Shocking News About Wine!

When Mom and Dad brought home a load of Cabernet Franc last month, I kept hearing them talk about bottle shock…  What in the world?! The only thing I want to be shocking about the wine coming from Brix & Columns is how delicious it is!

Apparently this “bottle shock” can manifest in a couple of different ways.  Extreme agitation, like our Cab Franc encountered during the bottling process (barrel to bin to bottling machine to bottle), can cause the wine to taste differently than it should.  Other times, bottle shock comes about due to the wine being transported over a long and/or bumpy journey. Although this phenomenon hasn’t been scientifically proven, the idea behind it is that because all of the elements of wine are so integral to each other, by disturbing the settled wine, the flavors are disturbed in turn. Most noticeable in newly bottled and significantly aged wines (10+ years), the agitated bottles can be quickly calmed down by simply letting them lay still for a few days.  With older wines, you may want to store them upright for a day or two before drinking to ensure that all sediment has settled back to the bottom of the bottle.

While doing my research about exactly what causes bottle shock, I was interested to find that there was actually a movie called “Bottle Shock” that came out several years ago.  The shock in this movie is not to the wine, but to the world when a California Chardonnay beats out a French Chardonnay in a blind taste test. I know I may just be a dog sniffing his way around the wine world, but I think that Virginia wines are well on their way to becoming world renowned.

Check out the movie and see what you think – I will be watching it as soon as I can figure out the tv remote.  In the meantime, look for our two newest reds that are coming out soon, now that they are over the bottle shock!

Petit Manseng

If there is a wine that has been the talk of the tasting room lately, it is our Petit Manseng.  I hear people talking about how delicious it is and how they have never heard of that varietal before.  Fact be told, people are talking about our newest white ALMOST as much as they are talking about me. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of the grape, my mom has been raving about Petit Manseng wines for years.  Made into both dry and dessert styles, this wine is finding popularity all over the world, but it is especially gaining notice in the Virginia wine scene. Are we watching the next Viognier in the making?

Originating in the Southwestern Region of France, this wine sealed its popularity by being used to anoint King Henry IV.  The characteristic sweet and aromatic qualities of this Jurançon grape found a place in the hearts of all who had the pleasure to drink it. After becoming a beloved Jurançon varietal, Basque settlers took it with them to Uruguay (along with one of our favorites: Tannat) to cultivate there.

Dubbed by Matthieu Finot (winemaker at King Family Vineyards) as a “wet weather grape”, Petit Manseng has loose clusters of small berries that hold up well to high humidity growing environments.  The thick skin and ability to have increased airflow throughout the cluster makes this grape much more resistant to rot than some other varietals. Even though it does have a low yield and needs a long ripening season, many vineyards are choosing to work with the grape because it can be crafted into a wine that is flavorful, ages well, and has enough acidity that sweetness never overwhelms.

The flavor profile of Petit Manseng is composed of a variety of flavors with tropical fruit, citrus, peach, and a slight nuttiness that is most noticeable when it is young.  As the wine ages, the profiles of honey, preserved fruits, and sweet spices become more notable. It pairs well with many food dishes from spicy Asian foods to sweet pastries, and it is sure to delight your dinner guests when you present it to the table.

I’m starting to notice a trend: grapes with Petit in front of them seem to pack a lot of flavor and are looked upon highly by wine drinkers as full of flavor and overflowing with potential for greatness.  It must be the exact opposite of in the dog world where dogs with Great in front of their name are packed full of personality and handsomeness.

Wine Diamonds!

Let it be known that an old dog can always learn new tricks!  The other night, Mom and Dad had just popped open a bottle of our newest white wine, Petit Manseng, and I heard them start talking about the wine diamonds.  What?! Diamonds in wine? Now, believe me, having been the overseer at many a wedding here at the vineyard, I have seen my share of diamonds, but I have never seen any come in a wine bottle.

“Wine diamonds” is a term that wine industry folks use to refer to the tartrate crystals that form when tartaric acid bonds with potassium chloride.  The resulting product is potassium bitartrate. Before I get too involved, let me start off by saying that there are three acids that are always present in wines: malic, citric, and tartaric. Citric acid is pretty neutral and is used mainly to increase acidity and as a natural preservative.  The malic acid goes through malolactic fermentation which creates the creamy, buttery texture associated with some wines. Tartaric acid stabilizes the wine and helps make it more suitable to aging.

While some people don’t like seeing the tartrate crystals in their wine, please know that they are actually a signal to you that the wine is of a higher quality, has had less manipulation in the processing room, and the wine will age better.  These crystals occur when the temperature of a wine drops below 40⁰ F and the potassium chloride and tartaric acid come together. Formation of crystals can be avoided in two ways: winemakers can use cold-stabilization techniques at the end of the processing cycle or wine drinkers can avoid placing their wine for extended times in temperatures that are below 40⁰ F.

If your wine does develop crystals, don’t be alarmed.  They aren’t dangerous and they don’t have a flavor, but if you want to strain them out simply use a cheesecloth.  As for me, knowing what a sign of quality these little crystals are, I will welcome seeing them in the bottles coming from our winery!

Kerus Red Wine

Once you have realized that I am not a Holstein calf or a miniature horse, you don’t have to look very hard to see that I am a big, loving dog with a large, welcoming heart.  Even with all of the loving and giving that I dole out at the vineyard (like greeting you at the car and walking you to the door, letting you pet my soft, soft ears, and sniffing all of your coolers as a measure of “quality control”) there is still room for a little more loving and giving.  Mom and Dad recently paired up with Kerus Global to create a wine that not only gives you a delicious beverage to savor, but it also gives money from each bottle sale to to a global education foundation that is working hard to make this world a better place.

Kerus Global Education was founded by two local Valley residents, Dr. Cerullo and Dr. Ball.  Kerus, which means doing something with all of your heart, is a wonderful organization that is providing support and AIDS education to children who have been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in South Africa.  By using the It Takes Courage! curriculum, Kerus works to promote abstinence and faithfulness in relationships in order to lessen transmission rates. They also opened the Kerus Go Amogela Orphan Care Center to provide children who have been orphaned by AIDS academic and emotional support and guidance on making good life choices.  Kerus is making such an impact in the areas that it serves that the local governments have even started working with them to develop government run programs that employ the same educational strategies.

The wine, a Merlot and Chambourcin blend, is a table red and is sure to please everyone’s palate.  Notes of jammy dark fruit, vanilla, coffee, and leather on the nose are only a hint of the richness to come.  Once in your mouth, the complex flavors of tart cherry and ripe blackberry envelop the taste buds in a way that makes evident that this medium-bodied wine embodies all of the best qualities Merlot and Chambourcin have to offer.  The artwork on the bottle is particularly striking. Painted by South African artist Adrian Swartz, it features a stunning depiction of an African Elephant. The original painting is now displayed in our tasting room.

Make plans to come out and try our newest red soon.  Having the double benefit of being a delicious wine and doing a good deed for humankind through your purchase, buying this wine will also serve as your perfect cover-up for the real reason that most people come to Brix & Columns: to see your favorite wine blogger, ME!

Bud Break Bonanza!!!

You know what they say! It’s a dog’s life! I know I have it good, I’ve got a mom and dad who love me very much, I’ve got rolling hills of land to run around on, and I even have my own blog. You might think that it couldn’t get better than that, but think again. Over the past month I have been lucky enough to have my very best friend (and little nephew) Ryland come stay with me. We were assigned a very important task, and we definitely earned our bones.

Gene, our Vineyard Manager, and Taylor, my big brother, had a lot of work to do on the vines over the past month, and mom and dad sent us out to make sure that they were doing everything they needed to do. We laid in the shaded, soft grass and watched as they inspected each vine to determine its health. They were looking for bud swell and the magical bud break,  As they inspected the growing shoots, they tied them to the cordons to begin training their future growth.

Most people think of the spring season as a time of new beginnings, but the growth cycle of the grape vine actually renews each fall.  That is when the new buds begin to form on the vines as hard brown bumps, and they rest with a protective cover over the winter. In the early spring, as soon as ground temps break the 50⁰ mark, vines begin to bleed.  The roots wake up and pump water through the plant, distributing the needed “energy fuels” throughout the vine. These sugars, minerals, and hormones will all go to work immediately nourishing the sleeping buds and preparing them for bud swell. During the bleeding process, up to 1.5 litres of water can be pumped up through the plant and will “bleed” out of its pruning wounds.

 

Bud swell is the beautiful phenomena that begins to turn vineyards from the winter brown hues to the lush yellow-gold colors of all newly awakened plants.  Robert Frost warned us, though, that “nothing gold can stay,” and to be sure, these golden colors will soon erupt into a lush and vivid green as the bud swells burst into the bud break.  Tightly furled in these nuggets of green are everything the vine needs to make its next year of growth: leaves, shoots, and even the fruit clusters that will mature by the end of the growing season.

As Gene and Taylor moved through the rows examining and admiring each of the individual vines, they tied them to the cordon wires of the trellis to train their growth.  Next on the schedule, is stripping the trunks of their leaves. This will temporarily “de-green” the vineyard, but it is just to ensure that the energy of the plant is being used to produce healthy and vibrant shoots.  Each plant should have only two trunks, and by taking off the leaves, we are making certain that no additional shoots grow where we don’t want them.

I have a few more supervisor shifts coming up, and I will be meeting with Jeanette, our vineyard consultant, so look for a “growing” wealth of information to come!

The Benefits of Stainless Steel

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I got so excited to tell you about our Rosé release that I completely forgot to do the final follow-up to my barrel series! The final type of barrel that I wanted to tell you about was the stainless steel barrel. Now I know that when you think of aging wine, oak barrels are automatically what you picture; however, they are not the only barrels that winemakers have at their disposal.

Stainless steel barrels have only been used in the wine world for a few decades, but don’t let their relative youth fool you.  They do have a plethora of benefits that come with their use, and only two negatives Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. One thing a stainless steel barrel cannot do is impact the texture of the wine by making it creamier. The other major drawback of using stainless steel barrels is that it cannot layer and increase the complexity of the wine that it is aging. A wine aged in an oak barrel has layers of complexity that a stainless steel barrel will never be able to duplicate.

The benefits of aging and stainless steel are so numerous I’m not quite sure where to start. The first is a no-brainer, they are more environmentally friendly because you don’t have to cut down trees to use them.  Hand in hand with that benefit is the fact that they are a more economical choice for the winemaker. A stainless steel barrel can be used for upwards of 10 years at a time with no leaks, and then used multiple more times.

When a winemaker is finished using a stainless steel barrel, the cleansing process is much quicker and easier than the one used on oak barrels. There is greater control over the temperature of the liquid and the barrel, and there is no oxidation, which improves the quality of the wine.

The fact that the flavor does not transfer from the barrel to the wine is viewed in a very favorable light by some people. It results in a wine that is light, fresh, and crisp. Wines aged in stainless steel barrels remain fruit-forward even as they age, and it really allows anyone enjoying the wine to easily taste the talent of the winemaker. If desired, oak chips can be added to the aging process to impart some of the flavor and texture that would be gained by aging in an oak barrel.

In a couple of weeks I’m going to be back to tell you about everything Mom, my brother Taylor, and I have been doing in the vineyards. We have been working very hard during this important season of the grape growing world and I can’t wait to tell you more!

Rosé All Day!!

When Mom and Dad came home from church on Sunday and had a dozen roses, I just knew they were for me. I had been such a good boy all weekend through all of our events, and at that moment I knew they had recognized my good behavior. Now I know not every dog wants to get a dozen roses, but I’m not just any dog. I’m Winston the wine dog and I am refined and distinguished, and I appreciate a bouquet of roses just as much as I appreciate a peanut butter-flavored dog biscuit.

You can imagine my surprise and dismay when Mom and Dad started dismantling that bouquet of roses without even letting me smell them! Next thing I knew they had them in a basket, they were nestling a bottle of rosé in the midst of them, and they pulled out their cameras without a single thought of me.  It turns out that if there’s anything more adored in the wine world than me, it’s got to be rosé. Rosé has been enjoyed from every imaginable group throughout the past centuries from royal courts to millenials and everyone in between, and even though rosé has just recently found popularity in the modern wine world, it actually has quite a long and reputable history.

When Greeks brought wine and vines to southern France in 600 B.C., they weren’t just bringing about the French vineyard, but they were introducing the type of wine that would eventually become adored around the world.  The wine that the Greeks originally brought with them when they founded Marseilles in southern France had the same hint of color our modern rosés do but nowhere near the depth of complexity and flavor that we are blessed with today.

During the Middle Ages, when the local monasteries begin to use wine as a source of income for their abbeys, wine making in that region saw a huge jump. By the 14th century, rosé had found its way into the most prestigious circles and was known as the wine of royalty.  In more recent years, the production of rosé has continued to be refined by combining traditional and modern techniques and wines have increased in the their depth and complexity.

Rosé can be made from a variety of different red grapes and it achieves its color through two different methods. The first, and the most common, is called maceration.  In this method the juice is allowed to lay on the skins of the grapes for up to two days before draining it off and continuing with the fermentation process on the entire batch of juice. In the saignée style, just a portion of the juice that is being macerated for a red varietal is bled off after a couple of hours. The rest of the batch is used to produce the red varietal and the smaller amount of juice that is drained off the top is processed to become a rosé.  This is not as common a method since it produces a smaller amount of juice from each batch, but it has the added benefit of making the flavors pop more in the red varietal from which it has been bled.  Very rarely, a winemaker will attempt to make a rosé by blending a white wine with a very small percentage of red wine, this method is frowned on by nearly all of the wine world.

Here at Brix and Columns, our rosé is made by the latter method. It is commonly produced from a variety of reds, and then aged in a combination of both neutral French and stainless steel barrels.  With the summer days quickly approaching, I can almost guarantee you that you will be spending a few hours on our patio sipping a delicious rosé and being greeted by the most wonderful winery dog there is: me!

French, European, and American – What Does It All Mean?

Although many dogs think that trees are good for only one or two things (mainly for making branches that can be carried and tossed), a sophisticated winery dog like me knows that trees have a very special place in our industry.  In my last blog, I gave you a bit of information about how barrels came to be used to store wine – they sure beat carrying around those huge amphora AND they make wine taste even better. Today, I am going to talk to you about the three types of oak used to barrel age wines.

Barrel makers are called coopers, and the companies they work for are called cooperages.  This name is thought to come from the Gaul region (just like the use of oak barrels) where the wine was stored in cupals and the makers of these were called cuparius. These days, it is a pretty sure bet that if your last name is Cooper or Hooper, barrel making is somewhere in your family history.

All trees used by coopers in the barrel making process are grown in cooler climates.  Growing in a cooler climate allows the oak trees to grow more slowly and to develop a tighter grain.  Trees used for barrels are grown in tightly spaced forests that force the trees to grow straight and this helps to reduce any knots that may develop.  They are grown until they are about 100 years old and 5 feet in circumference. The only part of the tree used by coopers is the section of the trunk from right above ground level to right below the first branches.  This section is cut, by hand for French and by machine for American and European, into the narrow staves that form the barrels. These staves must be air dried for 3-4 years before being made into barrels.  A skilled cooper can get at least two and up to four barrels from each tree.

The most famous, and sought after, type is the French oak.  Trees used for these are grown in the Allier, Troncais, and Vosges forests and can costs upwards of $4,000 a barrel.  More commonly, the prices for these barrels range from $850-3,600 a barrel. Because the staves for French oak barrels are hand cut to decrease the tannin and astringency levels, the cost for these barrels is significantly more than their American and European counterparts.  Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are especially suited for these barrels as they soak up the subtle flavors so well, but all wines can benefit from the satin and silk textures that aging in French oak imparts.

European oak, sometimes called Hungarian, is considered to be the middle ground in the barrel world.  It comes from the same type of oak as French oak barrels (Quercus robur), but at $560-700 per barrel, it costs much less.  European oak barrels are often used on full-bodied varietals, like Malbec and Petit Verdot, that can hold their own against the richer, nuttier flavors that these barrels give.

American oak, although used mostly by the bourbon industry, has also found a niche in the wine world.  This oak is much stronger in flavor, and is often added in the aging process to impart notes of cream soda, vanilla, coconut, and even dill.  Grown in 18 different states, the American White Oak, adds a rugged quality to wines that are clean and fruit-forward. These are the least expensive barrels at $360-500 a pop.

Winemakers make many choices in barrel aging that have huge impacts on the flavor and tastes of wine: the origin of the barrel they use, the variety of barrels used in the aging process, the choice of using toasted barrels, and aging for different lengths of time.  By allowing a slow oxidation of the wine and by imparting a huge variety of flavors, aging in oak increases the complexity and softens the finish of any wine it touches. However, it isn’t the only barreling option available in these modern times. In the next blog, I will talk about some of the other options available in the wine industry today.

Intro to Barrels

I might be a silly dog sometimes, but even I am not so silly to think that wine barrels are just made for us vineyard dogs to sit on and look pretty. (Pictured above is Kelly from Windy Ridge Winery in Victoria, Australia)  I’ve heard plenty of folks asking about the barrel terminology used in the tasting room. It is likely that these are questions that have been asked for years upon years since oak barrels have been the primary storage vessel for wine since the Roman empire was in the conquest phase.

Romans didn’t always use oak barrels for storing and transporting their wine.  The first preferred container was the clay amphora and this was used for many years since it was easy to carry, could be decorated, and most importantly sealed out the air that can ruin wines.  Easy transportation was especially important for the Roman troops as they helped the empire spread. Wine was an ideal beverage to take because it was often safer than water, it provided calories, and it gave them a buzz as they headed into battle.  As the empire spread, the clay pots became too heavy to lug on their increasingly long journeys.

This was the perfect time for the Romans to encounter the Gaul.  The Gaul were using technology learned from the Celtic region to create oak barrels for storing beer.  Roman soldiers immediately saw the benefits for storing wine in oak barrels: the wood was soft and easy to bend, oak was plentiful in Europe, and the barrels were waterproof due to the tight grain of the wood.  Folks in charge of carrying the wine also quickly discovered a huge bonus: oak barrels could be turned on their sides and rolled. This was a match made in heaven!

After actually storing wine in the barrels, the Romans realized that not only was the barrel useful and mobile, but it imparted a delicious influence on the wine both in texture and flavor.  Since then, the art of using barrels for wine aging has morphed into a science of using a variety of oaks, toasted or not, new or neutral to create the desired effect.

There is so much to tell you about the difference between American, French, and Hungarian oaks that I can’t fit it into one blog.  Stay tuned for more information about oak barrels coming in the next blog, but for now I will answer the question nearly EVERYONE asks: “What country does neutral oak come from?”  Oaks of American, French, or Hungarian origin can all be considered neutral. A barrel is considered neutral after it has been used for two or more vintages. The rule of thumb I have heard is the first aging it is called new, the second has no specific title (i.e. simply French oak or American oak), and anything after that is considered neutral.

Virginia Governor’s Cup

Mom and Dad are super excited about attending some wine gala in a few weeks.  I took a peek at the invitation and saw that it was for the 2018 Virginia Governor’s Cup.  Now you know me and my research – I just couldn’t stand knowing about something but not really knowing, so I put my nose to the ground and started sniffing out the facts.

Apparently, this Governor’s Cup is a wine competition that has happened every year for the past 36 years! It is organized by Jay Youmans of the Capital Wine School in D.C.  He is one of only 45 Masters of Wine (MW) in the United States, so he really knows his stuff.

Not only was this a really good year for Virginia wine (99 took gold), but it was a prolific year as well.  Over the course of December and January, 442 wines were sampled by carefully selected judges.  In order to enter a wine, the fruit used to produce the wine has to be 100% Virginia grown.  Documentation has to be provided to prove this and to give other technical aspects of the wine such as acidity and sugar levels.  Judges taste wines over the course of two rounds, and wines are scored on appearance, aroma, flavor, overall quality, commercial suitability using the 100 point Wine Spectator scale.

The preliminary round consists of 8 judges and takes place over 10 days.  Each of the wines is tasted by 7 judges in a single blind fashion – this means the judge knows the grape or category, but no other identifying information (such as vintage, winery, and name) is given.  The scores are averaged after dropping the lowest score, and only the highest scorers proceed to the final round.  This year, all preliminary round scores were about 2 points higher than last years.  This is a good indicator of it being a great year for Virginia wine.

The final round consists of 12 judges and takes place over 3 days.  Each judge samples each wine and scores are averaged in the same way as the previous round and medals are awarded based on the score:  gold medals are awarded to those with 90-100 pts, silver to those with 85-89 points, and bronze to 80-84 scorers.  The 12 wines that score highest are considered to be in the “Governor’s Cup Case”  – wines you are encouraged to buy in order to taste the best of the best of Virginia wine offerings.  The highest scoring wine takes home the grand title of Virginia Governor’s Cup winner.

After I became a Winston-sized expert in the Governor’s Cup, it only took laying next to the dinner table to find out why Mom and Dad are really, really excited about attending this year’s gala.  Our Viognier was a gold medal winner this year!  If you remember, this wine is both Mom and Emma’s favorite.  All of us were so happy to hear that the very first wine made for us earned such a high ranking in this year’s Governor Cup.  It can only be a sign of many award winning wines to come!