Wino Wrestling Federation #9: Harvest Celebration!
“I bought some quince when I saw it at the grocery store a few weeks ago (a sure sign of fall) and I’m watching them ripen on my kitchen table. It still feels like summer most days, but last night I wore an extra layer when I walked around my neighborhood. It’s a subtle shift right now, but the seasons are a-changin’.
Wine making is seasonal and cyclical. Grape growing and winemaking necessitate being in touch with the rhythms of the season.
This was my first year of working in a vineyard, as a self-appointed harvest intern. I was guided by my friends at every step of the way—learning the ins and outs of canopy maintenance and shoot thinning, all the way up through harvest. Harvest season for winemakers is a quick burst of energy: picking grapes at peak ripeness, ensuring that they don’t over ripen before harvest (which can result in flabby whites and overly alcoholic reds.)
Time is of the essence when it comes to harvesting grapes, which is one of many reasons why harvest is a stressful time for winemakers. It’s also a time when winemakers can make creative decisions about the wines that they choose to make. All year they’ve tended their vineyards to produce the best fruit possible, and now it’s up to them to decide when to pick them, and what to do with them. Are they harvesting early for rosé? Will they make a coferment? How about a skin contact white wine?
With all the hard work that comes along with harvest season, there are equal measures of celebration to be had. As the adage goes, “it takes a lot of beer to make great wine.” It’s a time of hard work, and abundance.
This month we have harvest celebrations on the brain. The wines we present to you are meant to be enjoyed with family, or friends, over an end-of-summer meal. Whether you’re celebrating a bumper crop from your own garden, clear and smoke-free skies, or the prospect of cooler weather, here’s to you!”
-Kelly
1 Bottle Club: L'Année - 2018 Les Clos Perdus or La Miraja - 2019 Grignolino
2 Bottle Club: L'Année - 2018 Les Clos Perdus and La Miraja - 2019 Grignolino
4 Bottle Club: 2020 Maurer Fodor Olaszrizling Subotica, 2019 Fossil & Fawn - Skin Contact Gewürztraminer, Johan - Grüner Veltliner, Les Deplaude de Tartaras - Vin de France Ciel d'Orage 2019,
6 Bottle Club: Maurer Fodor - 2020 Olaszrizling, Fossil & Fawn - 2019 Skin Contact Gewürztraminer, Johan - 2019 Grüner Veltliner, Les Deplaude de Tartaras - 2019 Vin de France Ciel d'Orage, L'Année - 2018 Les Clos Perdus, and La Miraja - 2019 Grignolino
La Miraja - Grignolino 2019
Estate fruit from vineyards situated around 280 meters above sea level. Southwest exposure. Calcareous-red clay soils. Many vines were planted in 1960, others more recently. 5,000 vines per hectare trained in the guyot style. Only 70 quintals per hectare harvested.
Hand-harvested fruit is destemmed and then crushed by basket press into stainless-steel tanks, where it remains in contact with the skins for 7 days while native fermentation occurs. Following spontaneous malolactic fermentation, the wine rests in cement vessels for several months prior to release.
Our Take:
“This uniquely Piedmontese wine has been often nicknamed a “winter rose” and is distinctly bright and delicate in comparison to the robust wines the region is famously known for.
I’m lucky to have enjoyed this lovely, garnet hued vino on the first chilly evening of fall and it perfectly evokes the cozy sunshine of an autumn day.
Primary aromas of dried raspberry and plum, a hint of anise and an elegant earthiness evocative of stems, tomato leaf and mushroom. Light in both body and acidity, flavors of fresh cranberry, clove and cherry are tamed by minerality and dry finish.
La Miraja estate is located within a castle that dates to the 11th century and is the life's work of a seventh generation viticulturist, Eugenio Gatti. Grignolino has been prized since the Middle Ages for its unusual flavor and the viticultural skill required to extract tannin from the grape’s delicate, thin skin. This cultivar is unusual for having multiple pips (seeds) per berry and the name “Grignolino” is thought to have been derived from the word “grigne,” which is the local dialect for pips.”
-Liz
L'année Blanc - 2018 Les Clos Perdus
L'année Blanc - 2018 Les Clos Perdus
65% Macabeu, 30% Grenache gris, and 5% Muscat from 5 different parcels. Varying levels of skin contact and harvest times mean that differing lots are basket pressed and cold settled as batches, but ultimately fermented together, with indigenous yeast, in a single 3000L.
As indicated by name, the ‘L’Année’ wines describe characteristics of the year in which they were produced, rather than a specific terroir. From vineyards in Montner, Maury and near Mas de las Fredas, with varying aspects and soil.
Elevage is in barrel and stainless steel with extended solid contact.
Organic, with certification from Ecocert. Biodynamic, with certification from Demeter.
No fining, bottled with light filtration.
Our Take:
“Melon and honey come through, but it's the citrus bite that lingers. Beautiful body, great texture and mouthfeel. Good cat sitting wine. Although lovely and shines on its own, I would definitely drink with the Parm Whiz.
The 2018 L'année Blanc was delightful and just the thing I needed after a long day. After work I went to my friend's house to hang out with her cats and let me tell you- my dogs were barking! I poured myself a glass of wine and pulled out the favorite of the cat toys. A purrfect evening.”
-Ashley
2019 Fossil & Fawn - Skin Contact Gewürztraminer
Vineyard: Montinore Estate
Appellation: Willamette Valley AVA (as of 2020, Tualatin Hills AVA)
Harvest Date: October 7, 2019
Assemblage: Own-rooted, 37-year old Gewürztraminer
Aging: 3.5 months fermentation, 236 days total skin maceration
Final Alcohol: 12.5%
Production: 173 cases
Fossil and Fawn says: “This vintage we had the pleasure of working with fruit from Montinore Estate, which was planted in the early 1980s and has been farming organically and biodynamically for more than a decade. It was a stroke of luck to get our hands on these gorgeous grapes at the eleventh hour of harvest, after our mainstay Gewürztraminer farmer lost her crop to steady rains that pummeled the valley in late-September. Just like the year before, we allowed the destemmed grapes to ferment whole-berry, on-skins, in an egg-shaped fermentation vessel, with extended maceration for 234 days. Following draining and pressing, we allowed the wine to rest in neutral oak barrels for two months prior to release. As usual, the wine fermented spontaneously with wild yeast, and was bottled unfiltered and unfined.
This is an “orange” wine that literally, no joke, smells and tastes of oranges. And rose water, apricot skins, ground ginger, fresh-dried hay, and late-August sunsets over Oregon’s coast range.”
Our Take:
“I have an unabashed love for aromatic white wines, especially when the fruit spends some time on the skins. This bottle had everything I dream of: tropical aromas like guava and lychee, fresh and dried apricot, roses on the palate, refreshing acidity, and that color!! So dreamy. If you haven’t had a dry Gewürztraminer before, you’re in for a treat.
I want to drink this alongside fresh spring rolls and spicy cold noodles. It’s also perfect with Basque-style cheesecake, which I know from personal experience. (If you want to get your hands on some of the cheesecake in question, pull up to Ro on a Tuesday between 2 and 9pm for Chef Rasheed’s Naija Boy Taco Tuesdays.)”
-Kelly
Maurer Fodor 2020 Olaszrizling 2019
Subotica, Serbia. Everything is handpicked in small bins and all fermentations are spontaneous (primary and secondary). The use of older oak, small and large format is paramount. There are no additives to any of the wines apart from SO2 at bottling for select wines.
This 56-year-old and small berry clone bush-trained 1 hectare vineyard was Oszkár’s great grandmother's dowry. The vineyard borders the Szelevényi nature reserve by only a 3 meter wide road. The wildlife and cover crops nearly mimic the forest. Oszkár also remembers his grandfather saying that Olaszrizling needs time with the skins in order to survive. Back then, there were no additions to the wines and Oszkár is keeping with both traditions. 5 days on the skins, all barrel, and no additions of any kind. He’s also fond of describing this wine as grease and motor oil for the soul even though he prefers only man and horse in the vineyard. Wine from Fodor encapsulates the farming and the cellar from these older generations and has great significance to Oszkár. The 2019 is an intense concentration of flavors packed into 11.7% alcohol.
Our Take:
“Our staff loves Maurer! When we first opened Ro Sham Beaux, we had a handful of bottles from this beloved Serbian producer. After what feels like a long hiatus, Maurer is back on our shelves. We’re stoked.
This bottle is all poached quince, orange peel, honey, lychee, earth, and a touch of kerosene. It’s a walk through the coastal forest in the fall—picture juniper trees, wind blowing through stands of eucalyptus, gnarled and bent cypress, and a beach covered in broken shells.”
-Kelly
Johan - Grüner Veltliner
“The varietal character of Grüner Veltliner is intense and highly unique. Our site produces fruit that wants to be rich and exotic, producing significant texture while retaining focus and balance. The 2019 vintage combines direct-to-press and 24-hour skin macerated grapes prior to a long, hard press cycle. The wine was then barrel fermented with native yeasts (both primary and malolactic) in a combination of 500-liter puncheons and 225-liter barriques, and aged sur lie (without stirring) for 17 months.”
Appellation: Van Duzer Corridor
Our Take:
“This wine is the swan song of summer. It is the last swim of September, freezing water though moments before you were hot standing on the dry deck. Laying belly down on the pool floaty as you try to warm up under the sun, goosebumps on your skin. In a minute more you’ll go back in for one more plunge, less cold now that you’ve experienced the shock.
It is the sound of the lawnmower, smell of grass clippings and gasoline all mixing together on the first cool day of October. Sound of a rake and the small pile of crisp leaves, the ground smell damp and rich.
It is the plastic cup of cold apple cider, of biting into fresh pears off the tree, and putting on your new jacket- even if it’s still a little warm out- because it’s time for fall.
It is orange blossoms, the promise of coming winter, but first, the sun shortened days of autumn. cold wine on the porch in the last small strip of warm sun, and a sigh of relief.”
-Juli
Les Déplaude de Tartaras - Vin de France Ciel d'Orage 2019
Meaning "Stormy Sky", Ciel d'Orage is a medium-bodied delight with quiet concentration and a dusty finish from Anne and Pierre-André Déplaude who tend to ~20 hectares of vines in Collines Rhodaniennes, a gem-like appellation long undersung, located just south of Beaujolais and just north of the Northern Rhône growing regions.
70% Gamay, 20% Syrah, 10% Pinot Noir hand-harvested from 23 year-old vines grown on mica schist + gravel soils. The grapes are partly destemmed and part-whole bunches co-fermented, which creates a semi-carbonic environment for a portion of the fermenting-must. After 2 weeks of maceration, the must is pressed and blending ensues. The wine ages for 9 months in concrete tank before being bottled unfined, unfiltered, with no additional SO2.
Our Take:
“'The first thing I noticed about this wine was how perfectly it paired with the cool breeze on the comfortably warm evening we were having as we drift into fall. On the nose- fresh chopped firewood and roses, followed up with a playful amount of tannin, medium acidity and a little cayenne on the finish. This isn't your auntie's Gamay, it's got some undeniable character that will leave you with a thousand yard stare in-between sips. How is this wine soft and delicate but also like a bloody steak? Magic, but also it's got Pinot and Syrah in it too, so maybe that's how. Save it for a Thanksgiving flex, or don’t! Cheers!”
-Eric
