A Witch's Brew

Ever wonder why that YellowTail Syraz always tastes the same, year after year? Welcome to the world of wine adjuncts. Hundreds of compounds you can toss in the wine to get whatever it is you're after. Sounds yummy, eh?

I call this "Messin' with the Mother"! Growing grapes is a tricky business. When the weather is great you can get a good crop; when the weather is bad you get a so-so crop. Question is: Do you doctor up your crop to match the expectations of the market?

The saying used to be: You can't make a great wine from crappy grapes. Not anymore. If the color is a bit thin, just add concentrate. Not getting the sugar level you wanted; just add sugar. Seems to me that some of the wine out there doesn't even need grapes in the first place!

This is why I always suggest getting out to the wineries. It's within your rights as a consumer to ask what's in the wine. And it's up to you, of course, if you can live with the answer. For me, I like to believe that what I am drinking is a true interpretation of what the season was like for the grapes.

I do understand that in this competitive business the luxury of calling a certain grape's performance a loss, can make or break a wineries bottom line. If only the Fed's would subsidize the grape growers like they do the massive farm corporations, then maybe we could go back to the idea of Vintage. When only the best years are made into wine!

New Vs. Old

Having spent many a happy year in the heart of CA wine country, I like many, had a bit of adjustment to the finesse of our local wines. Let me be clear, I think both styles of wine have a place on our "American Wine List". But to some who haven't spent the required time "practicing" the art of wine tasting, the disparity between the two expressions of wine making, can be a mystery.

Simply put, our American wine journey started in Europe. Our ancestors brought the vine with them into a new environment. Vines didn't do so well "back East", so it wasn't until the CA wine industry geared up that wine in America became a viable option. But CA is a lot different than Europe for the most part. Most all of Europe is above CA longitudinally, meaning shorter cooler Summers. Here, the vines went nuts. Lots of fruit and lots of sugar, ie. alcohol. AKA, fruit bombs.

Enter the Umpqua Valley. Same latitude as Tuscany in Italy and the Rjoha in Spain. Hence our growing season matches more closely to Europe than CA. Grape berries do not have as much sugar as CA. Match this with a generally more "hands off" approach to wine making and you end up with a more balanced wine. Instead of the fruit overpowering the wine, our wines bring out more of the subtle flavors in the grape.

It takes the "Three P's" to really understand each style. That's Practice, Practice,Practice!!

One Man's Vision

It was a true honor to attend the memorial for Richard Sommer yesterday afternoon at the winery that he created back in 1961. Several hundred people came to pay homage to this remarkable man. He seemed to have touched so many in all his interests which appeared to be anything outdoors. From hiking the mountains to snapshots of native plants, to planting the very first Pinot Noir in the State of Oregon.

Let me repeat that: He planted the very first Pinot Noir vines right here in the Umpqua Valley. And we all know that today just a short 48 years later, Pinot Noir is Oregon's calling card. Begs the question of what will the Umpqua Valley look like in another 50 years??

Well, let's see. There will be a huge split between "Corporate Wine" and "Artisan Wine". This already exists to a large part in areas like Napa Valley, compared to our own wine region which is still exclusively family-owned. Wine is a world-wide commodity and will continue to grow in a division between "grocery store wine" which is controlled by massive distribution corporations that control 90% of what you find on the shelf, and the small case lot winery producing local wines.

Our region is truly the last of the premium wine growing areas in the U.S. This is not by accident. The corporate model demands large tracks of acreage to produce as many tons of grapes as possible. Quality takes a back seat to quantity. The corporate winery produces a "cocktail wine" made up of 100 or more adjuncts (stuff you throw in the wine)to give you the same wine year after year. Thankfully our terrain works against this model. Therefore, the small grower/winemaker will continue to survive here.

I feel our destiny is to become a mecca for wine enthusiasts that are regecting the formula wines of the corporation. And more importantly we will be able to offer a complete array of wine varietals that most current regions can not. We will become more and more unique in the fine wine world. Lucky you if you're just starting your wine journey!!

Will Remain Wine Drinker!

So I took my own advice and have been working the harvest at Becker Vineyard. The important word here is WORK. Let there be no illusion, harvest is the brawny part of the wine makers art.

A short rundown of the process is: First you have to bring in the fruit by clipping off the bunches from the vine. Easier said than done. The little rascals can be firmly twisted around the canes and you have to hunt to find the stem. Then there's the standing and bending to get all the clusters. As most fruit hangs off a "fruiting wire" at the optimal height for the winegrower, that means if you're 6 inches taller than that person, you have to bend over a lot!

OK so far. The fruit is dropped in a pail. Another person rides the ATV and picks up those full buckets and leaves the empties. The pails are transported to the winery. There they are emptied into a large bin or directly into the hopper of the de-stemer and crusher. Each pail weights a good 25 pounds, which seems like a hundred after the 100th pail!

The crushed fruit minus the stems pour out the chute into another pail. Those pails have two destinations. If you are making a Rose then you load that pails content into the press, and out comes your Rose ready for a bit of yeast. Or you can empty the pail, juice and skins into a fermenting tank to make a red wine.

All in all, in this small operation you process a good 2 tons of fruit an hour. Each one of those pounds someone is lifting or cutting or pressing. The thankful part is that Harvest is once a year.

That's a snap shoot of one winery here in the Umpqua Valley. Others with a bigger operation will have mechanized many of these steps. You can go as far as letting machines do all the work, from shaking the berries off the vine, fork lifting them into huge crushers, and then pumping the juice into the fermenters.

For me it's a bit more Romantic to handle the lushish fruit from beginning to end.
Just don't expect me to ever own a winery, I prefer to drink the wine than make it!

Will work for wine!

I've said it before but it stands repeating: All of our wineries here in the Umpqua Valley AVA are family owned. What that means is that many of the wineries rely on the whole family to get out there during harvest to pick the grapes. And some go as far as advertising for local volunteer help.

So why not contact your favorite winery this week and ask if they need any help. Even if they don't, they will be grateful for the asking. And if they can use your help you can feel apart of the wine making process. Here is a list of wineries.

Most often you can put in a few hours in the field, or make sandwiches for the crew, or help at the crush pad. Every little bit can mean a great deal to these hard working winemakers. Besides you can have some fun in the sun for a day!

On the Road Again!

The life of a wine explorer requires me to take as many wine adventures as possible. Fate has provided such an opportunity and here I am in McMinnville, OR dialed into the wifi at the Hotel Oregon.

So here is a live report from the Umpqua Wineau. The first thing that strikes me is the amount of wine options: more vines, more wineries, more wine bars, and of course more people. Not anywhere near the Napa or Sonoma level, but at the four wineries I've visited so far, the flow was steady.

Back home it's a Catch 22, we want more people but you pay a price. I didn't see hide nor hair of a winemaker in sight. I suppose with harvest around the corner and all, yet it sure is a glorious privilage to have many of our winemakers on hand to talk wine. Most of the tasting room staff were friendly but none had visited the Umpqua Valley! One fellow had been to Steamboat recently for a winemakers dinner. When I asked him which winery, he rattled off a couple Willamette Valley wineries!! Imagine!

Well, you'd be proud of me. I tried their Pinot Noirs with an open mind. I finally found one I think is worth the trip at Torii Mor Vineyard and Winery. Just outside Dundee the setting is remote and peaceful. I'd say the mood was reflected in the wine. A place to linger over a bottle with friends.

There's plenty of pomp and circumstance around here, but with a good map and a gypsy spirit, you will find some little gems off the main road and bus tour stops. I don't think it would take much prodding to get Diane and I to offer an overnight tour to McMinnville and beyond.

It's in the Numbers!

I often wonder what it will take to get some of the locals to buy into the wine industry here. It makes no sense to think you can remain isolated from the "Big World" out there. It really is the old "sink or swim" when it comes to the wine industry.

In twenty years the US population will have grown by 73 million more mouths! And what do you put in those mouths? Wine, of course. Given the fact that all the great wine areas of our United States have already been put on the map, it stands to reason that it will be these areas that provide the next generation with wine. That's right here in the Umpqua Valley, if you follow me.

The next set of numbers has to do with the average comsuption of fine wine by the American public. That too is on the rise. Even in these hard times, that growth has not slowed. People like wine. They buy lots of it. And we grow it right here.

Come on Roseburg, let's get on the "wine train" and enjoy the dollars to be made. Let's all act like we know what's going on outside our little town and welcome the thirsty tourists that want to explore our wine. We can start with someone with vision that will do what it takes to open a fine dining restaurant here. One whose focus is on our wines.

We can become a World Class wine destination, if only we act that way!