When you are starting and growing a business, especially on a small scale with very limited budget and string of assets, it is important to utilize your resources to their fullest potential. With every decision comes opportunity costs. Knowing that going into every decision made - whether it is regarding production, sales, staffing, spending, marketing, timing, etc - makes you look into every small detail before you pull the trigger on anything. Especially when your blood is in the deal. My Father and I started Nottingham Cellars with this mind set, and so far, it is panning out very well.
I would be lying to you if I said that every decision we have made so far was the best possible. I can, however, confirm that it becomes apparent very quickly whether or not a given decision panned out the way we wanted it to.
One decision my father and I stand by - and if you know us, we don't tend to agree too often - was not cutting corners on production. That means sourcing fruit from a very select group of growers whose dedication to growing the best possible fruit matches our passion for turning that fruit into wines that you will enjoy. The majority of our budget and time is spent visiting and revisiting our Vineyard Partners. They are the ones who are responsible for what is in our bottle.
We are not a large winery with a million blending options who can hide or mask flaws in wines by blending it away. Our wines are what they are. And so far, our customers, as well as judges from the west coast, and the east coast seem to think we are on the right track as well. In 2011 we have submitted wines to two competitions. The first, The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition - the largest competition of American wines in the world. NC Submitted six wines and took six medals. Riding on the heels of that great success, we entered in our first international wine competition at Fingerlakes. Widely regarded as the most prestigious wine competition in the world with entries from wineries in 15 countries, 9 Canadian Provinces and all fifty states - a total of over 5,000 wines, NC entered eight wines with hopes (not expectations) of taking home a medal or two. Amazingly enough, we took home eight medals, including a Double Gold on our 2009 Casa De Vinas Petite Sirah, as well as Three Gold Medals; 2009 Reserve Petite, and both of our Bordeaux Style Red Blends - 2008 Ralphi's Red (60% Cab 40% Merlot) and 2008 Supremacy (61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 11% Petit Verdot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 7% Malbec)
I have never in my short life been in a situation that consumers can literally taste a decision I have made. Weird to think, even weirder to say out loud to myself. But it really is true. Had I slightly altered any number of things on a given wine we would have achieved different results. Whether it is fruit source, yeast strain, time on skins, barrel type, barrel time, blending options, bottle aging etc. Just changing one of these things will ultimately change the final product.
Could I have done some things better in the past? Absolutely. Am I striving to outdo myself every vintage? Please believe this. The 2008 Vintage was really my second year of making wine. I still don't feel like I have figured it out - and I hope I never do. That way when it comes time to making important decisions I can continue to go into them with an open mind and not get stuck doing the same old thing and just become another winery lost in the mix.
My decision is made indefinitely on one thing, however. I will continue to seek out the best possible fruit, meticulously craft micro-lots of ultra premium wines with fruit sourced from Livermore Valley's finest vineyards. At no point will a decision be made that can or will negatively impact any wine in my production. I will continue to promote the Livermore Valley because I do believe in what we are doing here as a community. I will not be misguided by any negativity towards our Valley, and I will continue to ride this wave of momentum so that I can proudly say, "I made this" and never be ashamed of any bottle my name is on.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Rhone varietals shine in LV
Its crazy how some wines really end up the exact opposite than you thought they would at harvest. Especially when you are working with new varietals for the first time and really your only guidelines for what to expect are other peoples wines made in the past from the same area.
2010 was a large vintage for Nottingham Cellars. The largest in our small history, including when we were making wines in Burlingame. This year I really wanted to do something special for our following, something the club members will love. The focus at Nottingham Cellars will remain Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah, but we also produced small lots of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre to produce our first ever GSM and our first stand alone Grenache and Mourved - Both of which wines are absolutely gorgeous.
Lets talk Grenache - When this wine was pressed it was so light in color - a ruby red grapefruit juice color. Absolutely elegant light-bodied wine with an italian blood orange pallet bursting with vibrant flavor. In just under six months of barrel aging time I have watched this wine evolve into something tremendous. After three months, I went from describing it as light bodied to medium bodied. Now - a rich full bodied red wine. As the wine has progressed, my rationale for what was happening was that the oak extraction was providing the dark color and developing the body of the wine. I still think this is true to a certain degree. But really what I think the reason for the sudden progress is the Grenache maturing at a fast rate. It is still a beautifully vibrant ruby red hue but dark - like no other wine I've ever scene. I know that this will be instantly eaten up by the club - I've only got two barrels and one is probably dedicated to a GSM blend.
Mourvedre - An exact flip flop of the Grenache. When the wine finished fermentation it had a dark purple hue and really was showing pretty deep body for a freshly pressed wine. It still has that purple hue to it, but very light in color, almost Rose-ish. A wonderful wine with tons of flavor. It is weird how this wine really ended up developing into such a soft, elegant wine when I thought it would be such a powerhouse. I guess I know what to expect for this year's harvest - but do I really? We have to remember that this past harvest came after one of the oddest growing seasons in years.
These wines are produced purely for our valued club members in 75 case lots or smaller. This small Rhone program is "just to get my foot in the door" on what I think are the most intriguing varietals to work with and definitely grown to perfection in the Livermore Valley. I look forward to making these small lots again this year and I can't wait to share them with you when the time is right.
2010 was a large vintage for Nottingham Cellars. The largest in our small history, including when we were making wines in Burlingame. This year I really wanted to do something special for our following, something the club members will love. The focus at Nottingham Cellars will remain Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah, but we also produced small lots of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre to produce our first ever GSM and our first stand alone Grenache and Mourved - Both of which wines are absolutely gorgeous.
Lets talk Grenache - When this wine was pressed it was so light in color - a ruby red grapefruit juice color. Absolutely elegant light-bodied wine with an italian blood orange pallet bursting with vibrant flavor. In just under six months of barrel aging time I have watched this wine evolve into something tremendous. After three months, I went from describing it as light bodied to medium bodied. Now - a rich full bodied red wine. As the wine has progressed, my rationale for what was happening was that the oak extraction was providing the dark color and developing the body of the wine. I still think this is true to a certain degree. But really what I think the reason for the sudden progress is the Grenache maturing at a fast rate. It is still a beautifully vibrant ruby red hue but dark - like no other wine I've ever scene. I know that this will be instantly eaten up by the club - I've only got two barrels and one is probably dedicated to a GSM blend.
Mourvedre - An exact flip flop of the Grenache. When the wine finished fermentation it had a dark purple hue and really was showing pretty deep body for a freshly pressed wine. It still has that purple hue to it, but very light in color, almost Rose-ish. A wonderful wine with tons of flavor. It is weird how this wine really ended up developing into such a soft, elegant wine when I thought it would be such a powerhouse. I guess I know what to expect for this year's harvest - but do I really? We have to remember that this past harvest came after one of the oddest growing seasons in years.
These wines are produced purely for our valued club members in 75 case lots or smaller. This small Rhone program is "just to get my foot in the door" on what I think are the most intriguing varietals to work with and definitely grown to perfection in the Livermore Valley. I look forward to making these small lots again this year and I can't wait to share them with you when the time is right.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
First Rack/First Blog
For over a year now I have been on the fence about starting a blog about my life as a winemaker. In the past I have felt many inspirations to do so, but never acted on them. We all get busy, and it is easy to pass on something that is not already a part of our routine. It takes something very special to break that routine. That special something happened today, and it is only 9:00 AM.
Today I started racking my 2010 Vintage wines. I got in early to get going, because my program is very complex. I have 126 Barrels to rack, which will probably take the better part of two weeks. The complexity is what this blog is about today.
Many of you who have come in to the winery while I am here (which is about 99% of my life - not a bad thing) have heard me talk highly of the 2010 vintage in general. The state of California seems pretty skeptical because of the extremely mild weather which brought a really late pick in most vineyards, and in a lot of cases fruit left hanging that never got ripe. Let me assure you that NC 2010 vintage will deliver some seriously complex Cabernet Sauvignon. Let me tell you why:
Starting with the 09 vintage, I will be releasing a Vineyard Designate Cabernet Series, as well as my standard Livermore Valley, and Livermore Valley Reserve Cabs. The VDCS will be an extremely small production from Casa De Vinas, Del Arroyo Vineyard, and Wisner Vineyard. 2009 is showing amazing, as it should. It was a healthy growing season, we had outstanding fermentations with little or no issues, we used several different coopers to increase complexity, and we sourced fruit from all the right places.
So why is 2010 different? Well, I can't speak for the state of California, or even the Livermore Valley, but in the case of Nottingham Cellars, we took that level of complexity up a notch. We kept the three vineyards noted above, and tacked on Ghielmetti Clone 4 Cabernet. For Casa De Vinas, our largest volume of production, we split the ten tons into 4 different lots and fermented each using different yeast strains. These 5 lots are the source of my happiness today. Every single lot is completely different from the other in terms of flavor, body, tannin level, color, mouth feel, etc, and these wines are babies. Less than 6 months old. The variance in flavor profile will only grow from here.
With the other 3 vineyards I worked with (a total of 4 more lots) we are seeing tremendous variance in flavor based purely on complex barrel programs. THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
All in all, we have 9 lots of Cabernet Sauvignon from v2010 which are broken down by Vineyard and Yeast Strain. Factor in our different barrel programs within those given lots, and we are looking at a total of 36 different "versions" of Livermore Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. All are tremendously unique flavorful delicious wines - even in their youth.
Today I started racking my 2010 Vintage wines. I got in early to get going, because my program is very complex. I have 126 Barrels to rack, which will probably take the better part of two weeks. The complexity is what this blog is about today.
Many of you who have come in to the winery while I am here (which is about 99% of my life - not a bad thing) have heard me talk highly of the 2010 vintage in general. The state of California seems pretty skeptical because of the extremely mild weather which brought a really late pick in most vineyards, and in a lot of cases fruit left hanging that never got ripe. Let me assure you that NC 2010 vintage will deliver some seriously complex Cabernet Sauvignon. Let me tell you why:
Starting with the 09 vintage, I will be releasing a Vineyard Designate Cabernet Series, as well as my standard Livermore Valley, and Livermore Valley Reserve Cabs. The VDCS will be an extremely small production from Casa De Vinas, Del Arroyo Vineyard, and Wisner Vineyard. 2009 is showing amazing, as it should. It was a healthy growing season, we had outstanding fermentations with little or no issues, we used several different coopers to increase complexity, and we sourced fruit from all the right places.
So why is 2010 different? Well, I can't speak for the state of California, or even the Livermore Valley, but in the case of Nottingham Cellars, we took that level of complexity up a notch. We kept the three vineyards noted above, and tacked on Ghielmetti Clone 4 Cabernet. For Casa De Vinas, our largest volume of production, we split the ten tons into 4 different lots and fermented each using different yeast strains. These 5 lots are the source of my happiness today. Every single lot is completely different from the other in terms of flavor, body, tannin level, color, mouth feel, etc, and these wines are babies. Less than 6 months old. The variance in flavor profile will only grow from here.
With the other 3 vineyards I worked with (a total of 4 more lots) we are seeing tremendous variance in flavor based purely on complex barrel programs. THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
All in all, we have 9 lots of Cabernet Sauvignon from v2010 which are broken down by Vineyard and Yeast Strain. Factor in our different barrel programs within those given lots, and we are looking at a total of 36 different "versions" of Livermore Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. All are tremendously unique flavorful delicious wines - even in their youth.
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