Archive for October, 2008
Friday, October 31st, 2008
Chateau Rollat Redeemed at T Maccarone’s
The other night Billo and I met Virginie Bourgue at T Maccarone’s. Virginie is the winemaker at Cadaretta and I’m a fan of her wines.
There’s been a lot of buzz about the food at T Maccarone’s so we decided to check it out.
Perusing the wine list while we waited for Virginie to show up, we […]
No Comments » - Posted in Wine and Food by Pinto Naravane
Thursday, October 30th, 2008
Leaving Walla Walla
I left Walla Walla yesterday. Since 9/20, I’ve spent about 4 weeks total in Washington. That’s a long time to be away from my kids. Hell, that’s so long I even missed my wife.
We’ve received about 23 tons with another 5 tons to go. Overall, I’m very happy with the fruit and how everything’s gone […]
No Comments » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Portteus Pressed
We pressed our Portteus Syrah yesterday. No spillage.
We managed to get a lot of free run juice.
No Comments » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
DuBrul is in, Kiona is Pressed, and Port Drinking has Commenced
Our DuBrul Cab was supposed to come in this morning but there was a scheduling conflict and they asked if we could pick our fruit Monday afternoon. Fine by us.
We had contracted for an acre of Cab and we managed to get 2 tons. We’ll let the fruit cold-soak a couple of days and then […]
No Comments » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Monday, October 27th, 2008
Party at Kenny’s and Tulpen Cellars
One of my favorite people is Ken Hart. Kenny’s is a well-respected vineyard manager and owner/winemaker of Tulpen Cellars. He’s also one hell of a guy. I love hanging out with him. Billo and I were over his house for a dinner party Saturday night.
We brought over a barrel sample of our wine, 1999 Veritas […]
No Comments » - Posted in Wine and Food by Pinto Naravane
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
DuBrul Cab is Ready
Well, I’ve been concerned about our DuBrul cab. Numbers from earlier this week indicated that the vines had stopped photosynthesis and that we were going to get a high acid wine – the titratable acidity was measured at 9.3 g/L. Too high.
We visited the vineyard yesterday – no way were these grapes at 9.3 g/L […]
No Comments » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Saturday, October 25th, 2008
1996 Jim Barry The Armagh – What Happened?
The other day Billo poured a wine for me that should have been a great experience. Should have.
The wine was the 1996 Jim Barry The Armagh. The Armagh is a 100% Shiraz from the Clare Valley in Australia and is the top wine made at Jim Barry Wines.
Billo and I have been fans of The […]
No Comments » - Posted in Wine and Food by Pinto Naravane
Friday, October 24th, 2008
AP Agreement
We met with Jean-Francois Pellet yesterday to sign our Alternating Proprietorship Winery Agreement. Jean-Francois is the winemaker at Pepper Bridge Winery and Amavi Cellars. He is also a partner and founder of Artifex. He’s a busy guy.
We spent a couple of hours with him discussing Artifex, Walla Walla wine community, and making and marketing wine. […]
No Comments » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
More Paperwork, Kiona Cab, Portteus Syrah, and Vintage Cellars Wine Bar
What a way to spend the day. I spent most of yesterday getting together additional paperwork to send to the TTB and the WLCB. What a hassle.
I did manage to get to Artifex to taste some of our wines. Right now, our Les Collines Syrah, Kiona Syrah and DuBrul Merlot are going through ML and […]
No Comments » - Posted in Rasa Vineyards by Pinto Naravane
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
Done at DuBrul?
We got our weekly numbers from DuBrul and they weren’t encouraging. Here they are:
degrees Brix Titratable acid pH
Cab 25.4 .93 3.16
Compared to last week’s numbers, the pH and the titratable acidity didn’t move; the Brix moved 1.5 degrees. This tells me that Brix are moving up because of dehydration and the vines […]
