Walking into my work…

This entry was originally published in June 2005 but I liked it so much, I wanted to move it forward in time so it doesn’t get lost as I relaunch the blog. I had asked, Cary Gott, our very talented winemaker, to jot down a few thoughts for the Vintner’s Journal. Here was his first post.

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Walking into my work…
In an interesting lifetime of making wine from lots of vineyards at many different wineries (Inglenook in 1969 was the first) I have learned to entertain myself with a few special experiences I get to enjoy as a winemaker. Some are in the vineyard and usually relate to driving tractors in the spring. Another is the design phase of a new winery when the architect in me puts a new design on paper, a cellar where I would like to make wine. There is always the opening an old bottle from my winemaking past and enjoying again the work I did many years ago. And there is one at the conclusion of a winemaking project that occurs just a few times a year…
Last week I created the blend of the Match Vineyards 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. In the caves at Rombauer two different lots of Cabernet and one of Merlot were racked from barrel, blended and returned to barrel (my unique mix of mostly new French oak barrels). Eleven barrels of clone 15 Cabernet, nine barrels of the clone 7 Cabernet and three barrels of Merlot. All three, very, very nice wines and just eight months old. I always worry that a new blend might not be as expected after the work is done. Maybe something unexpected happened or it just doesn’t go together as planned. Usually about a week after the blend is made I make myself go taste the wine, usually with a little fright in my mind but also there is excitement to see what I have created (especially when I’m working with wines as interesting and complex as the 04 lots from Butterdragon Hill).
I waited until the end of the day when the winery was closed. It was a rather warm day, the first day of summer. Beautiful outside, cool in the winery. I found a wine thief and a glass in the lab. Next, a zig zag walk through a room packed with barrels to the shut cave door and a fumble feel along the wall to find the light switch once inside. Lights on and the winemaking fun begins. The floors are shiny wet, everything is damp, the smells are a heavy complex mix of wood, cave walls and years of winemaking. The walk between two rows of barrels seems to be a gliding-on-water experience that does not require effort, just absorbing what is around me. Two turns into other tunnels and now here are the Match barrels that were just racked. My random selection machine is turned on and a barrel is chosen to taste. Bung out. I always amaze myself (I guess it is from doing this so many times) that I am able to to get the thief to go in the bung hole without hitting the sides since I cannot see the hole as it is hidden in the shadows of the barrels stacked above.
Half a thief-full is slightly splashed into a rather large bowl glass. One big swirl. I’m not concerned about the color, just the nose and the taste. I’m by myself with a wine I just made. Talk to me. I never had a large learned vocabulary of words to describe a wine. I have few friends I use all too often, but they work so well for my purposes. Big, rich, full, elegant, deep, stylish, long-finish, complete, nice, wow!.
After a smell and a taste (with a well executed and accurate spit, a fun talent) and then one more taste, I’m thinking this wine is better than I expected. All of those words I so often use are this wine. And now I say out loud in a rather large voice, “wow, this is great wine”. I’m speaking to the cave. I’m speaking to the other barrels of the wine. I do a 360 in place and have a last taste. I am so pleased. Do I take the credit (in my mind)? No. It’s the vineyard. I just finished the vineyard’s work. Great wine. Thank you vineyard.
Then I do a quick tasting of the 03 Cabernet. Just as expected the nose is getting spicier, complex and the body is silky and elegant. A wine doing its thing correctly and beautifully. But I was really here to taste the new blend of 04 and give myself peace of mind on the work we just did. Touchdown ! I now have two great wines aging.
I don’t remember my quick exit from the cave. Later I try to remember if I turned the lights off, I can’t. What I remember is the first smell and taste of what I think will be an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon. Big, rich, full, elegant, deep, stylish, long-finish, complete, nice, wow!.
2004 Match Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon from Butterdragon Hill.
Cary Gott
June 23, 2005