Gewurztraminer July 25, 2007

Gewurztraminer July 25, 2007, originally uploaded by Dexwriter.

Small Wine Movies

Alright it's not sideways, but a fellow in Edmonton has made a couple short, entertaining and informative movies.

Check the sidebar and just click on the video player to watch.

or here
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/724199/open_a_bottle_of_wine_without_corkscrew/

I get around

Since January, whenever I see the "wine maker needed" flashed on a cloud by a powerful search beam, I respond in the Cruiser.

Days of Wine & Roses Part Two - Keep it Simple Stupid

After determining your winery is a wreck and you'll need umpteen repairs and thousands of litres of new cooperage, there is a way to make your life simpler.

Design a spreadsheet that hinges on tonnage.

If I can do it, you can too.

Create a spreadsheet that automatically calculates all your requirements based on grape tonnage received. This will allow you to see at a glance what your requirements are using accepted industry rates of addition.

How much yeast for the Joe Blow Vineyards Cabernet? Tonnage X average litre yield per ton X grams per hecolitre. That should do it.

Almost all of your factors are available in the catalogs put out by the suppliers around this time of the year.

If this is still trouble for you, drop me an email. I work internationally.

Winery Help Wanted

Township 7 Okanagan is looking for a harvest intern to assist with the crush.
Details at:
http://winevinebc.wordpress.com/

Days of Wine & Roses... and Planning. Part One in a series about preparing for the harvest.

• Hard to believe but our neighbours to the south (California, Texas, other warm climate regions) will be picking grapes for wine sometime next month.
  Here in the north we're not quite that rushed. But by mid-September some early varieties and those destinied for sparkling wine will be starting to come off and make their way to the crush pad.
  If you're a BC winery owner or operator, your vintage plan should be shaped-up by now. You should know where your grapes are coming from, how many tons you can expect, what yeasts and other fermentation aids you'll be using and who will be on your pad this fall. Needless to say, coopers in various parts of the world are putting the finishing touches on your barrels before packing them in containers for the long trip to BC.
  
  Of course, in the real world, things don't line up quite so neatly.
  
  A quick message to consumers and other members of the public: The wine makers of the province are trying to enjoy the summer days in a leisurely fashion but it's not all a bucolic paradise of long hours by the water's edge. There's lots of planning to do.

Best to start by having a pre-vintage meeting with your crew. Hopefully some of them were around the previous year and remember what went right and what turned out wrong. From this brainstorming session you can make adjustments as required. Everything from the way fruit is accepted at the winery to how the equipment can be better delegated can be included. This is also an excellent time to address any glaring repair jobs that somehow missed out getting done during the winter and spring.

From your meeting you can begin a list and prioritize as you go. Using as fresh eyes as possible, walk around your production area and note additional items that will require attention.

Think back to the blur that was the last vintage. Where were the bottlenecks? What didn't make it onto the paperwork train? How can you make things faster, safer and better?

Your employees will tell you what is needed. If they can't do it, bring in another winemaker friend that you trust (like me) for a beer and yak about what works for them. A fresh perspective sometimes solves a problem in minutes that kept you perplexed for weeks.

UTC (winemaking) Safety Meeting

If you happen to be in the Okanagan Valley on Friday, July 6 you are encouraged to drop by the Township 7 campus at 1450 McMillan (road to Naramata) and participate in our ragtag safety meeting.
The meeting will be short. About 5 minutes but there will be plenty of post-meeting discussion.
Beverages and snacks will be on hand. Bring a lawn chair. Managed pets and kids are welcome.
Enjoy the rough and tumble give and take of the local rustics. Meet the wine folk of the area. Brag about the size of your cellar.

Facebook and Wine: Not Quite There.

Couple of my friends are on Facebook and it's kind of fun to read their stuff and see their photos.
One of the applications that pops up once in awhile is the polling application.
You can design your own poll question and fire it "out there". You get full breakdown and analysis moments after it closes.

I decided to give it a try after a few beverages and a whim. Here are the pros, cons and results.

My question was: "There's shrimp on the barbie; you're going to enjoy which of the following wines with them?"

I provided: rose, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, another white and a red.

I also provided my credit card so they could charge me .25 per response and a $1 insertion fee.

My suspicion was that I'd get a weak response and maybe get 25 or 50 answers of the maximum 200 under the polling format rules.

But, lo! I maxed out at 200 after only a few hours.

Response by sex: pretty well equal, 109 female, 91 male.

Response by age: 142 responders were between the ages of 13 and 24 which suggests a large group are restricted from obtaining or consuming alcohol in many jurisdictions.

7 responders were over 35 years of age.

Sauvignon Blanc dominated the male selection at 37% while females were split more evenly among SB, Chardonnay and Rose 28, 24 and 21 per cent respectively.

My takeaway lesson: Facebook had provided a powerful and hassle-free polling tool but you should know their audience. Until the crowd moves from it's high school and college roots I doubt I will be using the poll application for wine questions. Great experiment. Total cost:
$51. Writing it off as market research.

Join the Winery Party

Township 7 is celebrating it's annual anniversary this weekend and next. Sorry about the late notice about the Okanagan venue (ends today) but if you're in the Lower Mainland next weekend. . .
Saturday, July 7 and Sunday, July 8 will feature wine, food and music at the Langley winery.
I'll be on hand Saturday only from 2 to closing.
www.township7.com

Vineyard Obstacles or Challenges?

The rush to create vineyards and wineries in British Columbia has led to some polarized dialogue over the subject of suitable places to create wine.

Recent arrivals to the industry see no problem developing vineyards in locations that the previous wave of vignerons would have rejected outright.

Why the change? How do unsuitable locations suddenly become prime grape growing areas?

Part of the answer lies in economics. If a bottle of wine can sell for three times the price it was selling for only a few short years before then there is an impetus on the producer to pull out all the stops in an effort to create that wine.

I'm often asked by prospective winery owners and investors whether this portion of land or that one will be good for grapes. While I am flattered that they would ask my opinion, it's prudent to remind them that I'm not a viticulturist or a biologist or a geologist; all specializations that are valuable in choosing sites. In my short time in the business I have learned a couple things.



With that disclaimer I do offer up this: growing grapes on a commercial scale is all about minimizing and maximizing what had been dealt.



Once the decision is made to obtain land and develop a vineyard, it's important to minimize the challenges that the environment presents. It's just as important to maximize the advantages that the prospective vineyard demonstrates. Besides the obvious things like soil and sun there are other aspects like access and curb appeal that may influence production. These are economic factors that may ultimately effect the performance of the vineyard.



A while ago I heard an Okanagan grower remark, "I don't know where these new guys (wineries) are going to get their grapes; all the good land is gone." . In a conventional sense he may be close to the truth. Common practice and history are factors that define what a vineyard looks like. Under those old parameters, a lot of vineyard property is in short supply.



What new developers are beginning to see is that marginal properties are the key to new vineyards.



Marginal land can simply be described as second choice land. Something makes it less attractive and presents a challenge to the grower or the wallet when it comes to developing it as a vineyard. The trick is to see where the challenge can be met and have a vision for the outcome.



A few years ago I was told by a friend in California that a friend of his who lived in Napa was approached by a winery to plant grapes in his front yard. It was a nice property but only about 100 feet deep in the front and 70' wide. Hardly a prospective vineyard in the normal sense.

So what prompted the offer?

Were the soils exemplary?
Was he adjacent to a stellar vineyards?
Was it close to the winery's front door?

The reason was the appellation or geographical indicator. Simply being in Napa allowed the value of these grapes to be far greater than similar grapes grown in another county. The Napa brand has soared to such heights as to allow mini-vineyards and such to be feasible.

This, in a diluted form, is what is happening in the Okanagan and, to a lesser extent, the rest of B.C.

Next time somebody says you can't grow grapes in THAT location, ask about the hurdles in the path of that goal and determine what can be overcome and what can be emphasised.

Too much water? Create better drainage, enhance the soil change the aspect, modify your root stock.
Land slopes north? Change it with earth movers. Pick your varietal, modify the trellis.

Those are just a few examples. Developments in land management over the past 30 or 40 years have allowed marginal lands to become prime. Add to that the prospect of climate change and the expansion of BC vineyard operations looks to continue for some time.

Safety Meeting called.

Our first 'safety meeting' of the season at Township 7 Okanagan has been inked for Friday, July 6, beginning around 4:30 pm. We're at 1450 McMillan, Penticton. (On the way to Naramata)

We invite all wine types. If you're reading this on this blog then it probably means you. Although dominated by Benchites, we frequently see travellers and visitors and friends of friends. It's all very casual. We generally provide some snacks and suds but people are encouraged to bring wine to share (including cellar work in progress) and whatever they'd like to hear on our sophisticated sound system.
It's inside/outside depending on the weather.
Be prepared to discuss:

Forklift Beverage Holders: The Next Generation
Beer O'Clock: From Concept to Standard Operating Procedure.
Beautiful People on the Pad (BPP): A Welcome Addition or Dangerous Distraction?
The Blue Factor: Why Is He Always in the Way?

Bring your own dissertation or Power Point presentation if you'd like.

Possibly write a poem for presentation about wine, safety and summer.

Hope to see lots of new faces!

Killdeer chicks hatched.

Killdeer chicks hatched., originally uploaded by Dexwriter.

Three out four ain't bad!