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? (Click Continued to Read More)

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.ambullneovineyards.com
www.unfilteredwinereport.com
www.greglinnwines.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? (Click Continued to Read More)

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? (Click Continued to Read More)

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

The first and most important is this: There will always be another great vintage and there will always be another great wine. So when you hear the merchant say, “This is a once in a lifetime experience, or we only have three cases, remember there’s another wine on the market to take its place. Believe me.

The second is trust your own palate. Repeat. Trust your own palate! No one can tell you what to like.

The third is buy a bottle before you buy a case. If you love the wine then buy more, if you don’t then you saved the expense of eleven bottles. (Click Continued to Read More)

The fourth is stay with what you know for larger purchases until you complete step three.

The fifth is get with a group of interested people who are also learning. This way you can taste together and enjoy more bottles over a shorter period of time. Having tasting groups allows all to bring a different bottle and you experience a lot more things than you would on your own.

The sixth is find a wine server in a local restaurant and a well informed wine merchant that you trust and while dining out or visiting the shop try different things he or she may suggest. Again in small quantities!

The seventh is find one or two critics you agree with most of the time, say 70%. Then from his or her suggestions you can try some of the bottles.

The eighth is go to one or two wine functions a year. Maybe a dinner of a producer you’re unfamiliar or wanted to try. Maybe a celebration of many producers at one function. Many distributors have these type tasting’s open to the public.

The ninth is try some of the wine you bought long ago. Some of those bottles may not have aged as gracefully as you may have thought, and could be sold to recoup some of your money. But even if the wine is stellar always remember continue to taste through the life of a bottle because it’s better to catch the wine on its way up then on its way down.

The tenth and final step is Storage, Storage, Storage! Wine is a perishable item, and heat is its largest enemy. Also sun, too dry, motion, too cold. All these things play havoc with wine so have a decent cellar, or storage facility for your better wines!  

Hope this helps because I certainly would like you to avoid the degree in wisdom I received the hard way. Also remember after a long time of tasting there will be certain givens. Some wines you can just trust year in and out, but getting there takes time. Until then stay with the 10 steps.

May you achieve inner peace and tranquility with your purchases.

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

I was knocked off my feet last week by an unexpected tragedy in our family. My Brother in Law was found on his living room floor, gone at the age of 45! Now I’m missing something that I loved and should have payed more attention to. Let me tell you a little about my Brother in Law, “BIL” for the purposes of this blog.

Mark was a bigger than life person, always the center of attention at any occasion. You know the type, have fun will carry. You had a party, invite Mark and you were sure to have notices the next day. Of course the first time we met things weren’t so cozy. I was dating his only sister, his only sibling. The one person in life that he loved beyond all others and the only person in life he was afraid of disappointing. So we hit it off 21 years ago much like Israel and Palestine. But that was as it should be I suppose. It was not so long that we came to understand one another and because his Sister’s happiness was paramount he accepted the fact I was going to be around a while. So 21 years of holidays later he is gone. Funny it doesn’t sound right when I say it, but that’s the point, it never will. (Click Continued to Read More)

We had his service and although I hate the saying, it was nice, it was in keeping with all needed to say goodbye. Mark was blessed with hundreds of friends, many from childhood, that attended the service. A testament to his abilities as a leader and great communicator. As one of his best friends, Scotty put it while giving the eulogy, “Mark was my best friend, the best man at my wedding. But he was many others best man and others considered him their best friend, he was not exclusive so to speak”. Since this is a wine blog I will just say Mark liked wine, a lot, and enjoyed our times together. One of his other good friends who I met 15 years earlier Vince Medina and Toby his wife were just as close and have started their own wine label. It is the inter action of things that always get my brain working. How the random contacts we all experience can have such a profound effect on one’s life.

 At the party after the service, held at Vince and Toby’s home, we drank Irish whiskey and beer. We toasted the life of my BIL and talked our way through five bottles of the stuff, ’til we were talked out or too drunk to care. We all cried, especially his sister, Mother and Father. So in the end we will remember, always having a place setting at the holidays where we were together for the past 21 years. We will toast him at the annual Mark Bailey Golf Tournament. And we will tell stories to the all who will listen because it’s important to do so.

I leave you with this thought! No one is immune or insulated from death. It can come slow or it can slam into you like a freight train. My advice is something you already know always keep those you love as close as possible, friends and family both. There is no excuse with today’s electronic gadgetry to lose contact. Cell phones, text messaging, Facebook, E-mail, U.S. Mail and an invitation to dinner come to mind. You’ll always feel the loss but you will be in a better position to accept it when it comes.

Thanks for allowing me to share, I’ll get back to the fun stuff soon,

In memorandum,

Greg!

Too many of us are told, “That’s nut’s. You’re way out of your league.” The greatest teachers in your life encouraged you to set goals, to reach for your dream. They are the ones that encourage you, “work hard”, they say, to achieve what you want. I have seen too many friends stuck in relationships that are debilitating. Talented men and women never using their God given talents to live those thoughts instead of talking about them. It would be akin to Bruce Springsteen without a guitar, or Rembrandt without a brush because someone else stopped you from trying. Remember life is that series of choices and can be tough enough without trying to blame others for your decisions. If you’re stuck in a funk, then make a change before it’s really too late. 

My father was a talented person. I loved him more than anything. He provided for us and was always proud of what we accomplished. He encouraged us to do more! Dad died, retired from a factory job that he hated, not knowing how to get out, especially with five mouths to feed. But I have seen how great he was with his hands, the things he could build and the enjoyment that came with it! It just never occurred to him he might have had another path to follow.  (Click Continued to Read More)

How does that relate to wine? It doesn’t, or at least no more then any other life endeavor. But it was my aspiration, that came later in life. I overcame, and I am living it while I’m awake. I have said before we can always use more talented people in our industry, creativity in the winemaking and vineyard side of things. But there is also room for that person or people to move us and our industry forward. To overcome the stereotypes associated with alcohol. A person to spearhead efforts to break through to the college crowd of beer bonging, jello shooting automatons, bringing a small part of them into the fold. Giving them a little culture and guidance in their consumption choices! The enjoyment of the meal, the poetry of the glass. And in doing so saving ourselves from ourselves. Sharing freely the gift of knowledge we in this industry possess and not holding it tightly in a death grip, thinking it ours to safe guard. Thinking we have earned it and having the attitude, of divine right or elitism, Yuck! If our industry is to survive we need more wine drinkers…simple! We are a distant third in the consumption of alcoholic beverages dept., behind Beer and Spirits. Heck we’re probably behind vanilla extract. 

What does that have to do with dreams? I hope those that dream of wine making do so, and those that dream of marketing join us and help advance our cause.
For the rest, whatever it is, don’t give up on it! Make your dreams a reality and if a few dollars appear from your efforts, spend them on a bottle of wine to celebrate!

May all yours come true,

Greg!

T

I remember the rise of Zinfandel in the capable hands of people like Paul Drapper and Burt William. These wines were full bodied fruit bombs with beautiful acids and long finishes. They lingered on the palate and were much more enjoyable to drink early on than a Cabernet. But they were made with much less alcohol than they are today. Like many wines, they are made so over ripe it’s hard to recognize what I recall from the purity of this varietal.

I was sitting with one of the best known winemakers from one of the best known labels of Zinfandel at dinner several years ago. This was during the Zin rush and after the “picking late” crowd came into power. I noticed the alcohol on the bottle as 17.2% and mentioned it was really high. He looked over at me and said without missing a beat, “Greg, that wine is really over 19% Alc..” I have said it time and again. When we get too ripe and out of balance we lose what the grape is supposed to taste like. This is true for all varieties, not just Zinfandel.  (Click Continued to Read More)

It was not always so and not that long ago that people like Mr. Drapper (who is one of the pioneers), Raffanelli and others made and still make some very good wines. But even these great producers get pushed at times, maybe from larger productions or maybe from scores. I can tell you from experience that drinking a 13% Zinfandel with no other grape varietal intermixed and great natural acid is pure pleasure! Just finding one is tough these days! Zinfandel has been rumored to be brought in to our country from Italian Immigrants long ago. But did it come from Italy, some say Primitivo? Or did it come from Spain, Greece, the Middle East? Hell, I’ve heard it all. But the fact is no one really knows and so since you can’t prove it’s not ours then it’s ours! We make Zinfandel. Where else do they? No where as far as I know! So, with that I am now a producer of this grape. We picked it at low sugar, which means low alcohol and high acid. The end result is a very good example of what this wine is all about! Made in the U.S.A….has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

For the skeptics out there, I will tell you upon the release of this wine, you need only try a bottle. If you don’t like it then I’ll be surprised and give you a healthy discount off your next purchase of one of our Pinot’s, Chardonnay’s or Syrah’s. But I’m betting honesty prevails I will be discounting very few bottles and instead receiving orders! But stay sharp, because like all other wines under our production, there is very little!

Your Fellow Zin Lover,

Greg!

I’ve been  asked what’s it like living with big dogs. Would I recommend them for families with small children, do they chew, do they drool and so on. First my answer is I love big dogs. Hell, I named Ambullneo after the breed. In a day when both parents work, you come home and the kids are pissed at you, the wife is pissed at you but the dog always loves you. So he got top billing! I’m simple enough, I give credit where credit is due, and I have been pissed at the dog several times but he’s never been pissed at me.

Can we say the same for our kids and spouses? I think not!  Big dogs eat more, poop bigger, drool some, and destroy more. But on the other side they are as gracious and giving a creature as you would ever want in your life. They protect without the training, in that they just have to show up to alarm a stranger. If the kids are playing outside and someone comes to the gate, who do you think is the first there? Yes that person delivering a package, delivering the mail or if he’s there to do harm, they all take a step back when 160 pounds of grunting black thunder comes a calling. But that’s the magic he’s as friendly as the grand parents coming to see the kids, but he or she doesn’t have a clue. It’s enough to give any sane person pause. (Click Continued to Read More)

It takes a little more work to train a big dog just because of their strength but they train very easily if time is spent doing so! We have three Ambullneo Mastiffs and can’t imagine not always having at least one. I don’t breed them but the man who started the breed does, Dr. Mark Riesinger and he’s the one to see if interested. We have another dog ( yes, four dogs),  an English Bulldog we bought from a breeder in Belgium. Now that’s an interesting creature. As you may or may not know English Bulldogs are a cross between the Old English Bulldoggie and a Pug. They can have all kinds of health issues so selecting a great breeder is a must. Some problems include, palates, skin, eyes, digestive tracks and more. What should you expect from a breed that can’t deliver naturally. Yes the pups are all taken surgically for fear of the puppies dying in the birth canal from being to wide. And in the end you have something closer to Chet from Weird Science, then a dog. They fart a lot, they make all kinds of almost human sounds in what can only be described as pathetic when they want something. They’re as stubborn as can be not moving very quickly unless they decide it’s in their interest. They have a fold in front of there face that needs constant cleaning or he will smell like some badly aged cheese.

Sold yet? But here’s the thing, if you love dogs you will never be without one. These are the funniest dogs in the world, the clown in the circus. They are so ugly they’re cute, sort of like me! It would take an hour of writing to even attempt to articulate their abilities to make you laugh but be assured all the other stuff matters little.

Dog lovers are people I trust. I am always leery of those that don’t like them. I understand if someone had a traumatic experience, like getting bit or knocked to the ground. But some people just hate animals… the Michael Vicks of the world who take pleasure in hurting dogs for little or no reason. I have little in the way of tolerance for such folks. In the end I do have great respect for people who like dogs but choose not to have one because they just can’t take care of the animal. That is a smart decision and a compassionate one. Taking care of a dog, like a child, is a huge responsibility and if you’re not ready then the human thing to do is pass. Come to think of it many should pass on child rearing, but that’s another story.

Hug your dog and you will get an unbelievable reward,

Greg!

Today I am diving into one of the more controversial subjects in the business. You’ve seen labels promoting and claiming the art of bio dynamic farming or bio dynamic vineyards. Let me start by saying I believe what some farmers a thousand years ago believed, that planting and harvesting around the bio rhythms of the earth and moon work. I believe we should add as little to the soil in the way of chemicals as we can. But I also believe a farmer has the right to save his crop and his vineyard if spraying is all that’s left. Bio dynamic farming is all about being in touch with the Earth and its different stages…to only use organic sprays, to plant at the right phase of the moon, to bury a horn in the ground. I admire those who go through this painfully hard method of farming. It’s not only financially exhausting but physically difficult as well. But there’s a big difference between bio farming and bio vineyards and the latter is claimed way too often, even by some certified producers. (Click Continued to Read More)

If you bio farm, and the focus should be on the “if” because many who claim this are just not being truthful. But let’s deal with those brave soles that are adhering to the age old process. Just because you bio farm does not mean you are a bio vineyard. What? Yes, that’s right. Let me explain further. As an example, we go back to Burgundy which seems to be making my blogs more often than most. For those that have not been there, the vineyards are very close to one another. Say Vosne Romanee Les Boumont or a Grand Cru Vineyard Romanee St Vivant, it matters little because all of these great vineyards are in the same proximity to one another and by U.S. standards you might think they are all one in the same, one big vineyard. But that’s the point. Within each individual vineyard there are many owners. Some have one hector (approx. 2.6 acres) and some have more. Some prominent, well known and great producers only own a few rows and yet maintain a bio vineyard.

This can only be true if certain criteria are achieved:

1-The vineyard was a monopoly (all owned by one person) farmed bio, or every owner in the vineyard farmed the same way.
2-The vineyard would have to be isolated far away from others, measured in miles.
3-The vineyard would have to have a natural filter surrounding itself, like a forest.

 If these three things are not met then it is nearly impossible to be considered a bio dynamic vineyard. That’s because chemicals from others will most certainly find their way into your soil or on your plants. We have all heard the stories of contamination that spread through air, and water. Sometimes for long distances measured not in feet and yards but in miles. Even if all in the same vineyard were bio dynamic or it was a monopoly, it’s out amongst the rest of the vineyards. Meaning it has to be influenced by what they’re doing. This does not mean they should stop what they believe. They can certainly claim to be bio dynamic in their farming practices they just can’t be a bio dynamic vineyard. I say can’t because that’s my opinion but they can according to law and prevailing wisdom. You judge who’s right. In the end it matters only to geeks like me who strive to be accurate about such things. For the record, we have made wine from organic and non organic sources. Our experience is that if the farming is of high quality and we are willing to make due with what’s left of the fruit after sacrificing in these vineyards, both make great wine. One, however, is better for the environment.

So, does it matter? I believe if you’re a grower and do things naturally then your end result is a vineyard that struggled earlier and if it survives will produce longer because it’s healthier. I also believe many of the people claiming such things are disingenuous and if audited would be embarrassed. There are those who purchase an existing vineyard and just start farming bio after the fact. The horses are already out of the barn and it may take centuries to get the chemicals out of the soil. I believe, if possible, this is a worthwhile endeavor but doing so has become increasingly complicated and in most cases, by my definition, nearly impossible.

Till we cross paths again,

Greg

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

S

As we got to talking I found out he was born on the east coast, a Philly Boy, and we hit it off from the start. I was 32 years old buying Bordeaux and California Cabernet – not bad, hey? Yes, making some good decisions allowed me the luxury and so I was trying to corner the market on these highly allocated items. Sounds funny since I drink about two bottles of cabernet a year now. But back then I was loose and fancy free. So this gentleman named William reached under the counter and I walked out with what I thought was akin to finding a buried treasure, three bottles each. William and his wife Sheila became great friends of Jana and I so much so that he is the Godfather of one of my children. Life is funny but it was Bill who invited me to a wine dinner at an old restaurant called Rembrandt’s. I met another great friend that year, Bernie Gordon, but that’s for another blog. So, at this dinner while drinking some Cabernet, Bill asked me if I had ever tasted a D.R.C.? I said ,”Nope. But those are nice letters. What does it mean?” Bill went on to explain Domain de la Romanee Conti from Burgundy! (Click Continued to Read More)

This was a changing moment in my life because I no longer cared about the 1985 Cabernets I had bought and the 1985 and 1986 Bordeaux futures. I wanted to know more about Pinot Noir and Burgundy. Soon after I started to sell what I had bought and replaced it with Burgundy thinking they all must be great. How wrong I was. No one made more mistakes than me when it came to Burgundy. In fact I have poured more swill down the drain then I would like to remember! In those early days there were times I hauled off and punched Bill in the arm for costing me so much. But in the end I have to thank him because that first Burgundy will always be with me and has driven me to making great wine. A life changing experience so to speak! Bill has moved from California to Arizona where he fought off cancer and started raising their daughter McKenna. They moved to Florida and he lived part time in Virginia where he went through school and earned a Master’s Degree. He works for the government now and has moved, where else, 4.2 miles from my home, right where he belongs. Now we get together often and reminisce a little. We are waiting for McKenna to get her license in the next couple months so we have a designated driver full time. Life goes on and he is my best friend! William and I have been on some crazy adventures, asked to leave McMinville on one road trip. Yes, there are many stories and empty bottles behind us and I hope a long road to hoe! There are still a few Cubans and a bunch of establishments we still need to finish and visit and no doubt will be asked to leave.

I was once told by my father that when you die you are lucky to count on one hand the total of your friends. It is a fact that the word is over used! A true friend is there when you’re up and when you’re down, that you can call at any time of night or day and they will answer!

He’s there for your family when you’re sick. And when you pass on he’ll be there for them long after you’re gone. That’s my friend Bill. And to him I thank for enlightening me in the ways of Red and White Burgundy and the magic of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, for the honesty and integrity he has always carried himself with and for his devotion to his family and friends and always being there. I only hope you have a friend like Bill in your life and if you do, don’t let him drift away! Besides you never know when you’re going to need to punch someone. Come to think of it, Bill is about due!

To friendship, a magic all it’s own, and wine leading me to that friendship,

Greg!

Why? Because they work, that’s why. I have tried most major producers of glasses and believe the stemware of Riedel works as good or better then any others. George Riedel is a very interesting man and he and his son Max run Riedel as their grandfathers had before them. With focus on quality and detail, all of their upper line are hand blown to perfection. I know both men, have been to Max’s pad in New York and have had George over to my home. I can attest to their dedication but this is not an article about them. It’s about maximizing your enjoyment. Riedel, from time to time, puts on a tasting of stemware. That’s to say they match their glasses against others and show you why they work. I  went through this tasting and was somewhat skeptical at first. I left the tasting convinced that a glass is as important as the wine it holds.

Have you ever been to a great restaurant and the food is great, the company’s great, the atmosphere’s great. You order what you know to be a great bottle of wine and then they serve it in a clunker of a glass or a glass so small that as soon as you try to move the wine around to release it’s bouquet it flies over the side. What a bummer!  I have also found that you really don’t need a Chardonnay Glass, a Cabernet Glass and a Burgundy glass. I know this because I bought them all. But my glass of choice almost 100% of the time is the Sommelier Series Burgundy Glass from Riedel. This glass, designed by George’s father, has been the Grand Cru of tasting glasses for more then half a century. You can go to our web site, punch reviews or store and see a picture of this glass. But you will have to endure my mug also! Now I do use a champagne glass from time to time because I like the bubbles. But when I don’t care about the bubbles then I use the Burgundy glass. (Click Continued to Read More)

Riedel makes some less expensive Burgundy glasses and they also work great. But the sommelier series glass is the best and it matters not what wine you pour in it. You will be rewarded by this king of glasses maximizing all aspects that particular wine has to offer. This is no small investment. They run between $75.00 and $125.00 a stem. The difference between Nieman Marcus or better put (Needless Mark Up) and your discount wine shop. But even the latter is not cheap.  Another thing to be concerned about, the stems break very easily if precautions are not taken. Normally this occurs when you drink too much and knock it over but it can easily happen during cleaning as well. Holding the glass by the stem and spinning it around while drying can snap it at it’s weakest point. But if you take the proper precautions you will be rewarded for years to come. Yes, I’m hooked and if you try one I believe you will be also!

So, remember, this holiday season if your husband tries to buy you a new toaster or your wife decides you need to change your look and buys you a new shirt, stop them before these zealots get carried away and demand a new glass for the true wine experience.

All the best, and don’t tell your spouse or significant other I was the cause of your uprising.

Good luck,

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

What happens to a wine from the first sip you take to the last you swallow?  Better asked is why is the last sip so much different and usually so much better then the first? Air, that’s what. Good old oxygen creating that terrible after effect, oxidation.

 Too much of anything is bad. But just enough of something can be good. Example: we need plenty of clean water to survive, and so does every other living thing. But water, as important as it is, can turn stagnate, rancid and become the most destructive force known to man. It can spread disease at an alarming rate, turn from life giving to a pure heartless killer. A breeder of death from itself and the creatures that nest within. We also need oxygen to survive and to grow, to become a mature person and so does wine. But if oxygen were pure, would it be good over a long period of time? (Click Continued to Read More)

Wine being made up of mostly water needs oxygen to develop. We are very careful to keep a blanket of protection on the fruit whether it be off gassing from primary fermentation or from malo conversion. Once the wine is through this process, we protect it in other ways by keeping our barrels topped at all times and adding sulfur if necessary to help prevent the very accelerated aging process. But properly managed, the micro oxidation is important in a wine. While a barrel is tight enough not to leak, it is filled with pores so tiny only  air can seep through. Liquid is too heavy to leak out! Yes, the interaction takes place even if the barrel is full with no head space. This process starts the aging and allows the wine to develop to a point of drinkability. Next stop, the bottle!

Years in a bottle if enclosed with a cork, there is also an interaction ever so slight of air reaching the wine to help it breath and help it’s further development. Micro oxidation is important and over a time if the wine was made to age, it will do so gracefully. You will be rewarded with secondary flavors not found in a young wine. Are they better? I prefer to think of them as different, not better, but certainly something to look forward too! I will deal with other enclosures at another time but there is little data for or against the screw cap theory. That is whether the wine will age properly or not and whether it out weighs the risk of T.C.A. or cork taint!  Anyway…for another day.

So now you have that wine ready to drink and pour it into a glass.  You move it around releasing the bouquet because the oxygen is attacking the wine and the wine locked up for all that time is assaulted with this new environment. As the evening goes on the wine becomes more and more seductive, drinking better and better, until the last glass then seems the best of all. Why? Because it is!

The oxidation rewarded you with just enough development and it liberated the wine to reveal itself in a unembarrassed, naked, less encumbered stage of it’s former self. But the other side of this is the evil outcome. Yes an older wine can do exactly the same thing, but too many open, do a sprint and a dance with the oxygen but fade into oblivion way too quickly. Ah, the risks we are willing to take to reach the pinnacle of drinking pleasure. To prove why we move wine in a glass here’s a little experiment. Take two identical glasses and pour the same amount of wine in each. Swirl one and leave the other alone. Smell and taste the swirled wine and then the other. The noise of the swirled wine will be much more reveling and the finish should be a little more smooth.

So what happens really? This magical transformation, the wine opens, that’s what. All this talk of liberated, naked, unencumbered, seductive, is making me, well, “Thirsty”!

Talk again soon,

-Greg Linn
www.unfilteredwinereport.com
www.ambullneovineyards.com
www.greglinnwines.com

However, blending is an art! It sounds contradicting but its how my feeble brain works. Putting together a cuvee or a vineyard wine of high quality is very difficult. Remember my blog post called “wines are not created equally”? Most producers take what they have from a certain Vintage or certain Vineyard and throw it all in a tank and presto, they have wine. No, that’s not how the great wines are put together. The quality producers agonize over the blending process trying to come up with the best combination. Some blend for consistency such as champagne houses in their non vintage wines. They will, on a regular basis, blend two, three or more vintages together to achieve what they call their house style. No easy task, believe me.

We blend our flagship wine Bulldog to be consistent from vintage to vintage. Of course this is limited to wine from one vintage but there is a thread were looking for, a moniker, so to speak, that makes it recognizable as such. A vineyard wine is all from the same vineyard. Bulldog is not, so it’s even harder to blend. All of our wines, however, start with the same premise: blend the best wine possible no matter the sacrifice. So step one is blind tasting each and every barrel, scoring that barrel on its quality from every sensation we can muster. The noise the mid palate, the finish, the complexity,(how many flavors are present), the balance, the balance, the balance! No I’m not repeating myself. We, meaning myself and my staff, try to execute our plan to the best of our abilities. Not unlike the preparation for a football game. Now this might sound a little “off” but I am also looking for an emotional response to the wine. Please save the hankies but when you get it right it’s, well, euphoric! (Click Continued to Read More)

Here’s the part that’s hard to figure. It was best put by my co-winemaker Eric Bolton. Some barrels just don’t play well together. There’s no answer for this phenomenon, but let me explain further. Let’s just use a simple numbering system say 1 to 10. One is the least agreeable and a ten is excellent. If you use all 10′s and blend them together they might or might not produce a great wine. Something could be missing from the mix…some tannin, some acid, some fruit flavor. Now you can have four barrels from the same fermenter and all will be slightly or dramatically different. Why? Heck if I know! But what I do know is to make a great wine, some of those barrels that scored 5′s or 6′s might have to be used. If a gap is missing then you need to fill it if you have the ingredient to do so. Not that dissimilar to the DNA strain in Jurassic Park, throw in a frog and you have a dinosaur and in our case a great wine.

Blending is the most important or equal to the most important things we do. It takes many weeks in some cases and is painstaking sacrifice. I am often reminded of this when the wines we don’t use end up somewhere else and my staff thinks I’m nuts not bottling this on its own. A less expensive wine with our label, but that’s not who we are. A final story, we made 500 cases of 2006 Bulldog which scored a 93 from Mr. Parker if you care about such things. The vintage as a whole was widely trashed by many in the critic community. Although I don’t agree with that assessment, it is worth mentioning the following. Our total production for all our Pinot Noir’s was 1500 cases. We sacrificed 20 Barrels, bulked them out! 20 barrels is equal to 500 cases of wine. That’s 25% of our total production! Maybe we should call this article sacrifice because if that’s not it then erase the word from the dictionary.

It takes will, and a lot of tasting in many combinations to come up with the right blend. It’s frustrating, rewarding, disappointing, and extremely gratifying all rolled up into one. It is our artistic expression of what wine should be. You’re the real critic and the only one that counts. If you don’t agree then we better put down the brush!

Drink well my friends,

Greg!

Why are our wines priced the way they are?  Here’s a short list of reasons for those that need further clarification. (Click Continued to Read More)

All wines are made in the vineyard and we strive to do whatever is necessary to bring in great fruit. Our yields are consistently lower or equal to the lowest in the state. We do this for quality. What does that do to the price of fruit? It can be 2 to 10 times higher than some of our competitors. We hand pick every cluster. In fact, we hand maintain all of our blocks. If I spend three times more for fruit then a competitor, that would mean my bottle price might be triple the price. But that’s just the beginning. We sort aggressively meaning even less fruit the majority of producers never sort anything. We do not use the entire amount of must that goes into the press electing to leave 15-20% behind. Why? Because the spent yeast and seeds in the bottom of the fermenter will leave bitterness that greatly impacts the wine. Most winemakers would never sacrifice any liquid. We press very lightly and in the end we have an intimate relationship with each barrel. All are tasted separately and if not up to our tough standards, bulked out and never to be seen again. Then a second cut of very good barrels end up in restaurant labels. We use the best cork, expensive labels and bottles. Trust me, this doesn’t pencil out, however in the end we have a wine that is world class. We make very little but what we do make is at the top of the food chain. I can go further as to the labor cost from the greatest staff in the business who work long hours to ensure that quality. Then a blending regime that takes months. The new oak from three year or 30 month air dried extra tight grain French barrels. Many exceed $1100.00 to $1200.00 in price.

We have made a huge investment in the best equipment possible. Fermenters that are temperature controlled with glycol, ensuring cool, steady long fermentations. All designed by myself with the help of Rieger. I won’t bore you with the capital investment but its eye opening, that’s for sure. So before you go off half cocked and say something that is “ignorant”, think first! You can buy machine picked over cropped, water added, oak chipped infused, spun off alcohol, acid induced specials with cultivated yeast and inoculated malo’s if you wish. But that type of winemaking doesn’t interest me. And for those loyal customers who have visited us and know what were about, we thank you and will continue to earn your trust. For those that don’t know us and write without thinking, your anger might be better suited to the real culprits in the high price arena. We sell a lot of our wines to distributors around the country so we can be at the great dinning destination you have booked. That three tier system brought about long ago is protected in every state by lobbyist that would never let the revenue go. The plain truth is they make more on my bottles than I do! We end up mixing retail, wholesale and F.O.B. pricing and the net weighted average is 70% less than we receive. Here’s another example: a bottle of Domain Leroy Romanee St. Vivant 2005s average price in U.S. dollars is $2600.00. Unbelievable, but not near as much a Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee Conti 2005 at over $5000.00 per bottle. But this is not the Domaine only! Yes,they are asking some crazy prizes to begin with but the U.S. Importer is at least doubling down on the price. If compared to those giants were a fly on a Nats tail pipe.

We all have a pain tolerance when it comes to buying luxury items like wine. I was brought up by a Mother and Father who did not have much but they loved the heck out of me. I know what it’s like to stretch a dollar. Were not for everyone. But please understand that were not making a dime right now and if I could give the stuff away, I would. I can tell you we make less than many of those 15 to 20 dollar bottles when it comes to our bottom line. And since we make very little wine and sell every bottle year in and year out, I guess were doing something right. All the best to all these coming Holidays. We wish all of you a safe and healthy season. Remember, this is the time to eat and while youre at it, drink a little wine, no matter what it costs.

My promise is a simple one; we will always strive to be worth the price!

Thanks for the look,
 
Greg!

Now as it pertains to winemaking and alcohol levels, let’s throw in some facts! I believe, as many do, that you get more from less when it pertains to sugar levels in grapes: more fruit flavors, much more expressive and expansive on the palate, a full spectrum of flavors from the lighter red fruits to the darker purple, more in the way of earth, floral aspects, minerality, colas, soy, anise and so on. When you pick at higher brix (the measurement of sugar) and higher Ph levels, you will produce wine with higher alcohol. Remember the basic chemistry here, yeast eats sugar and produces alcohol. The more sugar then obviously the more alc… With riper fruit you get into riper flavors and eliminate many of the subtle more delicate ones from the mix. Yes you can rehydrate (the adding of water to lower the sugar) this most certainly will work in reducing the finished alc. However, it will not retrieve what was lost in the phenolic. You can’t wash away the ripe flavor; it’s already too late. This is at the very core of what’s going wrong out there. (Click Continued to Read More)

Some, because of scores or because that’s how they’ve always done it, can’t see clear of another way. I freely admit that there was a time when we planted to the wrong root stock and more importantly the wrong clones. But today we have corrected many of those errors and have the raw material to make World Class Wines, if one has the will and is unafraid to do the work and has the passion. Lower alcohols allow you to use native yeast because they finish. Cultivated yeast are not indigenous to the area or the varietal in some cases. It changes the flavor dramatically. The reason they’re used is convenience, and more to the point they require little risk. They will finish meaning the wine will go dry, plus they go quickly lowering the risk of other problems.  But without risk in winemaking there is little reward in my opinion. Lower alcohols will not burn out the fuse? Meaning that the higher the alcohol the better chance of killing the yeast before finishing it’s fermentation. With the addition of some of these so called super yeast little in the way of worry remains. Sounds like a factory to me!  Tell me what the heck’s wrong with better wine with lower alcohols in a society that is scrutinizing our every move. If you go to a restaurant with your date, it would be nice to finish the bottle you paid for and not worry about driving. Not to mention with a heck of lot more enjoyment!

Another sure fire way to screw up or as I see it, miss your mark, is fermentation temperatures. It’s convenient to use T-bins in the winemaking process for many small producers. A T-bin consists of a square container constructed of ply wood mounted on wants akin to a palate as a stand and then you drop in a plastic liner. We have used these T-bins in the past and they work if proper precautions are taken. Now we use them very sparingly only when necessary, which is rarely, if at all. Instead, we use fermenters made from stainless steel that have glycol jackets surrounding the tank. This allows instant cooling when needed. The problem with T-bins is you must watch over them meaning a twenty four seven approach. If they get too hot then you need to add something to cool them such as dry ice. Sadly most winemakers only use dry ice in the beginning, if at all, and the fermentations always go hot. Some exceeding 110 degrees. Our tanks are designed with a temperature gauge that allows the monitoring of each fermentation. Normally they start between 55 and 60 degrees and never exceed 75 degrees.

Why all the fuss? Simple. The hotter the temperatures the more likely you are to burn off flavors you want and give you what you don’t want. All the work for that entire year in the vineyard. Dropping of fruit, the day to day struggle with Mother Nature and then you reap the the reward by over heating the wine and your left with burnt and cooked flavors. You loose the freshness along with all the great flavors already discussed. You also pull out harsh tannins and not the sweet complex ones you crave. Yes, temperature is important and yes, it takes an effort but it shows up. So back to the beginning.  If you’re making wine in your garage, on a small basis at a custom crush facility or you go for it all and produce enough to make a living then do it right. Be passionate and you will get much more in return.

That’s my take, but you may have your own?

Drink more, drink better, from less,

Greg!

www.ambullneovineyards.com