Thanksgiving and Pinot

We are in the right business this time of year because no other wine goes better with turkey and savory side dishes than Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  While our Chard is not ready for release (darn!,) our award-winning Pinot can grace your Thanksgiving table this year:

• Our elegant Silver Medal winner 2010 Russian River, which is almost sold out, will complement the heck out of the turkey.

• Our 2009 Corona Creek will stand up to the hearty mouth watering sausage-stuffed mushrooms we recommend below.

• Our versatile, well-balanced Silver Medal winner (and excellent price/quality ratio per Prince of Pinot) 2010 Unhinged is perfectly suitable for dinner but also an excellent casual partner for next day turkey and stuffing sandwiches.

A couple of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes:

• Ina Garten’s mouthwatering Sausage-stuffed Mushrooms
• Sweet Potato Buttermilk Rolls from Pinch my Salt

 

Green Harvest (Dropping Fruit)

In regions where there is plenty of sunlight, fertile soil and irrigation, grapevines can end up producing too much fruit.  This is the case in many winegrowing regions in California.  In response, we typically remove a percentage of the clusters around this time of year–after they are fully formed but long before they are ripe.  Removing a portion of these immature clusters allows the vine to put all of its energy into the remaining clusters and leads to a more even ripening process and improved flavor compounds.

Removing fruit may seem detrimental since it decreases our yield and, ultimately, the amount of wine produced.  However, our intention is better quality wine, not more wine.  Green harvest allows us to achieve better quality wine by creating balanced vines with the right cluster-to-canopy-size ratio and more evenly ripened clusters at harvest.

Below are some recent pictures of a walk through dropping fruit, when veraison (the turning of the grapes from green to red) is 20-30% complete.  All but 2 clusters are removed from shoots that have extended beyond the top wire, all but 1 cluster are removed from shoots that extend below the top wire and all the clusters are removed from shoots that are too short to reach the middle wire.   When veraison is done, we do a second round and drop all the clusters that did not ripen properly so that we end up with an evenly ripened crop.

Pinot veraison

dropping fruit

 

Pre Harvest Sampling in Carneros

It’s been a long, cool growing season and harvest is still maybe 2 weeks 1 week ?? away.  Yields look small but with the long hang time, complex flavors are developing in there.  And it’s always a pleasure to walk Steve’s vineyard with him.

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Stomping Girl Pinot Wins Silver and Bronze

All of our recently released 2009 Stomping Girl Pinot Noirs medaled out of over 5000 wines entered in the latest San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.  Woot!  Here’s the breakdown:

2009 Stomping Girl Lauterbach Hill, Russian River Valley, Silver Medal

2009 Stomping Girl Corona Creek, Sonoma Coast, Bronze Medal

2009 Stomping Girl Beresini Vineyard, Carneros, Bronze Medal

 

Thanksgiving and Our 2009 Pinot

We released our 2009 Pinots before the holidays this year for you to enjoy at the holiday dinner table and to be able to give as a gift.  They are young but very drinkable now, if you don’t want to wait.  If you happen to drink them side by side, here’s the order in which we recommend you enjoy them:

1) Lauterbach Hill, RRV–a delicate, lighter-bodied, food-friendly Pinot that pleases the palate with bright cherry and strawberry notes

2) Beresini Vineyard, Carneros–an elegant, medium-bodied, deep garnet-colored Pinot perfumed with cherry and a bit of spice

3) Corona Creek, Sonoma Coast–a fuller-bodied Pinot displaying darker fruit and a hint of roasting coffee and chocolate

Drink now or put in the cellar to enjoy a few years down the road.

 

Bottles and capsules and corks, oh my

bottles, capsules and cork samples

Winemaking is not always about making wine.  There are always less glamorous tasks to be done, like packaging, which we are working on now. Later this summer we will bottle our 2009 vintage and we are lining up packaging details now. This means decisions have to be made on what size, color and nationality the bottle will be. We must choose what type of cork to use and if our logo will be branded on it. Then there is the capsule–what material, color, size do we want? Logo or no logo?  And last, but not least, we must update our label for the 3 different vineyards 2009.

Under my radar, downstairs, Uzi has been busy mixing and matching different colored capsules with various styles of bottles with our 2008 label slapped on to get a visual of what we want to end up with.

During his mix and match process, Uzi put a filled bottle with our 2008 Stomping Girl label, a red capsule and a Stomping Girl branded cork in it on our kitchen counter for me to see.  In an ironic twist of fate, later that same day a sommelier/wine director from a very well-known restaurant coincidentally paid me a surprise visit on an unrelated matter (we were working together on a project for our kids’ school.) He knows we make wine and spontaneously asked if he could try it.  I obliged, of course, after all there was the bottle of it right there in front of us on the counter. Had I followed rule #1 of pouring your wine to trade, I would have tasted it, and I would have known that it was not the 2008 Stomping Girl Lone Oak Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands that was clearly indicated on the label and that I portrayed it to be.

The gentleman gave it a sniff and a whirl.  His feedback was brief as he was in a hurry. He observed cranberries on the nose and the palette and then had to run to an appointment. Cranberries???  I should have known something was up at that point.  Our Lone Oak definitely does not invoke cranberries.  It has a much darker red fruit component.

That night I discovered the wine that had been on the counter, that I had poured for our new friend was not what I thought it was.  Aack!  I had been waiting weeks for the perfect opportunity to pour our wine for this man and I blew it!  How was I to know that a bottle labeled 2008 Stomping Girl Lone Oak Pinot Noir was in fact a bottle of our 2007 basement Pinot? Still a perfectly drinkable Pinot but not our Stomping Girl that retails for $38.

Luckily, we had a nice chuckle over it later and I promised to pour the real Stomping Girl for him next time.  Wonder if he’ll believe me?

 

Passover Wine

You may be familiar with our story and the inspiration for our name–Stomping Girl–and already know this:  Uzi’s Grandmother Esther grew grapes on their property, his sister Michal took off her shoes and stomped them and Esther turned the grapes into wine.  The wine was primarily for their Passover celebration each year.

Officially, kosher wine is served for Passover.  For a wine to be kosher, there are many rules that must be followed, such as:

1. The vines on which the grapes are grown must be at least 4 years old and left unharvested every seventh year.
2. Only kosher, non-animal ingredients may go into the wine (i.e., only certain yeasts may be used and egg white, a common fining ingredient, may not be used.)
3. Only male, Sabbath-observant Jews are allowed to handle the wine through the entire winemaking process from the harvesting of the grapes, through fermentation, to bottling.
4. One Percent of the wine must be discarded.
5. Barrels must cleaned 3 times before use.

The Cohen family Passover wine enjoyed by them every year in Israel was not officially kosher, being that Esther and Michal handled the grapes and the wine.  But it was close enough for Grandmother Esther.

For us here in California, the # 1 rule for Passover wine is that it must taste great.  After all, you are supposed to drink four glass of it every night.  And, though not Sabbath observant, our chief winemaker is Jewish and from Israel…and that makes Stomping Girl Wine pretty close to being kosher.  Passover starts next week, and I bet you know what wine we’ll be serving.

 

Stomping Girl Celebrates International Women’s Day

Stomping Girl Wines is named in honor of Uzi’s independent and hardworking grandmother who grew grapes and made wine on the family property; for Uzi’s sister who was originally “employed” to stomp the grapes for the family wine; and for Kathryn, Lea and Hannah–our modern day Stomping Girls who stomp the grapes, punch the cap, press the wine and are involved in our family winery.  (read more about our history here)

To honor and recognize these women in our family and women everywhere, Stomping Girl is celebrating International Women’s Day this March 8th by donating 10% of our wine sales between now and March 8 to a non-profit group called Mujeres Unidas y Activas.  This group educates and advocates for Latina women, many working as domestic and childcare workers on issues such as immigration law, domestic violence and women’s health.  Stomping Girl is proud to be able to contribute to MUA.

To help you help us donate 10% to a good cause, we are offering Free Shipping anywhere we ship in the US on orders of 2 bottles or more placed by March 8th.  Click here to order and use promo code: IWD.

There is not a better day to raise a glass and salute the women who make a difference in your life than International Women’s Day.   Cheers!!

 

Stomping Girl Reviews And Feedback Are Rolling In

It seems like we have been raving about our own wine for a while now but since it has been officially released it is nice to receive feedback from others validating our own opinions.

Our first official review came from the PinotFile Newsletter where our wine was reviewed alongside some formidable contenders.  He said this of Stomping Girl Pinot Noir:

Split Rock, Sonoma Coast–“Shy aromatics with hints of black cherries, spice and warm cookies. Nicely weighted cherry and strawberry fruits carry over to a pleasant finish of moderate length. Doesn’t have the firm tannins often found in Sonoma Coast Pinot Noirs. I admire this wine for its balance and finesse.”

And popular wine bloggers Brix Chicks had this to say about Stomping Girl Lone Oak, Santa Lucia Highlands, Pinot Noir:

“Yum!  This Pinot has the delightful nose coaxed from the tasty fruit of the warm, yet breezy Santa Lucia Highland area. I got a lot of ripe fruit in the aromas…lovely well balanced acidity…”

Other, less official but much more important, accolades are coming in from our customers and friends:

“What a beautiful and inviting blend of ripe red fruit and earthy characteristics like mushroom.  It was very well structured with pretty acidity and a lingering finish.” -DH

“The wine was fantastic, I especially like the hint of Cola.” -Brandon

“The wine is truly outstanding…” -Sheridan

“Delicious….” -Heather

“Excellent!” -Ramona

 

Stomping Girl Wines adds Beresini Vinyard to 2009 lineup

 

Beresini Vineyard

We are very happy to announce the addition of Steve Beresini Carneros vineyard to our 2009 lineup.

Steve has a meticulously maintained small vineyard in Carneros that has been producing world class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for many years by the likes of wineries such as MacRostie.  The vineyard was planted in 1989 making it one of the more mature Pinot vineyards around, even by Carneros standards.  Low yield and careful management of the vines produces superb wine. When Steve called to say he might have some fruit available for me I had to drive right over and see it. 

Stomping Girl will have three rows dedicated to us, two of the Pommard clone and one of the Calera clone. These 3 rows will give us only a tiny amount–maybe four barrels of wine.  And that is fine by us because we choose to produce small lots from grapes carefully grown by small family-owned vineyards.

Steve, who has been growing vines and making wine for more than thirty years, takes excellent care of his vineyard. He was the winemaker at one point at Niebaum-Coppola Winery and worked alongside the legendary André Tchelistchef, who consulted with Neibaum-Copola at the time.

While tasting his 2008 from the barrel, all Calera clone, we talked about his winemaking protocol. I tried to learn his winemaking secrets, what makes his wine so luscious and round, so aromatic and bright cherry red. He got a distant look on his face and reminisced about Andre, a mentor to him.  Then he said, “It’s really simple, it’s all starts in the vineyard, so when I walk around the vines and I’m suckering and pruning, I say to myself, ‘I am just walking around, making wine.'”

We are lucky to have this extra winemaker in the vineyard.

Steve Beresini and his vineyard