Red Hills Lake County November 4, 2011 photo by Hélène Mingot

A Challenging Year Bears Us Brilliant Fruit

Napa and Sonoma

No two harvests are exactly alike—each year brings its own unique mixture of variables to the table work with. As the years pass, we at Montesquieu Wines understand more and more just how fortunate we are to have a team with so much experience to draw from. This year is no exception, as growers and vintners around the world were on their toes with an especially challenging growing season!

It has been a very unusual vintage pattern this year, to say the least. Spring was very wet and cool, which caused late bud break resulting in a reduced yield as well as projections for a later than average harvest. Overall it was a very moderate summer with hardly any days in the 90s. As we reported in early September, the projections were for a light and late harvest, with concentrated yet balanced fruit.

Then came more rain through September, accompanied by persistent humidity. And then came more rain the first week of October.

We spoke last week with our winemaker Hélène Mingot in the cellar at our Howell Mountain facility to hear her thoughts on the 2011 harvest in Napa and Sonoma. Even though she had numerous cellar duties to attend to, Hélène was happy to take the time to share some good news.

The last two weeks have been fantastic with heavenly weather,” she reported. “Our fruit tastes great!” She was elated, because at various times cool and rainy conditions pushed back harvest projections later and later. There were even a few moments when our team wondered when ripening would ever happen!

Many other producers with lower elevation properties, especially the valley floor areas, struggled with botrytis and other challenges that come with humidity like dilution of the grapes from too much water. Turns out this vintage was for those with nerves of steel, and plenty of experience to rely on!

Fortunately for us, the magic formula to escape the humidity issues turned out to be our choice of particular high elevation parcels, combined with the fine tuning of a highly skilled team. All of our parcels fared beautifully, which was the result of meticulous vineyard management and the advantage of drier, high-elevation parcels which benefit from ample breezes and additional sun exposure above the fog line.

Phil Coturri and Stephane Derenoncourt review our Charlie Smith Parcel in early October

There is no doubt we have distinct advantages—Stéphane Derenoncourt and Hélène both have extensive experience with the brooding maritime climate in Bordeaux, which was an important factor when selecting our Napa and Sonoma parcels. They know first-hand which terroir will produce glorious fruit with minimal intervention. Granted this was a particularly tricky vintage for most, and we certainly spent even more time tending the vines than usual, but the results are very good!

By November 3, all of our Napa and Sonoma blocks had been harvested. Our Stagecoach Merlot came in by October 21, and the Cabernet Franc harvest was completed by November 2. Our Charlie Smith Cabernet came in by November 3. The evening of November 3 marked the beginning of harvest for our Red Hills parcel in Lake County which was finished by Saturday November 5.

Lake County Red Hills Cabernet ready for harvest photo by Hélène Mingot

Turns out the Red Hills harvest coincided with the first frost of the year for the region. This shows just how late harvest happened—it is quite unusual to pick when there is frost!   There was no drawback for the grapes—it actually kept them nice and cool which is ideal. Severe cold before the vines go into dormancy can be damaging to the vines, but the temperatures were way too mild for that scenario to occur.

All of our parcels have light yields this year, with marvelous intensity of flavors. “It’s too early to say exactly how the vintage will show style-wise,” Hélène said. “But the fruit is excellent, and it tastes awesome, so we are in really great shape.”

Hélène said this has been unlike any vintage she has experienced in Napa, with atypical weather patterns. “It seems like we were just wondering when the grapes would finally ripen, and now here we are with wonderful fruit!” She is very happy and excited to get started with work in the cellar to see how our fruit evolves. We’ll be sure to keep you posted!

Across the Pond

Napa and Sonoma weren’t the only regions in the northern hemisphere with unusual conditions this year. As summer ended, vintners in Spain, France, Italy and other Old World regions were picking grapes two or three weeks early, due to a hot, sunny spring that accelerated the growing season and threatened to over-heat the grapes in some areas. Below are a few notes of interest about harvest in some of Europe’s major wine-producing areas.

Bordeaux

For most of June, European winemakers were looking at the earliest harvest ever. “April, May and June were very hot, with summer temperatures,” said Stéphane Derenoncourt. “Water scarcity was felt very early.” Grapes were three weeks ahead of the usual growing cycle by the end of June. In Bordeaux, things got too hot for some. Stéphane added that vines planted in soils in lesser terroirs that retain too much moisture in normal years did better in 2011′s dry conditions. Once again vineyard management expertise was key as grapes withered if growers removed too many leaves.

In Sauternes and Barsac, it has been a very early harvest, even earlier for most than the heat-wave 2003 vintage. Overall in France for 2011, there looks to be an increase in yields of 6% compared to 2010.

Champagne

The harsh winter conditions and a hotter-than average spring meant the vines were three weeks ahead by July, but the autumnal summer slowed this down. But picking started early – August 19 in a few villages, with most crus starting on August 24 – making this the second-earliest harvest in the history of Champagne since 1822!

During harvest the weather was erratic, which included stifling heat, very cool mornings, hot sun and thunderstorms, sometimes even hail. This unpredictable weather lead to a slowdown in grape maturation, particularly Chardonnay, and some producers temporarily suspended the harvest.

Burgundy

In Burgundy, three weeks of rain brought botrytis to some vineyards. “It does not mean that we will make bad wine, just that we will have to work harder,” said Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac. “Botrytis is a reality in Burgundy. We have to sort almost every year and this year will be no exception.”

Italy

Wine output in Italy fell to the lowest levels in more than 60 years this year, as many of its regions were hit by an extremely hot and dry summer. The harvest was a full two weeks or more ahead of schedule due to the high temperatures. Italian growers’ increased efforts to prune grapes to improve quality also helped to reduce quantity, the report said.

Wine yields in Tuscany fell 15 percent from 2010, while Piedmont saw a 10 percent fall in yields this year. Sicily, one of Italy’s largest wine producing regions by volume, plunged 25 percent. Veneto, Italy’s largest wine making region, fell 5 percent.

Spain

In Spain officials report an overall trend of high-quality and low yields, which are looking to be at least 5% lower than 2010.

Germany

Ernst Büscher, of the German Wine Institute, reported that overall the vines came in about two weeks ahead in comparison to the long-term average. And that so far the red varietals seem to be in a particularly good position, very deep in color and flavor.

Southern Hemisphere

Australia and New Zealand

Overall, 2011 brought wet weather to both New Zealand and Australia, forcing vintners to fight off rot. Areas of Australia faced heavy flooding and cooler weather resulted in longer hang time, ripe tannins and lower than normal alcohol levels. In New Zealand, temperatures were warmer than average, which meant a constant struggle against mildew and botrytis. Winemakers in both countries report lower yields, but good quality fruit.

Argentina

An early frost in Mendoza set the tone for an eventful 2011 vintage for winemakers, who also were challenged by high winds, hail, drought and heavy rain. Cooler temperatures delayed maturation, but the warm and beautiful Indian summer conditions were just what winemakers hoped for. As a result they are predicting elegantly styled wines, with higher acidity levels than usual.

Chile  

Yields were down due to a cold and long spring which led to low fruit set. The long slow harvest stretched well in to May which allowed the grapes to ripen steadily and evenly, which has most vintners very optimistic, with winemakers reporting marked aromatics, freshness and balance for the vintage in general.

With such an unusual year, the topic of climate change has been discussed, and the extent to which the variability in the season posed difficulties for growers. Climate change expert Dr. Greg Jones, from the University of Oregon, traveled to Portugal, Spain, Italy and France this summer and reported grape growers had to be particularly “creative” by adjusting trellising, pruning, irrigation, use of cover crops and the like.

All around the globe Mother Nature kept growers and vintners busy this year with a roller-coaster of conditions – all of which underscores the dynamic nature of vineyards as well as the ongoing importance of a skilled and experienced team in the vineyard and in the cellar. We’re grateful that our harvest was in good hands, and we look forward to tasting the wines that will emerge from this exciting vintage and sharing our findings with you!

Perfect weather at Ink Grade September 8, 2011 photo by Hélène Mingot

We caught up with our winemaker Hélène Mingot on the run between her bustling vineyard and cellar work to hear how pre-harvest conditions are shaping up for our parcels in Napa and Sonoma so far.

The vintage pattern in 2011 for both Napa and Sonoma shares some general similarities with 2010, which have been showing a trend for almost a decade now of cool growing seasons with later harvest times. This year, we are seeing a longer season due to a cool spring and late rain, with bloom and fruit set that was behind two to three weeks. The summer was cooler and milder than usual, with foggy mornings followed by mild sunny afternoons—only a few days in the 90s so far! This kept the pattern similar to last year, pushing projected harvest dates two to three weeks later than the norm.

The sunny warm weather of the last few weeks jump-started harvest into action, with grapes for sparkling wine production starting to come in for Sonoma on August 24 and in Napa on August 29. Currently our parcels are finished with veraison and in the final phase of waiting for the ideal moment to harvest. Veraison marks the end of leaf and cane growth and the onset of ripening, which is visible –and beautiful—as the process by which the grapes take on their particular varietal color.

Mid-veraison Ink Grade Cabernet Sauvignon

Overall Hélène is delighted with how our parcels look, and is particularly pleased with the balance in the vineyards. The combination of late bloom and fruit set plus late spring rain resulted in low yields, which means smaller clusters. When these conditions are managed well in the vineyard, these small clusters have great intensity and character and result in fantastic tasting grapes and wines! Additionally the smaller clusters are easily monitored—when the clusters are looser, it allows for air flow to keep the grapes happy and dry – plus it is much easier to see each grape to ensure pristine clusters. The drawback is that lighter crops ripen more quickly which means everyone has to be ready to run at the drop of a hat!

Hélène told us that even though 2011 shares general similarities with 2010, the variables for each parcel and microclimate were actually quite different between vintages. She said this is to be expected no matter the region. The following are snapshots of a few of our parcels so far.

Generally speaking, ripening occurs slower in the mountainous high elevation appellations. However, our Ink Grade Cabernet–20 year old vines high atop Howell Mountain well above the fog line – was the first parcel to finish veraison. Even with the cooler climate, the sunny exposure kept things moving. No crop thinning was required, with lovely balance throughout. The following photo was taken by Hélène this morning, with lovely even and dark clusters.

Ink Grade Cabernet finished with veraison

In contrast, another Howell Mountain site with Cabernet and Cabernet Franc were the last to start veraison. We had to do very little crop thinning in this vineyard, and the grapes are ripening evenly and steadily. Up on Atlas Peak, our Stagecoach Merlot is progressing notably well, with a particularly tiny yield and amazing concentration.

In Sonoma, our Charlie Smith parcel, managed by renowned organic grower Phil Coturri, is the exception in that the conditions of last year and this year’s harvests are remarkably similar. The Cab is looking super with moderate yields, and both Hélène and Phil are really happy.

Lake County’s summer weather was characterized by no fog and early sun – which ultimately translates to very little intervention. Hélène loves our plot’s small, even, excellently balanced clusters. She thinks 2011 will be the most exciting fruit yet from our Red Hills vineyard parcel. We have had some brilliant fruit from previous vintages at Red Hills, so it is hard to imagine any better! We look forward to finding out what Hélène and Stéphane craft with this vintage.

We have a very exciting new Montesquieu Winery parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon farmed by Phil Coturri – the Oakville Ranch vineyard in Napa. This site, just southeast of Dalla Valle off of the Silverado Trail, is perfectly positioned at 1,400 feet elevation in the renowned Oakville appellation. It is no wonder Stéphane and Hélène fell for this site immediately with its red volcanic soil and perfect exposure. We are fortunate to have joined an exclusive few that acquire grapes from this vineyard which include top cult wine producers.

Oakville Ranch is in an earlier ripening terroir, and so far this year, is accordingly farther along than almost all of our properties and looks excellent! Even with such established properties, Hélène is intimately involved with the vineyard management, ultimately having the final say in order to assure the grapes are in the pristine condition and style she expects for our exacting standards. She and Phil have enjoyed collaborating to establish our vineyard protocol for this site.

The weather has been sunny and beautiful, with temperatures in the 80s, and is projected to continue for at least the next week or so. As a result ripening is proceeding very well. This final phase before harvest is about fine-tuning—making small changes in the canopy or size of clusters, ensuring the fruit is receiving proper sun exposure and the clusters are the ideal size for each varietal. And now we wait for just the right moment to harvest.

Sunny conditions, now we wait....Ink Grade September 8,2011

Hélène’s experience in diverse regions, having collaborated with Stéphane Derenoncourt in Europe before coming to California, bestows her with a rich foundation of skills and sensibilities to draw from.

Hearing her talk about the final phase of waiting for the right time to harvest, of tasting the grapes and knowing just when to pick, one gets the sense of her natural confidence. She just knows—much like a parent knows a child—from nurturing the vines in every phase of their development, and from her experience.

We have much to look forward to as our team prepares for harvest, and look forward to what this vintage will bring for our Montesquieu wines. We’ll be sure to keep you well informed, so stay tuned to the blog for the latest developments. Cheers and happy harvest season from all of us to all of you!

For the best winemakers – those talented savants who form the beating heart of the wine industry – this critical moment is harvest.

Michel Rolland's Val de Flores vineyard, moments before harvest

Naturally, the moment of harvest is shot-through with excitement.  It can be tense and nerve-wracking, certainly. But for those of us who are romantics at heart, who love adventure, it’s the best time of the year.  We risk-takers live for these moments, and we thrive in the thrill they provide.

So imagine our level of anticipation as we woke up before dawn, on our third day in Argentina, to head out to the Val de Flores vineyard to begin the Uco Valley’s Malbec harvest.  We were a tired group – dinner the night before had ended around 1:00am, and after the customary post-dinner frivolity, most of us crawled into bed much later than that (’tis the Argentine way, we were learning!).  But nary a grump was to be found on our team.  We were too excited – our eyes glimmered with the possibilities of the day.

Winemaker Thierry Haberer makes final preparations for harvest

We knew that this was The Moment.  Thanks to the previous several days we had spent with Thierry Haberer – Michel Rolland’s right-hand-man and the head winemaker for all of Michel’s properties, including Bodega Rolland in the Uco Valley – we had experienced firsthand how critical harvest decisions were.  We had walked together through the Mariflor and Val de Flores vineyards sampling the grapes off the vine, and we tasted how dramatically the ripeness and balance levels varied depending on individualized factors such as canopy, rootstock, vine age, soil, elevation, and exposure.

We saw that to make a general decision to pick the whole vineyard at once, as many large-scale commercial operations do, would result in harvesting many grapes that are underripe, and many more that are overripe – and ultimately would get you uninspiring wine.  What’s needed instead, according to Thierry, is vigilant monitoring of the grapes’ progress – daily tastings, not just of each vineyard or of each block or of each row, but even throughout a single row to determine how the fruit changes from vine to vine.  Then, you can individualize picking decisions so as to ensure that each block is harvested at the moment when its own fruit has reached optimum ripeness and balance.

This kind of micro-decision-making takes a lot of experience, effort and intuition.  It’s a true art.  And it draws the line between crafting an ordinary wine and an extraordinary wine.

Why is this so important?  After all, winemakers do a lot after harvest that affects the character of a wine.  They must decide what to do – and what not to do – in the cellar to shepherd the grapes through press, maceration, fermentation, aging and finally to bottling.

But remember this: the quality of a finished wine can never exceed the quality of its fruit.  A winemaker with mediocre fruit might trick out the juice in the cellar to make up for lack of quality, but the final wine will always be lesser than what it could have been with perfect grapes.  (Of course a winemaker could also mess up perfectly good fruit with undesirable choices in the cellar.  That happens all the time.)  At the end of the day, the choices made in the vineyard during the growing season – and critically, the moment at which the grapes are picked – determine how good your grapes are, which in turn forms the upper limit of how good your wine can be.

I had learned all of this a long time ago, of course – this wasn’t new information for me.  And yet, as I stood in the crisp air among the Val de Flores vines glistening with sunlit morning dew and strapped a steel bin-carrier on my back, I was living it for the first time.  It’s one thing to hear something in a lecture or to read it in a book.  It’s quite another to experience it for yourself.  I had always known in my brain how important this moment of harvest was.  But now, I knew it in my bones.  The physical excitement of the moment was charging through my body, causing my heart to beat more quickly and my hands to flex with pent-up energy.

I could now smell the dusty earth and hear the soft crunch of soil underfoot.  I could feel the rough veins of the grape leaves and taste the sweetly bitter skins of the fruit.  I could see the Andes towering to the west and the sun rising on the eastern horizon.  And I was full of a sense of The Moment, the climax of the growing season. We all were. Harvest was about to begin, and it was time to get to work.

Clipping grapes at Val de Flores

And work we did. Thierry gave us instructions and split us into several teams, each tackling a particular row of vines.  Two of us would clip on either side of a vine, while the third person – the “runner” – would shuttle bins of grapes to the truck as they were filled.  That was my job, and in between runs I would de-leaf the vines so as to make it easier for the clippers following behind me to snip each cluster’s stem.

We started slowly, but soon got some momentum as we gained a feel for the job.  Blinded by enthusiasm, I didn’t notice until the second hour just how back-breaking the work was.  Constant crouching.  Lots of lifting.  Bending over, gripping with your fingers, straining with your neck, swiveling your body from vine to bin and back, hunching and shuffling.  And, of course, running.

But we didn’t mind any of that.  Because we could sense that through the physical exertion, we were gaining something irreplaceable.

You see, it changes you – to feel the dirt of the vineyard under your fingernails and caked in the wrinkles of your hands; to cup a fresh, cool cluster of grapes with your own hands and to detach it from the vine and gently lay it in the bin;  to see how hearty these grapes are, and at the same time how delicate; to experience the strain of a bin of freshly-picked grapes on your back as you make your twentieth trek down the row to the truck bed.  All of your senses – smell, taste, touch, hearing, sight – converge to help you fully experience the wine in its most primal state.

Argentine Malbec, in all its glory

Doing this gave us a sense of intimacy with the grapes – as if we knew them well, like old friends – and infused us with a sense of expectation for what the finished wine will bring. I can’t wait to taste it, even though that’s a couple years away.  I’ve no doubt the wine will turn out beautifully – the grapes were perfectly ripe and incredibly fresh and consistent across each row, the vineyard was immaculate, there were very few raisined bunchs, plus Michel and Thierry are geniuses in the cellar.  But either way, I’ll always have a deep connection with this wine, and I’ll cherish it. Because I was there with the winemaker during The Moment.  I had experienced the gravity of that critical dramatic scene in the life of this wine, and I participated in its denouement.

If the bloom has come off the rose for you, so to speak – if wine has become a series of critical judgments and QPR assessments, or if it feels more like work than play – then this kind of experience causes you to fall in love with wine all over again.  It reminds you of what you always loved about wine.

In fact, now that I’ve picked in Michel Rolland’s vineyards in Argentina, I’ll go even farther.  Until you have experienced harvest first-hand, you haven’t really experienced wine.

Hélène and Stéphane monitoring fermentation in our cellar

After one of the most eventful seasons in quite some time, we’ve shifted from vineyard work at the end of October 2010 and negotiating all of Mother Nature’s whims, to cellar work in November and December with more controlled variables.  This might appear to some to be a break in the hectic pace of things.  But our winemaker, Hélène Mingot, tells us this is not the case — it is merely a change of focus, not unlike dancers transitioning from a quickstep to a tango.  A change of rhythm and technique, yes, but both dances are equally challenging to perform.  Similarly, Hélène and Stéphane are light on their feet, striving to allow the raw quality of the fruit to blossom in such a way as to make the best and most expressive wine possible from each of our parcel’s terroir.

Achieving this goal requires a delicate balance between doing just enough in the cellar to harness the full potential of the fruit, but not intervening too much in order to avoid manipulating the character of the wine.  Such an approach is extremely time consuming, as it demands the kind of care and attention that is anything but automated or formulaic, nothing like the mechanical procedures employed by so many corporate-run, high-volume wine producers.  This goes beyond simple execution. It requires artistry and having all senses attuned and ready, watching, listening, interacting, — no “one size fits all” here!

As we look to what 2011 promises to bring, let’s review exactly how we got from point A to point B — what’s happened in the cellar from harvest until now.

Bringing in the Grapes

Once the grapes were all finally harvested, they were transported immediately to our production facility Arkenstone on Howell Mountain.  It is especially important for the temperature to not be too high, which is why some of our harvests took place at night!  Our Lake County AVA Red Hills Cab was the last to come in, and was harvested at night October 27th. Among all of our parcels, Red Hills is farthest away from Arkenstone, so the earlier and cooler the grapes arrive to the facility, then better.  Cleanliness is essential for good winemaking, as troublesome bacteria can be disastrous.  This is one of many reasons that Hélène is thrilled to be making our wine at Arkenstone, as the facility is brand-new and state-of-the-art. The equipment is new, and the space is beautifully designed as well.  The majority of the facility is below ground, which helps keeps the cellar at proper, stable temperatures during the winemaking process.

Sorting & Destemming

When the grapes arrive to the winery, they are first placed on a shaker, which distributes the clusters, sending them on to a conveyor belt where they are hand-sorted, removing leaves and the few grapes not up to our high standards.  Then on to the destemmer and the table where the stems and jacks are removed. (Jacks are the connecting parts of the stem closest to the grapes, and look exactly like little jacks!)  Each berry then moves one-by-one into the funnel leading to the tank. Off they go to grow up and become wine!

Initial Cold-Soak Maceration

The next step for red wine is to allow the grape skins and must (the fleshy inner part of the grape) to have some contact so as to transfer the acids, tannins, flavors and color – which form the majority of the final wine’s character – from the skins to juice.  Hélène and Stéphane favor the technique of whole-berry, cold-soak maceration (that is, softening and macerating whole grapes by soaking them in a cool liquid), which helps elicit excellent aromatics, delicate flavors, and a very balanced extraction. Depending on the varietal and other conditions, the grapes will usually soak for two to four days.  During this time the grapes are slowly allowed to warm up to the perfect temperature to introduce fermentation.

Fermentation

C6 H12O6 -> 2 C2H5OH + 2CO2

Yeast-glucose (sugar) -> Alcohol (ethanol) + Carbon Dioxide

Of course until fermentation takes place, in which yeast causes the grapes’ natural sugars to convert into alcohol, we merely have fancy grape juice on our hands – a lot less fun to drink!  So after the cold-soak maceration, the lots are inoculated with Saccharomyces Cerevisae yeast, with fermentation beginning generally the next day or so, and it is at this point that the grape juice can officially be called wine!   This stage is a delicate dance of pump-overs and punch-downs to extract the best of the ripe skins as the sugars complete their transformation into alcohol.

Extended Maceration & Press

When fermentation is finished, we keep the juice and the skins in contact at temperatures of 80 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit, a process called extended maceration that can take as long as 23 or 24 days.  Throughout the extended maceration period, Hélène engages in a methodical tasting cadence of each lot in order to assess the evolution of the wine. When the extraction has reached its optimal point, we drain the juice using a natural gravity-fed system and send it to barrels (new and used, depending on the varietal and goals, always 100% French oak). We shovel the skins off the tank into a basket for pressing. The juice that is collected from the press is separated into different lots depending on their quality. Some of these lots will be blended back into the free run juice, while some others will be kept separated during aging in used barrels.

Malolactic Fermentation

After press, we keep the barrels in a dedicated aisle at around 62-64 F for malolactic fermentation (also called secondary fermentation). This is a reaction in which malic acid is converted into lactic acid, and results in the texture of the wine changing from crisp and light to creamy and deep.  The barrels are constantly evaluated by tasting and monitoring. This process, which is where we are right now, can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.  Every vintage is different, and it’s imperative to customize the timing of each wine- making step to the needs and character of each lot.  Hélène anticipates that this year’s malolactic fermentation will probably be complete by the end of January, at which point each lot will be racked individually to separate the heavy lees from the fine lees to continue aging under peak conditions.

We are excited for how our 2010 Montesquieu wines are showing in the cellar, and will keep you posted with any new developments along the way!  Industry reports are now coming out echoing earlier feedback from Hélène and Stéphane of how the 2010 harvest has great potential to yield exciting, elegantly balanced wines. Stay tuned!

Barrels at our winemaking facility in Arkenstone

Montesquieu Winemaker Hélène Mingot Tastes for Optimal Ripeness in October

One of the more difficult aspects of this growing season to manage was the unusually low and variable temperatures — and October was no exception.  September closed as the first month during the entire growing season with above average temperatures, and the first half of October was dry and warm, with daily highs in the mid- 90’s.  But the weather flipped the second half of the month, resulting in below-average temperatures for the month as a whole.

But October brought with it new dramatic challenges: rain during harvest!  Heavy precipitation threatened to invade the vineyards near the end of October, causing many growers to panic and pick early.  But Stéphane and Hélène exercised patience. Having experienced more than two decades of harvests in rain-prone Bordeaux, Stéphane knows how to navigate wet Octobers without sacrificing grape quality.

After light rain on the 17th, a strong system moved in with the heaviest rain on the 23rd and 24th.  The result by month’s end was 8 to 9 days of rain, compared with the normal 3 to 4 days.  None of our grapes experienced any dilution from the rain, as the slopes of our hillside locations ran the water off. (Although Hélène was relieved that the rain stopped on the 24th– sunny harvests are preferable, after all!)  Thankfully, we did not have botrytis or any other humidity-induced diseases, as the sun popped out and winds kicked up in between the rain.  This, combined with our parcels’ slopes and soil composition, kept our vines dry from lingering humidity.  Hélène observed that Bordeaux is rarely so fortunate, as the storm systems are often persistent with constant cloud cover and heavy humidity in between the showers.  (To learn more about what happened earlier in the Napa/Sonoma 2010 growing season, as well as in Europe, click here.)

All said and done, the maneuvering of such an eventful season resulted in lower yields for all of our parcels – which means less wine by volume, but ample concentration and depth.  Hélène was very pleased with the outcome of harvest.  “The fruit was super healthy, super clean with great flavor and freshness,” she said. “We are excited to pilot fermentation – with what we are tasting, we expect very balanced, complex wines with nice extraction and fantastic freshness.”

Overall the alcohol is slightly lower than usual, because the sugars were not as high at the time the grapes reached perfect ripeness – which is great news, as Hélène and Stéphane feel that grapes with lower sugar and alcohol levels help them craft wines with great finesse while minimizing intervention.

As of October 29th, all of our grapes were in, and our exhausted team smiled with the realization that one of the trickiest harvests in years was finally complete.

Below are further parcel-by-parcel harvest details, which give additional insight into the nature of the season and the kind of wines we can expect down the road!

Our Ink Grade parcel began harvest on October 21st, with the Merlot coming in first, followed by the Cab, both looking very healthy and ripe.  The block is located within the Napa AVA at 1400 ft. elevation where Angwin, Howell Mountain and Pope Valley meet.  The now 20-year old vines were some of the first vines planted after the phylloxera devastation in the early 1990s.

Our Howell Mountain AVA parcel started harvest October 26th, bringing in the Cab and Cab Franc and harvesting at night to take advantage of ideal conditions and temperatures.   This parcel is very distinctive with high density of planting, similar to Bordeaux – a rarity in Napa Valley.

Stagecoach Napa Valley

Stagecoach Napa AVA Merlot and Cab Franc were the last to come in.  The soil here is amazing, a very specific terroir – its rich, red earth and high elevation (approx. 2,000 ft.) result in very refined wines.

Our Lake County AVA Red Hills Cab was also harvested at night on the 27th.  Being farther away in Lake County, it is especially important to harvest at night so as to keep the grapes cool during transport to the winery facility.  The earlier to sorting and destemming the better!

Our Atlas Peak AVA Merlot was harvested on the 21st and was in great shape.  Hélène reported that this was the first year she ever has seen traffic at 5:45 in the morning on Highway 29 – crazy harvest time!

Our Sonoma AVA parcels – Desnudos Merlot and Charlie Smith Cab – came in on the 26th and 27th showing brilliant fruit, farmed (certified) organically under Hélène, Stéphane and superstar grower Phil Coturri’s watchful eyes.

So what do we at Montesquieu think of 2009 Bordeaux?  Based on our tastings at Primeurs, here is a list of some of our favorites:

• St. Emilion: Pavie-Macquin, Clos Fourtet, Figeac
• St. Julien: Gruaud-Larose, Léoville-Barton
• Pessac-Leognan: Smith-Haut-Lafitte
• Margaux: Brane-Cantenac, Prieuré-Lichine
• Pauillac: Pichon-Longueville, Lynch-Bages

But the far more interesting assessment, especially at this early stage, is of the vintage as a whole rather than individual wines.  Stated briefly, Bordeaux 2009 is a tale of two styles.  Both have richness and power, but the first style – which we prefer – remains fresh, vibrant, and elegant; the other is extracted, thick, and loaded with alcohol.  Thanks to plentiful sun, warm temperatures and a perfect harvest season, in 09 almost every producer was blessed with fully ripe grapes. And therefore, almost every wine is powerful and intense with ample tannins and sugars.

But as our team tasted through the wines of each appellation, it was clear again and again that those chateaux that managed to retain the acidity and freshness in their grapes by picking judiciously and handling them gently got balanced and lively wines.  Whereas those chateaux that picked late and/or over-extracted their grapes got cocktails of oak, tannin, and alcohol that were more obvious and brutish than delicate or refined.  Among this latter group are a number of very famous houses, including many in the commune of St. Estèphe.

Not surprisingly, many in the industry loved these loaded wines, while we rather disliked them.  Call us crazy, but we prefer Bordeaux to taste, well, like Bordeaux (rather than, say, Aussie Shiraz or Napa Cab).

All of this means that especially with 2009 Bordeaux, consumers must be wary of trusting a score or any single critic when making purchasing decisions.  The vintage produced some sublime wines that will become legendary; but it also produced some bizarrely ripe and overwrought wines that, although impressive now to some critics, may not age well at all.

So unlike 2000 or 2005 where the quality level was quite even across producers, 2009 is a “buyer-beware” vintage, which could result in massive disappointment for consumers who invest in wines with big scores that turn out not to be to their taste.

The best solution to this sticky situation for wine enthusiasts is to have a personal relationship with a merchant who knows their palates and preferences.  Apart from futures, 2009 red Bordeaux isn’t yet on the market – but when it is, the happiest consumers will be those who have a trusted guide to help them navigate the minefield with aplomb.

As Bordeaux’s skilled marketing teams begin to praise the newest harvest, it’s worth spending a moment to look back at the early returns of the much-lauded 2009 vintage.

At Primeurs week every April, hundreds of Bordelais chateaux pour samples of their newest wines for the thousands of critics and merchants who gather in Bordeaux to check in on the latest vintage.  We at Montesquieu make sure to participate every year we can.  Attending Primeurs helps us keep a finger on the pulse of the wine industry, and especially Bordeaux (the epicenter of the international wine scene), by tasting first-hand the new vintage that everyone is wondering about.  As with the new 2010 vintage, the Bordeaux hype machine was in full swing well before Primeurs began this past April, with many proprietors declaring 2009 to be “The Vintage of the Century.”

But is it really? 2009 certainly offered favorable growing and harvest conditions that produced fruit with immense potential.  But recall that “once-in-a-lifetime vintage” fanfare was also showered on 2000 and 2005 – have there really been three “vintages of the century” in this century’s first decade?

Assessing these claims is made all the more difficult by the fact that none of the 2009 Bordeaux red wines are yet finished – chateaux are pouring barrel samples that still have several years of aging ahead of them, not to mention racking, fining and filtering, and so on.  Much guesswork is involved in evaluating the quality of a particular wine – and the vintage it comes from – so early in its lifecycle.  After all, the important question is not how does the wine taste now, but how will it taste later upon release and then even later upon reaching maturity?

These are complicated issues to discern, and as always, personal preference plays a huge roll.  What Jancis finds intriguing, Jim may find off-putting; and what Bob thinks is a slight imbalance that will resolve itself with age may seem to Steve to be a fatal flaw in the wine.

2009 is rife with examples of this kind of thing. Take, for instance, the Vieux Maillet from Pomerol.  James Suckling rated it 92-95 points, calling it “very well done.”  But The Wine Advocate’s Neil Martin rated the wine 80-82 points, saying it showed “unavoidable prune/raisin notes” and “lack[ed] freshness.”  That’s not even close.  Or consider the wildly controversial Cos d’Estournel from Saint Estèphe – some critics called it one of the wines of the vintage, while others were dismayed by what they considered to be over-extraction and a lack of finesse.

Of course bottle variation can also play a role.  But the more fundamental point is that this kind of disparity reminds us that experiences with wine vary from person to person and cannot be captured effectively by a scoring system that assigns value to a wine with a single, static number.

Unfortunately, numerical wine ratings still hold market power disproportionate to their reliability.  But as high-profile differences of opinion like Vieux Maillet and Cos d’Estournel proliferate, more and more consumers are realizing that a wine’s story and the experiences it offers are far more important than mere scores.

If scores of the 2009s can vary so widely, what’s a Bordeaux lover to do?  The best thing is to listen to people whose palates you trust and who have tasted the wines themselves.  That’s one reason it’s important for Montesquieu representatives to be present each year at Primeurs – so we can inform curious clients of what to expect out of 2009 and bring in for them wines that show the best of the vintage.

So what do we at Montesquieu think of 2009 Bordeaux?  Find out in Part 2 of this post.