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December 2011
"What doesn't kill, feeds" as the Italians say—or as we rationalize the 2011 Montemaggiore harvest: "That which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." Now that the 2011 wines are resting in barrel, we have time to reflect back on the unusual weather during the year—and we feel all the stronger for it!
2011 Harvest Report: a wet cool growing season
To call 2011 a challenging year for winegrowers in northern California seems so... unsatisfying, because Mother Nature tested us in so many ways! Rain affected the vintage both at the beginning and end of the season—causing no end of grief and extra work. Rain in May impaired pollination, while rain in October caused us to drop a lot of fruit. Luckily, now that everything is in barrel, we see that the wines are coming along nicely with spicy flavors, lower alcohols and good acids due to the long, cool growing season.
In Northern California, 2011 started out cool and wet—and didn't let up. With 12 inches of rain in March, the vines broke their dormancy yet they awoke to little sunshine. Typically the major rains end and the sun comes out in April, but this year we had significant storms into May and June, with a sprinkling even in July. The May rain had the worst affect on the grapevines (see below), impairing pollination such that we had 25% less fruit.
Summer was very cool, and even our thin mountainside soils retained water until late July; so we didn't need to irrigate much which was nice. August, typically our warmest month, saw peak temperatures in the high 80s whereas usually they would be 5-10 degrees warmer. With a slow start to the season, verasion (when the green grapes start turning purple) was delayed into late August. Finally on October 14 we started harvesting, which was about two weeks later than usual.
A late harvest is not usually an issue, however we received two inches of rain on October 3 and 4 with a bit more falling on October 10—and we hadn't even harvested any grapes! Rain during harvest can lead to split grapes, mold, and diluted flavors—especially if everything doesn't dry off quickly. After the first rain, the weather thankfully turned sunny and breezy. After the second rain, cool and cloudy weather continued for several days, which was definitely worrysome. We went through the vineyard with a leaf blower to dry the fruit off, but mold and botrytis still grew. By dropping affected fruit from the vine and rigorous hand-sorting in the winery, however, you won't see any compromise in wine quality.
The good news is that flavors, tannins, and acid were all in balance at lower sugars than normal. The long cool growing season brought out a lot of the spice and complexity in the Syrah that Lise loves. And softer tannins will mean an earlier drinking wine than in prior years. If we could survive 2011, we can survive anything!
Holiday Gift Special: Three Wines for $95, including shipping
Food and wine make great gifts, especially for people on your list who have "everything". For those friends, family, employees, and partners whom you really appreciate, Montemaggiore has put together a special holiday package:
three bottles of wine (two reds, one white: 2007 Nobile, 2007 Syrah, 2010 3Divas)
two Baci chocolates
one special holiday card (including a custom message)
The price for this special package is $95 which includes FedEx Ground shipping, for a savings of over 25% (additional wine club discounts do not apply). If you have a single order, you can order on-line, otherwise with multiple ship-to addresses, you may just want to send us an email or give us a call (707.433.9499). We hope this makes your holiday giving a little bit easier.
Note that all holiday orders destined for the East Coast must be received by Thursday, December 15. Orders for the mid-West must be received by Sunday, December 18. Orders to the West Coast must be received by Tuesday, December 20. This will give us 24 hours to assemble your order, and will give FedEx Ground (the least expensive carrier) enough time to deliver it by Friday, December 23. Of course, if you'd like overnight or 2-day shipping, your gift will arrive quicker (albeit at a higher cost).
No Olive Oil this year
Not only was 2011 a challenging year for winegrowing, but Mother Nature hit us with a double whammy leaving us without any olive oil for 2012. We hate to disappoint the lovers of our extra virgin olive oil but we have no olives this year due to poor pollination in the spring (details). We hope everything will be back on track for the 2012 growing season, so check back in January of 2013 for Montemaggiore olive oil. Mother Nature is not always a "lady".
Most growers of Tuscan varietal olives (e.g., Frantoio, Leccino, Pendolino) in northern California were severely affected by unusual rains in May and June. Growers of French and Spanish varietals (e.g., Manzanilla, Arbequena) fared better because these trees are pollinated later. Olives growers in the Central Valley of California were spared because they didn't get as much rain. But here at Montemaggiore, with our Tuscan varietals, we don't have enough olives to press for oil this year.
2nd Annual Wine Pairing Challenge on February 25
Everyone had so much fun last year at the Wine Pairing Challenge that we're doing it again. On Saturday, February 25th we'll open our home to those who bring a special dish they've created to pair with a particular Montemaggiore wine: 3Divas, Rosé, Syrah or Nobile. Everyone can taste everyone else's dish and rate their favorite pairings. The results will be tallied, and we'll honor the best pairing for each wine. Please don't be intimidated, as this is just our excuse to have a lot of fun with friends while tasting good wines and good food. And we're hoping you go home with new favorites and renewed inspiration, along with recipes to match! More information and reservations.
Last year's overall winner was Marinated Tri-tip with Arugula and Pomegranate... what will it be this year?
2012 Passport Tickets available
If you'd like guaranteed pre-sale tickets for Passport to Dry Creek Valley, let us know by January 15. It may seem early to start planning for Spring 2012 but those who have attended Passport in the past understand the benefit of acting early. This annual sell-out event on the weekend of April 28 and 29 showcases the wineries, vineyards and exceptional beauty of Dry Creek Valley. Each winery goes all out with great food, live music, and of course a fabulous selection of wines. Montemaggiore has been given a small allocation of tickets ahead of time. If you would like pre-sale tickets, drop us an email by January 15. The two-day tickets are $120 each. Note that Montemaggiore does not actually participate in this event due to our secluded location, although we do host a breakfast on Saturday morning for ticket-holders.
Botany 101: Pollination is a fragile process easily disrupted by rain
Many factors affect the quality and quantity of fruit production in a particular vintage. The first few stages of the growing season (pruning, bud break, and pollination) all affect the quantity of the crop while the later stages primarily affect quality. This year, for the first time in our ten-year history, the quantity of both our grape and olive crops was severely affected by weather during pollination. Spring rains reduced our grapes by 25% and our olives by 99%. Let's examine the pollination process of both olives and grapes to understand what went wrong.
Comparatively speaking, grapevine flowers are tiny, green, and unobtrusive—so they are easy to overlook. Grapevines have hermaphroditic or perfect flowers, meaning each flower has both male parts (stamens) and female parts (pistils and ovaries). Thus every flower has everything it needs to make fruit—it doesn't require bees or wind or any other grapevines to pollinate. During fertilization, the pollen from the stamen of a perfect flower typically falls a short distance into the sticky stigma on top of the pistil. The germinated pollen grains travel to the ovary, where the fruit grows. It sounds simple but the timing of pollen maturity, ovary viability, and other aspects of flower development is critical—which makes for a fairly fragile pollination process.
Grapevine pollination can be disrupted by extreme temperature, excessive wind, and rain—thus greatly reducing the crop quantity. For grapevines, the optimal pollination weather means mild, wind-free days with no rain. Even so, typically only 30% of grapevine flowers are fertilized, thus about one-third mature into grapes. Rain reduces fertility by causing the pollen to clump together, while wind can blow the pollen or even the entire flower off. Cold or hot weather leads to poor pollination because the fragile timing of the process is disrupted. The flowers that aren't fertilized end up falling off, which is what we call shatter.
On the other hand, olive trees have two types of flowers: perfect flowers (both male and female parts), and staminate flowers (male flowers that lack pistils)—although only the perfect flowers can become olives. The ratio of perfect to imperfect flowers varies by tree, by variety, and by year although it is generally 1:1. Technically, a staminate flower initially had a pistil but then its growth stopped. The tree decides to halt the pistil growth in some flowers to avoid producing excess fruit during unfavorable years with fewer resources. Yet the additional pollen from the staminate flowers increases the chances that the perfect flowers are pollinated. In fact, although a mature olive tree will have a profusion of small white flowers (up to 500,000), only 1% of them will ever become olives in an optimal year.
The process of pollinating olive trees is more complex than grapevines because most olive varieties are somewhat self-incompatible, meaning they will set a better crop by cross-pollinating with other olive varieties. In fact, two of Montemaggiore's three varietals (Leccino and Pendolino) are self-sterile and absolutely require a pollen source from another variety. Only the Frantoio flowers can be pollinated with Frantoio pollen (although their fertility increases with pollen from either a Leccino or Pendolino tree). This incompatibility makes olive pollination more error-prone because pollen must travel from tree to tree, typically by wind (bees are not particularly attracted to olive flowers). For olive trees, optimal pollination weather means mild temperatures with gentle winds and no rain. Rain definitely puts a damper on olive fertility (excuse the pun) because it washes away the pollen and shortens the pollen's viable life-span.
So what went wrong with pollination in 2011? It wasn't the temperature or the wind, but it was rain this year. In the case of grapes, a cool wet May led to about a 25% reduction in the crop. In the case of olives, the rain in June caused a 99% crop reduction. We do have some olives, although most of our 800 trees have none, a handful have about 5 olives, and one or two have about 20 olives—barely enough to cure for eating.
As Vincent always says in regards to his beloved Chicago Cubs, there's always next year...
Fall Events in Northern California
For those of you living in or traveling to Northern California over the next few months, you may enjoy the following events.
Final Note: As always, we welcome your visit to our mountainside estate vineyards and winery in Sonoma County. Simply contact us for an appointment by phone (707.433.9499) or email. If you have wine-loving friends who might be interested in learning about Montemaggiore, please have them call us or send them to our website.
Enjoy the holiday season, and may 2012 bring you and your family much good health and happiness!
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