As we prepare to say goodbye to summer there has been one looming cloud on the horizon.  A whip cream cloud.

I made a deal with our 6-year old a number of weeks back: work hard on math, reading, and soccer practice and you can have any wish fulfilled at the end of the summer.

It didn’t take him more than a nanosecond to decide on his prize – a chance to “pie” Dad.  That’s right, he wanted to throw a whip cream pie in my face.  And I agreed.

He worked hard all summer and yesterday was payday for our son.  We have a video of the event, but we won’t post a link here since our son is in it.  If you want to see it, reply to this e-mail blast or send me an e-mail at brian@bruliamwines.com and I’ll send you a link.

In the interim, you can check out the resulting carnage below.  And, yes, I wore the shirt thinking this would end up on the blog.

I suspect our first grape chemistries will start to trickle in just as our kids settle into school.  For the first year, I will be in charge of assessing the sugar and acid levels; I decide when to pull the gun and haul in our fruit.  And it makes me queasy.  I am going to rely heavily on our growers to help guide me through my first solo harvest season.  Harvest – you cut the cord (or literally cordon), and your babies leave the mama vine and suddenly become your responsibility.  I have spent months cold calling, begging, letter writing, and baking to procure the finest quality fruit from the best known growers in each region.  And now I have to do everything I can to not f*#$#*k it up!  It really hit home when Mark Pisoni said, “I will send you chemistries when you’re down south and fruit samples when you’re up north.”  Crap!  I can’t even identify “melon” or “pear” correctly in a finished wine let alone chew a grape, spit the seed and divine when it’s “done.”  Bruliam is growing up fast.

It’s hard to imagine that just two years ago we selected our first grapes from a pre-fab, drop down menu, with no real knowledge about how to make wine.  This year we are sharing vineyard space with some of the best respected names in the business.  Our barrels have been selected, wine plans detailed, and specific yeast strains ordered.  And now we wait.  The end of summer is always bittersweet, but I look forward to officially becoming your winemaker.

91 Points – Tasted at a little more than a year of age, this Pinot Noir is a bit brusque. It should have been held back for another six months, to let the tannins, fruit and oak knit together.  With very rich black cherry, black raspberry, cola and sweet smoky oak flavors, it should begin to resolve by late Fall 2010, and provide pleasant drinking for another 3–4 years.  S.H.  May 2010 Buying Guide.

Inaugural release from this new producer who donates 100% of profits from sales to a charitable foundation. 100% destemmed.  Primarily Dijon clone 115 and Calera selection with smaller amounts of 667, 2A and Swan. Barreled as 70% free run juice and 30% press fraction.  Aged 11 months in 50% new French oak barrels. Moderately dark reddishpurple color in the glass. Brooding aromas of blackberries, ripe strawberries and a hint of oak sap and toast. A fruit-driven wine displaying charming and generous flavors of plums, dark berries and quince. Thick and bold, but not jammy, with supple tannins leaving a bit of heat in its wake on the finish. Very typical of Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir.  Volume 8, Issue 16 – June 8, 2010.

97 Points - Nose:   Crisp, plum-steeped, spring water. Elegant leathers. Light lavender. Violets. Candy.   Taste:  Clean, amazingly so. Smooth plum and light spice. Mature earth.  Mature cherry. Perfect structure and sexy mouthfeel.  Overall:  Astounding.   November 2009.

98 Points - Nose:   Nose notes same as above, but some of the crisp wafts have tamed a bit.  This is a broader, red berries and lush earth, nose that has deep cigar and spice box now.  Taste:  If anything this baby has sexed up even more. This is amazing.  Wow and wow.  Overall:  Astounding.  This pinot is off the charts, I hope they keep this quality up for the 2009 vintage, and I can’t wait to try their new Zins as well.  Re-tasted July 2010.

Yesterday we had a great day bottling our 2009 pinot noirs.  We managed to get all three bottlings done in just under 5 hours.  Next up – we get to start tasting in anticipation of an official release date.

P.S.  Anyone notice anything different about the labels this year?  Put a note in the comments.

If you can’t see the video below, please click here:

Our goal, always lofty, has been to land fruit from the top growers in each of our target regions – Santa Lucia Highlands, Anderson Valley, and the Sonoma Coast.   We’re ecstatic to reveal that we’ve hit the mark in all three AVA’s.

Santa Lucia Highlands

We’ll be sourcing our Santa Lucia Highlands fruit from the Pisoni family.  Along with long time partner Gary Franscioni, the Pisonis virtually define pinot noir for the Santa Lucia region.  Siduri, Kosta Browne, Patz and Hall, and other famed wineries source fruit from Pisoni family vineyards.  The Pisoni and Franscioni families have two newer vineyards that we’re honored to be sourcing from this season – Sobranes which is adjacent to their famed Garys’ Vineyard and Sierra Mar, a higher elevation plot that lies very close to the Pisoni Vineyard.  We’re particularly thrilled about this relationship since it was a Garys’ Vineyard pinot that first turned us on to California pinot noirs so many years ago.

Anderson Valley

Like Pisoni is to SLH, no grower in more synonymous with Anderson Valley than Rich Savoy.  Fruit from his vineyards have helped launch high profile brands Littorai, Radio-Cotteau, Roessler, and more into the stratosphere of top pinot producers.  We’re thrilled that Rich has carved out a small parcel in his high elevation Deer Meadows vineyard for us in 2010.  We knew we had found a soul-mate when he told us at our first meeting, “if you’re planning to pick this fruit above 24 brix, I won’t sell it to you.”  Rich knows what he’s doing, and we’ll be reaping the benefit.

Sonoma Coast

The Sonoma Coast appellation is a huge area that many argue ought to be subdivided into more well defined zones.  We agree – and while some are transfixed on fruit from the so-called extreme Sonoma Coast, our fascination is with fruit from the so-called Petaluma Wind Gap, a growing zone heavily influenced by both the Pacific Ocean and the Tomales Bay.  Steve MacRostie is growing some of the best pinot fruit in this area at his Wildcat Mountain vineyard, which is quite close to the Carneros-Sonoma Coast dividing line.  In addition to an estate bottling by Steve’s MacRostie Winery, this fruit makes its way into a lot of top rated Sonoma Coast blends from a number of producers.  Remote, high elevation, and highly stressed, this fruit is sublime. 

Look for more information on these vineyard sources – including videos and pictures – in the coming weeks.

In the interim wish us luck as we bottle our 2009 pinots on Monday August 30^th!!

And as a teaser, here’s a great shot of the Wildcat Vineyard with views to the Tomales Bay and San Francisco to the south.

Photo credit:  Ed Overstreet

Today is a golf ball sized kidney stone day.

It’s time to talk about LICENSING & COMPLIANCE.  Whoo-hoo!!!!  And you thought Kerith’s posts on biochemistry were boring.

A necessary evil in any regulated business, delving into the process of obtaining our own wine selling licenses was one of the most daunting aspects of moving out on our own this year.  Under our previous winemaking arrangement, we operated under another winery’s licenses.  We paid a huge premium for this, but we didn’t have to worry about compliance, reporting, or licensing.

Not so in 2010.

In order to sell our wine in 2010, we need to have our own licenses and operate as a permitted seller of wine.  As we found out, there were two basic paths we could follow here in California.  Option #1 was to obtain a full winery/winegrower’s license (a Type 2 license) and option #2 was to obtain a combination of wholesaler and off-sale retail licenses (a so-called 17/20 combo). 

I’m not going to get into a long description of each and would implore anyone reading this who may be researching these licenses to consult an actual attorney or winery compliance specialist.  In short, a Type 2 license is a more expensive and time intensive process, but it gives the holder more capabilities.  The Type 2 covers the production of wine along with the sale of wine and enables the holder to be a full service winery (operate a tasting room, sell wine wherever and however desired, etc.).  The Type 17/20 combo is quicker and cheaper, but limits direct sales of wine only to consumers in California and through wholesalers in other states.  It also requires the holder to produce its wine through a Type 2 holder under a custom crush agreement.

After consulting with a number of industry professionals, we decided to go with the 17/20 combo.  All of our sales are already made online and most are within California so we were comfortable with the limitations of the licenses.  We already had a custom crush arrangement in place with Mauritson Wines, so that part was easy.  And the fact that the process was faster and cheaper than the full-bore Type 2 license was an added advantage when faced with the myriad of new harvest expenses we’ll be incurring this year.

Once we knew what direction to go in, the question was how to get there.  For us, this was a no-brainer.  I fully endorse using a compliance specialist firm to guide you through this process.  Not only do they know all of the hoops to jump through and can fill out all of the forms perfectly, but they also have relationships at the various agencies to help move the things along.  You can certainly save some money trying to do this yourself, but sometimes, “you can’t save money by saving money”.  We used Compliance Connection in Santa Rosa and highly recommend them to anyone considering getting licensed.

Even with the best help available, however, the process wasn’t painless.  Other than the cost, we first had the excitement of hanging our big ABC pending liquor sales sign outside our house.  We then had a fun phone interview with the TTB where they informed us that, among other things, they now had the right to send agents to our place of business to inspect our records at any time.  Unfortunately, our “place of business” is a corner of our master bedroom where we have the desk.  Surprisingly, they didn’t see the humor when I asked if they could call ahead to make sure we were decent before they came storming in.

But after a few short months, I’m proud to announce that Bruliam Wines last week became officially licenses to sell wine!  Unfortunately, now that we’re on the state and feds’ radar screens, we’re subjected to regular sales and tax reporting and ongoing compliance issues.  But, it’s a reasonably small price to pay to be out on our own.

Coming up in the fourth and final installment of our Bruliam in 2010 series, we’ll look at fulfillment.  How are we going to get the wine into your hands – safely and legally – even if you don’t live in California?

Stay tuned!

Fining agents are added to wines to react with and mop up undesirable wine constituents.  Examples of those unwanted components might include brown discoloration, overpowering tannins or murky hazes.  Sometimes winemakers fine their wines proactively, so that hazes don’t form down the road in the bottle.  As you can imagine, chalky, murky wine is off-putting to consumers.  The problem is solved by mixing specific fining agents into the wine that react on contact.  The undesirable stuff (be it protein or protein-polysaccharide conglomerates) is bound up as a precipitate that can be filtered out and tossed away.  The resulting wine is alluringly sparkly and brilliantly clear.  Particular fining agents are selected specifically to gum up exactly what needs to be removed.  Protein-based fining agents are chosen to reduce the bitterness and astringency of excessive tannin polymers.  Since most proteins have a net positive charge at wine pH, they are the perfect agents to tie up unwanted tannins with H-bonds.  It all sounds pretty benign on paper until I reveal what is behind door #1…

 animal hooves, albumin, and fish swim bladders 

Let’s say it collectively and get it out of our system, “EEeeeww!”  Animal hooves and hides are the source of gelatin, raw egg whites provide albumin, and sturgeon swim bladders are the active ingredient in isinglass, a collagen protein.  (Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  The EU banned the use of ox blood years ago because of mad cow disease).  Yes it is true.  Animal derived protein products abound in the savvy enologists’ arsenal of tricks.  Other gross outs include polysaccharides mined from brown algae and insect parts (specifically the positively charged chitin derived from their exoskeleton).  You see, winemaking is a pretty ancient art, and our forefathers exploited everything in nature to achieve stability and clarity.  These fining agents predate silica beads and synthetic polymers and continue to work really well even today.  Frankly, most consumers would rather consume a hermetically sealed, perfectly formed hamburger patty from the supermarket than knowingly drink hooves and hides.

For most winemakers today, the core of this contentious debate is not whether to ban certain solvents or quit fining wine but instead how best to disclose this information to consumers.  Copious consumer education is required if “full disclosure” becomes government mandated.  A label proclaiming your wine may contain “potential allergens including but not limited to raw eggs, animal products and fish parts” is not only off putting but also overblown.   Never mind that only minute amounts, if any, of the fining agent is retained in the finished wine as a negligible residue.  It is the possibility of a theoretical allergen that drives the labeling frenzy.  Used correctly, fining agents are dosed at the smallest possible aliquot to achieve clarity and stability, with each molecule sticking to its respective partner.  And again, the fining agent+unwanted solute aggregate is removed from the wine before bottling.  An early study funded by Australia’s Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation concluded that residual allergens are indeed negligible in finished wines. 

Sometimes fining represents a last minute decision, a way to comb through and polish a wine just before bottling.  In this scenario, the wine labels would have been approved and printed far in advance of this winemaking choice.  The wines could not be bottled and re-labeled without deep financial consequences to the winery.  A blanket consumer warning on all bottles of wine represents the other extreme.    Ironically enough, warning labels would be slapped on bottles at wineries that don’t employ any fining procedures, freaking out consumers unnecessarily.  Or maybe it becomes more information overload, yet another “food warning” consumers scan without mentally processing.  In any event, the thorny labeling issue is sure to invite consumer outcry from vegans and lawyers and folks afflicted with “allergies” like headaches after they drink too much at parties. 

To be sure, life threatening food allergies are not a joke.  So perhaps a clause about eggs, fish or milk proteins is warranted.  But one must tread thoughtfully.  The Situation may crave raw egg protein shakes, but it’s a tougher sell for premium pinot noir.  Once you riff on algae and horse hooves, the romance is gone.  With potential legislation looming and Australia and New Zealand already required to disclose “allergens,” niche discussions about potential wine allergens are sure to find their way to Wikipedia soon.

To date, Bruliam has not employed fining agents in our winemaking strategy.  We are not opposed to using any natural materials that might make our wines better.  As with all of our winemaking choices, we will post our decisions here on our blog.

Here’s what he said back in November 2009:

Nose:   Crisp, plum-steeped, spring water. Elegant leathers. Light lavender. Violets. Candy.

Taste:  Clean, amazingly so. Smooth plum and light spice. Mature earth.  Mature cherry. Perfect structure and sexy mouthfeel.

Overall:  Astounding.  97.

And here’s what he had to say after opening a second bottle last week:

Nose:   Nose notes same as above, but some of the crisp wafts have tamed a bit.  This is a broader, red berries and lush earth, nose that has deep cigar and spice box now.

Taste:  If anything this baby has sexed up even more. This is amazing.  Wow and wow.

Overall:  Astounding.  98.  This pinot is off the charts, I hope they keep this quality up for the 2009 vintage, and I can’t wait to try their new Zins as well.  Buy this wine.  Yes, $52, but it all goes to charity.

Otherwise, a selection of short tidbits for your information and enjoyment:

Police Blotter

We’ve written before about the charms of Healdsburg as typified in the weekly paper’s Police Blotter.  This item jumped out at us this week:

Thursday July 22^nd, 5:15am – A woman on Heron Street told police that she had received an annoying phone call from an unknown caller, but it was later determined that she may have dreamt it.

Gotta love it!

2009 Pinots

We’re back at the winery to make last minute blends on our 2009 pinots this week with bottling scheduled for August 30.  Maybe we’re drinking our own Kool-Aid, but the 2009’s are drinking better now that the 2008’s did at this time last year.  Hopefully that trend continues as we begin the bottle aging process.  We’re tentatively looking at late November for a release date – and maybe even a release party in San Diego!

Dry Creek Kitchen

Had dinner this week at Dry Creek Kitchen.  Served to confirm our belief that it’s the best dinner spot in Sonoma county.  Neighboring Cyrus gets all of the acclaim, but you can’t beat Dry Creek Kitchen for consistently great food, sophisticated yet friendly service, and a wine list that is deep with local Sonoma county gems offered with minimal mark-up.  Wish we could say the same of Cyrus, but all we can tell you is that it’ll cost you twice as much and it’s not even close to being twice as good.

2010 Harvest

It’s been a cold California summer, even up here in Healdsburg.  Last year, we saw regular daily highs in the mid-90’s and a few days over 100 degrees.  This year, it has been mostly low to mid-80’s.  Much more comfortable for us, but not so great for the grapes.  After a ton of winter and spring rain, the grapes are still waiting to go through verasion (turning to red from green).  Most growers are telling us that they need to start dropping fruit in the hope of getting the rest of the crop to ripen in a reasonable time.  The concern is that if the grapes take too long to ripen and push harvest into late October, there’s an increasing chance of rain, which can lead to mildew and rot.  Not a good thing unless you really like dessert wines.  We’ll keep you posted.

If you can’t see the video, please click here.

P.S.  If you need a refresher on the origin of the galette references, please click here.