Uncle
Charlie's Notebook
Specializing
in Syrah and Barbera wines that we call "sophisticated",
the Green Family Winery motto is "If it ain't red, it ain't
wine." Our small winery only churns out about 600 cases
- 7,200 bottles - each year.
January
2005
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Jan
4: As
some of you know my vines have been pruned to a system called
"Head trained, Cane pruned" since I started the vineyard
in 1991. Unfortunately this type of pruning,
while very flexible, is very labor intensive. Labor in the sierra
foothills is hard to come by and I have been thinking of changing
to "Fixed cordon, spur pruning" for several years.
However I have worred that the change may lessen the quality
of the wine. Have been trying to find someone that has done
trials of Cane vs Spur pruning as it relates to Wine Quality
as measured by Taste only. Not production or color or some other
quality that can be measured in a lab. Sensory Evaluation only!
So far I have found only one small test done by Cornell University
in New York. It seems to show that cane pruning produces better
wine in the end. But there was some variation from year to year
and the study was done with Cab Franc in New York state. Their
conclusion was that pruning system will change the sensory quality
of the wine, but you can't be sure which way will be best. Also
personal preferences come into play.
So I have decided to do my own test. This year I will convert
1/3 of the vineyard to "Cordon & Spur" pruning
and bottle it separately. By about 2008 we should have some
answers, I hope. Just in time for my 70th Birthday party.
I'll be taking notes.
Jan
7: From
time to time customers ask me when I will start using
Screwcaps on my bottles. The short answer is NEVER!
It's not that I have anything aginst screwcaps or doubt their
effectivness, but they just have NO CLASS. If I was only interested
in the most effective closure I would use crown caps, like on
beer bottles. They are the absolute BEST! They have even less
class the screwcaps.
There are other, more relavant reasons. The machine that puts
on the screwcap costs about $50,000, Which is more than all
the equipment in the winery. All the ones I have heard of work
on 3-phase 230v electricity, which is not available within 5
miles of my winery.
But there are mobile bottling trucks that can use screwcaps.
When I started the winery, my plan was that when I reached a
certain level of production, I would start using the truck bottlers.
Since then I have found that the truck is very unhandy. You
have to schedule it about 1 year in advance and quite frankly
I don't know that far in advance, when or how much I want to
bottle. If I was to bottle all of my production at one time
it would be just about the minimum needed to make the truck
worth while. In short, you have to bottle some wines at the
wrong time.
A nice long cork gives waiters & guys everywhere a chance
to show their skill and mastery of the situation.
And last but not least, teenagers seldom carry corkscrews. I
think corks are a pretty effective block to underage drinking!
At least it deters them quite a bit.
uc
