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The Winemaker's Blog documents our travails and triumphs as m2 wines grows. Identities of certain people and places have been changed to protect the innocent (namely me.)
I've categorized the blog by year, rather than by vintage year or by the type of wine we happen to be working on at the time.
The year is almost over. Our energies are turning toward bottling our 2005 wines - labels and TTB label approvals, orders for corks, capsules, bottles, and so on. We have done only very preliminary blending trials for the '05s; right now it looks like the '05 Dos Arkies is going to lean heavily upon Syrah this time. The '05 Petite Sirah looks very promising as a 100% varietal bottling and the '05 Zin is pretty solid right now too. The '05 Cabernet is going to be in the barrels several more months, more about that later.
There's still some stuff to do around here, but tomorrow is the Lodi Wine Country Winter Wine Wander, so we're declaring Crush '06 officially over and sitting back to drink some beer.
I barreled the '06 Clone Six and most of the Petite Sirah today. The C6 yielded five barrels of wine. It went into two new Frenchy barrels, two once-used Frenchy barrels and one used/neutral Frenchy barrel. The Petite went into five new American oak barrels from Vicard, three once-used Seguin-Moreau American oak barrels, and five neutral oak barrels. There's still another 360 gallons or so, but we're out of barrels. And the used barrel market has dried up, nothing available right now.
We didn't get the PS pressed yesterday. Saturday was cold and rainy and pressing is wet work anyway, so we postponed the PS until today. Four press cycles - I predicted five. Our Vaslin-Bucher Xpro8 press is 'only' 8 hectoliters in size so it takes several runs to do six tons of grapes. But it's fairly easy work. After the first 20 tons of grapes this year we finally developed a system; the last six tons are no big deal. Press yield was incredible on the PS however - something like 190 gallons to the ton. We're gonna have to find more barrels.
We're pressing the last of the 2006 wines today; Clarksburg Petite Sirah and Rutherford Clone Six Cabernet Sauvignon. The C6 was first, a little over two tons that yielded 1350 liters of almost-wine. The Petite is six tons, that'll take a while to press, probably five press runs.
As I pulled into the parking lot this morning I noticed water leaking out of the sewer manhole in front of Vino Con Brio. Bad sign. And yes, the sewer had clogged again. This makes the third time this fall that the common line has plugged up. They didn't put anything down the sewer to clog it and I certainly hadn't been putting anything down the drain but water. Roto Rooter is gonna make more money off of VCB today it looks like.
Funny thing - this time there is what appears to be paint in the manhole out by the street, and when the guy rootered the line out came a big wad of paper towels. No grape residue to be seen.
We're exporting a small amount of wine to Japan! Seven cases each of '04 Zin and '04 Syrah are headed to Imaichi. We've no idea where that is, but we hear people are are already lined up to buy it.
I'm spending several hours a day racking our '05 wines. Racking is a process of taking the clear wine out of the barrel, leaving the fine lees behind, then putting it into a clean barrel. Not hard, just time consuming. I can't get my barrel washing system working properly. Our pressure washer is supposed to drive a cleaning head that goes into the barrel thus washing it out. The cleaning heads I've tried so far don't work right. So it's more time consumiong to get the barrels cleaned out.
The damp weather we're having makes washing the barrels even wetter. I can't keep dry and I've developed some sort of mold on my arms......
We pressed out the two tons of Combsville Cabernet today. Yield was about 1250 liters. Fantastic color too. Just FYI, it takes more time to set up and clean up than it does to load the press and run the cycle. The sun was out for a while but it's supposed to rain again tonight and tomorrow.
No heat in the winery- we're cheap. We didn't opt for the heating part of the HVAC system. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Petite Sirah is fermenting. 17.5 B and 21C. Good color, kinda funky smells, which blow off after punch-downs.
We're running tests on all the '05 wines - pH, TA, VA, residual sugar, etc. Most stuff needs a hit of acid, tartaric acid ... not the kind you were thinking.
The Combsville Cabernet needs pressing. We're postponing until tomorrow due to the rain.
Our six tons of Petite Sirah are being harvested today. We've never had grapes come in this late in the season. We've been keeping up a running dialogue with Randy Barranock, the grower, about when to pick. It's been rainy the past few days but the precipitation didn't damage the fruit or lower the quality. As always our grapes come from Row 23 of Herzog Vineyard, the same vines that we've had since 2002. (ok, we also use rows 22 and 24 to get our six tons) We ended up with 12 bins of must with a Brix of 24 and pH of 3.7. (click for pic)
We acquired 2.342 tons of beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon from our source in Rutherford, Napa Valley. Today was one of those long "up at 4:30, work all day" kind of days. We crushed into four bins and used three different yeasts for alcohol fermentation. Brix is 26.5, pH is 3.73. I also added a total of 16 gallons of water, which is legal, to drop the Brix down some.
m2 winery is located across the cul-de-sac from Vino Con Brio's winery. So naturally we talk a lot about stuff. Cellarmaster Steve tells me that they had a clogged sewer line a couple weeks ago.
So, I'm washing barrels this morning - our lack of a trench drain is problematic but we solved it - we wash barrels over the juice tray from the press and run a hose down the sewer hole. I'm on the forklift, moving two barrels back into the winery when I notice the floor is about 1/2 inch deep in water. The drain is clogged. What the... Nothing I have put down the drain is capable of clogging it.
So, Roto Rooter comes in and $110 later the line is open. Hmmm.... Seems curious that my wash water would clog the line ...
We pressed half of the Soucie Zinfandel today, 2.5 tons. Two press cycles - meaning two loads, two unloads.
Zinfandel grapes really break down during fermentation. The liquid 'sludge' going into the press isn't readily recognizable as having once been grapes. Chris dubs the stuff as "Soucie Soup". Juicy, juicy stuff and high yield too. Cleaning up the pressed 'pomace' is easy because there's not much of it.
We finally got all our wine, 50 barrels, moved into our OWN winery! The barrels, strapped down to a flatbed semi arrived at the winery in Lodi at 1:00 p.m. (Click for pic.) FINALLY. It's good to have our own stuff under our own roof. On the downer side, some of the barrels are in pretty sad shape, aesthetically speaking. Pretty filthy actually.
Cab, Syrah, Zin, all fermenting happily. Not much else going on.
The Pratt Cab fermentation is underway but punchdowns are a challenge. The must is pretty much "whole berry" - meaning not much juice right now. It's more of a solid liquid than anything else right now. Brix is 25, temperature is 19 C. The Stagecoach Vineyard Cabernet is measuring out at 3.6B and is easy to punch down.
I innoculated the Pratt Cabernet Sauvignon today. Three bins got D254, two were hit with D80 as well as nutrients.
The Soucie Zin is at 20C and 25.5B, fermentation is taking off. I rearranged the winery again; instead of stacking all the bins I've got everything spread out in order to facilitate punch downs and to help with temperature control.
Three tons of Cabernet Sauvignon from Pratt Vineyard in the Fair Play AVA came in today at noon. Brix 25.8, pH 3.48, TA .78. This is the base for the Dos Arkies blend and this year the grapes and the flavors are looking great. We're still figuring out the best procedure to follow when crushing, meaning logistics of moving stuff around. The crusher does clean up easily, which is nice.
I also kicked off fermentation on the Zinfandel. We'll ferment with three different yeasts. The Brix (sugar) was 27, pH 3.83, so I also added some tartaric acid.
We crushed our first fruit with our own equipment today. Five tons of Zinfandel from Kevin Soucie's vineyard; the 1916 Block, of course. There was very little raisining in the grapes and the picking crew did a nice job of keeping the grapes free of MOG (material other than grape). The crusher performed well but threw more "jacks" than I was hoping for. Jacks are the stems from the shoulders of the clusters; Zinfandel stems tend to be brittle, so maybe the problem wasn't much of a problem, just normal. We opened the rollers up as wide as they would go and we got a nice mix of crushed grape and whole berries.
We're pressing the D254 bins of the Lani's Vineyard Syrah today. The other bins, with different yeasts, aren't ready yet. Press yield was 360 gallons or so. The new press performed flawlessly again, as it should.
First press with the new Vaslin-Bucher Xpro8. We're doing the one ton of Petite Sirah from Calistoga. We're using buckets to fill the press. There are other, less manual-labor intense methods, but that involves pumps, or chutes, or some other such equipment that we don't have, yet. So buckets it is. Buckets work fine.
Press yield was 160 gallons, more or less. pH was 3.70, Brix was -.5. Fermentation will continue for a while after pressing. (Click for pic)
Work in the winery is well underway. Electrical wiring is mostly in, it will be finished up Wednesday. Insulation is up, R-36 in the ceiling and R-20 something in the walls. The piece to take the longer is looking like the plumbing. We need a trench drain and we're in the process of getting price quotes on that.
Oh, by the way, an update on the Lani's Vineyard Syrah... Brix is 6.3 and all is well. With all the building stuff the winemaking is almost an afterthought.
We were expecting Zinfandel today but Kevin did more extensive sugar testing over the weekend and we've decided to hold off a week. That may turn out to be a bad move; after we decided to hold a week it started raining. Not good for thin skin varietals like Zin.
So, our five-figure building permit means we don't have $$ for the tasting room and bathroom right now. So we're doing that part of the winery later. Our 'tasting room' will be two barrels and a board for a while.
So, what's another five-figure dollar amount out the door at this point? Can't quit now. So we buck up and pay the piper and get our building permit in hand. Work is to begin immediately. Tim Doppee, owner of Red Line Electric out of Milpitas, and his crew are going right to work. Tim says two days will get us to the point where we're ready for inspection. Insulation contractors are going to work as well, and I'm meeting with our plumber tomorrow to get going on drainage and water pipes. The cooling system is already in place, that was done sans permit, back when we were young and naive about the building permit process. That's another long story too involved to get into now.
After four months our building permit for the winery was approved. The shock of the price tag caused Chris and I to hyperventilate and sweat.
We kicked off fermentation on our five tons of Syrah - four bins got L2056 yeast, three have D254, and two have D80 yeast. The multiple yeasts contribute different flavors and create a more complex wine. We also added nutrients and about 1 gram per liter of tartaric acid. Numbers at harvest were 29 Brix, 3.83 pH, 3.5 TA. Adjustments were made to bring those numbers into the range we want. Fermentation will take about 10 to 14 days. (Click for pic)
Up at 5:00 a.m., met Chris at the winery, off to Shenandoah Valley at 6:00 a.m. to harvest Syrah. Five tons of Syrah from Block A and Block D from Jim Chapman (Lani's Vineyard) on the truck at 9:30 a.m., back to Lodi at Noon. We crushed at Vino Con Brio - across the parking lot from m2 - and took the bins back to our place for fermentation. Because of our issues with permits (see the ranting below, especially on Sept. 19) we don't have electricity, therefore we can't use our own gear. We had exactly 10,554 pounds of fruit, it crushed into 9 half-ton bins. We'll innoculate tomorrow.
Meanwhile back at m2, the Petite Sirah is fermenting nicly. Freshly crushed grapes have the consistency of concrete, punch downs are hard right now. As the grapes ferment punching will get easier.. We rearranged the winery today, and made a nuisance of ourselves at Lodi City Hall. We need our building permit.
We're doing some wine for a custom crush client this year. First off was one ton of Petite Sirah from a vineyard near Calistoga. Good stuff. Great flavors. Crushed it at d'Art Winery in Lodi. Numbers on the grapes were 26.5 B, 3.53 pH, TA of 7.05. Crushed into two bins and innoculated with D254 and L2056.
Our friends Dave and Helen Dart, of d'Art Wines, in Lodi, are harvesting their Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard today. I'm going to run some lab analysis for them, and just sort of generally supervise. We're also doing a wine tasting event tonight at the Mercedes Benz dealership in El Dorado Hills.
We finally got our revised building plans resubmitted to the city building department. Evidently we can re-crate the attorney, at least temporarily. Now it's time to camp out on the doorstep of City Hall. It will take only two or three days of construction to do our simple tenant improvements, we've got electricians, plumbers, insulation installers, etc., scheduled and ready, willing and able to "go" on a minute's notice. Please, City of Lodi, get the stinkin' thing approved.
Our forklift was delivered today. One of one thousand things checked off the list of things to do.
Still no progress on our Title 24 paperwork. Still no progress on our building permit.
Tasted Cabernet from Pratt Vineyard. Not ready. Brix around 24 but pH is 3.4, TA is around .7. Tastes GREEN.
Tasted Syrah from Lani's Vineyard. Almost ready. Brix is 26, pH is 3.55 to 3.6. Good flavor development but another five or six days of hang-time would be beneficial.
We're trying to remember that the journey is supposed to fun. However the uncertainty over getting the winery operational (see below) is starting to get to me and Chris.
Still waiting on our engineering plans necessary to file our revised application for our building permit. It's not necessarily the city's fault either, as to why this is taking so long.
If we could just get our Title 24 compliance paperwork back...You'd think that people we're paying for services would be able to get their stuff done in a timely manner. Evidently not. I'm making a nuisance of myself, hoping that will create action. If it doesn't, then more drastic action is called for.
Our electrical contractor is ready - he can do his stuff with four or five guys in two days. Our insulation guys can do their thing in two days, and the plumber only needs a couple days as well.
As it stands now we're back to paying other people to process grapes for us because one guy can't finish his da*m job. And we're not happy about that. At all. And I don't get mad easy.
Simple projects that can be accomplished in a couple of hours have consumed four months of my time. I can't believe it, but we're going to have to pay someone to process grapes for us. We're still paying other people to store our barrels in their winery. We should have been able to move our stuff out of there a MONTH ago. And as I said, we are not happy.
We'll be harvesting grapes later this week. Thursday or Friday. Syrah from Lani's Vineyard and probably Syrah from Perry Creek. Pratt Vineyard Cab is within 7-10 days. And we still don't have an operational winery. What fun.
We took a trip to Napa to pick up a new must pump... A must pump must pump must. It'll also pump liquids, like wine, in addition to must (crushed grapes.) Another $3K or so of gear you gotta have. And most wineries have several. We'll get by with one for this year. Our crush setup is gravity fed, we'll dump grapes into the destemmer/crusher, the crushed grapes will then fall (via gravity again) into the fermentation bin. Gravity is gentler than pumping anyway.
Finally! We fond a forklift to suit our needs and bought it today. We wanted a good-condition, used, 3-wheel electric lift with a capacity of 3,500 to 4,000 lbs, and a bin rotator so we can lift and dump bins of grapes. We ended up with a 1998 Nissan electric 4-wheeler with a 5K lb. capacity, new battery, new paint, 200-hour maintenance/re-fit service, and a new bin rotator. (a 3-wheeler will turn within it's own length, and fits our space better, that's why we were after one like that.)
You wouldn't believe the time it took to buy a freakin' forklift. We sought quotes from at least nine companies in Sacto and Lodi/Stockton. A couple of 'em really tried to find what we needed but couldn't because of our bad timing or their out-of-stock issues, if you know who I'm talking about, we do appreciate your help. Most of the companies we called on never acted on our request to spend $15-$20K with them, or promised us quotes that never came.
Kevin Soucie, our Zin grower, made a couple of phone calls to dealers he's used before and less than 24 hours after that call we have what we need. Thanks J M Equipment and Chanty in Stockton! To the rest of you guys, we may look like a couple of goobs, but our money is as green as everyone elses. And no, I'm not exasperated with it all, of course not, I'm very happy with the whole experience and look forward to doing it again soon.
We made two trips to Suisun to pick up 20 half-ton Macrobins for harvest and fermentation.
Also walked the Lodi Zin vineyard. Flavors are definitely NOT there, we're probably looking at the end of the month at the earliest for our Zinfandel harvest.
Our winemaking supplies were delivered today - yeast, nutrients, bacteria, and so forth. Our first harvest in our own place is immiment. Our Syrah vineyard in the Fair Play area is at 25 Brix, we're looking for more flavor development so grapes are probably a week away. The Lani's Vineyard Syrah is also coming soon. Those grapes are at 23.5 to 24.5, pH is at 3.4 - and there's the key, sugars are up, but the pH is still low and flavor development definitely isn't finished. Those grapes are about two to three weeks away at best.
I also met with the winemaker at the winery across the parking lot from us. They're going to let us make wine in their place, probably starting with that Fair Play Syrah, until we can get our electricity turned on and become operational. Great folks.
And I finally got time to play with the new equipment. No electricity, but we took things apart and put 'em back together. The press is a real jewel and the destemmer/crusher is perfect for our size production.
Our building permit application got bounced back for revisions. Not surprised. Revisions are minor, we need to show a materials trap on our trench drain and we're lacking the Title 24 mechanical complianc forms. I thought that part was done. We're thinking we'll have our changes made and everything refiled in a couple of days.
Our new destemmer/crusher and our new press were both delivered today to the winery. Wow. Not the biggest or fanciest equipment but it's pretty good stuff, and it's ours. And it's pretty cool. The destemmer/crusher is a Lugana 1R with the capacity to destem and crush four to six tons of grapes per hour. We will dump grapes onto a sorting table that will then feed into the machine. Crushed grapes will then drop directly into half-ton bins for fermentation. One of these days we'll have to move to some tank fermentation but we really like these small, open-top bins for fermentation. "Punch-down" wine is better than pump-over wine in our opinion and bin fermentation is a good way of turning grapes into wine.
The press is a Vaslin-Bucher XPro8. It is a horizontal pneumatic bladder press, completely automatic (once filled with must) and has fully programmable press cycles as well as eight pre-programmed cycles for specific situations. Capacity is eight hectoliters, or about two and a half tons of fermented must. Not real big, but it's a very high quality piece of gear and suits our scale of production right now.
Our last major hurdle in getting the winery ready for crush is almost out of the way. But not quite. We finally got our building permit application filed. It's been in the works since April but delays, slo o o o w-ness, and the fact that we've never done this before has resulted in the fact that we're about four weeks away from our first harvest and our winery building isn't ready.
Everything but the building permit is going well. Our new Vaslin-Bucher press is coming next week. Our other major pieces of equipment are to be delivered the within the next couple of weeks - destemmer/crusher, pumps, forklift, etc. In the meantime we've got electricians, plumbers, insulation installers, etc., scheduled to do their thing but getting approval on the permit is really causing us some stress.
Our online ordering system is finished. That was easy. Now you can order m2 wines for delivery to your door. I (Layne) do most of the Web site work but we contracted out the online store. Check it out.
(And Leo's getting larger.) I've been talking with Kevin Soucie about the Old Vine Zinfandel. Kevin's estimating that we're five to six weeks away from harvest right now. A sample shows Brix at 20.
Our first "big" tasting event went pretty good. This one is held at Fort Mason in San Francisco. 409 wineries were there, so it's tough to stand out in the crowd but we held our own we believe. Sunday is consumers and trade, Monday is trade-only, meaning restaurants, retailers, distributors, brokers, wine writers, anyone else in the bidness. We were a little disappointed in the 'consumer' traffic but we made some good contacts with some great restaurants and retail places and found some potential distributors in Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Rhode Island, and Montana of all places.
m2 wines are now available at Dolce Vino in Cameron Park, and in Sandy's Pub in the Resort at Squaw Creek
We went before the City of Lodi Planning Commission last night for a hearing on our Use Permit application. Our application was approved unanimously and we were outta there in about 15 minutes. There were no objections, just a few questions related to disposal of stems and pomace and our plans for future growth. Like I've said before, the people working for the City of Lodi have been very helpful during this startup process. However, their paperwork requirements are still confusing ...
We had a great time at Squaw Valley this past weekend and met some really nice folks. Thanks to all of our new fans and friends for your interest in m2 and our wines!
Spent more money today - placed an order for some equipment, a destemmer/crusher and a press, then went shopping for a forklift. A winery is a pretty capital intense business - you gotta have a destemmer/crusher, a press, a pump, hoses, etc., and they're expensive toys. And some of the stuff is only used for a couple months out of the year.
Chris placed the m2 Dos Arkies and Clone Six Cabernet at [58° & Holding] in downtown Sacramento. It's a new wine shop combined with personal wine storage facilities and a wine tasting bar and full-service bistro called Bar 58.
We're gaining some traction on out of state distribution. There's an upscale restaurant chain in Atlanta that is very interested in a little m2 of their own. Our buddy down there, Jeff Cofer, knows a distributor and is helping us with introductions. TTB and State paperwork filed to send wine to Georgia.
Well, that's hard to argue with. Anyone crazy enough to invest in m2? Texas people? Don? Susan P? Michael, you had enough yet? We're gonna beat the odds yet. Restaurants in VEGAS baby... they want a little m2... People in Georgia want a bit too. We love you guys... !!!
Chris scored our first restaurant placings last week. We're on the wine list at [Enotria Wine Bar & Cafe] in Sacramento and [Bidwell Street Bistro] in Folsom. m2 wines are also for sale at [Artisan Wine Gallery] in Lummi, Washington, and [The Wine Club] in Santa Clara, California.
Why release our wines today? I dunno, just seemed like the time for a party.
We filed our applications with the city today. The folks behind the counters are pleasant to work with and are helpful. Two or three of them have told us they're glad to see a small artisan wine producer coming in. But their forms are convoluted and the requirements on presentation are picky.
Busy finalizing our Use Permit application and Wastewater Discharge Permit to file with the City of Lodi. Since our place is right across the parking lot from Vino Con Brio's winery building we don't anticipate any hassle from the city. Fairly straightforward paperwork, except for the wastewater stuff. They want to know what chemicals will be used during the "manufacturing" process. When you start adding up the chemicals used to test wine it becomes quite a list.
Working on selecting contractors to make improvements to the Lodi winery. Meetings with contractors for insulation, cooling, plumbing, etc.
Here come the bills...
Bottling day for the 2004 vintage wines.
8:00 a.m. - at the bottling winery. The plan is to start bottling at 8:30 a.m. or so. We're using a mobile bottling line. It's a complicated beast that takes time to sanitize, adjust, fix, adjust again, fix again, etc. John's assistant didn't show, turns out he's at the hospital with chest pains. Great start.
11:30 a.m. - bottling line ready to go. First wine on the line is the '04 Dos Arkies.
5:00 p.m. - we're done. No major problems except for the Cabernet silk-screen bottles. They're all messed up. Vendor notified. Considering all the B.S. we've dealt with during the past five months the rest of the day went remarkably well.
6:30 p.m. - all finished cases were trucked to a bonded warehouse in Placerville for storage until we're ready to release them.
9:00 a.m. - off to supervise the transfer of our wines to the transport truck. The plan is for the truck to be there between 11:00 a.m. and noonish.
12:30 p.m. - Truck shows up, the wines are pumped into transport tanks under a heavy blanket of nitrogen and we're outta here at 3:00 p.m. or so. Immediately the truck makes a wrong turn and isn't seen again until 5:00 p.m.
It turned out that the driver was following bad directions. We don't know exactly how someone can get lost going from Point A to Point B, especially when told, "Follow me, I know the route." He ended up on a dirt road and stopped at a winery on said dirt road. The woman in the tasting room told him "The highway is a quarter mile on down the road." Turned into two and a half miles of bad, real bad, dirt road. One of the tanks fell through the deck of the trailer and two almost fell off. He did make it to the bottling winery and the tanks were unloaded.
5:30 p.m. - "Oh, by the way Layne, there isn't any labor crew available for your bottling tomorrow. You need to find six to eight people to help you out." Great. Thanks for the news.
So, phone calls were made and once again friends stepped up to help. Our thanks to Jan and Patrick, Barbera and Bruce, and to Max and Randy.
Lots of phone calls. Bottles and more bottles.
Logistics makes my head swim ... we're "Go" for bottling on Friday come rain, or sleet or snow. The way things are going I wouldn't be surprised to see snow.
All the wines were blended today - the Dos Arkies is a combination of Cabernet, Syrah and Petite Sirah. The Zin is 95% Zin, 5% Petite Sirah. The Clone Six is 100% as is the Syrah. Sulfite levels adjusted for bottling and final VA levels were tested and pH measurements were made.
Because of the January snafu we've got bottles in two different warehouses in northern California and corks in two different places. We've got to coordinate two different trucking companies and make sure the labor crew shows up. I'm not too worried about problems with the bottling truck, we've already had our share. Fortunately the labels and the capsules are all in one place, but making sure everything comes together at the right place at the right time is hard to deal with.
Bottling postponed again. This time due to weather. Rescheduled for April 21.
We sign a five-year lease on Unit D at 1376 East Turner Road, in Lodi, with an option to lease Unit E in the future. m2 has a home of its own now.
We also instructed our compliance consultants, Beer and Wine Services, of Calistoga, CA, to begin the process with the TTB and the state of converting m2 from a licensed wholesaler to a bonded winery. Why hire someone to do the paperwork? You've got to be kidding, it's MOUNTAINS of paper, incredibly complicated stuff (at least to us, we just wanna make wine.) Dealing with the county and city use permits and wastewater permits and event permits is bewildering enough.
Axle still missing. Even if it came in today they couldn't fix the truck in time to make March 31. Fortunately this unpleasant postponement helped us, even if we didn't know it at the time. Turns out that our Cabernet bottles didn't get shipped from the silk-screen label printer as promised. They were supposed to be delivered tomorrow, but we found out they aren't on the truck. We would have been really screwed if we had gone ahead with bottling on the 31st. Without the Cab bottles we probably would've had to drink the Clone Six direct from the barrel by ourselves.
Bottling rescheduled for April 14.
Picked up labels at the print plant. Three rolls for front labels, three rolls for back labels, one front and back for each wine. Wrote a check to pay the balance due.
After meeting with the owner of the building in Lodi we decide to take a stab at leasing space there for our own place.
Received news that the axle for the mobile bottling truck is lost in transit. The trucking company representative tells the bottling guy that he personally saw the axle loaded onto the truck in Kansas City. Axle didn't arrive in Sacramento. No one knows where it is.
I also went to take a look at a place in Lodi that could serve us as our own winery space. It's an existing warehouse-style building divided up into condo-type units. Chris and I talk it over and set up a meeting with the owner for later in the week.
Received news that the mobile bottling truck has a broken axle. Bottling postponed from March 24 to March 31. The delay allows us to relax a little on getting labels printed.
Chris and I decide that we'll go ahead and bottle the Syrah and Clone Six on March 24 along with the Dos Arkies and the OVZ. We'll be bottling the Clone Six with the label printed directly on to the bottle, so we got the ball rolling on getting the bottles to the company that does the silk-screening.
Problems with bottling solved. Bottling scheduled for March 24.
Picked up m2 custom-made capsules from Ramondin today. The color is different than expected. It matches the PMS color sample, but isn't as strong on the capsule as it should've been, looks like it needed two passes thru the ink-putter-on-er-machine.
Bad news. Bottling postponed. Issues surrounding COLAs force complicated contortions and a major change in plans.
Postponement of bottling relieves pressure on the label printing, press check cancelled.
We're set for bottling the 2004 Dos Arkies and Old Vine Zinfandel on January 13. According to our plan we'll bottled the Syrah and Clone Six Cabernet in May. the only issue at this point is making sure the labels get printed in time. A press check is scheduled for January 10.
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The pictures below are from 2006. If you click on (BTB) you'll go to the section of the blog regarding that pic.
Barreling '06 Petite Sirah. Those are two new Demptos American oak barrels.
Crushing '06 Petite Sirah. Who's the gray-haired old guy? (BTB)
Karen lends a hand at the crusher.
50 barrels chock full of m2 wine arrive in Lodi. (BTB)
Our friend Dandrige Marsh buckets Petite Sirah into the Xpro8 press.(BTB)
Chris innoculates '06 Syrah (BTB)
Here's Layne rehydrating yeast prior to innoculating '06 Syrah. You'd think he'd smile every now and then.
A great big empty - the future home of m2 wines.
The transport truck arrives at our bottling winery with our 2004 wines, barely. The two tanks on the left almost fell off, and the big tank in the center punched a hold through the bed of the truck and barely survived.
2004 Dos Arkies on the bottling line. Finally.
We know Patrick can smile; he just doesn't do it when you're watching.