We took the best components of vintages 2007 and 2008 and combined them into a single whole that proved to be better than the sum of its parts; resulting in this one-of-a-kind, extremely limited production wine. The best Bordeaux clones, three of Cabernet Sauvignon and two each of Cabernet Franc and Merlot were married with Petit Verdot through repeated tasting trials over a period of months, maximizing complexity and bringing these classic varietals into perfect balance.

This ÆROS® is our ultimate Meritage in tribute to Reynolds Gorsuch (1925-2009). As Founder of Goosecross Cellars, Rey served as a mentor to Geoff and David and was often sought out for his advice and visionary thinking. He created the preliminary concept for the ÆROS winged label and was a guiding force in Goosecross’ wine education programs. He delighted people with his viticulture tours, his stories of the native Wappo Indian history, obsidian artifacts from the Estate vineyard, and his dedication to growing and producing the best quality wines possible in Napa Valley.

Food Suggestions

Our resident chef, Colleen Topper, has selected a very special recipe to pair with this elegant wine. Try Beef Tenderloin with Coriander, Mustard & Garlic Crust from her large recipe collection.

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NV ÆROS® Napa Valley Meritage “Founder’s Tribute” is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Flavor profile: Full-bodied and rich with black cherry, blackberry, cocoa, vanilla, anise, earth and spice.
2006 Vintage: Low crop yields and a long ripening season produced small berries with great flavor intensity, deep color and firm tannins.

Drink now and through: 2015

Food Suggestions
The big, rich flavors of this Cabernet partner well with a good steak and slow- cooked dishes like osso-buco, short ribs and other hearty fare. From Colleen’s recipe collection we recommend Grilled Rib-Eye Steak with Baked Garlic Butter.

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2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Winemaker Notes
Overall, the season was a cool one, allowing for plenty of hangtime, punctuated by a few blasts of heat to bring up the sugars. Rain was about two thirds of a normal year, but the vines reacted as if there was a drought, producing unusually small grapes. The small berry size explains the tremendous intensity of color and flavor in red wines from this vintage year.

Flavor profile: Ripe black cherry, raspberry, cocoa, mocha, cinnamon, all spice, toasty oak.
2008 Vintage: A roller-coaster of a growing season yielding low quantities of high quality fruit.

Drink now and through: 2014

Food Suggestions
Enjoy our Merlot with everything from roast duck and other game birds to prime rib. It pairs well with nuts and medium-hard to hard cheeses like Comté or Aged Gouda. From Colleen’s recipe collectionwe recommend Spring Lamb with Honey-Thyme Root Vegetables.

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2008 Napa Valley Merlot is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Flavor profile: Stone fruit, crisp pear, red apple, grapefruit and pineapple with a clean, crisp finish.
2010 Vintage: A roller-coaster of a growing season requiring great patience, but yielding low quantities of outstanding fruit quality.

Drink now and through: 2013

Food Suggestions
This is a versatile wine, so enjoy it with everything from seafood, fish, and pasta with white wine sauce. From Colleen’s recipe collection we recommend Spaghetti and White Clam Sauce.

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2010 Napa Valley Pinot Gris is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Flavor profile: Ripe cherry, raspberry, and blackcurrant with black licorice, white pepper, and mint.
2008 Vintage: A dynamic growing season with surprisingly low yields of flavorful berries showing great intensity of color and flavor

Drink now and through: 2014

Food Suggestions
This is a versatile wine, so enjoy it with everything from grilled swordfish, to poultry and veal to grilled Portobellos or a good steak. Colleen’s Kitchen has a few recipes matched with Cabernet Franc including her new Grilled Lamb Chops with Mustard-Herb Rub.

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2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Franc is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Flavor profile: Fresh, fruity, floral and slightly sweet with honeyed pear, grapefruit, ginger spice and lively green apple.
2010 Vintage: A roller-coaster of a growing season requiring great patience, but yielding low quantities of outstanding fruit quality.

Drink now and through: 2013

Food Suggestions
Enjoy our Chenin Blanc with sweet proteins like shellfish, duck or pork. From Colleen’s recipe collection we recommend Asian-Inspired Tilapia with Spinach.

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2010 Napa Valley Chenin Blanc is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Flavor profile:

Chardonnay and food: We’re always saying that a solid acidity makes the wine more food friendly and this wine makes is a great test case. If you look in Colleen’s Kitchen you’ll see that there are beaucoup recipes paired with our Chardonnay – everything from sautéed shellfish or salmon, to roast pork, to cream-based pasta dishes! One of Colleen’s favorites? The Chicken with Meyer Lemon, Fennel & Olives with Gremolata.

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2008 Napa Valley Estate Chardonnay is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Flavor profile: Fresh and fruity with juicy pear, honeyed melon, green apple and honeysuckle with a lively citrus finish. Drink now and through: 2012

2009 Vintage: Textbook conditions until a mid-October storm. The most common themes: Good flavor maturity at low sugars.

Food Suggestions
The fresh, lively flavors are perfect with lighter fare – sea food, salads, poultry or pork. It’s a refreshing contrast to the heat of spicy Thai and Indian cuisine. For delicious pairings, such as Pork Medallions with Grapefruit-Ginger Chutney, go to Colleen’s recipe database at goosecross.com

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2009 Napa Valley Chenin Blanc is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Flavor profile: Big, rich flavors of ripe cherry, strawberry, sweet plum and cocoa with anise and spice. Firm tannins.
2008 Vintage: A dynamic growing season with surprisingly low yields of flavorful berries showing great intensity of color and flavor

Drink now and through: 2014

Food Suggestions
Our Syrah is the perfect partner for simple, rustic fare like wild game, slow- cook dishes and grilled sausages. With its origins in the south of France, Syrah complements the flavors of the region particularly well. Colleen’s Kitchen has several recipes matched with Syrah including her new Rabbit Cacciatore.

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2008 Napa Valley Syrah is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Sit back and enjoy a glass of wine while Nancy Hawks Miller, our Director of Education, tells you about this roller coaster of a vintage and what you can expect from it.

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For more wine education:

• Visit goosecross.com where we have over 80 carefully researched educational articles available for you
• Our video library offers a show and tell on wine production and enjoyment
• Visit Colleen’s Kitchen for delicious recipes, paired with wine

NVWR® 112 – 2010 Harvest Recap is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Here, you see ordinary springtime shoot thinning, which is done to assure we don’t have too many shoots, and therefore, clusters (too many shoots cause crowding; flavor intensity suffers with too much crop):

The first cluster thinning normally happens right after flowering. If there are more clusters than we anticipated or more than we believe the vine can ripen with good flavor intensity we thin out some of the immature grapes.

But, we had some very  bushy vines this year, thanks to heavy rainfall in May (not normal). It’s important to keep the “canopy” of leaves open so air flow is good and mildew is under control, so more thinning:

And, then came the “Summer of no Summer”. Cool, damp conditions added to the normal mildew pressure, so gotta keep the canopy open!

Cluster thinning at veraison (when the grapes change color) is quite common (we have our winemaker on video kind of thinking aloud as he thins):

The “summer of no summer” came to an abrupt end in mid September, when we had a severe, 3-day heat wave!  The vines weren’t acclimated to the heat and all that shoot and leaf thinning left the clusters rather exposed. Result: dehydration!

So, more cluster thinning:

And, again more heat a few weeks ago!  More thinning:

So, the 2010 vintage may not be plentiful, but we’ve saved all the good ones for you!

This is one of the most challenging harvests ever, according to a number of growers. After a very cool summer and long ripening season the outlook for quality, for those who have taken the trouble to thin, should be very high. We expect to wrap up the 2010 harvest tomorrow with estate Petit Verdot and the rest of the estate Cabernet. Cheers!

The Incredible Shrinking Vintage is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

What to expect? Rich, ripe cherry, strawberry, turned earth, tobacco and spice. Sounds good? Well, it’s the lush, velvety texture that’s going to get you – one glass begs for another – enjoy! Drink now and through 2014.

Tempranillo and food: No need to limit yourself to Spanish cuisine! The impeccable balance and velvety mouth-feel make our Tempranillo an easy-going partner for flavorful grilled meats, roast lamb or pasta with red sauce. Try a glass with Colleen’s recipe for Zesty Pepper Steak with Jalapeño Reduction Sauce. Salud!

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2008 Napa Valley Tempranillo is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Flavor profile: Dark, dense and luscious: Black plum, boysenberry, tobacco, sweet anise, vanilla and toasty oak with velvety tannins.
2007 Vintage: Classic vintage, widely recognized as the finest since 1997, yielding small, flavorful berries and outstanding balance.

Drink now and through: 2015

Food Suggestions
The deep, dark flavors are a natural with slow-cooked dishes like short ribs or your favorite pot roast. The richness of prime rib or rack of lamb work well with the lush black fruit. Try a glass with Colleen’s recipe for Bacon-Cured Fillet Mignon with Shallot Sauce.

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2007 Napa Valley Estate Petit Verdot is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

It’s such a pleasure to begin releasing our reds from the 2007 vintage. It was about as close to a textbook growing season as we could hope for.

What does a good year mean to you? Rich, concentrated flavors, beautiful balance and varietal character spilling out of the glass. Our 2007 Napa Valley Syrah is loaded with bold black plum, ripe cherry, dried herbs, cocoa and toasty vanilla-oak.

Syrah and food: Our Syrah partners well with rustic fare like beef stew, wild game, grilled sausages or slow-cooked dishes. Mediterranean dishes are a natural for this native of southern France. Savoring a glass of the Syrah with Colleen’s recipe for Mediterranean Pork Tenderloin is the next best thing to an evening in Provence. Bon appétit!

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2007 Napa Valley Syrah is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Bellissimo, no?

So, what are those pretty yellow flowers in the vineyards all over Napa Valley? Why are they there?

The Mustard’s in Bloom! is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Archeological digs have uncovered local, cultural remains estimated at over 10,000 years old in Lake County, our neighbor to the immediate north. It’s possible that these remains were artifacts of the Wappo because the tribe was clustered in the areas around the south shore of Clear Lake, Alexander Valley, Russian River and Napa Valley. We know that a small segment, the southernmost group of the Wappo, lived by a little stream that drained into Conn Creek right here, where Goosecross Cellars is located.

The First Inhabitants of Napa Valley

The first Caucasians arrived here nearly 200 years ago. Life before then was quite peaceful, as far as we know, probably because the people had everything they needed, as did the neighboring tribes. Their natural environment richly provided for them with good fishing, hunting and gathering right outside the door of their dome-shaped homes. That may also explain why the white man saw them as primitive compared to other tribes they’d encountered. Other than making a once a year trek to the coast to trade for shells to make beads, and catch some salt-water fish and shellfish, there had been little need to mix with, or learn from, other tribes.

Plants and animals, which built their homes and provided their nourishment, were considered sacred, so ownership of any kind was discouraged. It was also considered immoral to force a person to do something he didn’t want to.

Cultivating crops wasn’t a part of the picture until Caucasians came on the scene because of the local bounty. Acorns were a dietary staple. They were ground into flour to make bread and other foods like mush; they hunted waterfowl, deer, elk, rabbit and even bear, usually in teams. They caught trout, salmon, freshwater shellfish and turtles with spears, their hands or with nets made from local plants. Nuts and berries were plentiful, which makes us wonder if they made any wine from the berries.

Marriages were monogamous and there was the traditional division of labor, with the men doing the hunting and fishing and the women tanning hides, gathering acorns and berries and preparing meals. George Yount observed that he found the people peculiar in that the children were kind to each other, unlike so-called civilized children, and there were almost never arguments amongst the adults, of any kind – that is until the white man introduced whiskey, which had an extremely negative effect.

Descendants tell us that the Wappo enjoyed a good party and were also very family oriented. Games, dances and music were a big part of life and the dance leaders, who would visit other tribes to learn new songs and dances, were generally the only well-traveled members of the group. Most villages were built around a communal sweat house and it was common to go for a steam and then plunge into the cold stream afterward.

The Wappo were known for their beautiful jewelry, made of bone and shells, and also for the magnificent baskets they wove.

The Padres Arrive in 1823

This was how Father Altimira, a Franciscan priest, found the Wappo when he arrived in 1823 to establish the northernmost of the 21 coastal missions, the Sonoma Mission. At that time, it’s estimated that there were about 4,000-8,000 Wappo living in the Napa Valley. Altimira’s arrival marked the end of a peaceful way of life. When the padres began moving the Wappos, and other neighboring tribes, to their missions for re-education, some went willingly, with the promise of food and comfort. Others were less cooperative and the natives were regularly rounded up and sent to the various missions to be converted to Christianity and also to become farmers and housekeepers who would support the Spanish colonies.

Records indicate that Altimira had converted 623 natives within a year. These converts also helped to raise buildings, bring up cattle from the south and plant orchards, row crops and Mission vines, the only wine variety available at the time. There was a small cellar in the mission to store the wine they made. Because of attempted escapes, the natives were no longer allowed to ride horses and those who were caught were returned to the mission to be punished.

When some of these natives put up greater resistance than officials anticipated, based upon their experience with other tribes, they began to call them Wappo, a corruption of the word “guapo”, which meant “brave” or “handsome”. In its way, the name expressed admiration, or at least respect, for the fierceness and skill they demonstrated in defending their way of life.

The original intent of the mission system was that the missions would last about ten years, after which the land would revert to the Native Americans working it and they’d become responsible, Christian, tax-paying citizens. As it turned out, the missionaries were quite reluctant to give up their vast land holdings and the free labor that came with them.

In 1926, the natives under Altimira’s care revolted against the frequent flogging and imprisonment employed in the effort to “civilize” them by attacking and burning the Sonoma Mission. The discouraged padre put in for a transfer, unsuccessfully, and eventually returned to Spain. The attack prompted the Mexican government to send in soldiers for protection. But, in spite of this, there was another attack of 2000 natives on Mission San Rafael three years later, effectively putting off others who considered settling in the region.

Colonization Under Mexico

When the region came under Mexican control, the growing population of colonial ranchers throughout California demanded that the government force the missions to “free” the Indians and redistribute the land, leading to the secularization of the missions.

In 1835 General Mariano Vallejo was made director of colonization in the region and was authorized to issue land grants to settlers. It was a method of securing a great deal of territory in the face of sparse colonial population. He granted huge tracts of land, totaling 180,000 acres in what are now Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties to relatives, friends and cronies. This was very bad news for the small groups of natives who had managed to maintain tribal village life rather than go to the missions. The Mexican Republic’s 1824 constitution declared Indians to be citizens with rights to vote and hold public office but, in reality, they were still treated as slaves. Any settlements within the ranchos were considered the property of the owner and the Indians became slave-like servants for these settlers. As the land owners sold off pieces of their ranchos, the new residents, even those of very modest means, had at least a few Indian servants.

Enter George Yount

Enter George Yount in 1836, an American from Missouri and the first Caucasian to settle in Napa Valley. He was the recipient of a 12,000-acre grant called Caymus Rancho. This 18-square mile parcel began below today’s Yountville and extended all the way up to just south of what is now St. Helena. He settled in, built a block house and ranched cattle in the area that is now Yount Mill Road. He procured most of the Indian labor he needed for the Caymus Rancho and also Rancho La Jota, which was granted to him a few years later, by promising safety and plenty of food. Yount’s biographers wrote that the relationship with the natives was one of mutual respect and good will. It was the smart way to go for Yount because, at least at first, his closest Caucasian neighbors were eighteen miles away in Sonoma. And it was the safest approach for the Wappo, too, because they didn’t own guns.

It wasn’t long before Salvador Vallejo settled on another large grant, south of Yountville, and then more Americans came on the scene such as E.T. Bale, who had married into the Vallejo family and became a neighbor to the north. Other well-known local names were grant recipients who settled in the areas that were eventually named for them, such as Pope, Chiles and Berryessa.

Yount began as a fur trader and cattle rancher, but is acknowledged as having been greatly influential in converting the area from a region of cows and wheat to one of fruits and vegetables including, of course, grapes. Wine historian Charles Sullivan was able to track down an account of the beginnings of winemaking in the Napa Valley by Yount’s granddaughter: “The grapes were put in rough troughs and the Indians, girt with their loin cloths only trampled out with their bare feet the mass until it was reduced to a pulp. This pulp was then placed in suspended ox-skins. They were hung from four strong stakes sunk in the ground, and when the fermentation process was complete a hole was made in the skin and the wine was drawn off.”

The Wappo Gradually Disappear From the Region

When he first settled in what is now Yountville, Yount estimated that there were about 8,000 Wappo living in the Napa Valley. But with the growing non-native population, which increased very rapidly with the onset of the gold rush, the Wappo fled, or were rounded up and sent to Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties.

In 1850, California changed hands, again, and became the 31^st state in the union. According to Yount, there were less than 500 Wappo in the area by then – countless dead due to disease, many relocated by the successive governing bodies, and others had simply scattered, joining and marrying into other tribes. By 1880, it’s estimated that there were about 50 Wappo remaining. Today, to quote Yolande Beard, “a few Wappo families live in northern California. Typically they maintain a low profile.”

The Native American Garden at Bothe State Park

You can visit a very interesting Native American garden, in Calistoga, at Bothe State Park. It displays twenty of the plants important to the Wappo, especially native iris, wild rose and elderberries. You can see the black oaks that provided the all-important acorns and the sedge, willow and redbud they used to make their beautiful baskets. There’s a sacred redwood circle that is said to symbolize the harmonious relationship between the native people and the universe. One of the last remaining Wappo to speak the language, Laura Fish Somersal, was quoted: “Although these are modern times, these plants still give us a living. They feed us, help us get along. Heal us when we’re sick, and remind us we’re still Indians, even in these times. That’s why it’s so important to keep them.”

Thank you

It’s important to acknowledge that two wonderful books were of particular help in putting this together: Yolande Beard’s The Wappo, a Report and also Victoria Calkins, The Wappo People.

The Wappo Indians of Napa Valley is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

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We continue with winemaking at Goosecross Cellars in the Napa Valley, two minutes at at time. The “cap” has risen, we’ve added the yeast, and now it’s time to begin “pump overs”. The cap refers to the layer of skins that rise to the top during red-wine fermentation. Enjoy!

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Goosecross: Pumping Over the Cap is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

A mere four days after that post we got three+ inches of torrential rainfall in 24 hours here in Yountville. My rain gage at home in St. Helena showed over five inches. SHOCKING!  WE DON’T ALLOW RAIN DURING HARVEST!!

What’s the beef? A little sprinkle is nothing to worry about. But, big-time rain causes rot and dilution – some varieties are more susceptible than others.

Lucky for us, a couple of days before the rain hit we got our three rows of Petit Verdot in looking very nice, thank you very much. That just left the Syrah.

After the rain stopped, Geoff gave it a few days, then went down to the Carneros , where our Syrah is grown, with trepidation. He saw some sad looking Chardonnay and Zin there but,fortunately, the Syrah looked clean and the sugar was just where it was for last year’s crush. So, not wishing to push his luck, we brought it in the next day. Thus, our harvest ended. Next day? More heavy rain. Good call, Geoff!!

As for our Napa Valley neighbors, things could be a lot worse. If you could choose which grape get hits by the rain it would be good-old Cabernet Sauvignon, which is about the only thing still hanging. It’s tough skinned, like the Syrah, and forms a loose cluster. The air circulation helps prevent rot. Plus, last weekend was very warm and somewhat windy, which really helps dry things out. Folks are harvesting at a frentic pace to finish up in case Mother Nature gets peevish again.

From valley-wide reports, just about everything will be in by Halloween. The most common response to rain damage is to be extremely careful about sorting the fruit when it gets to the winery. Most winemakers are quite optimistic about quality, in spite of the rain.

The theme for this harvest, aside from the game-changing rain, is that flavor maturity has been quite good at lower sugar levels, which translates to slightly lower alcohols. We’re absolutely OK with that!

So, all that’s left is to finish pressing, get the wines barreled up and call it a vintage. Cheers!

Goosecross: Harvest Ends with a Bang! is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Pairings: Grilled steak, wild game, slow-cooked dishes, sausages, aged cheeses.

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2006 Napa Valley Syrah is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Pairings: Grilled steak or lamb, slow-cooked dishes, aged cheeses.

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2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Franc is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, September 26, 2009 from 4:00-7:00pm at our Yountville winery

Dinner at 5:00 p.m.
Price: $100 per person

Enjoy a delicious catered meal, featuring the seasonal flavors of Napa Valley

• Sip on fabulous Goosecross wines
• Dine in our intimate garden overlooking the vineyards
• Relax to the soothing sounds of live Jazz music
• Tank and barrel sampling with Winemaker, Geoff Gorsuch
• Tour the grounds with Director of Education, Nancy Hawks Miller
• Exclusive Goosecross wine offerings
• Share your thoughts and viewpoints on Goosecross with its owners
• And…if nature permits, you’ll see harvest in action

Reservations will be limited to 60 guests
Make your reservation today!

Click here for directions to Goosecross
Click here to RSVP to the party
Click here to access our concierge service

We hope to see you here.
We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!

Join Us For Our Annual Harvest Party is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

Flavor profile: Black plum, blackberry, black currant, cherry, tobacco, violet, vanilla, sweet anise and toasty oak.
2006 Vintage: Winemaker Geoff Gorsuch guided the wine through a warm fermentation and punched the “cap” of skins, by hand, to maximize the extraction of color, flavor and texture from the skins.

Drink now and through: 2014

Food Suggestions
Petit Verdot is the ideal partner for a grilled hanger steak or roast prime rib of beef. From Colleen’s recipe collection we recommend Savory Pot Roast.

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2006 Napa Valley Estate Petit Verdot is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

After planting and training a new vineyard over a period of three to four years the grower is rewarded with his first small harvest. Once the vineyard is established, keeping the vines healthy is a year-round project. Surprisingly, the weather experienced in winter can have an influence on the timing, quantity and quality of the harvest to follow.

Winter

Grapevines are like roses in some respects. Once we have some frost in November they drop all of their leaves and go dormant for the winter. This rest is very important to vineyard health and performance in the following season. Like roses, the vines require severe winter pruning which will help to determine how many shoots and clusters will appear in the spring. Almost all of the growth from the previous season is pruned off, so that the vines will bear a small, intensely flavored crop.

If we have a long, cold winter, the vines “sleep in”, and come out of dormancy late. If the winter is mild, they’re likely to wake up (we call it “bud break”) early. Bud break is usually in the middle of March, but we’d much prefer that it be late than early. Early bud break increases the risk of frost damage. A beautiful, clear day in the late winter/early spring can turn into a freezing, cold night. The newly exposed, tender buds will be damaged if the temperature drops below 32° F. The risk lasts through about mid-May. This can lead to many nights of poor sleep for growers all over the valley. Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, may have to get up in the middle of the night several times during these months, to protect the vines from frost using wind machines⁴ and smudge pots⁵. The upside of early bud-break is that it can translate into an early harvest and reduce our risk of rain damage on the other end. It all depends on the weather that follows.

Spring

Early spring brings the period we call “great growth” in the vineyard, because the new shoots grow like gang-busters. We sometimes imagine we can see them grow! This great growth creates a lot of work, including weed cultivation and suckering⁶ or shoot thinning. The suckering is done by hand, and is like a post-pruning. We prune during dormancy with the idea that we’ll get certain results, but inevitably, the vines do as they please, and require more of our attention. Once the shoots are a few inches long, Geoff can begin walking the vine rows to make sure they’re developing well and also to look for signs of disease or nutrient deficiencies. This continues throughout the growing season.

The buds flower and form clusters around mid-to-late May. We are fortunate that the flowers are self-pollinating, so we don’t have to worry about bees or wind to carry the pollen. We only worry about the weather. Too much rain, high winds or excess heat can impair pollination. Again, we are fortunate because most years we go for months without rain after the end of April. The weather is blessedly boring and predictable most years, and generally leads to good “fruit set.”⁷ Once the crop is set, we count the clusters. Of course, there’s nothing we can do about too few, but if we count more clusters than we believe the vines can ripen well, we drop the excess on the ground right then and there.

Summer

When the grapes first form, regardless of the variety, they look like tiny green beads. They’re not recommended for tasting at that point because they’re highly acidic. They plump and develop amazingly quickly. Usually, by mid-to-late July, they’re 2/3 their full size, and the dark varieties begin to soften and change color (we call this veraison). White varieties like Chardonnay go through a much more subtle color change, going from a bright, spring green to more of a yellow-green as they soften.

During this time, Geoff continues to walk the vineyard to make sure it’s healthy, and he monitors the leaf canopy and clusters to see if we need to do further shoot, leaf or crop thinning. He takes leaf samples to do a “petiole (the leaf stem) analysis”, which just means he’s checking for nutrient deficiencies.

Irrigation may be necessary a few times during the long, dry season, but Geoff prefers to keep it to the minimum. Too much irrigation or fertilization may take away from flavor intensity. He can test the vines in different parts of the vineyard to see if they’re becoming water-stressed and respond accordingly.

Late Summer and Harvest

Veraison is the signal that the vine’s energy has shifted from vegetative growth into fruit ripening: the grapes are beginning to get sweet, and the acid is decreasing. It means that soon it will be time to begin “field sampling.” Geoff takes samples from all over the vineyard to monitor the sugar, acid and pH. Repeated monitoring of these numbers over the weeks gives him a ball-park idea of when the vineyard will be ready for harvest. He makes the final decision to harvest by tasting. He’s looking for flavors that are intense and fully developed. He bites into the seed to make sure it’s crunchy and mature. If the seeds are still green, they can impart some very bitter tannins to the wine.

Once the vineyard is ready, we’ve got to be quick! The sugar changes a little every day, and if the weather’s hot, it goes up frighteningly quickly. We pick everything by hand. Our goal is to deliver grapes as perfectly ripe as nature allows, free of leaves, raisins or mold. This is a lot to ask, so each year we hire the same well-trained men who are paid above the industry standard to be selective. The wine can’t be any better than the grapes that make it. The crew begins as soon as it’s light enough to see, and finishes around lunch-time, getting themselves and the grapes in, before it gets too hot.

If we’ve had a “normal” year, we begin to pick early-ripening varieties like Sauvignon Blanc around Labor Day. Warm years may mean an earlier harvest and cool years can cause delays. Usually, by mid to late September the harvest is in full swing and we often finish with Cabernet Sauvignon sometime in October, again, depending on the weather. In 2005 some local vineyards were harvested as late as mid-November. The later the harvest, the greater risk of rain damage, but as it happens, 2005 turned out to be an exceptionally fine vintage!

By the end of October we begin to expect rain and the nights become cooler and cooler. Once harvest is over, we hope for frost because the sooner we have some good, hard frost the sooner the vines will go dormant and we can start our pruning again, completing the annual cycle. Click here for the GCU Napa Valley Vintage Recap to check the quality and characteristics of recent vintages.

Footnotes:

1. Meso-climate: The climate of a vineyard site, hillside or valley. The term “micro-climate” is used in its place extremely often. Micro-climate correctly refers to the climate immediately surrounding the individual vine canopy (or green growth) and clusters. Vineyard and canopy management will strongly influence the micro-climate, but not the meso-climate.
2. Clone: A clone is a sub-variety within a grape variety, such as Chardonnay, that has been replicated because of specific attributes such as flavor, productivity and adaptability to growing conditions
3. Rootstock hybrid: Vines of European origin, called vitis vinifera, cannot be grown on their own roots in most parts of the world due to lack of resistance to certain soil pests. They are grafted onto various rootstock hybrids that are resistant to the pests. Additionally, the hybrids are chosen for other beneficial traits, such as low or high vigor, drought resistance, etc.
4. Wind machines: Wind machines are powerful fans placed in the vineyard for frost protection. They mix warmer air above, with the colder air settling on the vineyard to prevent damage.
5. Smudge pots: Also called “vineyard heaters,” they look like stove pipes surrounding the vineyard and burn diesel fuel or oil to warm the vines.
6. Suckering: Removing unwanted young shoots to keep the vine and crop in balance.
7. Fruit set (also called cluster set): The overall formation of the grape cluster following flowering. Normal clusters will be fully formed, with very few “shot berries” (missing grapes) and uniform grape size, depending on the variety or clone.

A Year In The Vineyard is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

What it all adds up to, is that 33 different soil profiles, representing half of the soil orders that exist on the planet can be readily found in the Napa Valley¹. It’s important to note that all of this exists in an area that produces about 4% of California’s wine². Extensive soil diversity can also be found within individual sub-appellations, such as the Spring Mountain District, an area that encompasses only 8,600 acres and contains 22 different soils series. What this means, is that viticulturists shouldn’t assume that a vineyard site, even a small one, will be uniform in soil type. Our own 9.5 acre vineyard at Goosecross is divided into 10 different sections according to variety, clone³ of the variety, rootstock hybrid⁴ and vine spacing – the last two factors mainly due to variations in the soil.

Today, the most striking geographic features are the two mountain ranges, the Mayacamas to the west, and the Vaca range on the east side, which form our valley. It’s about 30 miles long and a few miles wide, narrowing as it goes north, and bi-sected by the Napa River. First time visitors to the valley are surprised to notice a marked difference in appearance between the Mayacamas and the Vaca ranges. The Mayacamas is heavily forested and perpetually green. The Vaca range is dry in the summer, a home for sagebrush and scrub oaks, due to lighter rainfall, generally shallower soils and from baking in the afternoon sun.

The San Pablo Bay at the southern end of the valley, together with the mountain ranges, holds the key to our agreeable climate. Wine grapes are at their best when they ripen relatively slowly, and the bay serves as our natural air conditioner. In the summertime, as the daytime temperatures increase, the warm air rises and pulls in cooling evening fog from the bay. The mountains help to funnel in the fog and wind and moderate our temperatures. Here in Yountville, we often see a daytime high of 85° F and a drop to 55° at night during the growing season.

Since the bay is located at the southern end of the valley, marine influences are greatest in the south and diminish as the valley meanders north. Vive la difference! It allows us to grow a number of different grape varieties very, very well. Burgundian and Champagne varieties, such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, ripen slowly in the foggy, breezy southern end of the valley. Varieties that need more heat to ripen are planted in the upper regions. Of course, Cabernet is King in the Napa Valley, and it’s because of the marvelous results we’ve enjoyed decade after decade. It can be found all over the valley, but it’s concentrated in the mid-valley area. Because of our geographic variability, you can find warm and cool pockets virtually anywhere, so we’re speaking in general terms. We can never make assumptions about what to grow before planting a new vineyard. We must measure the meso-climate⁵ and collect soil samples in order to make a good decision.

With such diversity of soil and climate, we know that different vineyard locations can produce wines that vary in character and style, but also have a track record of making wines that are reliably high in quality.

It comes as no surprise that Napa Valley was the first American Viticultural Area (What is an AVA?) in California, approved in 1981. The first vineyard in the Napa Valley was planted in 1836, by George Yount, in what is now known as the Yountville District. In 1861, Charles Krug established the first commercial winery in the Napa Valley. In the late 1800s, H.W. Crabb catalyzed a spirit of innovation that still thrives today, by planting more than 400 grape varieties as a research project on his Oakville estate. By 1889, the Napa Valley was home to more than 140 wineries.

In the early days of winemaking in the Napa Valley, the most popular varieties were planted all over the valley without much attention paid to environmental circumstances. We just didn’t know any better at the time. As we’ve gained a greater understanding of the valley’s climates and soils (an on-going process!), we’ve realized the wisdom of matching the right variety with the right place. Consequently, we have divided it into sub-appellations according to those differences. This was a natural evolution, as we came to know the valley better. So, we have the entire Napa Valley as an AVA, and smaller districts within it too.

Since it’s grown all over the valley, Cabernet Sauvignon is a great model of our diversity. It can be a great discovery and delight to taste and compare Cabs from different parts of the valley. Are you in the mood for a muscular Howell Mountain Cab or an elegant Yountville District Cab? You can savor and enjoy each in its own way, and realize as you do, that it’s all thanks to Mother Nature and her ever-changing moods!

Footnotes:
1. Napa Valley Vintner’s 2004 Soil Report press release
2. California Wine institute website
3. Clone: A clone is a sub-variety within a grape variety (a natural mutation), such as Chardonnay, that has been replicated because of specific attributes such as flavor, productivity and adaptability to growing conditions.
4. Rootstock: Wine grapes cannot be grown on their own roots in most parts of the world, due to lack of resistance to certain soil pests. They are grafted onto various rootstock hybrids that are resistant to the pests. Additionally, the hybrids are chosen for other beneficial traits, such as low or high vigor, drought resistance, etc.
5. Mesoclimate: The climate of a vineyard site, hillside or valley. The term “microclimate” is used in its place extremely often. Microclimate correctly refers to the climate immediately surrounding the individual vine canopy (or green growth) and clusters. Vineyard and canopy management will strongly influence the microclimate, but not the mesoclimate.

Napa Valley AVA is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.

The real fun and art of winemaking lies in the endless variables that come up along the way. Where and how to plant? When to harvest? How to handle the grapes at the winery? What kind of yeast to add? What kind of fermentation vessel should we use? Which barrels to buy? It goes on and on.

We’re going to focus on the choices that Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, makes along the way to produce Goosecross Chardonnay every year.

Planting A Vineyard

Geoff will tell you that the wine can only be as good as the grapes that make it. There is no way to make a wonderful wine out of mediocre grapes, no matter how skilled the producer. Geoff’s goal is to get his hands on the best possible fruit and then to conserve the beauty of the fruit through attentive, but not intrusive, winemaking.

In our case, as a small, family winery, the winemaker is also the vineyard manager. Geoff is hands-on from the planting of the vines, every step of the way, until the wine is bottled.

You’ve heard the old real estate saw: “location, location, location.” Well, it truly applies in growing grapes for wine. Getting the right variety in the right location is 90% of the battle. We grow our Estate Chardonnay in the coolest region of Napa Valley, known as the Carneros Region. This is an ideal location for Chardonnay, where the grapes ripen slowly in the persistent morning fog, and cool evening breezes. The resulting prolonged “hangtime,” literally means that the Chardonnay has enough time on the vine to develop completely mature flavors and to delight us with a little tropical character. The soil is typical of Carneros, in that there is clay, but it is interspersed with some gravel and sand, improving drainage.

Before planting a vineyard like this, we bring in experts to take soil samples from various parts of the property, and also to measure the specific mesoclimate¹ throughout the vineyard. With this information, we can make good decisions about selecting the optimal clone² and root-stock hybrid³ for the site, and also set up the best spacing and row orientation for eventual wine quality.

For this site, we selected the low-vigor, SO4 rootstock in order to keep the yields down and flavors concentrated. A vertical trellis system⁴ in this location, running east-west, allows for plenty of light exposure to heighten fruitiness with very little risk of sunburn.

With these choices made, we lay out the posts, stakes and wires for the trellis. We dug the holes, planted and trained the vines and attached the trellis wires by hand. A drip irrigation system completes the installation.

From planting the rootstock or benchgrafts⁵, it is 3-4 years to the first small crop. We think of the vineyard as mature when it is 6 or 7 years old, and hope that it will be with us for decades.

A Year In The Vineyard

Once the vineyard is established, keeping the vines healthy is a year-round project. Surprisingly, the weather experienced in winter can have an influence on the timing, quantity and quality of the harvest to follow.

Winter

Grapevines are like roses in many respects. They drop all of their leaves and go dormant in the winter. This rest is very important to vineyard health and performance in the following season. Like roses, the vines require severe winter pruning to determine how many shoots and clusters will appear in the spring. Almost all of the growth from the previous season is pruned off, so that the vines will bear a small, intensely flavored crop.

If we have a long, cold winter, the vines “sleep in”, and come out of dormancy late. If the winter is mild, they’re likely to wake up (we call it “bud break”) early. Bud break is usually in the middle of March, but we’d much rather that it be late than early. Early bud break means the increased risk of frost damage. A beautiful, clear day in the late winter/early spring can turn into a freezing, cold night. The newly exposed, tender buds will be damaged if the temperature drops below 32° F. The risk lasts through mid-May. This can lead to many nights of poor sleep for growers all over the valley. Geoff and Rosario, his assistant, may have to get up in the middle of the night several times during these months, to protect the vines from frost using wind machines⁶ and smudge pots⁷. The upside of early bud-break is that it can translate into an early harvest and reduces our risk of rain damage on the other end. It all depends on the weather that follows.

Spring

Early spring is a period we call “great growth” in the vineyard, because the new shoots grow like gang-busters. We sometimes imagine we can see them grow! This great growth creates a lot of work, including weed cultivation, suckering⁸ and thinning. The suckering is done by hand, and is like a post-pruning. We dormant-prune with the idea that we’ll get certain results, but inevitably, the vines do as they please, and require more of our attention. Once the shoots are a few inches long, Geoff can begin walking the vine rows to make sure they’re developing well, and also to look for signs of disease or nutrient deficiencies. This continues throughout the growing season.

The buds flower and form clusters around mid-May. We are fortunate that the flowers are self-pollinating, so we don’t have to worry about bees or wind. We only worry about the weather. Too much rain or excess heat can impair pollination and lead to crop loss (also called “shatter”). Again, we are fortunate because, normally, we don’t see rain for several months after the end of April. The weather is blessedly boring and predictable most years, and generally leads to good “fruit set.”⁹ Once the crop is set, we count the clusters. Of course, there’s nothing we can do about too few, but if we count more clusters than we anticipate the vines can ripen well, we drop the excess on the ground right then and there.

Summer

When the grapes first form, regardless of the variety, they look like tiny green beads. They’re not recommended for tasting at that point because they’re highly acidic. They plump and develop amazingly quickly. Usually, by mid-July, they’re full size, and the dark varieties begin to soften and change color (we call this veraison). White varieties like Chardonnay go through a much more subtle color change, going from a bright, spring green to more of a yellow-green as they soften.

During this time, Geoff continues to walk the vineyard to make sure it’s healthy, and he monitors the leaf canopy and clusters to see if we need to do further shoot, leaf or crop thinning.

Irrigation may be necessary a few times during the long, dry season, but Geoff prefers to keep it to the minimum. Too much irrigation or fertilization may take away from flavor intensity. He can test the vines in different parts of the vineyard to see if they’re becoming water-stressed and respond accordingly.

Late Summer and Harvest

Veraison is the signal that the grapes are beginning to get sweet, and the acid is decreasing. It means it’s time to begin “field sampling.” Geoff and Rosario take samples from all over the vineyard to monitor the sugar, acid and pH. Repeated monitoring of these numbers over the weeks gives them a ballpark idea of when the vineyard will be ready for harvest. Geoff makes the final decision to harvest by tasting. The most important thing is for the flavors to be fully developed. He bites right into the seed to make sure it’s crunchy and mature. If the seeds are still green, they can impart some very bitter tannins to the wine. He takes a good look at the vineyard. Vineyards have a certain look when they’re finished for the season. If the shoots are still growing vigorously, it’s not a good sign. The wine may have some “green” character that we don’t find attractive if the vineyard’s not ready to wind down for the year. That greenness and general lack of character and body are the risks of picking too soon.

Once the vineyard is ready, we’ve got to be quick! The sugar changes a little every day, and if the weather’s hot, it goes up frighteningly quickly. If we wait too long we risk high-alcohol wine with raisiny or pruney character.

We pick everything by hand. Our goal is to deliver grapes as perfectly ripe as nature allows, free of leaves, raisins or mold. This is a lot to ask, so each year we hire the same well-trained men who are paid above the industry standard to be selective. Again, the wine can’t be any better than the grapes that make it! The crew begins as soon as it’s light enough to see, and finishes around lunch-time, getting themselves and the grapes in, before it gets too hot.

Unfortunately, fresh grapes don’t improve with age, and it’s important to get them to the winery as quickly as possible once they’re picked. The commute from the vineyard to the winery is about 20 minutes.

The Crush

You’d think that Geoff has enough to do just taking care of the vineyards, but he also has to get the winery ready before the first box of grapes arrives. He and Rosario sanitize all of the equipment, and make sure it’s in good working order. They re-sanitize long empty fermentation tanks and barrels to be sure they are immaculately clean. “Dirty wineries make funky wine!” (un-attributed quote).

When the grapes arrive, they feed them into the Crusher/Stemmer. As the name implies, the grapes are separated from their stems and broken open. The term “crushing” can be misleading, because it sounds violent. In fact, the grapes are broken open by very soft, rubber rollers. Rough handling in the beginning will be repaid with bitter flavors later! The crushed and de-stemmed grapes (called “must”), are transferred to the press. We have named our press Lucy, affectionately, for Lucille Ball. She was pressing the old fashioned way in that hilarious episode! The press is like a large strainer. After the must is placed in the press, gentle pressure is applied and the juice flows off, leaving the skins and seeds behind, trapped by a screen.

Fermentation

About half of the juice goes into temperature controlled, stainless steel tanks, and the other half into 60 gallon French oak barrels. It isn’t necessary to do this in two parts, but we find the resulting style very appealing. The juice in the stainless steel tank ferments at low temperatures, and makes Chardonnay that is highly aromatic, and intensely fruity. The juice that ferments in the barrel produces wine that’s a little richer and fuller. Later, Geoff blends the tank and barrel fermented wines together for a beautiful balance of freshness and richness in the finished wine.

After transferring the juice to the tank or barrel, Geoff adds a proprietary yeast strain. The yeast consumes the sugar in the juice, converting it to heat, CO2 and alcohol. This is a completely natural process that has been going on since the beginning of time. When all of the sugar is used up, we say the wine is dry, and the fermentation is over. This may take around 3 weeks.

Aging

When the fermentation is complete, the wine that was fermented in tanks is transferred to aging barrels. The wine that was fermented in barrels, stays there to age “sur lie,” which means aging it on the yeast and grape solids that have settled. The sur lie aging will give the Chardonnay a greater richness and a creamy, fuller mouth feel. Geoff stirs the lees up into the aging wine in each barrel at least weekly to accentuate the effect.

Our signature style for Chardonnay here at Goosecross Cellars is always very fruit-forward, with bright acidity. To accomplish this, aside from the two fermentation techniques described above, Geoff prevents the Chardonnay from undergoing malo-lactic fermentation¹⁰, and the wine stays in the barrels for about four-to-six months. He tastes the wine as it ages in the barrel looking for maturation and integration. He wants these qualities to come through without picking up too much oak flavor along the way. The oak should complement the grape flavors and not mask the beautiful fruit character he worked so hard for out in the vineyard. Geoff always says he likes the grapes to “brag about themselves” in the bottle.

When he has decided that the Chardonnay has had the right amount of barrel time, Geoff begins blending the different barrel lots together and returns the wine to stainless steel tanks for final clarification and bottling.

Finishing The Wine

The wine self-clarifies to a degree as it ages, but it’s rarely clear enough to bottle at the end of barrel aging. In the process of removing the wine from barrels, Geoff is careful to see that the cloudy solids that have settled to the bottom of the barrel are left behind. This is called racking. He racks the wine a few more times before it’s finally filtered and bottled.

Bottling is a nerve racking event that takes place only a few times a year here at Goosecross. The act of moving the wine from a large container to a small bottle affords many opportunities to expose the wine to air. If the wine picks up too much oxygen during bottling, it can undo all of the hard work that’s been done, leaving us with a wine that has a short shelf-life, and perhaps less character. The bottles are filled with inert nitrogen gas before and after filling with wine, to displace the oxygen. Periodic random samples are pulled from the bottling line for analysis, to be sure that healthy wine reaches your hands.

The newly bottled wine looks very tempting, but several weeks must be allowed for it to recover from “bottle shock,” a period of dullness or even off-character that follows bottling. Geoff usually decides to allow more time for it to benefit from some additional bottle aging before we can finally release it to you.

The joy of wine making is in working with nature, and relying on our instincts and experience to create “Bottled Poetry.”¹¹ It’s a long road, but after all of the thought, work and care that went in to taking it from the vine to the bottle, the ultimate reward is knowing that the fruit of our efforts is being enjoyed by you, with your family and friends.

Footnotes:

1. Mesoclimate: The climate of a vineyard site, hillside or valley. The term “microclimate” is used in its place extremely often. Microclimate correctly refers to the climate immediately surrounding the individual vine canopy (or green growth) and clusters. Vineyard and canopy management will strongly influence the microclimate, but not the mesoclimate. The mesoclimate belongs to Mother Nature.
2. Clone: A clone is a sub-variety within a grape variety, such as Chardonnay, that has been replicated because of specific attributes such as flavor, productivity and adaptability to growing conditions
3. Rootstock hybrid: Vines of European origin, called vitis vinifera, cannot be grown on their own roots, due to lack of resistance to certain soil pests. They are grafted onto various rootstock hybrids that are resistant to the pests. Additionally, the hybrids are chosen for other beneficial traits, such as low or high vigor, drought resistance, etc.
4. Vertical trellis system (also called vertical shoot positioning): The vines are trained in such a way that the shoots grow vertically. As they grow longer, the shoots are tucked into trellis wires above them to maintain the vertical direction, providing maximum light exposure to the leaf surface.
5. Bench-grafts: Purchased grafts of the varietal and rootstock hybrid that are grafted by a professional nursery. The alternative is to graft in the field, called “field-budding.” Planting bench-grafts often gets a vineyard into production sooner than field-budding by hand.
6. Wind machines: Wind machines are powerful fans placed in the vineyard for frost protection. They mix warmer air above, with the colder air settling on the vineyard to prevent damage.
7. Smudge pots: Also called “vineyard heaters,” smudge pots look like stove pipes surrounding the vineyard and burn diesel fuel or oil to warm the vines.
8. Suckering: Removing unwanted young shoots to keep the vine and crop in balance.
9. Fruit set (also called cluster set): The overall formation of the grape cluster following flowering. Normal clusters will be fully formed, with very few “shot berries” (missing grapes) and uniform grape size, depending on the variety or clone.
10. Malo-lactic fermentation: Malo-lactic fermentation converts tart malic acid to soft lactic acid, effectively lowering the total acidity of the wine. Virtually all red wines under-go this “secondary fermentation.” For Chardonnay, the diacetyl produced by the Malo-lactic fermentation, makes the wine smell buttery, and gives it a little more weight.
11. Bottled Poetry: Robert Louis Stevenson described the wines of Napa Valley as “bottled poetry” back in the late 1800s, when he lived here briefly.

How We Make Our Estate Chardonnay is a post from Goosecross Cellars. Copyright © 2011 Goosecross Cellars, All Rights Reserved.