by Dana on January 14, 2010 in From the Vineyards
While grapevines are dormant during winter, they still require a great deal of care. Pruning is the first step in nurturing these plants for the following season, and this critical work is completed during January, February and March. Our Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot vines are cordon trained, and we leave only a two-bud spur per vine to grow grapes [...]
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 January 10, 2010 in Events
Every December, we host Christmas at Jordan, a walk-around tasting where library vintages, large-format bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon and Executive Chef Todd Knoll’s cuisine take center stage. We’d like to thank all our guests for braving the cold rains to join us for an elegant afternoon of wine, food, music and conversation. The date for [...]
by Dana on January 8, 2010 in From the Land
Our estate olives were harvested in November and in early December 2009. We recorded a quick video, which includes an olive harvest report and scenes from the last day of harvest in December. Small bins are used to harvest our olives in the Italian brucatura tradition, a method where our estate workers pull each olive from [...]
by Dana on January 3, 2010 in From the Vineyards
Every growing season—and grape harvest—has its own distinct personality. Grapes can be precocious or take their own sweet time to mature. Harvests can range from hectic to calm and thrilling to frustrating. These grapes are our babies in many ways. It’s the birth of a new vintage we plan carefully and anticipate at the end [...]
