From Wine Dog To Bird Dog

A mystery: Sparrow caught in net to protect grapes from birds. Sparrow's head missing. How could that have happened? A coyote? But a coyote would just rip the whole bird out, no? Besides, I noticed no bird there 10 minutes earlier. Inspect the scene: fresh blood on the ground underneath the sparrow dripping from the headless carcass. And where is the head? Missing? Could this be the work of Bluey the wine dog? Where is that Aussie? I see him in the row below following the flapping noise of a bird caught in the nets frantically searching for an escape.

"Leave it!" I command, which he understands to mean leave it alone. I walk down to the row and he's in an attentive sit, staring at the bird, no longer moving. This one has its head, but the body is wet with dog slather. The mystery is solved as I hear Bluey sing a new song:

"Love to catch those birdies,
Love to chomp their feet.
Love to bite their heads off,
Love a delicious treat."

The bird wars have begun and despite the two causalities the birds are winning. They have damaged 3% of the Tempranillo crop so far and we are behind the curve, but hope to get caught up today. We are the first vineyard in the neighborhood with purple grapes and the birds know it and are throwing a party and inviting all their friends and family. I was able to save two birds (one last night and one earlier this morning) and I'll keep a closer eye on Bird Dog. Enough writing and back to netting.

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 Does the Quail Say?

The Raven says, "Never More." What about the Quail?

As I walk down the mountain I hear a call from the vineyard: "Where are you? Where are you?" That's the tweet from Mr. Quail trying to find his mate.

The Queen says the Quail are telling Fidel (that rascal): "Trabajo. Trabajo!" Get to work!

Celestial Sandra says the Quail say, "Picasso. Picasso," calling her adorable Shih Tzu by his artistic name.

The Queen says the Quail are telling me, "Ahou, Ahou" Japanese Kansai dialect for you stupid, idiot fool. She's right again. That's what it takes to plant a vineyard. We should be quoting the Raven: "Never more, never more," but she had me out in rural Riverside County yesterday surveying acreage for our next vineyard. You know what I'm thinking about that: "Ahou, Ahou!"

That's Not Charlotte's Web

As I lowered my foot for the crushing blow on the Black Widow covering her egg pouch I said to myself,  "This is not Charlotte's Web."

Just because I rattle a shovel around the dark areas housing water valves before I stick in my hand doesn't mean there's not a spider lurking there waiting to get me. I recall my first visit to the Valley Center Water District office to discuss our water allocation 5 years ago when a man telephoned asking what to do because a Black Widow had just bit him when he turned on his irrigation valve. Lesson learned.

We do have a cast of barnyard critters here in the vineyard who greet us most days: RockySquirrel (who defies death daily avoiding every trap I spread for him and enjoying the snack of an orange or avocado slice I leave him; his fur is getting lush from the avocado oil); OwlGore (the barn owl whose pellets we inspect daily in hopes of finding skeletal remains of Mr. Gopher); RoadRunner (beep, beep) and of course WylieCoyote (whose pack prowls the valleys surrounding us); Bugs Bunny (who is baby bugs this time of year and a treat); HawkEye Pierce (a  family of hawks who float on the currents in the sky); DanQuail (a covey of quail which our dog can't quite figure out); CarlRove (the neighbor's cat who prefers hunting on our property -- he knows what to do with the quail); fortunately, we haven't seen Simba the Mountain Lion (though he was caught on a neighbor's surveillance camera) but I've had three sightings of the bobcat (for whom I don't have special name other than The BobCat).

Some mornings as the fog lifts there's a sparking web across vines spun by one of those large fruit spiders which I examine carefully trying to find the letters: S-O-M-E-D-O-G

The Noble Art of Spraying

I hate to spray. I hate to spray. I hate to spray....

1st Shipment To New York City

Dear Wayne,


About that wine I sent you....

You mentioned the New York City wine distributor you know is also the owner of an Italian restaurant so I  included North American wines made from grapevines with an Italian origin. I purchased the grapes grown by Camillo Magoni who immigrated to Baja California from Italy. It is said the cuttings used to plant his vineyard were carried by suitcase from Italy to the hills of Guadeloupe Valley, just over the border from San Diego. We have made a 2006 Nebbiolo from Camillo's grapes that was to die for and I think there are 12 or so bottles left in the world. So it was in 2009 when we kicked into high gear that we contracted to purchase more grapes from Camillo, this time Aglianico and Montepulciano. What I have sent you is a bottle of each: 100% Aglianico (which we call Ugly Hanako since that rhymes with our daughter's name and I had trouble getting my Baja-grown Aglianico label approved by the TTB) and 100% Montepulciano (the so-called "Monty",  because I also had trouble with the TTB with that label if it were called Montepulciano from Guadeloupe Valley). Both wines reflect the tough character of the Mexican soil. Friends of ours have described the Aglianico as "earthy". The Montepulciano is less earthy: its color is lighter, cleaner. You will catch some fruit on the nose. Both wines would pair well I think with rich, hearty Italian dishes.  I will let you and the distributor be the judge. (For my taste, I find the character of the soil salty, although not as salty as your character.)

Opposite the wines whose grapes grew in Mexico is a 2009 Mourvedre whose grapes were trucked to us by Paso Robles Bill. Paso is one of the greatest wine regions in the world and we love the wines produced there and jumped at the opportunity to purchase her grapes. .What surprises me about this wine is its light color (it might remind you of a Pinot) and there are times when I detect the essence of strawberry on the nose.  This is a well balanced wine -- a bit more "fruit" than the others, probably the result of being cold soaked for over a week after harvest, and a slow fermentation that brought out all of the flavors. I have not met a woman who has not liked this wine. It pairs well with appetizers and lighter dishes. I'm curious what the New York distributeur/restrauteur has to say about it. I like it.

The final selection is a wine made entirely from San Diego Grapes.  This wine is still in a pre-release stage and I'm curious (and hopeful) what it will do in the bottle.  Our 2009 "Merleatage" (named after our Blue-Merle Aussie) is made from combining what were full French oak barrels of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Petite Sirah. We also had about 15 gallons of Cabernet Sauvignon as well we had to deal with (which went into the mix), and when I tweaked it, I blended in 10 gallons of our estate Tempranillo to give it more bite. Because more than 3 barrels of wine went into the mix, this is the largest lot of any wine we've made (about 80 cases produced). A reason for sending it to you and the distributor to try is that there is enough to sell, if there is demand. We opened a bottle to test after sending you yours and enjoyed it with the lamb roast I slow-cooked for Easter. The wine was enjoyable, and as I said, we are full of hope and expectation that this one will turn out to be "not too bad" and perhaps, even "pretty good" although not among the best we have ever made. (Those are too few to send to the distributor; we are holding those back for our best customers. However, we will soon start bottling some of the 2010 wines and there should be good ones among them and enough to allocate some to distribution.)

We have a few friends and fans alive and well and living in New York City who would love to be able to purchase our wines so we await your judgement and wish you and your friends an enjoyable tasting because our wine is meant to be shared among friends.

Poles, Polls & Pols

Now that pruning and dormant spraying are done, next on the list of vineyard to do's is replacing damaged poles. I used to think it was my Herculean strength pulling the wire tightener that caused 10 ft. poles to snap, but alas, I have been assisted by termites. (Question: If termites are eating the wooden poles in the vineyard why aren't they eating the wooden beams in our house, or are they?) Digging hole, inserting pole, aligning pole, mixing concrete, pouring concrete is all pretty straightforward. Before this, the pole must be cut from the wires, causing the cordon wire to go limp leaving vines to stand on their own, which they do well when dormant. I want to get this done before budbreak -- which has already started --  before the vines are a host of tender new shoots so easy to break.

Removing the concrete remnant of a 10 ft pole four feet underground is a back-breaking task. Easy enough for me to dig down to where the shovel meets concrete, but with so much wood sticking out, we call in Fidel, that rascal, for the dirty work at 4pm in the afternoon to finish the job. When he's done at 6pm he says, "That'll be $30."

"Why so much?" asks the Queen. "The rate is $12 an hour and you worked two hours."

"You always give me the hard jobs to do," he says.

"Why do you think we hired you?!" says the Queen and she's huffing and puffing and can't get to sleep at night carrying on about the nerve of that rascal to request so much when he does so little and what's so hard about the jobs we've given him because we've been doing everything ourselves.

 "Of course we hire him for the hard jobs," she complains to me at 2 am. "Otherwise, I'll do it myself."

Another sign that the recession is dead and unwell and not living in Paris. The Big Recession is so 2008 and it's 2012 and it's a great leap-year forward and it's an election year and this economy is on the mend and it's time for everyone to plan to reap the future harvest if you're not reaping already. The Hebrew Bible tells us the story of Joseph who had dreams of 7 years of famine and 7 years of bounty.  Have we not been through our years of famine? Is there not light at the end of this tunnel?

This is America and there's been cycles of booms and busts throughout our history. Is this not just another cycle? Isn't there a rainbow after this storm?

I've been so busy travelling around the world and selling everywhere I go that there's been no time to write about the winemaking adventures of Bluey & Craig and the carrying's on of Fidel and the escapades of Coyote Karen and Merlot Mike. While I've been out of town two new restaurants have popped up on Grand Avenue in our little town filling up spaces vacated during the downturn. Why, even Joe the Wino himself has been quiet these days, unsure what to say because the economic spring is here and the flowers are blooming and he hates the President and it seems he's upset the economy is improving because he can't blame that on the President. I remember last year when Joe, who owns a high tech company in San Diego, laid off more employees (again) from his very profitable firm and the next day the stock market tanked hundreds of points and it was as if he (and his corporate buddies) timed it perfectly and they believed they were economic and CEO geniuses. While they were cutting jobs and speaking venom and putting millions of dollars into their own pockets, the good stewards of business were investing and building their companies and expanding sales and growing exports while Joe the Wino was complaining about Obamacare and telling his employees they could "go on the government plan" and saying the President was "ruining the country" and Obama this and Obama that. He said "Obama is destroying jobs" and raising his taxes and those of his millionaire friends is going to reduce jobs but it was he (Joe the Wino) who was laying off employees, looking out for number #1 (himself), paying the lowest tax rates in recent history and putting millions of dollars into his own pocket as our country's national debt soars.

Who can afford going to the movies these days or to a ball game or to the theater, so for us there's TV (yes, we finally bought one) and our favorite entertainment has been watching those Republican presidential candidates debate as they rant about Obama this and Obama that and how he's as evil as that Holocaust denier from Iran and this is all we hear on TV and after months and months of this, like the Big Lie, with so much repetition it sometimes becomes hard to discern the truth and we were starting to believe what they say and what Fox News says might have some truth to it.

We went outside and pruned the vines and got rained on and hailed on and did our work and thought about things. We heard the cries of the hawks and the barks of our dogs and found enough money to turn on the heat (whenever we could see our breath in the house) and ate bread and beans and drank the $1.99 6-pack beer from Trader's Joe. We drank the wine we grew which is inexpensive for us to make but has an amazing taste and ate way too much cheese to go with the wine and we didn't go to bed hungry though we might not be eating as well as we should. Now if things are so bad and the President is the reincarnation of 666 and a Darth Vader destroying jobs and job creators, how is it that I'm  involved with a little company that started with  2 people in the garage at the depths of the recession and has now grown to 50 people and we started offering benefits and providing health insurance and all the while the candidates are saying that the President has stifled small companies and yet who could be smaller than us and we are growing like crazy. And, after a couple of years of do it yourself vineyarding we've got  a tiny bit of extra funds to hire Fidel for a couple of hours and Fidel is demanding more money and isn't this also a sign of an economy that's turning around?  If not, why are customers and dealers from all over the world demanding our products?  Even our wine sales are increasing, PTL, because we've got to sell all these cases of wine that are piling up.  So much for the pols and the polls. You heard it here first (although I was too busy to right it down last year): good times are coming and make your plans now to join us for our 2nd Presidential Inauguration Wino's Ball (and yes, Bo the First Dog is invited) and before then let's start planning for a bountiful harvest in the Fall.

Fidel came back the next day and pulled the termite bitten wood out of the holes and he worked for less than 2 hours and said, "You only have to pay me $20 today."

"Good, because that's all I have," said the Queen. As he was leaving she gave him two Italian-made chairs which had once served the dining room of a condominium at the Watergate. He put them in the back of his beat-up pickup and drove off, a truce of sorts between them and a sign of the trickle down economics to come.

First Buds, First Gophers

Budbreak at Blue-Merle Vineyard.

Like the first kernel of popcorn that pops, the first bud on the 6th leaf Tempranillo vines has unfolded. Bud break has started in the vineyard, soon to be awash in a sea of light green. As with opening day of baseball,  there is so much hope and promise and anyone can win. This is the year of a great vintage, and why not?

Joe The Wino says "a gopher in February is worth 50 in June" and the gnarly varmints have been stirred by the heat wave the past week when it hit over 70 degrees in the vineyard, causing those buds to swell to great pregnancy.  The Queen caught her first gopher of the season this morning (the carcass discovered by Bluey who goes into Pointer Mode when there's a gopher trapped in the hole -- I shall spare our sensitive readers a photo), after pruning most of the vineyard herself while I was in France trying as many varieties of wine as I could (limited by the fact I was there on daytime job business, not a winetasting tour). The French wine industry is alive and well and producing some great, enjoyable wines, even for my pallet, this said after making my first trip to France since becoming a winemaker. I've inspected every vine, fine tuning the cuts, to make sure we do not overcrop -- the Queen tends to leave a few too many spurs, a few too many buds. Thoughtful pruning now can help down the road with canopy management (avoiding that jungle), mildew control and better grapes, just like weeding out a few gophers early in the season makes them easier to manage down the road.  If good wine is made in the vineyard, this is where it starts. 

Don't Cry Over Spilled Wine

Streaming wine.

We have an old saying: "When racking wine you're going to spill." This has been true since 2004, so it was something of a miracle last weekend when we racked 3+ barrels of wine and didn't spill a drop.  No accidents. No spousal fights. The other morning as I took Bluey out for a run I noticed an inky color meandering beneath the garage door. I went back into the house, into the garage (which has been converted into a winery) to find that my worse nightmare was about to unfold: A container of wine leaning like a tower of Pisa about to tip over. (It had been placed on a wheeled stand not strong enough to support it -- of course, The Queen had warned me: "What are you thinking?" she said, about putting that container on that wheeled dolly? "It's not going to work.") As it is, only a gallon or so escaped, and I don't like that wine that much anyhow, a Petite-Sirah with the aroma of rotten eggs (more about that in another post). So here it is folks: With Winemaker's Journal, you get the good, the bad and the ugly. There's no reason to cry over spilled wine. The dog will lick it up.

The Allure of Netting & Disrobing Vines

The mind wanders down a path of creativity while doing repetitive manual labor and ponders amusing thoughts to pass the time. These green nylon nets become silky black lace and we're no longer pulling nets over vines but rather helping our darling into her stockings. We're not tying the nets to keep out birds but helping our darling fasten her dress behind her neck. As the climax of harvest arrives we're not untying vines but unhooking her brassiere. The next move is helping her step out out of her black lace revealing her luscious, sweet fruit. The rest is up to your imagination.