Wine Making By The Light of the Moon

Err, more like light of the garage. Our fruit from Borra Vineyards in Lodi finally arrived! I won a ton of Zinfandel and a ton of Barbera at the TWGGA conference earlier this year and after multiple false starts getting the fruit here, it arrived first thing Monday morning at Pheasant Court Winery. We struck up a deal that Pheasant Court pay the shipping, we help with the winemaking, and they could sell the wine under their label. We just want a few cases in the end.

So, on our day off from Benton-Lane, Bobby and I went out to Pheasant Court to process the Zin and Barbera after dark. Pheasant Court is a small operation that is done in what is basically a barn adjacent to Charlie's, the winemaker/owner, house. The "crushpad" was his driveway. Brix levels were taken and both wines are projected to be pretty big- probably in the 14% range. After crushing and de-stemming, we got a grand tour of the cellar and talked wines and vines with Charlie. Via horse trade, Bobby & I scored a bottle of Chardonnay made from Woodhall grapes for a bottle of Bobby's 2009 Pinot Blanc (also Woodhall fruit).

Tomorrow will be pitching yeast and taking more accurate Brix measurements. And then all the excitement and wine management begins! Cheers!

Loading the Zin into the crusher/de-stemmer

Checking the quality of fruit

Processed Zinfandel!

Fun WIth Bottling

After two exhausting days of bottling this week, our warehouse is filling up. We now have 8 pallets of 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 pallets of 2007 Merlot. Our good friend Jimmy Jenkins at Fort Worth Screen Printing dropped by to check out the organized chaos. Using his handy dandy iPhone, he put together a great little video of the bottling process. You can also see Andrew's OSHA stretches on our Facebook page- always a good laugh. Oh! And we're always looking for volunteers for our next bottling!

Ten Times the Wine!

I am so pleased to announce that we have finally started production here at Times Ten Fort Worth! We brought in 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2007 Merlot from California.

Before any juice could touch our tanks, we had to scrub the inside of the tanks to ensure that they were free of anything detrimental to the wine. Bill, who helps Chris out in our cellar, did a great job getting those tanks squeaky clean. Dustin and I arrived early to sanitize the hoses so that everything that the wine came in contact with was safe.

Chris and Dustin hook up the pump

A huge tanker truck rolled up and had to squeeze down our back alley. It was pretty interesting to see a semi fit between freshly laid cement and a tree. Fortunately, he made it- thanks to years of experience. We hooked up our hoses and let the wine flow!

Truck driving skills at their finest

Opening up the valve. Yay wine!

Quality assurance

More quality assurance by Steve

Dustin and Chris enjoy some of the Cab

The fun part of wine making. Cleaning!

After everything was pumped into the tanks it was time to clean up. I showed off my squeegee skills that I picked up at Benton-Lane.

Bottling commences next week. It's hard labour, but good times are always had.

Fun With Wine: Barreled Down

Well, Harvest 2009 is long over and I have been remiss to write a wrap up post. So, at last I will finish the story of my time in Oregon.

The last couple of weeks were spent pressing the red wine and digging out tanks. All of the juice goes straight to a juice pan, but there is plenty left in the tank. Someone has to jump in the man-door and scoop out with a food grade shovel all the skins and seeds. Oh, and you're being timed. You have to wear a harness with a rope attached in case you pass out from CO2 overexposure, they can pull you out. But, it shouldn't ever get to that point, as you are wearing a CO2 monitor on your chest and the top is being ventilated by a fan, pulling the carbon dioxide out of the tank. I jumped in and scooped out one of the juiciest tanks there were- lucky me. See me up to my knees in grapes below!

Once everything in the tank has been pressed, a hose is hooked up to a pump, which is in turn hooked up to the barrel filler. Armed with a flashlight and a keen eye for precision, each barrel is filled to the maximum capacity, allowing a little room for stirring. Each barrel gets a thorough scrubbing with hot water (or cold if it is a brand new barrel) using the pressure washer hooked up to a handy-dandy barrel cleaner attachment. They have tools for everything! Once the barrel is sparkling clean and dry, they are rolled over to be facing exactly upright and exactly in line. Once, stacked 12, 14, 20 high, the stack will lean if this is not spot on. It would take me an hour just to do a few rows. Tedious, yes. Fun, no.

Callista moves on to the next barrel with the barrel filler, while Chris tops each one off

Chris fills the barrels with Pinot Blanc

Callista sits atop a barrel to get a better vantage point

Now that everything had been barreled down there was little to nothing left for us interns to do. So, the number dwindled down to three. My dear friends Callista, AC, and Kim. They cleaned up, organized, and stored everything away for next year's cellar rats. And I heard from a reliable source, Kim, that First Class 2008 was bottled just a few weeks ago. Can't wait to taste that out of the bottle- it was phenomenal in the barrel!

I will send out a post when 2009 is released so you can purchase some of my hard work! It was a great year for Willamette Valley and knowing the people I worked with, it will be one stellar wine.

Fun With Wine: Week 2

In my last post I failed to mention my commute. Since the winery is situated in the Willamette Valley, I see the sunrise silhouetting the Cascades every morning on my way to work. If I'm lucky and get off work before dark, I see the sunset behind the Coast Range on the way home. It makes the drive so much more pleasant to be able to examine the varying shades of tangerine and dusky blue in the sky. The fog here is pretty incredible too. It rolls, rises, and settles, whispering around bends. Just a couple of days ago the fog rested over the entire vineyard. You could only see but the first couple of rows. The leaves on the vines have already changed to vivid yellows and browns, so they were an outstanding contrast to the soft grey of the fog. Working in the winery, I watch the changes in the vineyard throughout the day. The fog and rain hover over the property in the morning, but then the sun comes out and burns off

any sign of precipitation, and produce a beautiful fall sunset.

Me in punch down land

Our winemaker Chris filling barrels

Speaking of work, I have been pulling some insane hours the last couple of weeks. On average, my days last 12-14 hours. And during those days, I am involved in intense manual labour. We harvested the entire 140 acre vineyard in under two weeks, making for very close quarters in the cellar. Absolutely all the tanks and large pots of juice are fermenting at once. All of it requires constant care. We have three sessions a day of punch downs and Pulse Airs. Punch downs are a gentle way of pushing the cap (made of grape skins and seeds) down under the juice, keeping the cap moist and homogenizing anything added to the wine, i.e. tannins, yeast. Pulse Airs are used on the tanks to achieve the same results as punch downs. We use a wand that is injected into the racking valves of the tanks to push air up through the juice and over the cap. We've also started filling barrels of pressed pinot noir, which means we also have to clean barrels. Cleaning and filling barrels is an all day process that we've been working on all of this week. Each day we press more tanks and pots of wine that is ready for aging. In the next few weeks, everything will be out of the cellar and in barrels, awaiting the perfect time to be released.

Fermenting juice does not like to be stirred. This is what happens when you make a tank angry

But for now, it is a true work out ensuring that all the wine work is completed each day. I now have a voracious appetite, eating breakfast, two lunches, and sometimes two dinners daily. I haven't eaten like this since I was in high school athletics. Great to be able to eat anything and everything without gaining an ounce again! The hard part will be when I have to return to my normal diet once I am back home.

And home is now only a month away. I am officially half way through my internship. The long hours have pushed me to the brink, and I can see how why this is only a seasonal job. I can already feel myself burning out, and will be ready for some down time when I return to Dallas.

Fun With Wine: Week 1

The view of the winery from the road

The vineyard with mountains as a backdrop

Benton-Lane pinot barrel

I hit the ground running my first week of my internship at Benton-Lane Winery. Out of 150 applicants, I, along with seven colleagues, was selected to pull crazy hours, get sticky and wet, haul hoses, and play with wine.

The crushpad prepped and ready for the first fruit

On our first day, there was a major awe factor when touring the facilities. They have some of the biggest and best equipment and lots of it! Boasting, 15 stainless steel tanks, a bladder press, pulse air, and so many other fun toys, Benton-Lane is truly state of the art. We sat down for an overview of the winery, our job, and met the winemaker Chris Mazepink and cellarmaster Howie Opatowsky. After orientation and a tour, we had a kick off lunch with a wine tasting and made our own pizzas with the on-site wood burning oven! We also enjoyed some local beer and spent time getting to know each other. Turns out, I'm in the minority for not making my own wine or brewing my own beer. I'm working with fermentation junkies! Not only will I learn a lot from this internship, but from my co-workers.

Making my own pie

With a few days of serious cleaning and ramping up for harvest under our belts, we set up for the first fruit. The first grapes to arrive was the winemaker's personal pinot noir from a neighboring vineyard. We only had to process a few tonnes, so it was a fairly light day. Processing entails sorting, destemming, and crushing the fruit. Sorting is probably the least laborious position, but it certainly is dirty! Earwigs are all over the grapes and they end up in your clothes and hair. I found them in my hair and jacket after I got home- gross! The pinot gris also arrived, which was dumped straight into the press as whole berries. Clean up wasn't terrible and we got used to how a typical day will play out. A couple more days of prep and incoming fruit, all leading up to Monday, which promised to be a huge day. Saturday we scrubbed tanks from the inside, pictures of me doing this soon to come, and we racked the pinto gris. Racking is a clarifying procedure where we pump the wine from one tank to another sloughing off the top layer of peanut butter like liquid. While doing this, I had Howie the cellarmaster shout out score updates on the UT football game. Such a Monday came quickly; we processed 65 tonnes of pinot noir in one day! It was the biggest day in the cellar since the winery opened. I was on the evening shift, so wine work was my responsibility. I learned how to do pump overs. Pump overs take the juice out from under the cap of seeds and skins and pump it back on top. This is essentially like stirring, helping to homogenize the wine especially after additives have been introduced. I love doing punch downs (which is another way to "stir" the wine), so I was equally excited to do pump overs. And it got me out of cleaning!

Bobby and I were tasked for sanitizing the sorting line... job well done!

Another fun thing I participated in was forklift training and test. Had they seen my driving record, I doubt they would have let me on that machine! I need a few more practice rounds, but I was getting the hang of it and managed to pass the test.

Still can't believe they let me behind the wheel!

I magically got a day off last week and seized the opportunity to head to the coast. It is absolutely gorgeous! I spent some time on the beach, checked out the tidepools, visited Newport, said hello to the sea lions, and did a beer flight at Rogue Brewery on the Bay. All in all, a great day off, especially since those are few and far between. The weather is about to turn rainy, so I was happy to get the beach in while it was still sunny.

We had today off due to a 70% chance of rain, can't pick in the rain, so I've taken the time to catch up on all the emails and phone calls I've been neglecting, as well as laundry and errands.

This coming week is proving to be a very busy one and packed in with lots of things to learn. As we get all the fruit in from the 140 acre vineyard, we will be more focused on wine work, fermentation, and eventually transferring to barrels. I'm also helping a fellow intern out with harvesting some of his fruit for his own wine this Sunday. The calendar says it will be a harvest moon! So for now, I am living, breathing, and of course, drinking wine!

More updates to come whenever I get another day off! In the interim, you can see my photos on Flickr.

Memorial Day at the Vineyard

Hope everyone had a fabulous and RELAXING holiday weekend! I hauled it out to Southwest Texas to do a little work on the vineyard. We dug holes and moved rocks- it was fabulous! We camped on site and were privileged to see some gorgeous sunsets, a few rainbows, and storms roll in off the mountain. We also took a couple of quick trips into Marfa and Terlingua, Texas. What funky little towns! Below are a few pictures from the weekend. 

A storm passing by Cathedral Mountain. It finished raining just in time to see a great sunset. A little brisket and Carignane for dinner, and smores fireside, made for a lovely first evening.

The next day we were hard at work planting 500 new vines- Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Cabernet Franc varietals. The white boxes on bamboo stakes protect the new vine for almost a year.

Of course we made time to play as well! We found an old frame and took plenty of goofy shots with it. Our fearless winemaker leads the group. You have no idea how long it took to get this right- and it still isn't perfect!

A glass of Grenache overlooking the vineyard. We surveyed our handy-work from atop a rock near the campsite and toasted each other on a job well done. Oh, and yelled at the javelina to get out of the vineyard.

Southwest Texas truly is a beautiful place to visit. Most people are surprised to see mountains and such unique plant life. The scenery is simply stunning. I highly recommend the trek out there to Big Bend or the Davis Mountains area. You'll come across some fantastically strange towns with true characters residing in them. I'm now sunburnt, sore, and exhausted, but it turned out to be a productive yet relaxing weekend.

Big Blend : Big Bend

It has arrived...the event of the season. Big Blend:BigBend! 

May 21st, silent G imagery and times ten cellars are joining forces to bring you their works from beautiful Southwest Texas. times ten is releasing a new blend from their vineyard outside Alpine, TX, while silent G is debuting their photography taken in the national park. Join us at the winery for sips and snacks Thursday evening. Below is the invitation with all the details:

Chicks for Congo

Looking for something non-traditional to do this Cinco de Mayo? Help a sista out! Three ladies, including our very own beautiful and talented Kelly Cruse, are traveling to the Congo to assist genocide survivors and refugees. They will be providing grief counseling to families who have lost relatives in the genocide, rape and mutilation counseling, and displacement counseling. They will be hosting a fundraiser party on Tuesday, May 5th at times ten too. There is a suggested $5 donation at the door, but the girls will gladly accept any additional donations! You will enjoy the entire selection of times ten wine, as well as our local band Matt Thompson and the Eastwood Band. Please come out and show your support for these lovely ladies and their phenomenal cause! Below are all the details- hope to see you there!

Date: Tuesdsay, May 5, 2009

Time: 7pm- 'til they kick us out!

Place: times ten too 2018 Kidwell Dallas, TX 75214

Wine Down Wednesdays

Every second Wednesday of the month, we host acoustic bands to come play in our private party building at 2018 Kidwell (adjacent to the main winery on Prospect). It's a smashing success! Young people from all around the area come in for good wine accompanied by good music. Last month, we were mentioned in Daily Candy! And judging by how many people said they were here because they saw the article, I think we're in for even more popularity! Thanks, DC! Here's a link to the article, see you tonight!

Shall I Review Some Wines?

The fun part of sommelier class is the tastings, of course! So here are a few that I have tried throughout the weeks and my picks of the litter:

Week One: 

1996 Etude Pinot Noir- aged, and absolutely smooth. This wine was thought to have been over the hill, but it certainly was not! It probably could have held out for another year in the bottle, but personally, I'm glad we got to drink it! Brick red in color, typical of older pinots, light, and easy to drink.

Week Two:

2004 Sbragia Cabernet Sauvignon- I'm not a big cab drinker, but this was a very nice wine. I would bring this to a nice dinner party, provided they are serving a red meat or hearty meal. It's big, but not overpowering. California grapes, so I would have expected it to be high alcohol content and really big bodied, but I would say it was closer to a medium bodied wine. 

2007 Rosemont Treminer Riesling- Australian. A very dry wine, what most people do not expect out of a riesling. This is not your typical dessert wine! I could see myself drinking this on a hot day, maybe with a light lunch. 

Week Four: We sampled eight wines and then took a test this week! I just about sloshed out of there. 

2007 Blue Eyed Boy Shiraz- Holy cow! This wine has a 16.5% alcohol content! We weren't sure how they got the ALC so high naturally. And to top it off, there is a hint of residual sugar, which is very uncommon in wines that hot. I think this is the highest ALC I've ever had. Aside from that, there are heavy notes of pepper, some of which may be attributed to how hot the wine is. Actually very good. This would HAVE to go with a very rich meat, venison, or lamb, or other big game. It would go well with a lamb stew. Do not pair with anything spicy. Be careful- two glasses and you'll be on the floor!

2003 Pesquera Tempranillo- ah, my favourite grape! This Spanish wine was delicious! Lots of tobacco on the nose and the palate. Plenty of spiciness, but a smooth finish. I would probably pair this with pork or tapas. You would need a cheese like manchego or a cheddar to off-set this wine. And a modest 13.5%! 

2004 Marques de Murrieta Rioja- Another lovely Spanish wine! Lots of leather in this one, some minerality, and definitely tastes like an old world wine. Medium bodied and very easy to drink. Again, I would pair this with some delicious jamon serrano and other cured meats. The fattier or saltier the meat, the better. The acidity will cut right through.

2001 Cogno Borolo- Wow, this wine was good. Lots of tar and roses on the nose. That may sound bad, but actually very nice. Very smooth and aging nicely. Goes for a reasonable $32 per bottle. But better yet, is the 1999 vintage we tried next! A little more tar on the nose and even smoother! Both of those could have stayed in the bottle for another five years and been just as amazing, if not  better! 

Aside from class, I've picked up a few other bottles along the way:

2007 Ludovicus Red Wine- From the Spanish vineyard Cellar Piñol. This wine is almost identical to Times Ten's Cathedral Mountain Spanish blend. Except, this one has more granache than tempranillo grapes, and ours is the other way around. Very jammy, lots of raspberry up front, and a spicy finish. I would definitely drink this with pizza and on summer evenings. When you want a red, but don't want to feel heavy and hot after drinking it, Tempranillo and Grenache are the way to go. Best part about it? Only $10.95 at Central Market. What a steal!

Brumale Cabernet Sauvignon- We went to Arcodoro for Chad's 30th birthday dinner and picked this beauty off of their wine list. A very light Sicilian cab, extremely smooth. This would definitely be a crowd pleaser at a dinner or cocktail party. I need to find this at a retail store ASAP! 

Inwood Estates Tempranillo-Cabernet- This wine comes from a Texas vineyard out by the New Mexico border. We sell a few wines from other Texas wineries at Times Ten, and this happens to be one of them. I sampled some the other day, it was delicious! Very fruit forward, almost like the raspberry flavour in Grenache. High acidity, which I like, but others may not. The spiciness of the tempranillo grape with the earthiness of the cab. I loved it, but it goes for $40/bottle retail, so I won't be purchasing it for just some random night on the couch. 

I have only four more weeks of class, and I've already come across some other delicious wines to let you know about. More on that this coming week!

Times Ten in the Observer!

We're hot, sweaty, bruised, and tired. It's threatening to rain, the air is dripping with humidity. Unbeknownst to any of us, a photographer from the Dallas Observer shows up! OMG! Where is my make up when I need it! Oh, and my hair, it's fuzzed way out- ugh! And just my luck, I show up in two of the photos. But, on the bright side, x10 was featured and shows some of the ins and outs of the bottling process. Click here to check it out!

Times Ten Cellars 2007 Cathedral Mountain

Tempranillo, Grenache, Syrah, Cab Sauvignon, Cab Franc, UNITE! Times Ten Cellars has released it's first vintage ever from our very own vineyard in West Texas. After a minor mishap with the labeling, it's back on the shelves! Woohoo! This Spanish style blend is earthy with the spiciness that is characteristic of Spanish wines. With a hint of fruit, the taste finishes smooth and light. Great paired with tapas, Spanish cheeses, and pizza. Though still young, only bottled in November, and still undergoing a little bottleshock, it is delicious to drink now, but will be even better in six months to a year. However, even as I type, it is drinking better every day. I have hidden a bottle from myself to pull out for my 26th birthday in July. We'll see how long that lasts, since I did the hiding. :)

Upcoming Wine Events

Taking a six hour class every Sunday has its perks- I'm now in the know about upcoming wine events. I also hear about them from time to time through working at Times Ten, but now I'll have access to industry tastings too- yippee! 

Most recently there was a wine industry only Bordeaux tasting that consisted of 94 different producers. I unfortunately didn't go to this event, but heard it focused a lot on 2006 vintages, namely Cabernet Sauvignons and Cabernet Francs. Of my sources, few had time to venture over to the whites, so I am ill informed of what predominately was being tasted in that section.

You may rely on me, but there is also a website www.localwineevents.com that will give you a listing of tastings, wine dinners, food pairings, etc. in most major US cities. Great if you're on the road and looking for things to do. 

Charlie Palmer at The Joule puts on regular tastings for $25 pp which feature different varietals and topics (i.e. Italian Boutique Wines, Italy From North to South, Grower Champagne vs. Negociant). Kozy on McKinney Ave. has weekly wine tastings on Wednesdays. They also host the occasional Open That Bottle! Night, or you may see it abbreviated to OTBN elsewhere. Bring in that bottle you've been saving, and have never found the right occasion to drink it. Share with the other guests, it's much better than letting the bottle sit on your rack and decline! There are quite a few events in Grapevine, Garland, and Colleyville as well. 

The weekend of March 6-8th is Savor Dallas. Things kick off Friday with an Arts District Wine Stroll, followed by a Wine & Food Celebration in Victory Park, and the AFI Film Festival gets underway that night as well. Saturday, there is a Reserve Tasting at the Nasher Sculpture Centre as well as an International Grand Tasting later in the evening. The Arts District Stroll begins at Seventeen Seventeen, moves on to the Meyerson, and ends at the Nasher. Wines ranging all price tags appear to be on the tasting menu. The Reserve tasting seems to be heavy on Napa wines, but rounds it out with quite a few wines from France, Chile, Italy, and a New Zealand wine (Sauvignon Blanc, of course).  Oh, and one Texas wine! And finally, the heavy hitters come out to play for the International Grand Tasting. The chefs from the likes of Bijoux, French Room, Crescent, Lombardi's Cinque Terre of deliciousness, Dallas Fish Market, and The Mansion will all be there. A slew of wineries will be accompanying them; I spotted a couple of Texan vineyards on the list. There will also be a bier garten and liquor reps in attendance for those who are wined out (Impossible, I say!). You can do the whole weekend for $300, or buy individual tickets. Tickets are available to purchase online or buying at the door is also an option. All in all, sounds like a pretty good weekend! 

May 19-23rd, the 18th Annual New Orleans Wine & Food Experience will be going on. I'm drooling as I type! During that week, Wednesday, May 20th, Cakebread Cellars of Napa Valley will be hosting a private tasting and dinner with Cakebread's  Culinary Director Brian Streeter, along with the Ritz-Carlton's Executive Chef Matt Murphy. The price is steep at $150 pp, but I am sure the food will be out of this world, as Cakebread is also known not only for their wine, but for their healthy cooking and delicious recipes. If you want to skip the astronomically priced dinner, there is a fine wine stroll, wine dinner, auction, and best of all, grand tasting to participate in. Saturday, the 23rd is the Grand Tasting event that looks just awesome- over 75 chefs and 1000 vintages have signed on to dole out samples of the best they have to offer! All the while, with Louisiana's finest musicians helping you keep the beat as you while hours away tasting and drinking and tasting and drinking. Mmmm! Another fantastic weekend of wine.

I'll be sure to keep everyone apprised of new events and report back on the ones I attend!