The Search For Treasure

Jon & I have been talking about this since last harvest, 2007...what other vineyards, clones and Rhone varietals should we consider adding to our treasure in the 2008 harvest? After much discussion (which, of course we thoroughly enjoy), we came up with some new vineyards such as Larry Mettler's Petite Sirah.

We did attempt to purchase some last year, but the portion of the field we were looking at had some late season issues. We're also taking some Syrah Noir to compare to the wonderful Syrah 470 we've included in Lot '06 and the 2007 vintage, to see what additional characteristics it might bring to our final 2008 blend. Al Bechthold's ancient vine Cinsault is being thinned more this year than prior years, even though it was only yielding about 2 - 2.5 tons per acre, and this year we're pulling from the northwest corner rather than the southeast section.

Each year we want to find more Lodi fruit from different, but exceptional vineyards to determine what benefits if any they might have in our special program. Even though we've already found some wonderful gold mines for our Panthos blend, there are certainly more undiscovered treasures out there and we don't intend to stop looking.

How to make a cult cabernet

Just saw this on the Parkerboard. Great stuff!

The true believers: A new generation of Napa vintners pursues the holy grail of cult Cabernets.
Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2005
By Corie Brown, Times Staff Writer

How to make a cult cabernet:
1. Build your own high-tech winery, using no pumps, only gravity.
2. Burrow into the side of a hillside to create caves.
3. Hire Heidi Peterson Barrett or Phillip Melka as winemaker.
4. Claim extraordinary characteristics for your soils.
5. Plant vines so close together that they “struggle.”
6. Harvest only perfect grapes and sort twice to make sure.
7. Harvest as late as your nerves will allow.
8. Ferment your wine in micro lots.
9. Sell less than 1,000 cases of wine per vintage.
10. Charge more than $100 a bottle for the first vintage.
11. Offer the wines for sale only through mailing lists and at ritzy restaurants.
12. Pretend you’ve never marketed your wine.

Bottling Lot 06

There were 4 barrels

 
...and now there are 99 cases...
We've done quite a few bottlings in our time, but pulling out our finest four barrels for our first release felt like escorting our child out of our home for the first time heading to college. We put the final blend together about 3 months ago and back to barrel with 2 of the 4 barrels our new french Damy oak barrels as Craig, our winemaker recommended. We trusted the bottling to Harry, the owner of Mobile Wine Lines. He's bottled for me beginning back in 1999, but this was all the more special...100 cases of our greatest effort (actually 99 cases). Now Jon & I will handle each bottle one more time to put the label, cap and neck ring on each by hand. Yeah, we really do love this!

Knowing the Vineyard

Gary Patterson knows every vine and every row of his vineyards as well as our winemaker, Craig Becker knows every drop of wine he's ever made. The first frost hit Lodi and other outlying areas so we were worried about the vineyards we're pulling from. Jon visited Ron Silva's Mourvedre vineyard in the northern appellation, and both Markus Bokisch in Clements Hills' Belle Coline vineyard and Al Bechthold's Cinsault vineyard to the west were spared.
Jon and I like walking the vineyards together, discussing anything & everything about our wines. This is one of those times at the Belle Coline vineyard in Clements Hills. We agree with our winemaker that the Petite Sirah from this hilltop location is an integral component for the Panthos blends. We're getting to know both the sunrises and sunsets pretty well from this hill.

Bottling Preparations

Bottling is nothing new to Jon & I since we've been doing this for years before at my prior winery, and in much larger quantities. This is different, though. The first release of any new wine is always filled with anticipation, but to Jon & I, this is not any wine. From the moment Panthos was conceptually born in our minds over two years ago, we've settled for nothing less than perfection, beggining with the growers to our winemaker, even down to the glass designed to hold our wines. Jon has worked especially close with 6-West Designs on our package design bringing our purpose into focus for everyone lucky enough to try this wine. And in three short weeks, it will be bottled and waiting for the final act...to be uncorked.

2005 McPrice Myers Santa Barbara County L’Ange Rouge Grenache

Our favorite California Grenache so far! Deep garnet color; fig, plum, Concord grape juice, cherry, bacon and Eucalyptus aromas with a slight white pepper burn; full bodied and changing from Marionberry syrup from Murphys and strawberry to steely pencil lead tannins, slice of blood orange and bacon, finishing with licorice, cinnamon oil and cherry pie, almost like spicy Big Red Gum on the finish. All this comes into nice balance with fruit holding up to the 15.4% alcohol. This is very complex and changing, unfolding like a movie. Drink it slowly over a couple of hours to see its rapid development. The fruit and spiciness reminds us of a nice 1997 Justin Isosceles. $30; 5 out of 5 stars!