied to "living the dream", it actually starts to make lots of sense! It is so much fun learning these things. It is fun to realize that because of science, we can be a part of the natural role of ions, molecules, and particles in wine making. As a result, we can make better wine! In the old days, enzymes were an unknown part of the winemaking process. They were part of the magic that made one wine great and the other awful. It is fun to know that our wine can be better because we know about these processes and can actively participate in them to create the very best possible 100% natural, quality wine. To me it's like that 1960s movie "Fantastic Voyage" where they shrank the scientists and injected them into some guy's bloodstream to actually see and fix what wasn't working on the inside. Those guys were the enzymes. Cool!
So there we were testing and tasting several different versions of the same wine on Monday. Ten of us were gathered around the table. The sun shone from above and between us, and the glasses were beautifully and sparingly filled with samples of liquid joyfulness. From left to right each of our four glasses held the baseline sample of the wine currently in tank, followed by three glasses with slightly increasing amounts of enzyme. Of course, it is possible to have too much of a good thing --much as has empirically proven when eating unlimited supplies of M&Ms. In like fashio, the last glass was not necessarily the best glass.
It was quiet in the room except for slurping, swishing, and spitting noises. We all had standard evaluation sheets and the grand aromatics wheel of wine descriptors. We were all learning about what makes a wine good. We were also practicing our tasting and discriminating skills with the samples while providing Rick and Sharon with real world information that would help them with their own choices. We're all regular folks who like wine. Other than Rick, Kristin, and Sharon, I am not ashamed to say that there was not a qualified taster among us. Armed only with our palates and common sense we were being asked to have an influence on the final product and again I repeat: this is where the fun was! Tasting and proving the wines represented a creative nexus of imagination, knowledge, opinion, and happenstance. So cool! And I don't think that I was the only one enjoying the moment.
What did we decide? Well, consensus wasn't reached, but there was general agreement. Sharon and Rick seemed satisfied that they had some guidance from the peanut gallery and we all felt that we had learned while contributing to the welfare of the business. Will our efforts translate into better wine? I guess the verdict will be out until you try it later this spring!
Cheers.
The results of all of this effort are gratifying. Sharon and I get to hear wonderful thanks and congratulations from our customers about how great our staff is. They are great! And like anything that is done well, they work hard to excel. They study about wine. They try it at other wineries. They ask us questions and want to learn more. Each week we focus on some aspect of the business and it often regards the production process. This week we did a tasting trial on our Seyval Blanc , Traminette, and Rose.
These wines are still in tank and won't be bottled until the spring. But they are getting close to final maturation and we still have the chance to work with them to get them right. Monday we were considering the effect that enzymes have on the wine's flavor and aromas. "After crushing, negatively charged pectin molecules form a protective layer around positively charged grape solid particles. This keeps the grape solid particles in suspension. The main enzymes used during winemaking are pectinases. Pectinases occur naturally in all fruit - including grapes - and are partly responsible for the ripening process. Pectinase enzymes break the pectin molecules into smaller components thereby exposing some of the positively charged grape solid particles underneath this protective layer. These positive charges bind to the negative charges of the pectin-protected grape solids and bigger particles form. When particles become too big, they settle out." This information is from the online resource Wineboer and makes for dry (pun intended) but fascinating reading.
http://www.wynboer.co.za/recentarticles/0411enzymes.php3
What this chemistry really boils down to is that by understanding the naturally occurring processes of wine creation, we can maximize the role of the enzymes in post-fermentation to further bring out the favorable aspects of the grape in the wine. This is because enzymes clean up the wine by separating the desirable from the undesirable. I find this amazing! By knowing the chemistry of winemaking, we can actively engage in the winemaking process and make certain that the magic of great winemaking occurs when and as it should, rather than risking that it fails to happen at all. -When you think about it, It's kinda like romance in a way...it takes a little work to make certain that it actually happens.
Now as our winemakers, my lovely wife or certainly her gifted colleague Rick might be appalled at my over-simplification of this complex and somewhat secretive process. Of course I don't really care because I want everyone to know that I nearly flunked chemistry and this is chemistry! And I'm starting to get it now! As someone new to this business, I am amazed at what we have been learning! It is exciting to think that when Chemistry 101 is applied to "living the dream", it actually starts to make lots of sense! It is so much fun learning these things. It is fun to realize that because of science, we can be a part of the natural role of ions, molecules, and particles in wine making. As a result, we can make better wine! In the old days, enzymes were an unknown part of the winemaking process. They were part of the magic that made one wine great and the other awful. It is fun to know that our wine can be better because we know about these processes and can actively participate in them to create the very best possible 100% natural, quality wine. To me it's like that 1960s movie "Fantastic Voyage" where they shrank the scientists and injected them into some guy's bloodstream to actually see and fix what wasn't working on the inside. Those guys were the enzymes. Cool!
So there we were testing and tasting several different versions of the same wine on Monday. Ten of us were gathered around the table. The sun shone from above and between us, and the glasses were beautifully and sparingly filled with samples of liquid joyfulness. From left to right each of our four glasses held the baseline sample of the wine currently in tank, followed by three glasses with slightly increasing amounts of enzyme. Of course, it is possible to have too much of a good thing --much as has empirically proven when eating unlimited supplies of M&Ms. In like fashio, the last glass was not necessarily the best glass.
It was quiet in the room except for slurping, swishing, and spitting noises. We all had standard evaluation sheets and the grand aromatics wheel of wine descriptors. We were all learning about what makes a wine good. We were also practicing our tasting and discriminating skills with the samples while providing Rick and Sharon with real world information that would help them with their own choices. We're all regular folks who like wine. Other than Rick, Kristin, and Sharon, I am not ashamed to say that there was not a qualified taster among us. Armed only with our palates and common sense we were being asked to have an influence on the final product and again I repeat: this is where the fun was! Tasting and proving the wines represented a creative nexus of imagination, knowledge, opinion, and happenstance. So cool! And I don't think that I was the only one enjoying the moment.
What did we decide? Well, consensus wasn't reached, but there was general agreement. Sharon and Rick seemed satisfied that they had some guidance from the peanut gallery and we all felt that we had learned while contributing to the welfare of the business. Will our efforts translate into better wine? I guess the verdict will be out until you try it later this spring!
Cheers.
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