Hi all,
My spouse and I have been making wine from grapes since 1995 and have (naturally) always wanted to go commercial. We finally achieved that goal a few weeks ago and got our license to make wine and have a winery. Last year was the first year we made wine in California and got to know our neighborhood vineyards in Amador County and some from farther away in El Dorado. We had made wine in the Finger Lakes before that (definitely different challenges...) and wanted to see how much of our experience would transfer. Happily, after getting used to having to add tartaric (a pretty rare event where we had lived), we realized it was very much the same type of experience. Last year we got a smattering of varietals (barbera, zinfandel, Malbec, Mourvèdre, cabernet franc, Roussanne, Muscat and Viognier) and learned how each of these tastes from the vineyards they were harvest from. That's when we decided to take the next step and get a license.
Our goal is to stay small and treat this as a hobby for now that may develop into something bigger. Less than 500 cases. We also don't want to be like everyone else so we are planning to really experiment -especially interested in uncommon grapes, interesting blends, non-mainstream techniques (co-fermentation, no-malo reds). We're also going to try a different business model too -where we try to get highly motivated wine drinkers involved in the process of making the wine -choosing the grapes, techniques, blends, etc. Each year we'd like to have a "focus" or two, decided on my the club members -things like Rhone varietals, heritage vineyards, southern Italy, high elevation vineyards, etc.
To do this kind of thing we need to understand what's available out there, who grows which grapes, well, etc. This year our goal was to get as many small batches as we could handle from a wide range of sub-regions and respected growers, with a focus on Rhone and Italian grapes, with a few others thrown in. we weren't sure we'd have our license in time, but in the past six months we lined up a lot of interesting options to try this fall.
The grapes we on order are (reds) Syrah (three different vineyards), Grenache (also three different vineyards), Mourvedre (natch), Tannat, Aglianico, Sangiovese, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Tinta Cao, Tinta Amarela, Touriga Nacional, Barbera and (whites) Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Muscat, Fiano and Falanghina. This covers eight different vineyards, six in Amador and two in El Dorado.
This is going to be challenging, to say the least, but who said life is supposed to be easy? Any advice will be much appreciated
-Aaron
My spouse and I have been making wine from grapes since 1995 and have (naturally) always wanted to go commercial. We finally achieved that goal a few weeks ago and got our license to make wine and have a winery. Last year was the first year we made wine in California and got to know our neighborhood vineyards in Amador County and some from farther away in El Dorado. We had made wine in the Finger Lakes before that (definitely different challenges...) and wanted to see how much of our experience would transfer. Happily, after getting used to having to add tartaric (a pretty rare event where we had lived), we realized it was very much the same type of experience. Last year we got a smattering of varietals (barbera, zinfandel, Malbec, Mourvèdre, cabernet franc, Roussanne, Muscat and Viognier) and learned how each of these tastes from the vineyards they were harvest from. That's when we decided to take the next step and get a license.
Our goal is to stay small and treat this as a hobby for now that may develop into something bigger. Less than 500 cases. We also don't want to be like everyone else so we are planning to really experiment -especially interested in uncommon grapes, interesting blends, non-mainstream techniques (co-fermentation, no-malo reds). We're also going to try a different business model too -where we try to get highly motivated wine drinkers involved in the process of making the wine -choosing the grapes, techniques, blends, etc. Each year we'd like to have a "focus" or two, decided on my the club members -things like Rhone varietals, heritage vineyards, southern Italy, high elevation vineyards, etc.
To do this kind of thing we need to understand what's available out there, who grows which grapes, well, etc. This year our goal was to get as many small batches as we could handle from a wide range of sub-regions and respected growers, with a focus on Rhone and Italian grapes, with a few others thrown in. we weren't sure we'd have our license in time, but in the past six months we lined up a lot of interesting options to try this fall.
The grapes we on order are (reds) Syrah (three different vineyards), Grenache (also three different vineyards), Mourvedre (natch), Tannat, Aglianico, Sangiovese, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Tinta Cao, Tinta Amarela, Touriga Nacional, Barbera and (whites) Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Muscat, Fiano and Falanghina. This covers eight different vineyards, six in Amador and two in El Dorado.
This is going to be challenging, to say the least, but who said life is supposed to be easy? Any advice will be much appreciated
-Aaron
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