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September 2005
"Daughters, grapevines, and gardens merit close watch", so the Italian Proverb goes. As the 2005 grape harvest quickly approaches, these are words to live by! Here at Montemaggiore, we expect to start picking our highest elevation Syrah in late September — then we'll proceed down the hill and finish with our lowest elevation Cabernet about a month later. The grape's flavor is our primary guide — we're looking for mouth-filling, black fruit flavors (blackberry, cassis, blueberry) — when the grapes have the right flavors, we call out the picking crew. If you would like to participate in harvest, perhaps picking or sorting, let us know — we'll send out a note two to three days ahead of time to let you know the schedule.
Montemaggiore rated Top 10 Syrah!
Along with the anticipated harvest, the other exciting news is that our 2002 Montemaggiore Paolo's Vineyard Syrah was named a Top 10 Syrah by Wine & Spirits Magazine (the October issue can be found on newsstands today). This magazine is unique in that their rankings are done by a professional committee, not just a single person. Since tastes vary significantly from person to person, often Wine & Spirits rankings are more indicative of a wine's broader acceptance and quality. To those of you who already tasted and purchased the 2002 Syrah — you have a winner! But you already knew that…
Wine Box with September Orders
To celebrate our Wine & Spirits award, we'll include a commemorative wood wine box with all orders of 12 bottles or more throughout the month of September. The reason we've put an October 1 limit on the offering is because we'll be really busy in October with the harvest — and we want to deliver your wine in a timely manner. This handsome Montemaggiore box, which holds 12 bottles, will also be added as a benefit to all our Club Primo members. Get your orders in soon!
Lovers of Wine
Our latest Wine Lovers are Emily and James Cooper, an inspiration to all of you who’ve considered making wine yourself. This fall, they will be making their first barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon from the historic To-Kalon vineyard in Napa Valley. While making one’s first wine from such a storied vineyard is unusual, their interest in wine and winemaking was sparked in the typical manner: with James, visiting wine regions upon moving to California; with Emily, tasting a seminal bottle at a restaurant (okay, it was a 1985 Ducru Beaucaillou at the French Laundry – not very common!). Do you think Emily and James are on the verge of letting their hobby get out of control?
Mathematics of the Grape
Have you ever wondered how many bottles of wine are produced by a grapevine? Well, each vineyard and each varietal is different. For example, some vineyards produce up to 8 tons to the acres, and some varietals produce more gallons per ton of grapes (Syrah produces more, and Cabernet produces less). At Montemaggiore, we focus on quality, so our yields are much smaller in order to produce more intense flavors in the wine. So here's the math for Montemaggiore:
Our 10-acre vineyard produces 2 tons/acre
 Thus 20 tons of grapes on average
We extract ~150 gallons of wine per ton of grapes
Or 3000 gallons of wine
1 750ml wine bottle = 0.2 gallons
So Montemaggiore produces 15,000 bottles of wine
Since we have about 12,000 vines
The answer is: 1¼ bottles of wine per vine
We expect 2005 to be a reasonably average year, thus we expect to harvest abut 20 tons of grapes, and produce about 1,250 cases of wine from that. In two years, when we bottle the wine, you can check our math!
Have a fabulous fall, and cross your fingers that the wine gods shine upon us in 2005!
Ciao!
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