Ending Cabernet Harvest

Posted 10/31/2006 at 02:22 PM by Dirk

Far Niente and Nickel & Nickel are in a rush to get the last of the Cabernet picked in the next few days.  There's a chance of rain later this week. To fit it in, we have to make room by pressing off some tanks that have completed fermentation.

The Cabernets taste fantastic! (That is my unbiased opinion...you wouldn't want to hear it when I get really enthusiastic.)  I ran into another winemaker at the Oakville post office (it and the Oakville Grocery are the town) who is just as enthusiastic about 2006 Cabernet.

Last week, Larry and I snuck out to attend the Pinot Noir tasting at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America...spies need not apply). You can check out their programs and facilities at http://www.ciachef.edu/California.  We were joined by a bunch of winemakers, sommeliers, and Pinot enthusiasts.

Robert Parker presented a blind tasting of Burgundy and California Pinots that would give pleasure to anyone who gets excited by the perfume, power, complexity, balance and magic of that variety.  (The tasting was to benefit the Robert Parker fund, which provides scholarships for furthering wine education at the CIA.) While he joked about avoiding this variety professionally, he made it clear that the progression in style and quality of California Pinot over the last 20 years has been nothing short of stunning. After tasting the lineup that he chose, it was obvious that there is GREAT Pinot Noir coming from lots of places. It is worth exploring each; Burgundy, Russian River, Sonoma Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands, and others, all have treasures that are worth discovering. There weren't any Oregon wines but that area, too, is worth exploring...just bring an umbrella (Being a former Oregonian, I had to add that.)  Nickel & Nickel's 2006 Pinots are already headed to barrels so that they can complete malolactic, settle and start to age and develop in oak.

Does a blog need an ending line so it is obvious when to stop typing? Walter Cronkite knew how to do it.   We are accepting suggestions but please don't send 'in vino veritas.' I took four years of Latin and am convinced that there are good reasons it is a dead language.

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