Too many times in our life’s we bow to the loudest most dominate in the room giving into this so called expert for fear of embarrassment. The plain truth is many of these experts are snobs, elitist, who have no better palate than your own. I do believe knowing about a subject is a personal adventure. But it is your choice to listen or not. Knowing all the dirt on a family won’t improve the wines. Only the Vineyard and wine making practices can do that and only your tastes will give you the feedback necessary to enjoy or not what you are drinking. I say some of these writers should go look for work as a professor somewhere. Because then you would have a captive audience that’s there for that purpose. I don’t know about you but if I want to know something I ask? Because you’re an expert on history, it won’t make you an expert on wine! They are not exclusive to one another and that’s the Truth.

In the future we should have a group of tasters not an individual scoring wine. They should be people with experience measured in decades not years. They should be in the business of enjoyment, know the Vineyard and Winery. They should not compare notes with one another, should score with “No” chatter, in isolation, then send their scores to someone who will compile them and give the net weighted average. All text should be compared, then publish the most common amongst the tasters.
In this way you get several trained tasters averaging the score to make the final number more believable.

Anyway that’s my take what about you?

To net weighted averages and history upon request,

Greg Linn
greg@greglinnwines.com
 

But here’s something that you should consider and may use for motivation purposes. At one time I was a large consumer of French wines. First Bordeaux then gravitating to Burgundy. White and red Burgundy, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Yes and I bought the best Leflaive, Coche, DRC, Leroy, Rousseau, Dujac and many others. Grand Cru and only the best would do, and believe me it cost dearly. However, as the 2005 wines were released the cost became astronomical. Bottles that had cost $100 for years, were selling for $200.The bottles that sold for $250.00 were over $500.00 and the bottles that sold for $400 were now topping $1000.00. If you wanted to buy a single bottle of La Tache $2500.00 to $3000.00,  a bottle of Romanee Conti, $5000.00 to start and up from there.

These examples are too vast to name them all, and Bordeaux is the same and in some cases more! If you want to see the truth go to Wine Searchers for proof. Now all Wine makers think they make good wine and some like me think we make great wine. I have blinded my wines against the World’s best for many of my customers, family and the wine writing community. They have always done me proud and I will continue to show up with bottles in hand at any tasting where the labels are turned inward. Let the cards fall where they may I always say! The prices of these wines are up because the demand worldwide for big labels is huge. It use to be we were the Worlds big consumer, now Hong Kong is buying up large amounts and selling it for even more. Bordeaux has a short memory and so pay to play is there attitude. Forget the many collectors that were there in the day when vintages were not flying off the shelves.

But this blog is about more than our wines, it’s about the motivation these extreme prices have given me. You see I can’t afford those wines anymore and so I strive to make wines that are as good. Wines I crave to open, for myself and others. Wine of great structure and great finesse. When asked what I like to drink I answer my wines. Our wines are pure, they are low in alcohol, They are made with the least of interference. Great wine is made in the vineyard. And here’s the best part, at $89.00 a bottle, they’re a bargain! Never thought I’d say that but it has now become true. Yes on a world stage we take no back seats, we coward to no one, we are in the front row, and if you don’t believe me blind us and see where the cards fall.

To one hell of a bargain,

Greg Linn
www.unfilteredwinereport.com
www.greglinnwines.com

A science fiction movie, I think not! Yes the favorite wines of your so called  great wine makers are interestingly made in much the same manner. Destined for the scrap heap of liquid retirees, or the Porcelain Alter. Science in all its great advances has altered our approach to Wine Making. The advent of stainless steel as a vessel to ferment, blend, stabilize is a good example of the up side. But also the discussion of fixing, manipulating Mother Nature, or the creating of a wine because you were too lazy to do the work in the vineyard. Maybe it was a cost consideration, just too expensive to do it right. So in come the grapes, over ripe, under ripe and the Doctor is in, prescribing maximum interference. Yes the chef puts all the ingredients on the table and gets to work. I for one have had enough.

Like processed foods they just don’t digest very well, and my stomach turns at the thought of such creations. Frankenwines, yes they are in abundance, and you can pick them up on any shelf, on any wine list, and normally they score well.  Why, because most of the Wine writers are con artists, quick with a pen, great with the art of language, but their palates are no more advanced as yours or mine. In fact many are much less! If they tell you it’s good then blindly you march to the store and buy! Sounds like the Pied Piper!

You buy, you store, and you regret! But this is not about Wine Writers, the poor soul’s who have been fooled over and over again. Not knowing the difference between, tartaric acid, and the real thing. No this is about the Monster Makers who have the right, but should be up front. You see, why is it you don’t know, why is it you are not aware of what you ingest? I don’t know about you but I want the choice to consume or not, that which is not natural to the grape. A simple request, but is it?

We are required to run simple tests on or wines. These tests will not measure the addition of tartaric acid, or potassium just the total acid. They will not measure additions of beetroot sugar, cultivated yeast, just the finished alcohol. They don’t measure copper, Water content, sorbic acid,(by product of egg whites) or any other magical formula some future Doctor has fabricated. It would behoove you to be more diligent, more patient with your purchases, and it might even be more cost effective. Why?

A Frankenwine will most diffidently die an early death! It will implode much earlier then a natural wine. And in the end your cellar will be much more confident. How many Pinot’s have you held just to serve them three years later and there D.O.A.. But if a wine is in balance, and has been made of it self, your chances or reward will be there down the road. The alternative is simple:

A hand from a union painter + a forearm from a Boxer + a Bicep from a Weight lifter +  a chest from a Football player, well guess I’ve said enough.

Hears to the burning of the tower, and eliminating the Monster,

Greg
greg@grelinnwines.com
Unfiltered Wine Report

Photo credit goes artist William Underwood and you can see his work at www.williamtunderwood.com

I have been lucky enough to fly all over this Country, and many places in the World and can’t tell you how disappointing it is to taste a bottle of wine you are fond of only to find it D.O.A.. I was in Hawaii recently, ordered a bottle of my wine, and it was just delivered the day before by the distributor. The wine was dead, I only found out then that the storage they had was not temperature controlled. I ordered a bottle of expensive Italian wine in Shanghai China, Again Dead. I almost can forgive an up and coming region of this savage treatment, but here in the U.S., Come on?

Let me give you some suggestions that may or may not help. If you think a bottle of wine is as important as the food you’re eating with it, then demand storage. If I walk into a restaurant and order a bottle of wine I demand to feel it before it’s open. If it’s warm, I refuse it, simple as that. If the food is too good to stop dinning there then I bring a bottle with me. If they won’t let you then move on! If I walk into a wine shop and things are not air conditioned in the summer or too hot from heaters in the winter, I move on. You see we store our wines at 55 degrees before they go to Market. We are very careful with your investment while it’s still in our care and expect others to do the same. The truth is we’re naive, and expecting people to invest in the equipment necessary to store wine properly is a stretch at best. You need to hold them accountable. I ask you this, would you eat eggs that were not refrigerated, Milk, Meat, Fish, Vegetables. Then why do you accept wine that’s not stored properly. Wine is a perishable item, no difference, and your cost at a restaurant is, in many cases the biggest financial part of the meal. Same if you buy it at a retail shop and bring it home. I don’t expect all restaurants or wine stores to keep wine at 55 degrees but is it asking too much for 65 degrees.

Like many winerys we have had people return bottles that if consumed from a proper cellar would be great. However, since somewhere in its life it was mistreated the wine has suffered significantly. For experiment sake I give you this suggestion. Take any bottle of wine, open another identical bottle and drink half of each bottle. Put a cork in both, and put one in the refrigerator, and leave one out on the counter. Check both the next day, and the day after, then see what you get. In fact the only way I store a bottle of wine that was open is to put it into a very cold refrigerator. Using gas and the pumping of air out of the bottle won’t work very well. Gimmicks cannot replace a very cool non freezing place for your wine.

It’s high time we grasp the obvious. Wine is Food and should be treated as such. It will spoil if not taken care of and you should demand of your wineries, retailers, and wholesalers the same. I cannot imagine paying $5.00 for spoiled produce yet many of you are paying $50.00, $100.00 and more for a spoiled bottle of wine.

Rest in peace if you choose!

Greg Linn
www.unfilteredwinereport.com
www.greglinnwines.com

I visit Italy often and on one of my visits I was grateful to visit a great Brunello Property, Soldaria. Mr. Solderia asked me what I did and I told him. After which he made an off handed remark, saying “Oh, Coca Cola” referring American wine! You see the Italians and the rest of the old world believe we have sugar pallets, and we make, well Coca Cola. Truth be known most of the wine sold in the U.S. is sweet.  As I’ve said before sweetness can come from fruit, alcohol, barrels, low acidity. Sometimes the sweetness is because the wine has R.S. Residual Sugar. In wines that are suppose to be sweet this is as it should be, however in wines that are suppose to be dry, then less is better.

As my own pallet has evolved, (only pallet I know for certain), I noticed through the years that higher acid, and less sweetness are what I like young. Then the natural lifting of the sweetness over time brings something exciting, but not clawing. If you add Tartaric acid to a wine it becomes gummy on the palette, thats why I like natural acid it finishes clean. If you add Sugar to a wine, like they do in Burgundy, and use beet root sugar, it leaves a heavy film on ones pallet, so wines that do not add sugar may be better and purer. Also consider that the less R.S. and alcohol, the brighter the flavors and the broader the flavors. Not to mention there are more flavors. I do not believe I have a better palette then someone else, I believe my palate has been trained longer, seen more wines and has, forgive me more wisdom. This only comes with time, and if you keep at it you will evolve and see a drastic difference in where you started and where your headed. Many may disagree, but that would be unwise and less then honest. Just remember back when you were a child and remember your first green bean, asparagus, or Broccoli and your starting to get it, change is inevitable.

Any person who’s tasted as long as I have, (and there are many) will agree, will you be one of those people. I suggest you keep going back to the bottles you thought to be to lien, they may surprise you!

Here’s to the changes in life,

Greg Linn

Greg Linn Wines
greg@greglinnwines.com

To understand all of this let’s deal locally since that’s where I write from live and make my living. There was at one time this mad rush to plant grapes in our central coast with very little forethought to what where or how? Yes, Pinot planted in land where in was 100 degrees most of the time. Cabernet close to the coast and every other varietal you can imagine. People planted to the wine grape they liked not what would work best! Then there was vineyard spacing, vineyard facing, root stock selection and clones. Ground prep, farming practices and the list goes on. If you plant in deep soils, fertile soils with vigorous root stocks then you get Big Tonnage, but do you get great wine? The practices of ground cover, native or un-native plants and grasses between the rows to compete for nutrition helps. However a vine is like an engine and if given the proper fuel will produce even with the competition.

In my opinion we have gotten way to far into the science of lest resistance. We have planted so called disease resistant Root Stock’s and have taken away any measure of pureness. I understand the great capital out lay of putting in a Vineyard, so on many levels I understand the desire to protect against such things. It is a matter of fact however that all insects, and diseases mutate and no one is absolutely safe. I believe that going back to planting on own root is the answer ultimately. The Central Coast has vines that exceed 40 years of age that were planted in this manner. They are producing just fine and have little in the way of problems. Many so called Resistant Root Stocks have failed in the mean time. If given half a chance the vine becomes strong building up it’s immune system just as yours and mine. They become more resistant by becoming stronger.

The benefits are more then just healthy vines, they are better wines. Because an own root clone 667 is a pure 667 plant. The root stock has a direct effect on the flavor’s of the cluster and in turn the wine. Is it risky, well maybe but we have been told time and again of the virtues of root stocks just to replant prematurely. I say the proof is already in the ground and so yes I think worth the risk. The end results could be startling! You need the best ingredients to make a wine, the wine is made in the vineyard that simple. So if I were to choose I say give me the purity of an uninhibited plant, grown in an organic or bio dynamic way. This I believe produces the best of what we can achieve. In the end you will certainly know wether you like the 667, 777, 115 clone because you will be tasting it as it should be. And if you take the care you will plant it in a cool climate, with shallow soil’s protected against frost, and an overabundance of wind. You will plant densely and face the proper way. You will water, however you will not add chemicals unless you have no choice. You will farm so the grapes are at a lower position to the ground, you will manage your canopy and you will reduce crop by thinning appropriately. Who knows maybe you will be successful and return us to where we started, with out the science and let nature take it’s course. In all due respect to U.C. Davis it seemed to work for centuries with out interference and trying to tweak what Mother Nature had perfected.

Not much chance of many changing there course but hey opinions aside it’s nice to dream,

Greg Linn
greg@greglinnwines.com

My Grandfather Colargio Zito and my Grandmother Giovana came to the new World in the early part of the Twentieth Century, 1902 and 1904 to be exact. I am talking of a 32-year-old man who left everything he knew, loved and understood for a better life. His first wife, who died very early in Sicily, gave him a child named Mary, my Aunt Mary to be exact. They struggled to find a place for themselves like so many other immigrants of the time being called Wop, Guinea, Gangster. The height of intolerance was upon the land and anyone who was not Anglo Saxon need not apply. This was as true for the Irish, Germans, Polish, Jews, African, Spanish and any others that were different. It is little wonder that they all huddled together, in the same neighborhoods. Italians on one block, Jews on the next, Irish and so on. Within those refugees there was a semblance of order and understanding, familiarity. One could speak his or her native tongue and not be ridiculed.

Soon after my Grandfather’s arrival, a courtship pursued between him and my Grandmother. They were set up, so to speak, by the ladies of the day and soon after they wed. They had six more children, one boy and five girls, the youngest of which was my Mother, Giovana. But that name was soon stripped away at school. You see, the teachers of the day did not look so kindly on Italian names and so they insisted they be changed to their English equivalent. That’s when my Mother became Jeanette. Of course, all of her sisters were given different names such as Jenny, Katie, Lily, Connie and Mary. My uncle who also died young, Johnny, died of Pneumonia. Now there are only two sisters left, we lost Jenny two weeks ago at the age of 100. Lilly is 96 and my mom is 82. Yes, as the great Dylan song goes, “The times they are a changing” for sure.  

I need to thank my Grandfather who, by the way, I never met. No, he was gone as well as my Grandmother before I came along. Not to worry, my Grandmother had two sisters and they filled in that role nicely. They took all the children under their wings and provided the nurturing that would have come from their real Mother and gave me my only true Grandmother experience. Got to love the old ways, picking up the pieces was without question as natural an act as there could be. My Grandfather leaving what he knew, braved the sea, the brunt of jokes and humiliation, to give me the opportunity I would never have known. Hell, I would not even be here if not for this brave man. On our Zito Family label, the humblest of our wines. Made to drink now, affordable, and a reminder of so many of the wines made in the cellars of Italians like my Grandfather. You will see a park bench with two glasses, wine poured in both. The one wish if could be granted to spend a afternoon on that bench with him and speak of things I don’t understand. To thank him and ask why he did what he did. To show him what he had created, the vast family that now is rooted so deeply in America numbering in the hundreds. Yes the glasses are full and they await the moment when we are finally together. I will sit with him and ask these things and we will drink till we’ve had enough, or I’m all talked out.

To you my fearless man, all 5 foot 4 inches of pure love and tenacity. To you and my Grandmother, who I will also sit with when the time comes. To my Great Aunts who treated me better than I ever deserved, to my Aunts who were always there for us and loved us nearly as much as their own children. To a time past that’s worth striving for again. To family, the kind of which cannot be measured in anything other than love. I salute you all and will strive to be better, closer to the principles you bestowed on all of us.

That’s it, getting blurry, must be something in my eye.

I’ll be up soon Grandpa

Greg

I travelled to Asia for business and to sell our wine. It is true; China is an up and coming super power that wants for everything Western. However, it is also equally important to know they are a fledgling in wine knowledge but are catching on very quickly. The opposite is true when talking of Korea (that would be South Korea for those Googling). The Korean people have moved through the Cabernet Only Crown to Pinot, and are Burgundy lovers also. They enjoy a wide range of wines and are very knowledgeable and open. Their people are as pleasant, as any I’ve come to know, and although reserved in their approach to life, they enjoy themselves when the opportunity is appropriate. I have never had a distributor that was more professional, from the sales people, public relation people and my partner, Ms. Kim our interpreter. My dear friend Dr. Kim made me aware of this great market and its people and I will forever be grateful for his influence at our inception and his introduction into this new land and market. To say I was treated with celebrity status would be an understatement; it is more accurate to say I was treated with GREAT respect. A key word in this culture that hold’s more meaning than most others.

I would like you to imagine, if you can, just for a moment, what it’s like to be within artillery range from the North. In fact, there are so many long-range guns trained on Seoul from the North, the estimates are the city would be rubble before they could be taken out. This is because they are hidden in the mountains within caverns and near impossible to get to. When asked about such things, the people say they are aware but choose to conduct their lives without fear. The people of Korea are resilient and determined. They will not allow themselves to be governed by fear. They are a free society of amazing people. Korean life is full of culture, innovation and peace, with old world values that serve them well. A must visit for those so inclined. ??

Happy New Year to all, and look for some big announcements next year. We are just getting warmed up!

Greg Linn
www.greglinnwines.com
www.unfilteredwinereport.com

Yes united, all states to form a perfect union, great words but lost when it comes to your rights as individuals. You see, we are supposed to have state’s rights so that you may have choices to live as you like within the confines of federal standards. To be more to the point, you can’t infringe on others rights by claiming your own. You can’t murder, rape, steal etc., you get the point. But if you want to live in a place where there are no state income taxes then you have that right. There should also be free inter commerce between states with fair pricing of products from state to state. If you buy a washer, car, or a computer they should be accessible and competitive from state to state, right? So why is it we, in the wine industry, have to kneel down to every state and abide by the antiquated three tier system that has been the single cause of wine prices to sky rocket and has caused the absence of some of your country’s finest wines from your local merchant.

The answer is forthcoming, but it’s true that we’re only in 12 states total. It’s also true that many states would find it a felony to ship a bottle of wine to you directly. Imagine ordering a pair of shoes from somewhere then as you put them on you become a criminal?

Where is the justice for the wine industry? Of course these laws were put in place right after prohibition times, then the distributors throughout the years with power and lobbyist have made the laws even stronger. So it works like this, we have to be licensed in all states if selling wine there. We have to use a distributor in any state outside of California if we want the right to sell there. And now even California is being pushed by the distributors to change existing law so we would have to sell to distributors in state also. They use the explanation that children are getting their hands on alcohol and it must be subject to safe guards so we don’t allow minors to have access to this forbidden drug. Bull crap. It’s money, plain and simple. Distributors don’t like us selling direct because it cuts into their profits. They want a monopoly on all wineries, in other words, we would become slaves to people we don’t even know. Being obedient to them or we will sell nothing! You consumers from outside the state are already affected. And if we lose our right to sell directly then your pricing will have to go up. This is simple economics. Many of the states are being pressured to stop direct sales form distributors and for the record their argument is porous, full of holes. We can’t ship without warning labels, and adult signatures. No minors are signing for our packages. If a minor does drink a bottle of wine it’s because he got someone to go into a wine store and buy it, or he took it from his parent’s cellar. For the record, distributors have it wrong! If wineries were allowed to freely ship directly, there’s a much better chance that someone you introduced the wine to will order it at a local restaurant. And the restaurant orders that wine from distributors only. So we, on one hand, help them promote the wine.  It’s short sided thinking caused by greed.

If the distributors have full control over wineries, they won’t have to buy wine until it’s sold. They can reduce inventory and just place orders as needed knowing they have us under their thumb. Can you imagine any other business running the same way? Creative people making something from scratch then having a distributor plunder your profits from you. Such things used to be punishable by imprisonment. Now it’s acceptable because you open the purse strings to access to your local representative and they want the power so badly not stopping to think who they’re hurting by making some knee jerk decision that becomes law. If you want to live in an alcohol free county there are many to choose from, believe me. And for the record there are many kind, and honest people working for these distributors that agree but can’t speak up without fear of reprisal.

I am here to tell you the price of a bottle of Bordeaux has tripled in the last five years. Some prices are even higher! The same goes for Burgundy and other imports. The fact is the Chateau’s and Domaines don’t reap all the rewards, it’s the importers, then the distributor, then the wine store, then it gets to you with three and four 30% mark ups along the way. The growing markets of the world are seeing more of the allocation you once had to choose from. Your choices are getting slimmer and we also are starting to export because that may be our future, sad to say.

I encourage all who lift a glass of wine from time to time to write your local representative. Tell them you’re unhappy with the current three tier system and sometimes four tier system. Tell him or her, you want choice and the distributors are in the way of the most fundamental rights bestowed on you by our constitution. Tell them it has become easier to buy a Bag of Marijuana than to get your favorite bottle of wine. If things progress the way they are, we will soon become extinct. Not chosen for extinction from fair competition but stripped of it by thieves that disguise themselves. They say they want what’s right, but they think you’re stupid and can’t see through their plan. Money buys power and with it corrupts a system that was designed to be fair.

I hope a cord was struck. If not, I feel we will slide down a slippery slope never to find our footing again.

Thanks for your ear,

Greg Linn
www.unfilteredwinereport.com
www.greglinnwines.com

Well sorry to say, wrong! Now let’s deal with my industry and let’s talk of the dirty little secrets we all know except John Q. Public. Did you know there is no place on the label that confirms Native Yeast, and you might not care but if you claim it, should it not be so? Same for Native everything. Organic, does that get you going, water added, spun off alcohol anyone, acid additions, copper, sprays. Get the point. What about the percentage of alcohol? Did you know that there is a much higher tax on all wine with a 14% plus alcohol then a 13.99% alcohol? did you also know that if the percentage is 13.99% you can lower it almost 1 percent to 13.00% on the label without braking any law? Wow that’s a great lobby group. So that were all on the same page, if I were to make a true 13.2% wine and a competitor made a 13.99% wine, he could list it at 13.0% that’s .2 percent lower.  I ask, is that fair?

I want to be quoted correctly here, I am not for more guidelines. I am not for more label restrictions and government intrusions. I am for honesty and there should be accountability. We work extra hard and sacrifice much to bring you a great wine made as natural as possible with low alcohols. Should someone be able to take the same credit without the extra work? I ask, are you satisfied with being snookered or maybe you just don’t give a damn. Not sure how you prove your point unless you bring a bottle of your favorite producer into the lab for analysis, a full panel about $135.00 a pop. So I guess it comes down to who you believe and in the end if you’re satisfied then that’s all that matters. But I find it extremely unfair to any consumer if he or she is looking for a lower percentage of alc. and they get a lot more than they bargained for. I will leave you with this. If two wineries are claiming the same thing, and one cost a heck of a lot less, buyer beware. There is no way to get the results without the sacrifice! That simple. My only suggestion would be this, if a wine says 13.5% and you like it, then ask for the proof. We are required to keep our lab results on file. So if you want a copy of said results before buying I’ll fax it to you, that simple! If a producer disagrees to send it, don’t buy. Wonder how that would go over?

Next, Who Knows?

Greg!

www.greglinnwines.com
www.ambullneovineyards.com

Enclosures, sounds pretty dry so far but it’s the hottest subject out there. And nothing gets your blood boiling more than a failed stopper of a great bottle of wine.

Why don’t we start by putting the alternatives on the table?  There is Higher Grade Cork, Synthetic Cork, Particle Cork, Screw Caps. Now we all know what real cork can do to the aging process of a bottle of wine. The enclosure has been around for centuries and has proven to be a great way of allowing your wine to age gracefully. It allows tiny amounts of air or micro oxidation to seep into the wine without spoilage. This allows the wine to age and become something special, if built to go the distance, so to speak. So, debating whether a cork works or not is futile since we have so much data in favor. The only question confronting a cork is TCA, or it’s real name 2,4,6 Trichloranisole. This little bugger in very small, pure amounts can ruin an entire production of wine let alone a single bottle. It is found in tree bark such as that used from the cork tree then treated with Chlorine. But not just there, it’s also found in many wood products treated the same way, such as Barrels and Palates commonly found in wineries where cleaners are used to keep things sanitary. In fact, it’s equally true that your corked wine might not have originated from the cork. It could have been from the palate that carried it to its final resting point. This taint normally shows itself in a musty, wet cardboard smell and completely consumes the wine. And the smell will not blow off with air, in fact it will grow with alarming speed. So, imagine a great bottle of wine stored 10, 50, 100 years and now you open it only to find it tainted, ruined long ago.

Dealing with the alternatives is simple because we don’t have a lot of data. Sure, twist offs have been around a while but not until recently have they been used in what one can consider premium wines. Before they were only used in very inexpensive wines so there is little data to support the theory they will age gracefully. Since the closure is pretty much air tight, the wine cannot use oxygen to its advantage. Also there is another problem that could raise its ugly head, that of reduction. This chemical reaction from the lack of air smells like burnt rubber and it is unclear whether it will show itself in years down the road. All the other stoppers fall into this same category. So let me say this before I go on. I am not playing scientist, and I’m not passing judgment. I’m just dealing in facts, those dirty little things that rear their heads up at inopportune times. We don’t have enough info on alternative enclosures so making wild predictions would be just that. I will however tell you that no one has had more spoiled wines than me from TCA and my meter is far into the tens of thousands of dollars. So you would think I’d be the biggest advocate for alternatives. But I’m not!

Let me go even further into my stories of road side bombs blowing up in one’s face. My daughter met my now son in law in 1993. They got married in 2003 and I decided to open a six liter bottle of 1993 Echezeaux DRC, that’s the equivalent of eight bottles!

Yes, you guessed right, corked! What a disaster and if not for the inability of the wedding party to know the difference it would have been dumped. I have many such stories, some as tragic. But I won’t change. Must like the pain or is it something else making me obstinate? This man, who has been treated by corks as badly as anyone, still sings their praise. Why? Because wine is more than a beverage; it’s part of life, it’s passion, romance, celebration, and remembrance all rolled into one. I could never conceive of all of that from a screw cap. Instead of a pop when the cork is released, you hear something that sounds more like a crackle. Now that’s alright for cereal but not for wine. It is true however when I do buy a case of wine that instead of the 9 liters paid for, I will receive 8.25 liters of good wine. Inevitably one bottle will be corked! That said you have me on record so fire at will!

If I had one wish for all it would be you never experience a corked wine again.

Snap, Crackle or Pop.

Greg!
greg@grelinnwines.com

At the very heart, most of us are followers. Very few of us are leaders. I know it’s hard for you to imagine, but true leaders are rare. So don’t get mad. I think we all like to listen to the noise and get caught up in someone else’s opinion. In all due respect to my friend Matt, we don’t always agree. But that’s a good thing. I make wines for myself first and can only hope that others agree. It’s good to listen to some of the writers, wine merchants and wine directors at your local establishment. After all, they do it for a living and cut through the noise. Remember, I said it before, trust your palate first! Is there the next great region untapped and ready to be world famous? Sure, why not. Is it the Central Coast of California? A region that only started planting the right clones and root stocks with the proper spacing 15 years ago, and some only 5 to 10 years old. Sure, why not? Matt is right in his piece. We can’t be classic until we have time measured in decades to prove such a theory. So, it will be long after I’m gone, but we have the potential.

Let’s draw some comparisons, if I may. Our three finest Pinot and Chardonnay growing areas on the Central Coast are: Santa Maria, Santa Rita, and Arroyo Grande. All three regions have the influence of the ocean’s cooling effects and it’s off shore that the warm waters of Mexico crash into the cold waters of Alaska. I am reminded of this sitting in a local restaurant looking over the Ocean and about two o’clock on some days watch the fog rise all around us. The average temperature in Santa Rita and Santa Maria as well as parts of Arroyo Grande are 74 degrees in the mid summer for the past one hundred years. That is 10 degrees cooler then the Russian River and Sonoma Coast and 20 to 25 degrees cooler than Carneros in the summer. Why is that important? Because we have a three to four week longer growing season and that makes for better grape development, especially the Pinot Noir grape that dislikes heat! Our natural Acids are higher, Ph lower which adds to our complexity. It can be argued that in many places our soils are sandy, too sandy. I would argue they drain much better and will not hold unwanted moisture. But we’ve also planted many of the new vineyards in the hill sides where the soils are much thinner and range from Volcanic, to Diatomaceous to Clay. Remember, wine grapes produce better wines when they struggle. The soils of the greatest vineyards are usually very poor. No better example can be made than that of Burgundy. I believe that with the advent of many of the younger winemakers that believe in lower yields and lower sugars with the raw materials we now have, there is an awaking upon us. More to the point, the best is yet to come!

The detractors will say, as a community, we have fallen short, always the underling to the North. Maybe so. I say look out, because 2007 was and is the start of something special. And if more of us take advantage then even our detractors will have to open their eyes or be nothing more than a foot note in history. Change never comes easy for the vineyard, the winery, the press. But the future is promised to the bold who will take us to the pinnacle, the precipice and yes maybe the classic!

Drink well, or stop drinking,

Greg Linn

www.greglinnwines.com
www.ambullneovineyards.com

This same scenario replays itself throughout the vineyards of the world. Many who are molded into thinking the same thing and pick only after it’s way too late. My Co-Winemaker, Eric, said it best when he opined that if you wait until the fruit tastes really good then it’s way too late. I could not agree more. We are not picking table grapes; we are picking fine wine grapes. There is a world of difference between the two. One you eat with cheese on a plate the other you ferment. While your palate will surely gravitate towards the sweetness in the over ripe fruit, you need some wisdom and self control that sadly many do not. The higher the sugar, the lower the natural acid. So what are you left with and what do you need to do next?

You have a choice of two winemakers making the same type of wine but their approach and style are completely different. To set this up they are grapes from the same vineyard and both have all the tools they can muster at their disposal. Here are your choices.

Winemaker one takes in his fruit after fumbling around in the vineyard and decides the grapes are nice and sweet, even raisins. He brings them in at 25 to 30 brix (the measurement of sugar), with a very high Ph and low acid. First things first, harvesting such sweet grapes he now has to add water or re-hydrate the fruit. Not just a little water, were talking say in a two ton fermenter, depending on how low he wants the sugar to drop, it could be 20 to 75 gallons. Then he has to add acid. Since the natural acid was so low he adds tartaric acid. Sounds yummy, hey? It is, if you like a thick gumminess on your palate. After this you will likely add a cultivated yeast since you can’t get the wine to finish on its diminished native yeast and because it’s so high in alcohol. After fermentation you might have further additions but be assured your wine is destined to be varietal “incorrect”, high in alcohol and yummy gummy flavor.

Winemaker two has chose to pick early, add nothing and let the vineyard and varietal express itself!

What will you choose? Please do your homework and you will be rewarded with a greater wine experience.

Too all that care,

Greg Linn
www.greglinnwines.com
www.ambullneovineyards.com

I have replaced my first family with my second. That of my children and Jana my wife who should be given a medal for putting up with me for so long. I also have replaced my family with friends that act just as close. Blood is thick but can be manufactured with the same viscosity if you find the right people. Yes, I know it’s supposed to be a wine blog! You see, choices when making a fine wine have the same consequences as your choices in life. Let’s explore that a little, shall we?

Let’s say you’re the winemaker. In order to make my point I’m asking you, as my reading audience, to get into the role. Sit back, get a cup of coffee, and pretend you’re about to make a wine. Let’s say all the equipment is there and you have a building equipped with anything a winemaker could want. Are you with me? Now what’s your first step? I’ll help a little. Forget the usual things like a business plan. This is not an exercise thrown on you by a college professor. So your first decisions are vineyard based. Projecting the crop yield, will you be dropping fruit and how often? Will you be pulling laterals, opening the canopy for sun, keeping the fruit zone shaded, targeting one cluster per shoot, two cluster per shot or more? Spraying, cover crop, hedge trimming and the list goes on. The point here is you have many choices. Now after all of that you must decide when you will harvest, at what Brix, Ph, acids, whole cluster or completely destemed? You need to be mindful of the weather, heat, cold, rain, wind, frost. After computing all the data you make a decision to harvest. Then you’re faced with a whole new set of decisions. Someone once told me it’s easy after your fruit is in, you just do what you always do. Oh Really? Your best laid plans for the harvest can go up in smoke if the fruit is not what you expected. And it never is! Sometimes better, but many times worse.

You have moved to the winery where you must decide things like, do I sulfur the fruit to keep it fresh and ward off V/A before primary fermentation? Do I destem or not? Do I use cultivated yeast or let it go native? Do I add yeast food, nitrogen, acid, enzymes, water? After your wine is dry are you using New Oak, and if so what percentage, where from the forest, the cooperage house. Are you stainless fermenting the Chardonnay, or barrel fermenting? Are you cold settling, or right to barrel? The choices go on as they do in life. After all this, it’s about how hard to press, how long in barrel. But my point has been made. Your choices are endless.

What this is really about, however, comes down to this. With each choice you make there is an outcome and what could have been. Yes, after making the decision you did you say to yourself, was it worth it? But the path you took can’t be changed. If you went another route you may have had something different, more satisfying. You may have known all of your first, second, third cousins by name. But on the other hand, you would not know your own children because they would not be or at very least, they would be different. It’s enough to make you drink so that’s what I’m doing as I write this. Life and wine, the same and different.

You can’t allow yourself the what ifs in life. You can always improve, try to become a better person, less faulty than we all are. But to ponder on the what ifs will make you nuts and I’m a testament to that. So make the best decisions you can and once you do, live with it and live it to the fullest of potential. If it makes you feel any better, there may be a you in an alternate universe making an opposite decision and he or she is wondering what if they made the choice you have? Wow, maybe I should not drink while typing!

No regrets,

Greg!
www.ambullneovineyards.com
www.greglinnwines.com
www.unfilteredwinereport.com

Many years ago wine from the old world and  wine from California was much lower in alcohol, much lower! I hear about ripeness, that I mentioned in another blog, about how we have to get to 24, 25, hell 30 brix before the wine tastes right. Have you ever tasted a 41, 53, 58, 68, 70 B.V. Private Reserve Cabernet? Maybe a 41 Inglenook, 55 or 58 Martini? I bet no one who reads this would turn down the chance at a bottle in perfect condition. How about a 29 first growth, a 47, 49, 50, 55, 61, even 59 and 62, although a little riper then the others. What do they have in common? For the most part they’re all under 14% ALC. and they taste great! This is also true for old Burgundy and holds true today. These wines are fantastic and have aged magnificently. They are great wines but they’re not high in ALC. because they were picked at lower brix. So what changed?

In my opinion, the rating wars are the single biggest influence on the wine industry. For better or worse, depending on where you stand, they have in many cases forced the winery or winemaker into judgment calls he or she may not have made. I am not holding court over any one, on many levels I understand why they made the choices they did. Imagine owning a medium size winery making decent to stellar wine. It’s a hell of an investment. I can speak of this first hand owning a small one. You negotiate with your distributors around the country and you’re off to the races. This is all sped up for blog’s sake, but in the end you don’t sell a lot of wine not because it’s bad or not worth price paid, but because you did not receive 90 plus ratings. You have one vintage pile up on top of another and in the end your distributors starts to discount your product and tell you they might have to drop you. That you need scores! You look at the competition and find out why, even with what you believe to be inferior wines, they’re getting better scores. It’s very easy to figure, like the basic math class long ago, they’re picking later and their wines are riper. So you do the same, moving away from what you believe in, but closer to survival. But why will this fundamental change in thinking turn a critic’s score from say 80 to a 90?

It’s called instant gratification. The wines taste better and sometimes are yummy when they’re consumed young. They’re more forward and round with less complexity.  The misconception is sweetness comes from only one sources that’s inaccurate. Sweetness or roundness in your mouth can come from sugar as in dessert wine or it has RS (residual sugar) not being totally dry. But it can also come from high Ph, low acid, barrel tannin, and yes, are you ready? Alcohol! Higher Alc. can show as a sweetness in the wine that makes it attractive to the human palate. Europe has accused us on more than one occasion of being a coke drinking society. In some ways they are correct since we get used to such things and a riper wine may be more familiar to us. Let me be clear, I am not saying riper wines are better just more friendly at first. But the dirty little secret is many of these wines don’t age gracefully. You need balance, and when the baby fat of the wine ages away you’re left with an unattractive, very high alc. brut better used for cooking. So my advice, drink those wines early in their life and don’t get behind the wheel of a car.

There is a small revolution out there started long ago by pioneers in the business that never changed their thinking. Guys like Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climant that have been preaching the virtues of lower alc. wines for 30 plus years! There are others, but now there is a smaller group of new players that are just starting to rise up. They are making age worthy wine that I believe have more to offer in their youth and much more after a few years in the bottle. It will always be a struggle, that’s for sure. But there has been some sightings of winemakers wearing bell bottoms, flip flops, and tie dye shirts. They have also been seen in the vineyard picking early, imagine that? Sometimes there’s even some funny smelling smoke in the vineyard. And that’s alright with me as long as they harvest sooner rather than later!

Maybe we need a low alc. Czar or at least a wine critic that agrees with me. Maybe one of you can start writing and talk of the virtues of the people out there taking the risk for all our benefit. This is kind of a continuation  from my “More from less” blog but I guess I wasn’t finished. Imagine me wordless.

Here’s to history,

Greg Linn

www.ambullneovineyards.com
www.greglinnwines.com
www.unfilteredwinereport.com