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...by John R. York
 2007
VintageIn general, the 2007 growing season was very challenging for growers in the Ramona Valley AVA. A very dry winter, a relatively dry Spring, and a hot, dry Summer, ended with local rains just as grape crops were ready for harvest. Nevertheless, most of the grapes we received were in pretty good shape. We tried to get them at 25 Brix, but there was some variation, depending on the vineyard and the varietal. We used Fermachamp yeast again this year and we induced MLF in all the barrels, rather than leaving it to chance. Average fermentation time for each wine was approximately 7 days. We allowed an extended period of maceration for the cabernet sauvignon. All wines were placed into settling tanks immediately after pressing for 7 days to allow for particulate matter settling before racking the wine into barrels.
2007 Wines
 '07 Merlot (Kohurst)- this wine is made from grapes from Pyramid Vineyards in Ramona. The goal in developing this wine in '07 was to make a light "porch wine" that has a broad commercial appeal. We used French oak chips in the first rack and then racked to a neutral barrel after 4 months. Produced 2 barrels. It is relatively light in color and soft on the palate due to low acids and light tannins. Showing good varietal characteristics. Harvest = September 8, 2007. pH = 3.9. TA = .53.
Update: Used one barrel to bottle 100% merlot, and most of second barrel for blending with our cab. Awards: BRONZE medal in the 2009 National Women's Wine Competition, BRONZE in the 2009 3rd Annual Lum Eisenman Ramona Valley Wine Competition
'07 Sangiovese (Schweitzer)- this wine comes from Paccielo Vineyard in Ramona, and, as always, the fruit quality was excellent. The '07 Sangiovese displays lots of fruit and very defined varietal characteristics of strawberry, cherry, blueberry and violets. This one's going to be a local favorite. We used new French oak for one of the barrels, and a neutral barrel with no oak in the second, and then blended the two during the second rack. The result was introduced at the 2008 Father's Day Barrel Tasting event at Menghini Winery in Julian, and was very well received. Harvest = October 7, 2007. pH = 3.75. TA = .58. Update: Bottled both barrels as 100% Sangiovese. Awards: BRONZE in the 2009 3rd Annual Lum Eisenman Ramona Valley Wine Competition
'07 Cabernet Sauvignon (Schweitzer)- this wine also comes from Paccielo Vineyard in Ramona. In years past, the cab grapes from this vineyard have produced award winning cabernet sauvignon wine. We used French oak chips in the first rack, and continued with more oak in the second rack. This wine was crushed on the day of the Witch Creek Fire and had to be abandoned. I started fermentation immediately after crush in hopes that it would survive our absence during the evacuation. Fortunately, a friend, Matt Murphy remained behind and managed the cap for us. Despite sitting in the bin after dryness for several days without any attention, we ended up with a very nice wine – Cab on Fire! Harvest = October 16, 2007. pH = 3.70. TA = .61.· This wine recently won a Silver medal with a score of 85 in the 2nd annual Ramona Valley Lum Eisenman Wine Competition. Update: Blended this cab with our merlot. Used some for creating Indian Princess blend (see blending notes below).
'07 Syrah (Kohurst)- this wine is made from grapes from Pyramid Vineyards in Ramona. We've been purchasing grapes from the Kohorst family for several years. This syrah displays good fruit and a soft finish. We used French oak chips in the first rack. In oak barrels for 18 months. Harvest = September 15, 2007. pH = 3.74. TA = .64.· This wine won a Silver medal with a score of 82 in the 2nd annual Ramona Valley Lum Eisenman Wine Competition. Update: Blended this syrah with our estate syrah, and then with some cabernet sauvignon to create our annual Indian Princess blend (see blending notes below).
'07 Estate Syrah- this wine is made from grapes from Pamo Valley Vineyards in Ramona. The estate wine this year is less intense and has been more of a challenge due to an unfortunate quirk of nature. Although all signs of ripeness were positive and the Brix tested at 26 the day before harvest, a freak down pour in the specific area of the vineyard the night before, and all during the picking, lowered the Brix to around 23 (unfortunately we didn't test that morning), and generally decreased the flavors of the grapes. We put the wine in new French oak for the first rack. The resulting wine is less intense that last year's, but is going to be good for blending. Sorry, no incredible Estate Syrah this year. Harvest = August 26, 2007. pH = 3.32 TA = .72.
2007 Blends
 2007 Seduction - 70% Pyramid syrah, 25% Paccielo cabernet sauvignon, 5% Stick Vineyard viognier (very small quantity of viognier from a backyard!). Expected release is June 2009, but this wine may need more bottle aging. The residual sugar in the red wines was around .4% (that's "point" 4), while the viognier was 1% residual sugar.
Awards: GOLD in the 2009 3rd Annual Lum Eisenman Ramona Valley Wine Competition
 2007 Indian Princess - 65% syrah (Pyramid/estate blend), 35% Paccielo cabernet sauvignon, bottled in February 2009. Expected release is June 2009.
Awards: SILVER in the 2009 3rd Annual Lum Eisenman Ramona Valley Wine Competition
2007 Cab on Fire - 75% Paccielo cabernet sauvignon, 25% Pyramid merlot, bottled in February 2009. Expected release is June 2009.
Awards: BRONZE in the 2009 3rd Annual Lum Eisenman Ramona Valley Wine Competition
2008
Vintage
This year I decided to make bolder, “bigger” wines, extending maceration period considerably. We also invested in new American oak barrels for 2008. All of our reds, except the merlot, went into these new barrels. The 2008 harvest seemed to have stretched out forever. We began harvesting our first vineyard in August and finished with the Adobe Vineyard cab in late October. We also did a lot of small batches this year. It all made for an exhausting harvest season. The good news is that all the grapes were of excellent quality this year, and we made some very good wine. Unfortunately, the 2007 Witch Creek Firestorm destroyed most of the Paccielo Vineyard Sangiovese, so we only got 13 gallons of wine this year. We will have to blend it to make it commercially viable. The Pamo Valley estate syrah came out much better this year! This will be our last year for producing that wine, as the winery has moved to a new location and the buyer of the old property wants to make his own wine from the grapes on that property.
’08 Merlot (Kohorst)– this wine is made with grapes from Pyramid Vineyards in Ramona. Made 2 barrels. Racked from settling tanks to neutral oak barrels. Second rack to neutral oak barrels on April 4, 2009. Added French oak chips to both barrels. This wine already tasting quite good, showing great promise. Harvest = August 30, 2008. Brix = 23.5. pH = 3.75. TA = .75.
’08 Sangiovese (Schweitzer) – this wine is made with grapes from Paccielo Vineyards in Ramona. Very small yield is due to extensive fire damage to vineyard in 2007. Had to put wine in carboys due to low amount. Used to blend (see blending notes). Harvest = September 13, 2008. Brix = 23. pH = 3.59. TA = .66.
’08 Cabernet Sauvignon (Schweitzer) – this wine is made with grapes from Paccielo Vineyards in Ramona. Got enough this year to make 3 barrels – all aging in new American oak. Showing great promise already. Harvest = September 21, 2008. Brix = 24.8. pH = 3.9. TA = .77.
’08 Cabernet Sauvignon (Griffin) – this wine is made grapes from Adobe Vineyards in Ramona. The acid levels of the grapes from this vineyard are quite low, so I added significant amounts of Tartaric Acid to bring up to manageable levels. This wine has the unique characteristic taste that all cab from this vineyard has. A late harvest made the grapes a little decimated, causing a lot of particulate matter in the pressed wine, but the flavors seem to be intensified as a result. Harvest = October 12, 2008. Brix = 25.5. pH = 4.19. TA = .53.
’08 Petite Sirah (Briggs/Childress) – this wine is made with grapes from the Briggs/Childress Vineyard. This is the first time we’ve used this vineyard and the vines were in their 3rd leaf, but we really wanted to make petite sirah this year. The color is intensely dark, and the wine, while still raw, shows much promise. Put some in new American oak barrel and rest in stainless steel with French oak infusion coil. Since acid levels were high, I decided to blend this wine with softer varietals (see blending notes). Harvest = September 14, 2008. Brix = 23.5. pH = 3.33. TA = 1.0.
’08 Estate Syrah – this wine is made with grapes from our old estate vineyard. Much better results than last year. We put this wine in new American oak, and decided to blend it with our petit sirah (see blending notes). Harvest = August 19, 2008. pH = 3.44. TA = .75.
’08 Syrah (Kohorst) – this wine is made with grapes from Pyramid Vineyards, which we have been working with for several years. The wine is pretty solid and consistent, displaying good varietal characteristics. We put this wine in 2 new American oak barrels. Harvest = August 30, 2008, Brix = 24. pH = 3.64. TA = .60.
’08 Odds and Ends - We made very small amounts of wine this year from various small vineyards. Some of this was as favors for friends, and some we thought we could use for blending. We made 8 gallons of chenin blanc, 8 gallons of viognier, 11 gallons of rose (white syrah), and 10 gallons of a blend of zinfandel, syrah and cab grapes from a backyard vineyard. I left 1 percent residual sugar in the whites, and they turned out very good (they’re all gone already!).
2008 Blends
In general, we are blending at the second racking this year, rather than at bottling. I wanted to know what each wine tasted like for 2007, but am now convinced that we can produce a superior wine by blending early and letting the blended wines mature together.
2008 Passion – 50% Briggs/Childress Petit Sirah, 25% Estate Syrah, 17% Paccielo Merlot, and 8% Paccielo Viognier (made by winemaker Mike Kopp). Racked into a 59 gallon neutral barrel on April 4, 2009.
2008 Temptation (place holder name) – 50% Estate Syrah, 33% Paccielo Sangiovese, and 17% “Bobbi’s Blend” (a blend of zinfandel, syrah, and cabernet sauvignon from a very small vineyard, called “Stick Vineyard”). Blended into 30 gallon American oak barrel on April 4, 2009.
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