Wine Berserkers - international wine social media, online community, and discussion

Jamie

I agree with you that stems reduce temps of a ferment but I would expect a higher temp to lead to a lower alc - more alc blown off.
There must be another factor.

Paul

Wow what a difference a day can make - we had a high of 69F yesterday (Sat), a low of 51F then a high of 90F today. Warm the next 3-4 days with highs in the upper 80s.

Paul

Casey

Why drop the fruit instead of just leaving for the birds/to rot on the vine?

Paul

I feel like Syrah can finally get past its reputation as a failed "California's next big thing" and go back to doing what it's always done best: appealing to those of us who want meat, and spice, and wildness in our wines just as much as we want fruit and tannin. That may not be a mainstream flavor...

It’s been a rough harvest and we’ve still a long way to go. I’ve been hearing a lot of people say that they won’t be buying 2020 wines from Napa/Sonoma because of the fires. I’m wondering how people will react when tasting notes start coming out in 2021 and 2022 for these 2020 wines. Since the vast...

I think 2020 CA fire zone reds are going to be extremely tough sales to folks like us. 2017 was a much different situation in that quite a bit of the fruit was already harvested. With so much exposure to smoke taint, I myself will be very leery of purchasing 2020 in any sizeable quantity. This isn'...

And even if there is “smoke taint”, the wine can still be pretty compelling. The way people want their brisket to absorb as much smoke as possible to enhance the flavor, some “smoke taint” can be interesting to experience in wine. You may not want a case, but a bottle or two to explore can be inter...

Long ago the CT crew ran an analysis of Jeb's scores versus CT way before TWA. It's over in the CT forum but Jeb's points ran 2-4 higher than CT. Not being critical as he was very consistent in the range and that's all you really need, a reference. I think people critical of his TWA scores were not...

I will say I really like our 2018s (as do the critics) but our 2019s are even better. The two years had very similar conditions but a slightly lower crop in 2019 upped the intensity a touch, while still keeping excellent balance.

Paul

I've heard that high elevation vineyards in your area are considered much more likely to be smoked than valley floor. Just what I've heard. That has not been my experience Casey. The smoke generally settles low. A number of days we have had a light haze at our altitude and can see much more dense s...

I did some sampling yesterday. Our Syrah is in a tight range of 21-21.5b. The Roussanne and Marsanne around 18.5b. Some amazingly small berries this year. Many Syrah clusters are all chicks and no hens. It will really suck if we lose this year to smoke taint. Clearly our best balanced year ever in ...

I did some sampling yesterday. Our Syrah is in a tight range of 21-21.5b. The Roussanne and Marsanne around 18.5b. Some amazingly small berries this year. Many Syrah clusters are all chicks and no hens. It will really suck if we lose this year to smoke taint. Clearly our best balanced year ever in t...

Right now the only thing is to pick and test post-fermentation. The grapes are shriveling on the vines, and have been subjected in some way to smoke this month, most likely. I picked on the 8th before neighboring Cabs, and am just hoping for the best. I think the smoke at ground level (I am on the ...

What seasonal cues do grapevines pick up on? All these days of no sun. Temps are down because of it, but not near late season temps. Wes From my observation, vines react to the nighttime lows. When we get a cold late September storm front, the associated temps go down to around 40F and that tends t...

Smoke is particularly bad today in Napa. The sky looks like a Blade Runner hellscape. I heard it’s from the August Complex fire up in Mendocino. At this point I think the central valley is full of smoke from the August Complex (mainly Glenn county not Mendo), the fire near Fresno and all the previo...

We are not picking fruit at Family Farm, Skyline, Alpine, Horseshoe or Centennial Mtn. Very painful but I guess it could be worse. I hope other wineries are faring better. This is pretty devastating for everyone. Shit, sorry to hear that Kevin. Just hope we are getting a decade's worth of WTF over ...

Had to sign two different smoke taint amendments this week. Clients are in CYA mode. I still think our fruit will be some of the cleanest in the north coast region considering what has happened. I was telling a buddy today that we haven't had a real difficult harvest since 2011 so mathematically we...

Eric Lundblad wrote: ↑
September 7th, 2020, 3:54 pm
Re Smoke, everything I see for smoke (PM2.5) has sonoma/napa in the green and yellow range for the last 3 days.

Smoke was bad around Petaluma and Marin today. Less dense further north in Sonoma. Our place was clear.

Paul

I am late posting my monthly report - just back from a few days of pre-harvest R&R in Lassen National Park. A beautiful, fascinating place and without cell coverage. Glad to see August 2020 in the rearview mirror. We were fortunate to never see the extremes of heat that others experienced further so...

Are homes in these fire-prone areas insurable? Are the rates subsidized? They have to astronomical Over the last few years many insurers have back out of the risker areas and insurance has been hard to find/expensive. Just this week we heard that some areas on the Silicon Valley side of the Santa C...

The commercial labs are all set up to test for smoke taint. Results come back fast. You can easily send out samples and get the results right before deciding if you want the grapes the grower swears up and down are just fine. 4 days turnaround, as of Monday when I spoke with ETS. And I suspect they...

A few useful things to remember based on some conversations I’ve been having on the ground here: 1. Just because someone is testing for smoke taint, doesn’t mean the berries are tainted. 2. Just because someone gets a negative result for free volatile smoke markers in berries, doesn’t mean the berr...

If the fire map can be believed, there is no (detectable) fire activity in the Santa Cruz mountains. Hope that is true. Btw the Sonoma fire only shows a little activity on the easterly edge close to Healdsburg. Does feel like we are over the hump. Paul Recent report I saw said something about still...

If the fire map can be believed, there is no (detectable) fire activity in the Santa Cruz mountains. Hope that is true.
Btw the Sonoma fire only shows a little activity on the easterly edge close to Healdsburg. Does feel like we are over the hump.

Paul

Looking at the fire map, the southern section of the Santa Cruz blaze seems to be under control. I hope that is the case.

Paul

Thankfully the weather front last night was a bust. No lightning and minor winds.
According to the fire map, activity has reduced significantly in the northern section around Lake Sonoma. Only really active sector is west of Windsor. What are you hearing/seeing on the ground Brian?

Paul

There is concern about wind today when the next potential storm blows in. May be more lightning, but also concern about wind (although nothing like a few years ago, gusts up to 20 mph in my area). -Al At this point the front seems to be dying off the Sonoma/Southern Mendo coast. No lightning strike...

In Santa Rosa and I can’t go outside due to the smoke. Meanwhile, back in Forestville... Sunny out on the driveway, I can even see blue sky through the trees. 662F7F3D-8F9B-40C7-90E3-13BED5D52239.png Sunny in the backyard. 635649D1-13EE-4D4A-AF0A-84B3E1446417.png I know it was the right thing to do...

So Brian, what wines did you bring from the house to enjoy around the pool?

Paul

I suspect the thing many people don’t get, particularly back east and Midwest where they typically get rain even in summer, is that here in California it just doesn’t rain from June through September, on average. People like to think a wetter rainy season is somehow “good”, but aside from driving a...

JDavisRoby wrote: ↑
August 21st, 2020, 8:51 am
Is this mowing towards Ridge & Mount Eden? Or, staying mainly west along the coast?

It has been moving generally south-west towards Santa Cruz and the ocean.

Paul

The weather really broke at our vineyard last night - windy, foggy and a low of 49F! Very welcome.
Mendocino has been really lucky to avoid the fires, just like in 2017. Thoughts with everyone affected in Napa, Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mtns and Monterey.

Paul

Ken deserves the accolades!

Paul

I'm expecting many fires by tomorrow. I can't tell you how many downstrikes I saw today in my travels. Lots of heavy yet isolated showers in the area today. Philo fared very lucky. We are back at it at 4:30 tomorrow morning. Casey I think we dodged a bullet. The system went right over Halcon. We go...

Some amazing shots of this morning’s light show from Jenner at the mouth of the Russian River. 165A92D8-CB15-4F04-996A-0E11DFFA1EDD.pngA5779361-246F-4399-B0F6-252C88FFE4CD.pngC795A013-5A59-475A-98FD-CC885510DF05.png08C42530-AE72-4AEC-8815-71D0EA5A6080.pngF25A7B5F-A443-4FAE-92F0-E3635FA16D5B.png2DEA...

I’d like to hear from growers who know better, but I don’t think rain like this is welcome, except to homeowners having their yards watered a little. This is from the remnants of a tropical storm that originated in the pacific off Mexico, so we have hot, humid, Midwest-like weather. Grapes don’t li...

I’d like to hear from growers who know better, but I don’t think rain like this is welcome, except to homeowners having their yards watered a little. This is from the remnants of a tropical storm that originated in the pacific off Mexico, so we have hot, humid, Midwest-like weather. Grapes don’t li...

TimF wrote: ↑
August 14th, 2020, 8:51 am
I need to decide if I want to purchase the fall release. Haven't gotten around to trying any of these yet. Probably will try a 2018 Altura in the next couple of days. Any advice on decanting time?

Tim

Give it 1-2 hours in the decanter.

Paul

I decided to pop my first bottle of this tonight and it's certainly ready to go. 2014 Myriad Cellars Syrah Halcon Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands (8/8/2020) Such a Mike Smith wine - large, almost huge in scale and full throttle on the flavor-meter. It has freshness and ...

2014 Myriad Cellars Syrah Halcon Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands (4/9/2016) Gave this about 4 hours of slow ox, then into decanter for another 10 hours. Drank alongside a '14 Quivet Las Madres (Hulda). This was the "frutier" of the two, but in no sense a fruit bomb - ju...

July is finished. It started cool for us, with the first half of the month running a couple degrees below average. The last ten days of the month (excluding the 31st) were consistently warm. Nothing above 90F but always in the mid/upper 80s. That warmth ironically was caused by the cooler weather in...

Doug Uno wrote: ↑
July 30th, 2020, 9:21 pm

M a x S w o m l e y wrote: ↑
July 30th, 2020, 5:55 pm

Robert.A.Jr. wrote: ↑
July 30th, 2020, 5:49 pm
I think I have the 2018 but we may need more offers!!’
Library please. Pretty please.
YES!!!

Doug, David, Max,

We hold back very little from previous vintages. We do have some magnums though, which we will likely offer in the fall.

Paul

Robert.A.Jr. wrote: ↑
July 30th, 2020, 5:49 pm
I think I have the 2018 but we may need more offers!!’

Robert

The fall mailer goes out to the mailing list in two weeks. Includes 2019 Prado and 2018 Esquisto, Elevacion and Petite Sirah.
I am sure we will have a Berserker Day offer early next year with some 2019s.

Best

Paul

Has anybody tried their Petite? Love their Syrahs just trying to see what else I can explore from Halcon Not the new one, but past vintages. Love the vineyard. It's the same style as the Syrah. I heard they've upped the whole cluster percentage, which would make it even more their style, so should ...

I'm envious! That makes it Me:1 William: 10,000 On the enviable events index! [rofl.gif] I definitely really miss tasting these wines professionally. Wish I could get them in France, as it would be fun to serve them blind to friends. William Hopefully we can meet next year (when we are allowed back...

Paul had us up to Halcon for an outside and well distanced tasting on our way out of Anderson Valley last week. Overall, it was a very different visit than in times past, but great to see and taste with a few of our favorites. Halcon was a real winner with the 2018 reds and the 2019 white. I recent...

Mendo has been markedly cooler the last two days when compared to points south. Halcon had a high of 74F yesterday and just 64F today. Very windy both days. For comparison the NOAA station at the Santa Rosa Airport reported a high of 98F yesterday and 93F today. That wide range is fairy common in Ma...

Wes Barton wrote: ↑
July 2nd, 2020, 7:37 pm
Late Harvest Riesling?

Maybe ice wine picked in January

P

I call complete BS on picking at Cole Ranch with snow on the ground. We are 1000 ft higher and pick 2-4 weeks later then them, and we have never seen a single flake of snow before harvest in 15 years.

Paul

My usual monthly report ... June had some ups and downs but nothing extreme on either side - we had just two days above 90F, a 91F and a 92F. No rain but in the fog a dozen times. Grass around the property was green through the month and will likely completely brown mid-July. Our temps were just a l...

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