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What’s the Best Way to Learn About Wine?
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Fun Fact by Nancy Hawks Miller, Goosecross: What’s the Best Way to Learn About Wine?
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NVWR® 99 – Top Five Questions: Ask Our Educator
February 23, 2010 by David
Filed under Napa Valley Wine Radio
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“Ask Our Educator” is one of my favorite website features because people write in with all kinds of wine-related questions and sometimes we get a real conversation going!
In episode 57 (December 2007) we covered questions about screwcaps, sulfites and more.
Since then you’ve had questions about decanting, how to buy a good wine glass, and how to store left-over wine among other things.
So, here we go with a new installment of the top five questions!
Q: Sulfites/California Wine/Headaches
Question from Susan: We have a friend who claims that she can only drink French reds because California reds have more nitrates/nitrites and give her headaches. Is this possible or is it a bit of wine snobbery?
Reply: Hi, Susan! Thanks for writing! I think your friend must have meant sulfites rather than nitrites. I’m pretty confident that nitrites aren’t a significant part of the wine picture (although they’re found in water, so…). They’re used to preserve hot dogs and salami and stuff like that. The sulfite question comes up pretty frequently.
It’s hard to blame her for thinking that French wine doesn’t have sulfites because, up to quite recently, only the US and Australia required the sulfite warning on the label. If you vacationed in Paris and drank French wine, a few years back, you wouldn’t have seen the warning. But, now you would (unless it’s an old vintage) and this applies to all the wine-producing countries in the European Union.
The law is very similar to the American one and enologists have determined that a bottle of French or California wine is likely to have around 80 parts per million. Any variation is more from brand to brand than country to country. Goosecross wine usually leaves here at around 30-35 ppm.
Sulfites, or sulfur, have been used to preserve wine for centuries. Even in Roman times it was used to help create a seal for the container. Without a little sulfur the wine loses its fruit and has a short shelf life. Fortunately, if the wine spoils it’s not harmful, but it’s not much fun to drink, either, which is why sulfur is still in use. Sulfites turn up in a lot of foods, too, especially dried fruit.
At this very moment, enologists are working to try to eliminate the need for sulfur. The success, so far, is by way of reducing it. Today’s wine has much lower sulfur levels than wine did as recently as 50 or 60 years ago.
This isn’t to say that you can’t buy wine that doesn’t have added sulfites. The “Organic Wine” designation prohibits sulfur additions to wine, as opposed to “organically grown”, which only refers to the farming (and even there, elemental sulfur application to the vines is permitted to keep mildew under control). The reason you don’t see very many “organic wines” is that they usually don’t taste very good. I should add that organic wine may still contain sulfites because they’re a by-product of the fermentation. The level, in that case, is extremely low.
As to the headaches, chemists keep telling us that sulfites don’t cause headaches, but statements like that can set off a maelstrom of heated opposition from those who believe otherwise. Your friend might try eating some brightly colored dried fruit to see if that causes a headache. If not, something other than sulfur is the cause. California wine is quite often higher in alcohol than French wine, due to climatic differences, so that’s the more likely culprit.
I hope that puts your debate to rest! May you and your friends enjoy wine, whatever its nationality, in good health! Cheers! Nancy
Harvest Update from Goosecross
Our Harvest Calendar tells the story. September brought us a few blasts of heat and the grapes came rolling in at a fairly rapid fire. The bad news: It’s exhausting to have so many burners going at once. The good news: A lot of the really hard work is behind us, now, so we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 
So, how’s it going? Of course, you expect me to say it’s going great, so I’ll be pleased to oblige! After the roller coaster that was 2008, this has been a beautiful growing season.
Number one, flavors are right where I want them. Beautiful balance, great flavor intensity.
Number two, yields are nice and normal. In some cases, like our Cabernet Franc, even generous! That’s a relief, although not surprising. When the vines pull back one year they often pour it on in the next.
As we reported, at the end of August, we started our harvest significantly later than we did in 2008. Aside from a few heat blasts along the way, this has been a decidedly cool growing season. Some wineries are still quite a bit behind schedule, but we’ve caught up nicely, thanks to that warm September. Early isn’t the best, in most cases, because it may mean inadequate “hang time” in terms of flavor maturity, unless the whole season was early. Late is a little scary because we can run into rain. A little rain doesn’t much matter, but heavy rainfall can cause rot, mildew, dilution… Some varieties are more susceptible than others.
So, we’ve got Petit Verdot – all three rows of it 
coming in Sunday and Syrah, probably, next week and we’re home free! Let’s hope Mother Nature continues to smile on us! Cheers!
Goosecross: Wine Trivia du Jour
As harvest goes into full swing, it’s a good time to ask: Approximately how many pounds of grapes does it take to make a bottle of wine?
a) 3
b) 5
c) 7
d) 9
Find out in our newly updated Wine Trivia Challenge! Go ahead – ace it!
Goosecross Winemaker on Pre-harvest Leaf Thinning
Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, will tell us about his strategy for thinning leaves as the grapes ripen. This was filmed at our estate vineyard in Yountville, Napa Valley. Enjoy!
Goosecross Vintage Update – One Week to Go!
The Cabernet, here at the winery, tastes about as sweet as table grapes right now (between 15 and 20% sugar) and we’re about a week out from harvesting our first grapes of the season next week. The Chenin Blanc will probably come in over Labor Day weekend. With the warm weather we’re having right now, it could turn out to be a very busy weekend. The Sauvignon Blanc is close, and so is the Cab up at Howell Mountain.
Last time we checked in veraison, the color change, was just getting underway. Since then, I’ve done quite a bit of leaf thinning, to improve light exposure to the clusters, and also some cluster thinning.
Dropping unripe clusters on the ground isn’t something I like to do, but it’s important that we have even ripening throughout the vineyard and, if some of the clusters are lagging behind, they’ll add green, unripe flavor to the wine. So – off they come – it’s called a “green harvest”. As I check each vine, it’s also an opportunity to assess the crop level, overall. I need to make sure that the vines aren’t carrying more fruit than they can ripen with a high degree of flavor intensity and sometimes thinning is the answer.
Valley wide, harvest began the third week of August with the sparkling wine grapes (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier). Then, a few wineries reported receiving some Sauvignon Blanc the week of the 24th, so it looks like we’re about a week to 10 days behind last year. Yields look about normal (whatever that means) and much improved over last year.
The growing season, as a whole, has been very cool and mild, punctuated by a few heat blasts here and there – just what we need. The cool conditions keep the grapes from getting sweet too fast and give us a good shot at the extended “hangtime” we need for peak flavor development. The heat assures us that we’ll get enough sugar to actually harvest and make well-balanced wine. If things continue as they have, we’re looking at a potentially outstanding harvest. Keep your fingers crossed!
See Geoff doing some pre-harvest cluster thinning or discussing veraison.
NVWR® 90 – History of Wine Words
August 18, 2009 by David
Filed under Napa Valley Wine Radio
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Did you know that the word “gourmet” referred to a lover of wine long before it had anything to do with food? Or that the word “libation” originally meant an offering to the gods? If you love wine and you love words, this episode is for you! In this phone interview, etymologist Charles Hodgson, the author of History of Wine Words, tells Nancy Hawks Miller, our Director of Education, about the origins of some of the words and about writing this fun and fascinating book!
What Is "Dry Wine"?
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Fun fact by Nancy Hawks Miller: What Is “Dry Wine”?
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Did you enjoy this? Here are more Fun Facts from Goosecross Cellars.
NVWR® 83 – Madeira
April 14, 2009 by David
Filed under Napa Valley Wine Radio
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In episode 80, Nancy Hawks Miller, our Director of Education, took a broad look at the world of sweet and fortified wines. The episodes that follow, like this one, break it out by category. Today’s topic is the deliciously odd world of Madeira.
Each of these podcasts regarding sweet wines will be released, on a weekly basis, until the series is complete. Complete text is available at goosecross.com (see: Education)
