Posts Tagged ‘chardonnay’

Chardonnay batonnage demonstration barrel: winemaking in action

by Patrick on November 22, 2011

Have you ever wanted to see what happens inside a wine barrel? You’re not alone. Last summer, our Guest Services staff asked us if it would be possible to create a special see-through barrel, so trade tour and tasting guests could get an inside look at the old-world winemaking art of batonnage. I worked with one of our local cooperages to create Jordan’s first demonstration barrel, available for viewing during our 3 p.m. private trade tours from October through April, when our youngest vintage of Chardonnay is aging in barrel.

Batonnage, or stirring of the lees, is practiced for every vintage of Jordan Chardonnay. By hand-stirring the lees, we release compounds from the dying yeast cells into the wine, which contribute to a creamy, smoother mouthfeel. These compounds help to integrate the oak flavors into the wine and soften the oak tannins.

One of our most popular video blog posts of 2011 describes batonnage in detail.

Posted in: From the Cellar

Tags: batonnage, chardonnay, old world, winemaking

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Video: night harvesting Russian River Valley Chardonnay grapes

by Lisa on October 4, 2010

Watching a picking crew harvest grapes is an unbelievable rush. Your eyes fight to follow the hooked knives slicing away at each stem. You hear the grapes shaking on the vines as the workers tug the canes. A tractor engine hums. You hear the men shout for more collection bins. But you can’t see anything–unless you follow the lights.

This is the beauty of night harvesting.

We harvest our Russian River Valley Chardonnay vineyards in the coldest hours of the night, so the grapes arrive cold with crisp acids, ideal sugar levels and brighter fruit flavors. This year’s harvest began on September 17 with one small block of Russian River Chardonnay, then crush kicked into high gear on September 29 after a brief heat wave September 24-27.

This footage, which features the picking crew at one of our favorite Russian River Valley vineyard sites along the east side of the river, was captured before dawn on September 29.

Thanks to our friends at Cal Plans Vineyards for working so hard to ensure cold, pristine grapes are delivered to our winemakers.

Posted in: From the Vineyards

Tags: 2010 harvest, chardonnay, growers, harvesting, night harvesting, russian river valley

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Photo shoot for “Decanting Sonoma County” + other food photography, video

by Laura on June 4, 2010

Because food is an essential part of the Jordan experience (both at the winery and hopefully in your home), Executive Chef Todd Knoll seasonally creates new recipes that pair nicely with balanced, elegant Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons, like those made at Jordan. These recipes are showcased at our estate events, during meals for Jordan Estate Rewards members, on our website for home cooks and also in cookbooks.

Last week, we had the opportunity to create some recipes and style them in three separate food photography shoots. All three shoots are captured in this behind-the-scenes video.

With inspiration from a new Vollrath fryer, Chef Knoll, who grew up in Hawaii and loves flavors from Asian and the Pacific, developed a Fava Leaf Tempura recipe, which will be featured on the Jordan website later this summer. For the home chef, Chef Knoll recommends the Cayenne Countertop Fryer—it conveniently uses a standard electrical outlet—and he recommends rice oil for frying.

Another new Chef Knoll creation is a Hoisin Duck Breast with White and Green Asparagus, which was conceptualized for the first addition of Decanting Sonoma: The Cookbook, which is expected to debut in 2011. Local photographer Robert Holmes was asked to capture the beauty of the plated duck with a bottle of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon, as the cookbook will include wine pairings with each recipe. The photo selected by Decanting Sonoma’s author will be exclusive to her book, but here’s one of the shots we took with our Canon 5D during the shoot.

Hoisin Duck with White and Green Asparagus, originally uploaded by blog.jordanwinery.com.

A selection of the photographs we took (while professional photographer Robert Holmes was clicking away nearby) can be found on Flickr. If you’re interested in trying the Hoisin Duck recipe, a copy is posted on our Facebook page notes tab.

Posted in: From the Kitchen

Tags: "Decanting Sonoma County", asparagus, bottle, bread, cabernet, chardonnay, cheese, chef, chicken, cookbook, cork, duck, fava leaves, food photography, fromage, frying, glass, herbs, how to make tempura, photography, recipes, rice oil, style, styling, stylist, tempura

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Cooperage trial tastings: which barrel producers make the cut

by Ronald on April 15, 2010

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 meet our standards. Our Chardonnay cooperage tastings were just completed. We even had a special guest stop by from France.

Posted in: From the Cellar

Tags: barrels, blind tasting, cellar, cellars, chardonnay, cooper, cooperage, Ronald Du Preez, Stephane Nadalie, winemaking

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New Chardonnay pairings inspired by our garden and spring

by Todd on March 22, 2010

Guests who visit the Jordan estate to experience our 11 a.m. Winery Tour enjoy little tastes from our kitchen, prepared by myself and Sous Chef Manuel Reyes to complement two vintages of Jordan Chardonnay. These pairings, in addition to our cheese course served with two vintages of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon, change seasonally, and our Chardonnay taste pairings are inspired by ingredients found in our estate garden. Lisa and Laura created a short video of me discussing and demonstrating these new pairings, which debuted on Wednesday: Sashimi Grade Yellowfin Tuna on Shichimi Togarashi feuille de brik and Gougère with Duck Rillettes and Jordan Rivière Russe reduction.

Posted in: From the Kitchen, News

Tags: blossom, chardonnay, dessert wine reduction sauce, duck rillettes, fava bean, feuille de brik, food pairing, gougere, japanese, pairings, sashimi, seven spice, shichimi togarashi, tour and tasting, tuna, visiting Jordan, yellowfin

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Recycling and Chardonnay winemaking

by Ronald on January 13, 2010

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 with our philosophy of reducing, reusing and recycling whenever possible, we give our lees to a distiller who specializes in extracting the alcohol left in lees for other commercial uses.

Racking typically takes place in our cellars mid-December through early January. Our 2009 Russian River Valley Chardonnay finished racking on January 6 and is now resting in French oak barrels in our cellars. The 2009 is a continuation of our progression toward less malolactic fermentation, which began with the 2007 vintage. Less malolactic gives our Chardonnay a vibrant, balanced structure highlighting the green apple and pear fruit characters. The 2009 Jordan Chardonnay will release in spring 2011.

Here’s a quick video of the Chardonnay being racked from the lees.

Posted in: From the Cellar

Tags: aging, cellar, cellars, chardonnay, enology, fermentation, harvest, lees, racking, recycle, recycling, reuse, russian river valley, tanks, vineyard, viticulture, winemaking, winter, yeast