This past weekend, VERGE had the opportunity to pour a few glasses of wine at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa. From what I could tell, it was all in all a great event. We blog because we like showing folks a little of what goes on in a small wine company. It’s important […]

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Mike pressed off the last of the 2008 Grist Vineyard on Wednesday and harvest is now officially OVER! Whoo-Hooo!! You always remember the first load of grapes coming in and the last lot pressed off. Mike climbed into tank 302 and did the shoveling himself. Maybe there’s a day off in his future!
I always like […]

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Sometimes during harvest you just have to push yourself. When all you ever really want to do is go home, drink a couple of brews and crash on the couch, you remember that yeah…you’re young.  You’ve got energy. All this work won’t necessarily catch up with you anytime soon.
And so last Saturday, Emily and I […]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQEE5vorjY4

Here we are just days after fermentation began and we’ve already pressed off the Young Block of Grist Syrah. Mike pressed it on the sweeter side because we had to get it off the skins. As opposed to the Old Block, the young syrah is full of tannins. With the older block of syrah, our […]

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I’ll admit it. On a daily basis, I’m a sniffer. Not like White-Out, glues or paints, but the more over looked things in life.  The inside of a recently washed coffee mug.  The shirt you know just came out of the dryer, but doesn’t quite have that Tide fresh smell (why is that?). […]

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After five days of cold soak, the Old Block Grist Syrah has started to ferment.  And boy did it get going! In one day it dropped 10 degrees brix.  As we were pumping over the small tank, the temperature was hovering around 80 degrees which is real good. There are several different methods that Mike […]

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Right now nothing sounds better than the roasted duck at Frisee Restaurant down in San Francisco. I’m going there tonight and I can hardly wait. Like Mike said, part of the joy of wild yeast fermentation is learning to be patient.  I’m just going to be patient in front of duck. Before I headed out […]

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Picking, de-stemming, cold soaking (which really isn’t all that cold at all)…now what?  My good buddy from way back, Darren, would say “cold chillin.”  This means hanging out, not much really going on.  Sure, there is certainly some maceration and phenolic extraction going on, but now is the time as a winemaker I need to […]

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Imagine this. You’re a little cluster of grapes. You’re a bit stressed out at the end of the growing season. You haven’t had a drink of water for quite sometime. You’re seeds are starting to brown, you’re skins are starting to dimple. You’re super sweet and ripe for the picking and then…BAM…you’re plucked from the vine, crushed in […]

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There are some days that carry a bit more weight than others.  Not sure why in most cases, but the day of harvest makes it quite obvious.  We brought in just over 8 tons of terrific syrah from the Bradford Mountain vineyard.  Stunning stuff with classic syrah characteristics (dimpled berries, green rachis, plenty of acid and sugar). […]

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