Tony's "Bud Break and Blending"

I get asked a lot – “What is your favorite vintage?”

My answer is always the same – “The next one.”

I certainly love and enjoy every wine I make from every vintage but I must admit that my focus is always on what’s ahead. Especially this time of the season. With longer and sunnier days of early Spring comes bud break in the vineyard. The bare, dormant vines have weathered the cold, dark, wet winter and now the green shoots are just starting to burst from the swollen buds. It’s hard not to see this event as the very birth of the 2009 vintage wines. Soon there will be a heck of a lotta work to do in the vineyard – mowing and suckering and keeping tabs on the multitude of beneficial insects that inhabit the vineyard cover crop. But until then there’s plenty of work to do in the Cellar. Early spring is blending season in the winery. So rather than wandering the vineyard I’ve been spending most of the time wandering the Cellar, tasting through wine lot after lot, barrel after barrel.

(Left: Bud break on a chardonnay vine.)

A great blend is a great thing. And whereas the goal of our Best In Show series is to showcase the terroir of an individual great vineyard, the Cru Vin Dogs Portrait and Puppy series wines are crafted to highlight the very best features of carefully selected fruit from my favorite vineyards in Napa and Sonoma Counties. The key to a great blend, I think, is familiarity with the grapes. I’ve worked with some of the vineyards used to source Cru Vin Dogs wines for as long as 13 years. So although the flavors, aromas and textures of individual lots of wine in barrel may evolve month to month, I have a pretty good idea of where each wine is headed and what it can contribute to the final blend.

(Right: Dry Creek Valley on the western edge of Sonoma County. One of the most beautiful wine growing regions on earth.)

Once I’ve selected the components for a blend it’s time to focus on the composition. I spend a lot of time with a table full of sample bottles and a graduated cylinder -- tasting, tasting, tasting (I know – it’s tough work but that’s my job!). Blending, for me, is kind of a Zen thing. I don’t pay much attention to the lab numbers from the Enologist. I also don’t rely on standard “recipes” or try to follow what others have done. I do have a very specific idea of the style of wine I want – wines of balance, character, finesse and age-ability.

Eventually, I’ll narrow the huge field down to just a few favorites. This is actually fairly easy for me – either a blend “clicks” or it doesn’t. I try not to over-think it. And once I’m happy with a blend I always look for fresh opinions from trusted sources. I’ve got a lot of good friends with some of the finest palates in the business – Winemakers, growers, sommeliers, and, of course, the entire Cru Vin Dogs team.

In the end, the final blend sent to bottle is the product of years of very hard work by countless people. My goal is to justify all that time and effort with the creation of something really special in every wine I make. Ultimately, the wine must befit such a label as Cru Vin Dogs. It’s gotta be good. Really, really good. And I think it is.

-Tony

(Left: The grapes for the Cru Vin Dogs 2005 Bloodhound and 2006 Golden Retriever chardonnay came largely from this hillside vineyard in Dry Creek Valley. This vineyard is planted with strips of insectary flowers between the rows. These plants provide food and habitat for beneficial insects which provide natural pest control. Organically farmed, this vineyard is never sprayed with pesticides or herbicides.)

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DOG OF THE MONTH for MARCH

Greetings Readers,

The Dog of the Month for March is a special pup who found a new home with some loving parents in The State of Qatar, far from our shores, near Saudi Arabia. Dog lovers unite! Homes for homeless pets are needed all over the world. Similar to the case of March's Dog of the Month, Jacob, some of those homeless animals are victims of abuse or trauma and have special needs. Very large and selfless are the hearts of those who are willing to open their homes to these special needs pets.

In honor of Jacob and his journey, as well as the loving parents who have given him a home, here is March's DOG OF THE MONTH, Enjoy!

"We have a new family member. His name is Jacob and he has blonde hair, brown eyes and four legs. We don’t know a lot about him – how old he is, where he came from or if he’s ever lived with a family before. The only thing we know is that he’s been in our house for less than 24 hours and he’s already part of the family. Truthfully, I think he became family about 30 seconds after we put him in the truck and he drooled all over my arm and the back of the seat. Yes – Jacob is a dog.
As far as anyone knows, his history started a few weeks ago when he was found, horribly hurt, and then taken to the Qatar Animal Welfare Shelter (QAWS) for care. They don’t know exactly what happened to him, but they think he was hit and then dragged by a car.

We met Jacob when we went to QAWS to take a tour to see the dogs and find out how we could best help as volunteers. At that time, he was pretty sad looking with a “lampshade” around his head to keep him from chewing and licking his wounds. Regardless, he came up to the front of his kennel and tried to lick our fingers through the mesh. Once, like the goof he is, he got stuck in the doorway of his kennel because he couldn’t get his head through! But he kept smiling that doggie smile and wagging his tail.I just kept thinking about him and when QAWS put his story on their website, I knew we needed to find out what it would take to bring him home with us. The QAWS staff had received many calls about Jacob in the 48 hours since they posted the feature. I think a couple of things weighed in our favor for adopting Jacob – we were previous dog owners and had seen both of ours through several surgeries. We weren’t put off or scared that he’d been hurt and would never be a physically perfect dog. But what I think clenched it is that we’d looked at all the dogs and had a hard deciding on the first one that we wanted to adopt. Most people who called only wanted Jacob because he’s at least part Retriever. No doubt, Labs are my favorite dogs, but we would have probably taken half a dozen if we thought we could…So Jacob’s at home now acting as though he’s been here all his life. As I write this, he’s lying here on the office floor with his head on his sock toy –guarding his precious possession. In a little less than a day, he’s played outfielder in our son’s backyard baseball game, tipped over his water bowl outside and in the guest bathroom, pooped on the office floor, been given his first of many baths, tried to make friends with the neighbor’s cat, feasted on his food, taken a short walk around the compound, chewed on one of my sandals, tipped over my husband’s drink on the front porch and taken off with the book I’m reading.

We’ve forgotten what it’s like to have a baby in the house, but we’re quickly remembering – put things away, move all glass items to a higher location and be suspicious, very suspicious, when it gets too quiet. And, of course, give lots of hugs, kisses and cuddles."

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In Vino, Veritas

Hey Readers,

I'm pleased to report that our distinguished and incredibly knowledgeable Winemaker, Tony Wasowicz will be joining me in the blogging effort! (See the link on his name for his company profile). He's a wealth of knowledge on winemaking, farming, beekeeping, and many other very valuable and interesting topics. His tasting notes for the wines he makes are always written with a great deal of description, you can almost taste them just from reading the words.



It should be a great addition! So keep your eyes on the CVD Blog for Tony's "Notes from the Winemaker" as well as the tasting notes from our newest selections that I've been itching to post.

Thanks for reading!

Kristin

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