by Patrick on January 19, 2011 in From the Cellar
Our cellar team still practices an old-world winemaking technique that has nearly been lost in modern America’s wine culture: tallowing. Each winter, the barrel blend of our latest vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon is placed in 6,000-gallon oak casks so the flavors of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot can marry, and these vintage doors need to be properly sealed to hold the wine. The [...]
by Ronald on April 15, 2010 in From the Cellar
Twice a year our winemaking team spends several weeks conducting a series of blind tastings to assess the merits of each cooperage from which we source barrels. Although we only work with the finest coopers, we still believe it’s important to test their performance every year to ensure the quality and consistency of the oak [...]
by Patrick on February 19, 2010 in From the Cellar
Every winter, new oak barrels from top cooperages in France and America arrive at the Jordan cellar. Approximately one-third of the barrels we use to age our wines each year are new, and we work with a variety of coopers, so inspecting these barrels to meet our standards is an intricate process. I inspect every [...]
by Ronald on January 13, 2010 in From the Cellar
One of the vital steps to crafting a great Chardonnay involves lees, residual yeast cells that remain in contact with the wine during fermentation and aging. The lees help give Chardonnay its round mouthfeel and mild tannins. When fermentation and aging are complete, we rack our Chardonnay from the lees, leaving the yeast cells as a by-product. In keeping [...]
by Rob on January 11, 2010 in From the Cellar
In this blog and on our YouTube channel, we’ll be posting videos each year where I discuss the latest releases of our Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Russian River Valley Chardonnay. Our 2006 Cabernet and 2008 Chardonnay will release in April 2010, so please check back for our video release tasting notes. Until then, we’ve [...]
by Patrick on January 10, 2010 in From the Cellar
Each December before barrel aging begins, we create the barrel blend for our latest vintage of Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. We only blend two Bordeaux varieties with our Cabernet Sauvignon—Merlot and Petit Verdot—the latter of which has been increasing its presence in our final blend, thanks to its amazing blueberry fruit, vibrant color, and soft, [...]
by Lisa on December 22, 2009 in Events
What started out as John’s personal Halloween party has transformed into the most talked about event in town. In October 2009, 180 of our valued trade members came to the winery to celebrate Halloween. The theme was “Casablanca” and the winery was transformed into the classic 1940s movie. Guests were treated to pass hors d’oeuvres [...]
