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.)

Back to CruVinDogs.com