Our Wines as of December 2018

Dear Friends,

Here's a list of our wines available as of the Winter Solstice, 2018, with tasting notes by yours truly, the wine maker.  The list is organized by varietal, and with each varietal the year. My palette doesn't appreciate higher acid wines, preferring fruit forward wines with lower acidity. You, however, may favor higher acid and or earthy wines - and there are several of those to choose from. Underlined wines suit the winemaker's personal tastes (note, your taste may be different!)  A general note about pricing - the wines are generally priced at $25 per bottle with the purchase of a case or more. Prices are subject to change, as quality improves and supply dwindles.  Exceptions are made for our "rare" wines - those that we love of which there are just a few bottles left.  All wines are made with "Estate" grapes unless noted, usually in lots of one barrel (about 23 cases) unless noted.  The 2017 wines all came out good.  If you wish to discuss the wines in further detail, please email us at bluemerlewinery@gmail.com  I'd love to chat with you about the wines. Cheers!

Aglianico 2009 (Guadeloupe Valley) - $25 very earthy, minerality. It has aged very well. If you like earthy wines, this is for you.

Aglianico 2011 - A 1/4 blend of 2009 Guadeloupe Aglianico, 1/4 estate 2010 Aglianico, 1/2 2011 Aglianico - this is a very interesting, complex wine, combining some earthiness with fruit. When Lum Eisenman tasted it a few years ago, he kept coming back for more, because he liked it, and was trying to figure it out. $25

Aglianico 2013 (Estate) - Bold dark fruit and high acidity. If you like high acid wines with rich meals, this is for you. It should age well, with a low pH.

Blush - 2018 - Made from Tempranillo. No added sulfites. Fermented to dryness. Crisp acidity - very characteristic of a French rose, blush wine. Only 6 cases produced.

Grenache 2010 blend (Grenache 50%, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah) - this wine came out well and has aged well. Shows signs of an "aged" mature wine. For sale only locally, in case its corked (so we can provide spare bottles).

Grenache 2011 blend (Grenache 60%, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah) - one of our best wines ever. Just a few bottles left. $49 each limit one per customer while supplies last.

Grenache 2012 blend (Grenache 60%, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah) - very high acid and very dry mouth feel. Very old style French.

Grenache 2013 blend - high acid and dry - a bit more fruit than the 2012.

Grenache 2014 blend - combines strong, bold fruit with crisp acidity aged 18 months in a new oak barrel. I would recommend this one of the Grenache blends (but only if you like high acidity).

Grenache 2016 blend - good balance of fruit and acidity, it drinks like a European, old world wine if you like that style.

Grenache 2017 blend (25% Grenache, 35% Petit Sirah, 40% Tempranillo) - this wine was bottled in November, 2018 and it's very promising - good fruit (cherries, currants)  moderate acidity. New oak barrel. Very promising indeed! (Be sure to check out the 2017 Tempranillo, and also the 2017 Petit Sirah - those are all good.)

Montepulciano 2009 (Guadeloupe) - Cherry flavors, minerality -It has aged well. Some people love this wine.

Nebbiolo 2006 (Guadeloupe) $99 per bottle limit one per customer if we can find one.

Petit Verdot - 2007  $99 (just a few bottles left). Grapes from Bonsall, CA. Fragrance in a bottle.

Petit Verdot 80% - Nebbiolo 20% blend 2007 $49 if we can find any bottles. Very good. PV from Bonsall, CA.  Nebbiolo from Guadeloupe.

Petit Verdot 2008 (Bonsall, CA) - $99 (Magnum Size Bottle - Local Only). There are a few 750 ml bottles available. $49. Limit 1 per customer. More fragrance, with structure, in a bottle.

Petit Verdot 2008 "Merleatage" Blend (Petit Verdot over 50%, Malbec, Petit Sirah) this was one of our best wines. New french oak barrel.  Just a few bottles left. $99 per bottle.  Petit Verdot and Malbec from Bonsall.

Petit Verdot 2009 (Paso Robles Grapes) - this is a "lighter" Petit Verdot - it is a characteristically aged wine.

Petit Verdot 2009 Merleatage Blend was made by combining a barrel of Petit Verdot (Bonsall), a barrel of Cab Franc (Paso Robles), a barrel of Petit Sirah (Valley Center, San Diego), with 1/4 barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon (Bonsall)  and 1/4 barrel of Estate Tempranillo - this wine has come together as it has aged, sometimes showing hints of tobacco. I tasted this recently after having a $400 Chateau Lafite, and the local wine reminded me of the $400 wine. This wine is for someone who likes aged, old world wines.

Petite Sirah 2013 - New oak barrel, aged almost 2 years in the barrel. One of our best Petite Sirahs ever. This is a very good wine, in its prime.

Petite Sirah 2017 - Bottled December 23, 2018.  As promising as the 2013 mentioned above! Really excited about this wine!

Petit Sirah/Tempranillo Blend 2014 - Bold fruit, aged about 20 months in a new oak barrel. Good balance of fruit and acidity.

Pinotage 2010 (Bonsall) - light fruit with minerality ....some people LOVE this wine.

"Port" Style Dessert Late Harvest Fortified Wines - 2010 "Tawney" Nebbiolo grapes with low sugar. 2012 Tawney also with relatively low sugar aged outside pretty much until earlier this year when we bottled some of it.   There's also a rich, more ruby style made from Estate Zinfandel, combining production over several years, still in a barrel, and by special request a bottle may be pulled from it. (This is really, really, really good and sweet and rich - it's going to cost more.)  There's also a 2014 Zinfandel/Aglianico late harvest wine still in its barrel.

Syrah 2010 (San Marcos, San Diego, CA) - this wine has aged well ... the grapes were a little on the higher acid side when they arrived, but it's aged pretty well.

Tempranillo 2010 - a few bottles left ... an example of aged Tempranillo in a neutral barrel (not much oak flavors). Prefer to sell it locally in case it is "corked".

Tempranillo 2017 - good fruit (cherries, currants, berries) , well balanced, fun. Love this wine! New oak barrel. Bottled early to preserve freshness. Made to drink young. Enjoy it! (Compare to the 2017 Grenache, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah blend - also fun and good.)

Tempranillo 2018 Blush - fermented to dryness, crisp acidity, in style of a French blush wine.

Zinfandel 2013 - This is a very good expression of our estate Zin. Rich wine, yet not over the top. Good balanced acids. This wine is at its prime.

Zinfandel, Carignan, Nebbiolo Blend -Called Bluey's Cuvee -  this was a blend of 2010 high acid Zin with low acidity Carignan (from San Diego) spiced with some Nebbiolo - it all blended together pretty well. A fun red wine.

Zinfandel / Tempranillo Blend 2011 - the "Stephanie Stomp" - earthy ... it seems to have come together with age.

Simple Winemaker's Dinner Recipe: Filet Mignon, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Asparagas

Filet Mignon, Medium Rare. Pair it
with Blue-Merle Winery "Merleatage."

I have been serving this meal since I graduated from high school. Easy enough for a young bachelor to make. The first occasion was a slide show for my friends after my first trip to Europe. The recipe is a filet mignon - Béarnaise sauce optional - a potato dish, asparagus and a tomato dish.

Start with the potatoes. Peel them then slice. Slice an onion and place on top of potatoes in a cooking pan and add beef bouillon. Cook until done. Then, sprinkle Gruyere Cheese on top.

The tomato dish is also simple. Start with large beefsteak tomatoes. Slice in half, add a pat of butter on top of each tomato-half and drizzle with olive oil. Dash with dill if available. Cook until tender. Salt and pepper to taste. I would now recommend Hawaii Kai natural sea salt. A sprig of parsley. Ready.

The easy way for me to prepare asparagus is to place in pan, dash with olive oil, and then a bit of water. This will steam / boil the asparagus slightly to soften it up - then finish sautéing in olive oil, and if you're feeling decadent some butter. I love to finish off this dish with fresh lemon juice - which we have the luxury of picking from our orchard - and of course a little Hawaiian sea salt.

The fastest to cook of these dishes is the filet. I set the oven to broil. Place the filets on aluminum foil. Drizzle with oil. And place under the broiler. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the filets and how you prefer them. For us, medium rare, sanglante. When finished, sprinkle a little Hawaii Kai sea salt on top.

Back in the day when I first made this meal I was a French wine aficionado, and would have served a Bordeaux. The most versatile wine we have for this meal is our 2009 "Merleatage," a blend of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Petite Sirah - in equal amounts - and then some Cab and a touch of Tempranillo to spice. The food brings out the fruit in the wine, which is easy to drink and has a nice structure, tannins and spice. The Petit Verdot provides a floral nose.

Writing this is making me hungry. Bon appetite!

"The Dogfather" Part I

Scene from "The Dogfather"

In scene 3 of "The Dogfather" Part I, Bluey (aka, Dogfather) discovers a bird of his flock has turned stool pigeon and is embezzling from the Family's property (grapes from the vineyard). Before the bird sings like a canary to bring in the Feds to investigate The Bootlegger's Express, Dogfather orders the hit. After the deed is done, Bluey utters these lines in the studio released version of the film: "Leave the nets. Take the cannoli." In the Director's cut, soon to be released on DVD, the Dogfather says: "Leave the bird. Take the grapes."

Say Hey To The 2011 Wines: It Was A Pretty Damn Good Year After All!

The Blue-Merle label features
a photo of the Cellar Master.

Blue-Merle Winery, a San Diego County ultra-boutique winery with production of 200 cases per year, has released three 2011 estate wines: a Tempranillo; a Petite Sirah, and a "Four Friends" blend of Grenache (50%), Tempranillo, Petite Sirah and a bit of Carignan. "They are all my favorite," said Craig Justice, Blue-Merle Winery's winemaker. "It's a good thing we produced a barrel of each wine - it would take me almost 3 years to drink them all at the rate of a bottle a day. This means there will be wine available for the public."

We featured the 2011 wines Saturday at the annual "San Diego County Wine Festival" a wine tasting event where over 20 San Diego wineries poured. Judging by the number of people who came back for 2nds and 3rds who said "Your wines are my favorite!" and "May I have a double?" and "May I hug you?" I would say the initial reaction has been favorable. (Attendees were limited to 12 tastes of the 50 or so wines available.)

The Cellar Master keeps watch over
Tempranillo grapes during veraison.

"I'm amazed they taste this good," said Jim K., wine manager of Escondido's Holiday Wine Center, referring to the young age of the wine.  His favorite (and that of his staff) is the "Four Friends" Grenache-blend which was aged in a new, hybrid American-French oak barrel, giving it stronger oak finish than the other wines, with hints of caramel and smoke.  The other two wines were aged in French oak barrels, so the oak flavors are lighter and more subtle (a style preferred by the winemaker).

Kelly Jones, the New York parfumista and the Scent Sommelier of Kelly & Jones fragrances said after trying a bottle of the 2011 Tempranillo, "This wine has changed my life." Tweeted Whitney Bond, author of the Little Leopard Book, "My new favorite wine @bluemerlewinery Tempranillo!  Minorly obsessed!"

"The 2011 Tempranillo is the best Tempranillo we've made so far," Justice said. "These wines represent everything we hoped for when we planted our vines in 2007," he said. "The good news is the 2012 wines aging in the barrels are tasting as good as the 2011 vintage."

What made the 2011 edition of Blue-Merle's wines better than previous years? "New barrels and battonage," said Justice, referring to a French term for stirring up the sediment at the bottom of a wine barrel to improve flavor and mouth-feel. "And, after 10 years of winemaking, we've finally figured it out," he said. "One other thing: it's the first year Stephanie and Sadie, two of our grape pickers, jumped into the pick bin and stomped the grapes."

Key steps used in the Blue-Merle's winemaking process include:

* Inspecting every grape cluster before harvest.
* Harvest at a minimum of 24 brix (and not much higher to keep alcohol at or below 14%).
* Foot stomping (very therapeutic for the winemakers and grape pickers)
* Cold soaking for three days after harvest and crush to extract wonderful fruit flavors and color from the must (without hard tannin extraction).
* During cold soak remove every stem (which contains harsh, astringent tannin) from the grape juice.
* Press gently by hand using a ratchet press, so as not to extract too many harsh tannins.
* Malolactic fermentation is induced after pressing.
* One to two months after the wine has settled, the gross lees (sediment) at the bottom of the tanks is stirred up to improve flavor.
* After the wine has settled, racked into new oak barrels (using softer French oak or hybrid French-American oak barrels).
* Not filtering the wines.
* Bottling using a small, gentle Enolmatic bottle filler.

The end result: "Our best wines yet."  So much so, the Blue-Merle Winery has entered them into the Sommelier Challenge, a prestigious wine competition organized by the Wine Guru Robert Whitley.

Editor's note from April 27th, 2014. These wines have been aging and getting better!

Here are the winemaker's notes about each of the new wines:

2011 Estate Petite-Sirah

Yummy purple! The 2011 Petite-Sirah is a delightful balance between fruit, acid and tannins with beginning, middle and end.  A big wine yet at only 13% alcohol still easy to drink, enjoyable with or without food.  Deep purple, opaque color, tastes of currants, plumbs. Bulk aged sur lees with battonage for 20 months in new French oak barrel. Unfiltered, only 24 cases produced.  One of the winemaker’s favorites.  If you’re a Petit-Sirah fan, this wine is for you. 

2011 Estate Tempranillo

Cherries!  This is the best Tempranillo we’ve produced and everything the winemakers dreamed about. Classic Tempranillo nose with a bite of cherry fruit, balanced acid and tannins, an enjoyable, lingering finish. Bulk aged 19 months sur lees with battonage in new French oak barrel.  Unfiltered, only 24 cases produced.

2011 "Four Friends" – A Grenache Blend

A delicious, delightful Rhone-style blend, 50% Grenache, blended with Tempranillo, Petite-Sirah and Carignan.  All of the grapes estate grown, except for the Carignan which came from the next valley over. Aged in a new hybrid French – American oak barrel 14 months, notes of caramel, smoke, cherries.  Another terrific wine from the 2011 vintage!  May be enjoyed with or without food.
The retail price of each wine is $35 and may be purchased direct from the winery (online, via email or over the phone) or if you live in San Diego they are available at Major Market (Escondido) and the Holiday Wine Center (Escondido). 

For additional information, Blue-Merle Winery's website is www.bluemerlewinery.com and the winemakers may be contacted on Twitter @bluemerlewinery or Instagram @bluemerlewinery .  You may email the winery at bluemerlewiner at gmail.com  If you're interested in trying wines grown and made in San Diego Country and supporting your local winemaker, be sure and try Blue-Merle Winery.

Aglianico or Ugly Hanako? Help Us Name That Wine.

2009 Aglianico wine. Label from
a 2001 portrait.

The grape is called Aglianico and it's originally from Italy where it's a noble grape and you can find Aglianico wines on wine lists at Italian restaurants in and around New York City that typically sell for $75 or more. We planted Aglianico vines in our vineyard when we couldn't get Nebbiolo the king of Italian grapes.  Sam from Nova Vines (the vine nursery that supplied our certified vines) recommended it and we had tasted Aglianico from Baja Mexico which was good so we said why not.  It's not something that everybody grows and there's nothing wrong with having a niche when it comes to marketing. The Aglianico grape produces a very deep dark rich purple juice, one of the thickest, purplest, chewiest wines you'll every see, at least as it grows in our vineyard in San Diego County. Sam at Nova Vines had it on a moderate root stock that would in theory control vigor because the soil where we were planting it looked pretty fertile and we wanted to slow down the vine's growth. It turned out the soil was not that fertile; it was sandy decomposed granite without clay and water doesn't hold and since the root stock is not aggressive the Aglianico vines have not matured fast.  On the other hand the Aglianico block at the top of the hill is the most tame part of our vineyard and we like the vines which is more than I can say about some of the Tempranillo vines planted over the leach field which are growing out of control into a jungle.

Because it would be several years before our vines (planted in 2007) matured, in the year of our Lord 2009 we decided to purchase Aglianico grapes from Guadeloupe Valley in Baja Mexico because the wine we had tasted from that region was pretty good and this would allow us to begin producing and marketing Aglianico wine. When the grapes arrived I tasted them and detected salt and we discovered I was a super taster for salt. To me, the grapes from the git-go were salty and the wine was salty and I never liked the wine and we contemplated throwing it out but one day at a wine tasting I had it out there and Coyote Karen tried it and said "this is the best wine you ever made" and she said it was "very earthy" and I learned that day she likes earthy wines. I had given a couple of bottles to my ex-boss John from my daytime job who had opened one when a company president he's consulting was dining at his house and I got a phone call from the CEO who said he wanted to order a couple of cases immediately over the phone and he gave me his credit card.

This is proof that what I like is not necessarily what you like when it comes to wine and that's a good thing because instead of dumping this wine we've been selling it and people who like "earthy wines" love it.

The Princess in May, 2013.

The TTB gave us trouble when we tried to design a label for this wine. We wanted to call it 2009 Aglianico but they wouldn't let us call it that because the grapes came from Mexico.  So, we added the appellation Guadeloupe Valley to the label and that wasn't approved. Getting desperate for a label that the Obama Administration would permit I submitted a design for "Ugly Hanako" that was approved. Before there was a TV show called "Ugly Betty" there was an Ugly Hanako and we must now tell you that our daughter, aka the Princess of this blog, is named Hanako which is the most popular girl's name in Japan and means "beautiful flower child."  The vineyardista my wife decided early on to put the princess in charge of the Aglianico vines and she quickly called those vines "uglyhanako" which rhymes with "Aglianico" and reminds us of the frown she made every time we asked her to help us in the vineyard. To make the label, I took a snapshot of a portrait done of the Princess when we were in Paris in 2001 which is the time she had her first flower and was becoming a woman and the artist drew her how she would look when she was 21 although she was only 11 at the time.

How does she feel about having her picture on a wine label called "Ugly Hanako?"  I'll let her answer that. But as there was no harm meant and we know she is a beautiful person we as the parents see no harm and it's worth a good laugh and she's a good sport and seemed to enjoy pouring the Ugly Hanako in the tasting room when she came back from Africa and even autographed bottles. The label reads: "The wine is beautiful and complex just like our daughter" and that's a compliment.

The salty, earthy, briny 2009 Aglianico is almost sold out and in a French oak barrel is aging wine made from our 2010 Estate Aglianico (15 gallons of our first harvest on 4th leaf vines which was a little high in acid), 2011 Estate Aglianico (30 gallons produced from 2011, which is quite good but not enough to fill a barrel). And how did we fill the barrel?  I uncorked and poured wine from bottles and cases of the 2009 Aglianico which I didn't like and which I was ready to through away but I thought it would add some complexity to our estate grown grapes and it did. So those wines, combined with a new French oak barrel and topped with a few bottles of  rich, dark 2012 Aglianico, we have quite an interesting, powerful wine with fruit and acid and body and nose and beginning and middle and finish and it's tasting pretty good and we're getting ready to bottle it and the question is what should we call it: Aglianico? More Ugly Hanako? Something else?

Normally, I would offer to send you a complimentary bottle for suggesting a name we end up using but the last two times we did that the vineyardista ended up in the emergency room so let's just say if you have the honor of submitting a name that we use you're invited to taste it at our tasting room.  Cheers and thank you for your suggestions!

(Winemaker's note August 29 2015 - two weeks ago I opened a bottle of the Aglianico made with our "estate" grapes and my eyes were opened. It is indeed a complex wine, with fruit, acid, beginning, middle and end. At the San Diego Wineries wine tasting event this spring our good friend, mentor, and winemaking teacher Lum Eisenman had a sip, came back for a pour, then, came back for a glass. He was hooked. This wine is unique, special, good, and has grown into something that even the winemaker likes. It is living up to the same great expectations we have for our daughter - and like life itself, just as complex. Cheers!)

("Ugly Hanako" wine is produced by Blue-Merle Winery, located in Escondido, San Diego County, California. It may be purchased by contacting the winery at http://www.bluemerlewinery.com on Twitter @bluemerlewinery and on Instagram @blumerlewinery. As a postscript (9/22/13), the 2013 Aglianico has been harvested and the grapes were beautiful and the new wine is as dark and purple as it ever was. the grapes were harvested at 24.5 brix and we were able to cold soak the grapes for 4 and 1/2 days extracting all of those dark colors and fruit flavors, and then the wine was slowly fermented - in the cool, airconditioned winery, for another 7 days. This year, 2013, as the vines have matured, the crop yield increased. We harvested close to 1,000 lbs and pressed 65 gallons of wine, enough for a barrel. New barrels have been ordered and we will rack the wine into barrels in November, after a "battonage" - stirring up the lees -- in late September or early October. P.S.S. - the 2014 Aglianico harvest produced an amazing dark and full bodied wine. Because the yield was small - about 30 gallons - we blended it with a deep Estate Zinfandel. It's still aging, as is the 2013 as o 8/29/15.  Cheers!)

A Feast Fit for Winemakers & Best Friends: The Winemakers' Dinner

Fresh basil, the base of good pesto.

Ten wines. Ten winemakers. Ten small, delightful tapas dishes. Each dish made by each winemaker, prepared especially to pair with the winemaker's favorite wine. Now that sounds like my kind of event!

What do you like best about winemakers' dinners? What's your most memorable moment from a dinner with the winemakers? What recommendations do you have for the winemakers to make it an unforgettable evening?

Hawaii Kai Palm Island Premium all natural
 sea salt,sprinkled on the pasta  before serving,
provides a burst of flavor to the Penne Pesto
 that enhances the fruit characteristics of
 Blue-Merle's Mourvedre wine.

Our inaugural Winemaker's Dinner at the Hidden Valley Enoteca on Escondido's Wine & Culinary Campus is October 6th, and we've selected our 2009 Mourvedre, the light red wine with the huge strawberry nose. The making of the 2009 Mourvedre has a unique history. We purchased the grapes from Paso Robles Bill at the end of October 2009, who trucked them down to San Diego packed in dry ice. After crushing them, we were able to "cold soak" them for one whole week, because the fall the weather had arrived and the winery was cool, that's 3 days longer than our normal cold soak. During that cold soak period all of the fruit and soft skin tannin were absorbed into the "must" (grape juice), and again, because of the cool weather, a slow, cool fermentation took place over the next seven days. The result, to my surprise, was a surprisingly light color wine (typically with our other grapes cold soaking produces dark, purple wines, but not so with this Rhone varietal often used in blends with Grenache and Syrah) chock full of flavor. My first reaction when opening a bottle and pouring a sip was "Strawberries!" The wine is that fruitful, and yet, the alcohol is 13% and it has structure. This is the wine that we serve to guests in our house as a welcoming aperitif. I have never met a woman who has not loved this wine, and it has become one of favorites, especially with appetizers.

Is it possible for a wine made from grapes to have a strawberry nose? We asked New York's Scent Sommelier Kelly Jones to review the wine in April 2014  and this is what she wrote.  "Yes I had strawberry. But it was a white strawberry. These rare berries yield a tartness that is at once creamy and smooth,  with juicy flavor that spills across the tongue in luscious delight. There is a slight accord of the green leaf from the white strawberry fields, and a hint even of the precious seeds as they burst with inspiration from your vineyard. The essence of white strawberry is Blue Merle Mourvedre. The stuff of magic!"

And why pair it with penne pesto? The strong garlic, fragrant basil and salt frame the fruit of the Mourvedre. It is a lovely combination, especially with the pesto enhanced with the Hawaii Kai Palm Island Premium all-natural sea salt, which provides a burst of flavor and electrolytes that accent the fruit of the wine.

We held a dress rehearsal of the winemakers' dinner last Sunday, and sampled each other's dishes and wines. It was fabulous, as judged by the slow productivity Monday morning. I can think of no better way to spend a Sunday evening than with fellow winemakers, their favorite dishes and their favorite wines.

(Editor's Note: The Hidden Valley Enoteca closed in February 2014 but you can still purchase the Mourvedre wine direct from Blue-Merle Winery.  Here's the recipe for the pesto pasta.) 

Blue-Merle Winery Pesto Penne Recipe

Ingredients to serve six (very hungry winemakers):

8 oz fresh basil leaves

6 cloves garlic (or more to taste)

6 Table spoons olive oil (or a little more to taste)

6 teaspoons Parmesan cheese (or Romano to taste)

3 oz pine nuts (other nuts, such as almonds or walnuts may be added to taste)

2 lbs. penne pasta

Hawaii Kai all-natural red sea salt (add to taste just before serving).

1 bottle Blue-Merle Winery 2009 Mourvedre

Dress rehearsal.

Boil water for pasta. As water heats, in a CuisineArt, food processor or blender mince the garlic. Next, add olive oil, pine nuts then blend. (You may add other nuts to the mix such as almonds, macadamias, or walnuts to vary the flavor to taste.) Next, add the basil leaves (washed and dried) to the mix and blend. Finally, add Parmesan cheese to taste and blend.

Cook pasta and strain.  Add the pesto mix to the pasta and stir. Just before serving, sprinkle the Hawaii Kai Palm Island Premium nautral sea salt to taste to set the stage for contrasting flavors of the wine's "fruit" vs. the savory, salty pesto (Note: add the salt carefully -- do not over salt.)

Open the bottle of Blue-Merle wine and pour a glass. Inhale the aromas. Do you notice the strawberry? What fruit do you detect? Next, swirl the glass and smell again. Take a sip -- do you notice the strong fruit flavor? Next, have a healthy bite of the pesto pasta. Do you notice the garlic, the crunch of the salt? Then, take another sip of the wine. How has the wine changed with the food? How does the pairing taste to you?  The winemaker (and Bluey the Aussie wine dog) love the combination.

Bon Appetit!

Rooted To The Vine

Agliancio (nick named "Ugly
Hanako" just before harvest
Sept 22 2012

When netting the vines the other month, which seems like years ago, I noticed that the leaves of shoots we cut and left to the ground turned brown and dried within days. Despite the oppressively hot weather, the leaves flourished as part of the vine, but when cut soon faded.

A shoot cut from the vine quickly withers and dies.

With the changing of the seasons from Summer to Autumn and another harvest upon us, we've been running around like crazy and are exhausted. For a moment, the grapes have been picked. There are no fermentations to punch down. No batches of wine to press. No barrels to bottle. For a moment, there is peace, the eye of a hurricane, before the frenzy will start again. A moment for reflection, to remember the day of changing seasons, the memorial of our planting, to give thanks for our blessings and for all those who helped us reach this point, for the friends and neighbors who helped pick, for the workers who carried heavy loads we couldn't possibly move ourselves, for the parents who nurtured us, and  a never ending list of people, giving them prayers and thanksgiving. Yes, we built this vineyard, and we know we didn't do it alone.

If a shoot cut from the vine quickly withers, should we not live our lives fully rooted in the vineyard?

Rising sun, raising the nets.

It has been our custom each harvest to re-read from the simple liturgy prepared by Father Bill Lieber of Grace Episcopal Church (San Marcos, CA) for the Blessing of The Blue-Merle Vineyard some 5 years ago, but in the rush to gather the grapes before the heat rises there were no champagne toasts, no parties (the vineyardista, still remembering the effects of that heart stoppage in early June and insisting on no events), no blessing of the workers, nor the grapes, nor of our friends who came to assist (despite the vineyardista's wishes, except for silent prayers I managed to sneak in before dawn before everyone started to arrive). When it was over, I realized the customary prayers and blessings were dropped this year.


I retrieved the printed liturgy from its drawer and read:

"Holy God, let me always be rooted in you so that I may live in you and you in me.

Bless me so that your grace may flow through me, allowing me to bear your fruit to a hungry and helpless world.

As I wonder, prune me of all that inhibits your growth in me.

Let me do nothing apart from you so that your joy may be complete in me. Amen."

Bluey, ready to begin
his hunt for grapes.

The vineyardista whose heart stopped after working in the vines June 6th and was back out there when she returned from the hospital one week later, has been outside among her vines everyday since, even with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. Live by the vine. Die by the vine.

Vineyard is art. Vineyard is life.

Brigit (over 80 years old), Madonna and Maggie.

Reese tackles Aglianico.

Jim clips a grape and not his
finger.

Madonna shows a prize. Next
to her his Luce.

Stephanie brings home the Zin.

Hidden Valley Enoteca - Featuring Blue-Merle and Several San Diego County Wineries - To Open September 1st at Escondido Wine and Culinary Campus

The tasting room of Escondido's Hidden
Valley Enoteca is located inside this
castle adjacent to I-15. It is home to the
tasting room of Blue-Merle Winery
and 5 other wineries.

(Editor's Note: On February 1, 2014, the Hidden Valley Enoteca closed its doors. To reach Blue-Merle Winery, please contact http://www.bluemerlewinery.com ) Blue-Merle Winery is one of the Escondido wineries and San Diego wineries featured at the Hidden Valley Enoteca wine tasting venue.

The Hidden Valley Enoteca, showcasing several San Diego County wineries under one roof, is scheduled to open September 1, 2012, in Escondido, CA. The Enoteca aims to become the destination for San Diego County residents, visitors and tourists who want to taste a variety of San Diego boutique wines in one, convenient location.

The Escondido "Hidden Valley Enoteca" is the brainchild of Dr. Mick Dragoo, proprietor of Escondido's Belle Marie Winery, which has been involved in educating local winemakers and offering custom crush to local grape growers for years. The location of Escondido Enoteca is in the "chateau" on the Belle Marie Campus, conveniently located on the I-15 corridor, about 6 miles north of downtown Escondido. This facility is being transformed into the "Escondido Wine & Culinary Campus."

Escondido (located in San Diego County 35 miles north of downtown San Diego)  has a long history as a grape growing region in the U.S., whose prominence diminished during Prohibition (which reduced the need for grapes) and then disease, which decimated the vines. Escondido has perfect weather and climate for growing grapes, with warm days (today's high temperature at the end of July is 85 F) and cool evenings (59 degrees). The climate is generally frost free in the Spring and dry around harvest time, providing a certain degree of predictability, consistency and high quality for the area's increasing number of winegrowers.

The Escondido City Council, as part of its economic development efforts and to promote the Escondido region, has been very supportive of the Escondido Wine Enoteca concept, according to Dr. Dragoo. City officials aim to see Escondido become a premier wine producing region.

The Hidden Valley Enoteca is part of the Escondido Wine and Culinary Campus (EWCC), which will feature cooking demonstrations and food-wine pairings, according to Dr. Dragoo. There will also be entertainment during the grand opening on Labor Day Weekend, he said, including the local Escondido band "Scaring The Wives" on Saturday, Sept. 1st.

"There's a taste for everyone," said Dr. Dragoo, commenting on having more than 20 different wines represented from almost a dozen wineries. "This is a complete destination campus featuring wine tasting, cooking demonstrations, tours and entertainment."

Founding wineries participating in the Escondido Enoteca include Coyote Oaks and Blue-Merle Winery, both located just 4 miles in the hills behind the Enoteca in a community of San Diego County known as Hidden Meadows.

"Participating in the Enoteca is the easiest and most affordable way for us to open a tasting room," said Craig Justice, proprietor of Blue-Merle Winery. "Up to now, our license has only allowed us to sell wine online, in restaurants and in wine shops, so we're excited to participate in the Enoteca which will provide customers a chance to taste our wines before buying," Justice said.

Tempranillo vines supervised by Bluey of Blue-Merle Winery
a participating winery of Escondido Wine Enoteca

"We have a network of over 1,000 fans around the country," Justice said, "But when you think about carbon footprint, selling wine locally makes so much sense," Justice said. "In my travels around the world, from Japan to England, from Seattle to New York, I always try to bring bottles of our wine with me and people are always surprised how good the San Diego wine is. We're excited to participate in the Enoteca opening and to offer our wines locally," Justice said.

"The micro vineyard owner knows every vine by name, and inspects every grape bunch before harvest and before it goes into the wine," Justice said. "Boutique winemaking is a craft, and the wines can be surprisingly good. This is what the Enoteca hopes to bring to San Diego -- a fantastic wine tasting experience."

"We owe a big thank you to Mick and Mary Dragoo -- and to their winemaking consultant Lum Eisenman and winery manager Jeff Lazenby -- for all the winemaking knowledge they have shared with us over the years and for their tremendous support," Justice said.

Blue-Merle Winery is one of Escondido
wineries. Blue-Merle Winery is a San Diego
Winery located in San Diego County
in Escondido, CA.

The Hidden Valley Enoteca is located at 26312 Mesa Rock Road, Escondido, CA 92026 and is open Saturday and Sunday from 11 am - 5 pm. Tel: (760) 796-7557 Escondido in Spanish means "hidden". The schedule of events for Sept. 1 and 2nd will be free campus tours at 1pm and 3pm, free BBQ demonstrations at 2 & 4pm, free live music in the amphitheater from 2pm - 5pm each day and a BBQ food wagon with food for purchase. Culinary events at the Escondido Wine and Culinary Campus are scheduled to begin in early 2013.

(Editor's Note: On February 1, 2014, the Hidden Valley Enoteca closed its doors. To reach Blue-Merle Winery, please contact http://www.bluemerlewinery.com )

What's Your Story?

We were contacted by a nice young man from Winemaking magazine who found "our story" interesting and asked us to send him some more details about how we got started, our trials and tribulations and where we are today for an upcoming article. Here is his response: "Craig, Thank you for the document. Unfortunately I cannot run this - there just isn't enough to run. Have you ever read winemaker? I would need 1 -2 pages of "your winemaking story.' Blue Merle, how it started, tips and tricks, trials and tribulations, and where you are now - that kind of thing. Unfortunately, I would need something by the end of the day at this point to make deadline. Thanks again, Cheers! Jeremy" Not enough content to run? Hmmm..... here's my response: Dear Jeremy, Don't give up yet.... There's 6 years of "content" on the Internet, and we can cut and paste. Just tell me what you want (or you grab what you want). On this website: http://www.winemakersjournal.com/winemaking.html You'll notice a link to our very first winemaking effort in 2004 (very well documented), then year 2 and so on. As for the vineyard, our vineyard installation experience is documented here: http://www.winemakersjournal.com/vineyardinstallationindex.html I have to be honest with you: there's only so many times you can write about what it's like punching down the cap and the crush and the harvest ... believe me, those are wonderful life experiences ... but we've been there, done that ... so, our writing has changed ... in the beginning, the writing was about the grapes and the wine and how amazing it was and what a gift from the Lord the grape is. We've written about that. It's always there and doesn't change. Now the writing's about people (Coyote Karen, Merlot Mike, Joe the Wino, that rascal Fidel and of course, Bluey, the Blue-Merle Aussie that runs the place) and friendship and betrayal and marriage and the economy and life framed around the vineyard, the grape and the wine. And that's a big part of "our story." Where we are now? We're a bonded winery by the TTB and a licensed winery by the California ABC. Our wines are for sale. Where are we going? The U.S. Constitution says that congress shall make no law interfering with free trade among the States. However, the grape is held hostage. There are Australian Shepherds in Oklahoma who want to buy our wine, direct from Bluey at the winery. We are not allowed to ship to them. That is the next frontier. And finally, at the beginning of the recession, the Queen spent the last of our savings account purchasing 47 Canary Island Phoenix Canaries palm trees in 15 gallon plants. Well, the drought in California was officially declared over yesterday, the economy is growing and the palm trees are getting bigger. Maybe it was a good investment.

Let's Get Down To Business

The economics look like this:

Some $50,000 invested in the vineyard.
Some $10,000 invested in winemaking equipment & barrels.
A thousand here and a thousand there and finally this has added up to real money.

The weather looks like this:
Nice and cool with bottles aging gracefully in their place.
Summer is a few months away, and heat waves could accelerate aging of some unsheltered bottles.

The inventory looks like this:
Bottles up to our ears.

What to do?
Time to sell some wine.

Other than Australian Shepherd owners, who's going to purchase a premium wine they've never heard of? The solution, make them an offer they can't refuse. So, we're announcing introductory pricing of $15/bottle when purchasing an assorted case. And, as an extra incentive for customers living within driving range, we'll include a bunch of our magnificent yellow pincushion Protea flowers pictured above. We are promoting this special on our Facebook page (targeting local residents) and also via Twitter, using the hashtag #SanDiego to attract local peeps. One of our aims is to be "your personal winemaker." This has certainly worked with family and friends. Now, let's see if we can turn this into a micro business before we run out of room and before the next heat wave.

(Editor's Note: If you're a California resident and would like to learn more about purchasing a case of award-winning, hand-crafted wines for $15/bottle follow this link: http://bit.ly/fXKBq6 )

Oh Hommage to Zinfandel: Can You Help Pick On Friday?

Dear Mark,

Waiting for the Zinfandel acid to drop has been like listening to a continuous recording of Samuel Beckett’s play “Waiting for Grapedot.” As each day passes more of the fruit makes the metamorphosis from berry to raisin; another bird, imitating Luke Skywalker searching for an opening to the Death Star, discovers an entrance and flies into a biosphere of luscious grapes; another chipmunk, less elegant than the skywalker bird, simply gnaws his way through the net and chomps the clusters dry. When that author who wrote “The Sensuous Man” years ago described a certain exercise involving the peeling of the grape, he must have been dreaming of our titillating Zinfandel. (Gentle ladies, this being a family publication, please use your imagination).

Only you, our modern-day Johnny Appleseed who plants Zin vines everywhere in Hidden Meadows and San Diego County you trespass; only you, who makes the annual pilgrimage to San Francisco for the annual Zin festival to gain knowledge about this grape to share with the rest of us; only you understand the mystique of Zin. And so it is fitting we invite you to be Master of Ceremonies for our Annual Zin Harvest.

A correlation of forces has dictated that the harvest commence Friday at dawn, including:

*The brix have held steady (with our judicious application of water to control sugar and lower acid) at 24.5 – 25 brix. The pH has risen to 3.37 and the acid has dropped to .84

*The weather forecast calls for continued warm weather the rest of the week, giving the grapies three more days to increase sugars and lower acid

*If the Queen detects another grape transformed into a raisin, it’s more hell to pay.

Doesn’t it sound like it’s time to you?

Since we were out taking samples in the vineyard, we also pulled 50 berries of the Petit-Sirah to measure.Yes, PS, of which I suspect Merlot Mike himself to be a secret admirer. Her pH is up to 3.54, her acid, has dropped to .72 and the sugars, while hovering close to 22 will undoubtedly rise with cold soaking because one row of grapes is raisins, another is close to becoming so, which is balanced by the longest row, comprised of less ripe fruit, showing a strong kick near the finish line. The time is near. And, with Senior Pedro here that day, why not pull it also?

Some people like to jog in the morning before work. Why not join us for the harvest at the Blue-Merle’s TGIF’s dawn delight instead?