Bay Area Call Out

jsarino

New member
It was sad seeing people's wine stashes shattered. :( Anyways, hope most of you got out of it relatively unscathed!
 

roundshort

Active member
Totally Cra Cra here. I live about 15 miles north of the Epicenter in St. Helena.

Not a fun way to wake up at 3:30Am. My wife and I were very lucky. No damage at all. My Winery also was spared any real damage. But a lot of friends and neighbors were not as lucky. The best news is it was at3:30AM and few people were out Only serious injuries and a lot of bumps and bruises.

LOts and lots of wine lost - which unlike milk, it is ok to cry over!
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
All that lost wine reminded me of the beginning of Road Warrior -- when Gibson uses old bowls to catch gas dripping from a wrecked vehicle.
 

roundshort

Active member
Joe Brody said:
All that lost wine reminded me of the beginning of Road Warrior -- when Gibson uses old bowls to catch gas dripping from a wrecked vehicle.

Too funny. Road Warrior what a great movie. Too bad the reboot looks like the S***storm of WAY too much CGI and sand explosions all around.

Sad thing is a lot of wine that was lost was from the 2012 & 2013 vintages. Two amazing years.
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Teaches you people to hold out on good beverage. You should always drink it before you lose it in a freak accident like an earthquake.

Take us Finns for example. We happen to sit on the most solid piece of rock found on the planet, but still make sure not to cling onto our drink. Just to be safe.
 

roundshort

Active member
more because 10 & 11 were very lean. The vines (esp) older ones had a lot of stored sap due to the low fruit production in previous years. With the near perfect weather conditions the fruit was an amazing quality. As far as the drought, the winter of 2012 had crazy rains, which was perfect. It was 2013 and 2014 that are crazy dry. The vines are getting stressed (even though we do irrigate) but you can see the smaller berry size in 2014 as a result. Smaller is not bad - just more intense.
 

roundshort

Active member
It isn't that they are ever bad it is more how they ripen and in what time frame.

As the grapes ripen you have a few things going on at the same time with different factors. To keep it really simple -
1) You have sugars developing. As the fruit ripens heat helps acids and other things (I am being really simple as I don't want to type that much). If you have a Short Hot summer you can have very high sugar in grapes (which will equal into high alcohol - if you have not developed flavor it can taste like Vodka added to cranberry juice with a shot of Green Bell Pepper juice).

2) Flavor development - this is a combination of temperature and time. Here is when the good fruit flavors develop. With Cabernet Sauvignon it is important to get the fruit in a range where the green bell pepper aspects ripen in more red/blue/black fruits but Before they over ripen into raisin or prune flavors

3) Structural development - this is getting all the mean greenies and tannins ripe. The main key to this being successful is TIME. If you pick the grapes before this is done you can have a bitter, astringent, way too tannic wine.


So you need enough heat to develop flavors, but not too much to have your sugar spike and spread out over a long period of time to have your tannins ripen.

In Napa it is pretty easy to get 2 and a half of these things. But only 2 or 3 times a decade do you get all three to develop perfectly. 2012 and 2013 look like years that could have happened.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
roundshort said:
In Napa it is pretty easy to get 2 and a half of these things. But only 2 or 3 times a decade do you get all three to develop perfectly. 2012 and 2013 look like years that could have happened.


Curse you roundshort, now all I'm gonna be able to think about when I enjoy a glass of wine is Meatloaf:

Now don't be sad
'Cause two out of three ain't bad
I want you, I need you
But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you
Now don't be sad
'Cause two out of three ain't bad
 

roundshort

Active member
Pale Horse said:
Curse you roundshort, now all I'm gonna be able to think about when I enjoy a glass of wine is Meatloaf:

I don't know him, but I did like his work in Fight Club. Do the two of you enjoy wine together often?
 

roundshort

Active member
Not much wakes this boy up at 330Am. No nothing I felt. My house is too far north and to the east. THe fault is in the southwest of Napa
 
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