Posts made in September, 2014

As harvest approaches (way too quickly), we thought it might be interesting to describe the process in a manner that might require you to know some basic vineyard and winemaking terminology. So here are some things that you might hear a vineyard manager say around harvest, followed by a layman’s definition. Brix Brix (pronounced like “bricks” here in America) is a measurement that is roughly equal to the percent of sugar within...

A walk through vineyards in August reveals such a sense of neatness. Vineyard floors are cleared to allow the movement of air – a way to control the temperature of the vineyards. The vines are hedged and “leafed” and secured to trellis systems. We continue hand management of the vines’ development, finding the right balance between greenery and fruit. Our grape crop has matured at a steady pace. In fact, the...

Our winemaker, Mike Sumner, has the kind of opportunity that winemakers dream about: he’s been starting vineyards and a winery from the ground up, and the 2014 harvest will produce the first Sumner Vineyards wines widely available. The land that we have been developing is in Trinity County, in Northern California, and the closest town is named Hayfork (if that doesn’t say “agriculture”, we don’t know what...

We could easily list more than five elements, (I’m sure one could argue about color, alcohol, phenolic compounds, yeast, and a hundred other things) but when we taste a wine we want to evaluate, these are the things to keep in mind and in your tasting notes. And on that subject, buy a cheap notebook (it’ll get stained if you do it right) and try to write a bit about every great wine you taste. You can even list the following five...