540 replies to this topic

[RSG]

Fantastic job and description Paul. I can almost taste it. BTW, you have a serious equipment investment in that winery I see.

Good job

[cavalierhome]

Fantastic job and description Paul. I can almost taste it. BTW, you have a serious equipment investment in that winery I see.

Good job

Yes I do.

I am very lucky and I thank God for it genuinely.

P

[Proud Puppy]

So ends an outrageous journey, but the beginning of an amazing bottle of wine! Congrats on a well done job! 2 years in the cellar and you likely won't recognize it as it will transform in a big way! That intense fruit calms a little and the bottle bouquet blossoms into a complex beautiful aroma that transfixes you. With the precise details you have followed and the superior closures you will likely still be improving 5 to 7 years from now if well cellared. Are all those cases staying in your winery? That is a hell of a number of cases!

BTW, save some of that 'mistura'. I had a Malbec waaaay over extracted, and it also had some funk from a small H2S episode in 2007. Seemed so harsh and smelly I wrote it off. Really undrinkable even 1 to 1 1/2 years later. Just popped one open and now it is 2 years. The funk is totally gone and the wine is smoothed out and has a bordeaux cedar-box aroma with nice complexity. Another year I figure and it will be superb. Completely plated the inside of the bottle so it looks full when it is empty, practically opaque. Set a few bottles of yours aside and they just may be winners in a couple of years. You just can't tell what it will do!

Gotta go watch your vids now!!

[cavalierhome]

So ends an outrageous journey, but the beginning of an amazing bottle of wine! Congrats on a well done job! 2 years in the cellar and you likely won't recognize it as it will transform in a big way! That intense fruit calms a little and the bottle bouquet blossoms into a complex beautiful aroma that transfixes you. With the precise details you have followed and the superior closures you will likely still be improving 5 to 7 years from now if well cellared. Are all those cases staying in your winery? That is a hell of a number of cases!

BTW, save some of that 'mistura'. I had a Malbec waaaay over extracted, and it also had some funk from a small H2S episode in 2007. Seemed so harsh and smelly I wrote it off. Really undrinkable even 1 to 1 1/2 years later. Just popped one open and now it is 2 years. The funk is totally gone and the wine is smoothed out and has a bordeaux cedar-box aroma with nice complexity. Another year I figure and it will be superb. Completely plated the inside of the bottle so it looks full when it is empty, practically opaque. Set a few bottles of yours aside and they just may be winners in a couple of years. You just can't tell what it will do!

Gotta go watch your vids now!!

Thanks.

I will post from time to time when we open one to see how it is coming along.

Cheers
Paul

[balko56]

It has been great to follow this thread (I have followed the thread without posting)-as a beginning winemaker in 2008 I had many questions and concerns and threads like these have helped me a great deal –mostly by answering questions I didn’t even know I had.

Paul, I appreciate your willingness to share success (and failures), your ability to take some criticism and keep posting has been immensely helpful for me during the last 2 years. I was able to make great wine using all of this knowledge and a great deal of my success was due to threads like this! Cheers to your success!

Ric

[cavalierhome]

It has been great to follow this thread (I have followed the thread without posting)-as a beginning winemaker in 2008 I had many questions and concerns and threads like these have helped me a great deal –mostly by answering questions I didn't even know I had.

Paul, I appreciate your willingness to share success (and failures), your ability to take some criticism and keep posting has been immensely helpful for me during the last 2 years. I was able to make great wine using all of this knowledge and a great deal of my success was due to threads like this! Cheers to your success!

Ric

That was my hope.

It was fun sharing my travels in wine but at the same time I was hoping to leave a record that other could use.

When I first showed up here 2 years ago I knew nothing. I mean nothing.

Now I still know very little but I have made wine, and it is good, and so is life

Cheers Ric.
Paul

[cavalierhome]

So ends an outrageous journey, but the beginning of an amazing bottle of wine! Congrats on a well done job! 2 years in the cellar and you likely won't recognize it as it will transform in a big way! That intense fruit calms a little and the bottle bouquet blossoms into a complex beautiful aroma that transfixes you. With the precise details you have followed and the superior closures you will likely still be improving 5 to 7 years from now if well cellared. Are all those cases staying in your winery? That is a hell of a number of cases!

BTW, save some of that 'mistura'. I had a Malbec waaaay over extracted, and it also had some funk from a small H2S episode in 2007. Seemed so harsh and smelly I wrote it off. Really undrinkable even 1 to 1 1/2 years later. Just popped one open and now it is 2 years. The funk is totally gone and the wine is smoothed out and has a bordeaux cedar-box aroma with nice complexity. Another year I figure and it will be superb. Completely plated the inside of the bottle so it looks full when it is empty, practically opaque. Set a few bottles of yours aside and they just may be winners in a couple of years. You just can't tell what it will do!

Gotta go watch your vids now!!

Opened a bottle yesterday.

Predictably the wine seems to have lost its luster. The fruit is not pronounced and the wine has lost its complexity.

It is interesting to see this happening to my own wine.

I have seen this before many times with vintages when they are released early. Like the 05 Bordeaux for example. It was a great year but I opened some in 07 and it was way too soon.

I suspect the wine may also be in shock at the moment.

I will test it again in a few months to see what is developing.

However what I did was decanter it and wait 2 full hours. Then the wine came back into its own and was wonderful again.

Let's see what the future brings.

Cheers for now.
Paul

[Crazy Run Ranch]

Hi Paul,
It does sound like typical bottle shock. For one last time, the wine is telling you to be patient. The time to come out of it seems variable but it seems like 6 months usually takes care of it. Along with decanting for hours, I also think the Vinturi thingy helps to aerate and wake it up.

[cavalierhome]

Hello everyone.

Just stopped by to see how everyone is doing.
Opened another bottle of the 08 this weekend. It is much better now. Still over oaked but otherwise very very nice.

I expect it will continue to get even better. From my drinking experience I think it will probably be at least 5 more years before this wine shows me all it has.

The 09 is also coming along nicely.

Soon it will be that time again!!!!!

Hopefully this year I won't have so much drama

Cheers everyone

Paul

[Proud Puppy]

C'mon! The drama is the fun part!! As long as it ends well

[cavalierhome]

C'mon! The drama is the fun part!! As long as it ends well " />

Drama lama lol


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[img]http://www.winepress.us/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/[/img]

[Hammered]

Drama lama lol


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[img]http://www.winepress.us/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/[/img]

Paul,

What grapes have you got ordered for this fall?

[RSG]

Hopefully this year I won't have so much drama

Good to hear from you Paul, I hope you don't end up down that road again but have to admit it was like a scary movie that had us all on the edge of our seats

[mokadir]

Hey Paul, glad the wine is coming along. It's amazing what good fruit, a little TLC, and time, can do to wine.

[cavalierhome]

Hi all [img]http://www.winepress.us/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/[/img]

I will be speaking with the folks at juicegrape next week.

I think I am going to go with the same Napa grapes we used last year, something Georges… it was costly but it was very easy to work with. The numbers were really good on them although I have to admit the fruit looked a bit straggly.

But the wine came out good in spite of my stupidity.



The 08 reserve is still in the barrel and it is wonderful. The 08 vintage in the bottle is also great but needs time.



The Mistura from 08 (a blend of what was leftover without any particular formulation) is actually a very interesting wine and everyone who has it seems to love it.



It has the same components as the Cab/Bordeaux blend but in very different proportions. It has about 15% or more Petit Verdot. It gives the wine a very different profile but folks seem to like it.



My Portuguese friends have already drunk most of their share lol. I am the keeper of the vintage by protecting what I have in the cellar so that a few years from now we can still have some to taste.



It sure has been fun and we all look forward to the next time.



People who see the winery and cellar are always impressed and I tell lots of folks about winepress. I get occasional email etc from folks that found the story of the winery on the board and that is always fun.



You guys here have been very kind and helped me a lot and I am sure come another few weeks I will be back begging for more help [img]http://www.winepress.us/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif[/img]



Cheers

Paul