A few weeks back our amazing West Los Angeles Henry Wine Group sales team lead by Regional Manager Jenna Chevigny visited us for an afternoon at the winery. Pictured above is winemaker Thomas Houseman with the dream team after tasting through the 2007 pinot noir barrels.
Now I know that many of you do not share my disdain for corks in wine, and the resulting detectable and, even more disturbing, the sub-threshold levels of cork taint. In the vein of democracy, I kneel to Kim, the goddess of marketing, and put an equal amount of the Winemakers Pinot noir in both screwcap and under cork closures. It is a classic exercise in compromise. Now, if we could only get our representatives in Washington to do the same...
Anyhow, there is no guarantee that wines in cork-closed bottles are not tainted with TCA, or as we know it in the cellar- 2,4,6-trichloroanisole. I am going to steal yet another definition from the web, this time from Wikipedia. Here is their explanation of TCA and cork taint, which, though less entertaining than my take is much more succinct:
CORK TAINT can most accurately be described as "moldy" or "musty" or "earthy" or sometimes "medicinal" smell that masks or dominates the fruit aroma of wine and reduces the overall wine quality. The source may be one or more particular chemical compounds formed by a reaction between molds and chemicals.
Infected wines are said to be "corked" or "corky" and the contaminant often referred to as "cork taint", although there are many other possible sources besides corks for its presence in wine.
Molds may be originally present in raw cork bark or in wood used for barrels or barrel racks, tanks, scaffolding, walls, stairs, pallets, cardboard boxes, or other many other types of winery equipment or facilities. TCA can also can infect cork or wood that is in storage.
Regardless of the source or chemical identity, Cork Taint can impart a very unpleasant smell that, depending upon its severity, tends to dominate all other aroma characteristics of any wine it contaminates. The least offensive and most subtle sign of TCA is wine that has very little aroma at all. The Australian Wine Research Institute conducted experiments in early 2003, that demonstrated even a very low level of contamination, as little as one or two nanograms per litre, suppresses positive fruit aroma character in wine by as much as 50%.
I am now going to step away from my soap box...
Needless to say, it takes very little of the compound to ruin a perfectly good Pinot noir. Thus, we go to amazing extremes to insure that when you pick up a bottle of Anne Amie Pinot noir, we have done everything in our power to insure the corks we buy are as "clean" as possible. One of the major steps in this screening process is a "cork soak" where we sensorially inspect lots of cork from our suppliers. The attached video shows the cork soak screening. In this particular screening, out of ten bales of corks randomly pulled from different suppliers, only three were clean. Those clean cork bales were selected for the 2007 Willamette Valley (Winemakers) Pinot noir. So, for those of you, like Kim, that absolutely MUST hear the pop of a cork when you enjoy your wine, rest assured that the care we put into our wines goes well beyond that. It's in the packaging as well.
Cheers,
Thomas
Let's go back to 1994. Nancy Kerrigan is whacked with a metal bar. ER and Friends debut on NBC. Kurt Cobain takes his life at 27. Forrest Gump is running across U.S. screens.
I am in NYC- a modern dancer performing with the Nikolais Louis Dance Company. My best friend, Christian, lives in Hell's Kitchen. Not today's Hell's Kitchen, with its fancy condos and gleaming, trendy restaurants, but a 90's Hell's Kitchen. It is a neighborhood of sirens, bodegas, shadows, and cat-sized rats.
Christian and I have a ritual. Since we are both from restaurant kitchen backgrounds, and since we brew homebrew together, and most importantly, since Christian has cable, we meet at his house with microbrew in hand and turn on the telly. There is a new network called the Food Network and we are entranced. It's like nothing we've seen before. There is this guy, Emeril Lagasse, and he is cooking (kickin' it up a notch) in a way we have never seen on television. It is what we now know as "edutainment". But, for two ex-kitchen guys like us it is a way to re-live the good ol' days and be inspired. Inevitably, it led us to the corner bodegas for supplies and a foraged dinner was prepared.
Let's flash forward to 2008. I am asked to present my wines at a benefit dinner. The chef for the evening is none other than Emeril Lagasse. I jump at the opportunity! Emeril has done so much to get people eating outside of our cultural boundaries. He has inspired a generation to try new foods. The Food Network has brought new ideas about cooking into our living rooms. My goal is to do the same with wine. I didn't grow up with wine. I grew up with sweet tea. But, I have found a world outside of what I knew. A world of wonderful flavors. A world of traditions. A world that I hope to share with others.
I make wine that is, if nothing else, food-friendly. And, I love nothing more than talking to others about what we do in Oregon- how our wines at Anne Amie reflect what we are passionate about and how our terroir is reflected in every bottle of our wine. So, it is with great pride that I packed myself off for an opportunity to pair my wines with the food of someone who I have so much respect for.
More from Little Rock.
I'm very pleased to introduce you to the newest member of the Anne Amie team, Director of Winemaking Thomas Houseman. Thomas brings a unique combination of art and science to his winemaking and I am confident that his passion to create distinctive wines will take the wines of Anne Amie to ever higher levels of quality.
Thomas’ winemaking career unofficially began in the basement of his parent’s home in Hampton Roads, Virginia. At an age when other boys were playing with Stretch Armstrong dolls and Rock’em Sock ‘em Robots, Thomas made his first two wines from a kit he saw in a store. His Welch’s grape juice and orange juice concentrate wines are lost in time, but I’m sure they’d be showing well if any remained. Thomas pursued sports and the arts, but winemaking dogged him. In a remote corner of his university library, while looking for a book on Fauvism, Thomas stumbled upon a winemaking book from England. It described the wonderful elixirs that could be made from anything from rutabagas to damsons. Free wine from root vegetables sounded great to a starving college student, and a new passion for fermenting exploded along with a several bottles of pomegranate and banana wine. Thomas narrowly escaped blindness from this stage of his life and went on to New York City, where he pursued a career in modern dance. Travelling the globe performing Thomas was able, for the first time in his life, to experience wines from different regions in addition to the terrior from which they came. The last turn of events that led to Thomas becoming a winemaker was the engagement of Joel, the lighting designer for his dance company. Joel was a home brewer of epic proportions, but his fiancé would have nothing to do with it in their shared New York City apartment. Thirty or so subway trips later Thomas had his newly inherited and free brewing setup crammed in every corner of his Queens apartment. So, he bought a book and taught himself to brew. With the creativity of a dancer, the eye of a scientist, and the encouragement of friends who loved the free beer, the passion for fermenting reemerged.
A turning point in Thomas’ life occurred when he traded the stage for the cellar, and enrolled in the enology program at California State University, Fresno without having ever set foot in a winery in his entire life. But, with the passion and headstrong nature that propelled him into the arts he forged ahead. Two weeks into his first semester found him responding to an urgent need for a production enologist at Fetzer Vineyards, in Hopland, CA. Once again, without ever setting foot in a winery previously in his life, Thomas was now in charge of tracking millions of gallons of wine and being the liaison between 5 winemakers and the cellar. It was an eye-opening and exilerating harvest. Thomas was officially bitten by the winemaking bug. As a student, Thomas created a Primitivo wine that won several awards in international competition including a double gold at the California State Fair. It was also at school where Thomas developed an interest in barrels and how they interact with wine. This led him to work with barrel guru, Jeff Cohn at Rosenblum Cellars. But, Thomas’ true passion was for Pinot noir. This led him first to the Anderson Valley, to work for Husch Vineyards, and later to New Zealand, where he heard of stunning Pinot noir being made where Hobbits once roamed. With good fortune he met the Giesen brothers and worked both at their Blenheim winery and at Bell Hill, in North Canterbury. His visa having expired, Thomas returned to the States, and responding to an ad for an assistant winemaker drove to Oregon. Ponzi Vineyards was to remain his home for the next several years, where he absorbed all he could from the two generations of winemaking experience in Dick and Luisa Ponzi. Thomas brings his passion for Pinot noir to Anne Amie.
He is happy he can still use words like balance, grace, fluidity, elegance, power, and style that once described his dancing and now describe his wines. In his free time, Thomas still brews, having dragged his equipment across the US. Yoga and running have replaced dance, but winemaking remains the common thread that started in a basement and continues in our cellar.
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of spending time with winemaker Bryan Harrrington and our friend Amy Cameron (pictured at right during a visit to neighbor Belle Pente). Bryan has his own winery appropriately named Harrington Wines with an annual production of around 1,000 cases. Bryan sources grapes from top vineyards throughout California and makes wine at a small cooperative facility in Berkeley. Bryan is driven by the desire to make world-class Pinot Noir, something all of us at Anne Amie can appreciate. We had the pleasure of visiting Belle Pente, Domaine Drouhin, Torii Mor, and Chehalem and were excited by the range and quality of all the pinots tasted. At Anne Amie we tasted a mini-vertical ('02-'04) of our Winemaker's Selection and had a sneak preview of our other 2004 pinot noir offerings. Bryan brought several of his wines and he is gifted at capturing the essence of the unique vineyards from which the fruit is purchased. I am also excited to see Amy has been bitten by the pinot bug and I hope she takes the plunge with a career in the industry as her palate is top notch. For more information on Harrington Wines, check out this great review on Vinography. Thanks for visiting!
Tim Brislin
Anyone who loves pinot noir reveres the name and wines of Burgundy’s Henri Jayer and it is with great sadness I note his passing, just reported by Burghound’s Allen Meadows on eRobertParker.com:
“It is with deep regret that I inform the board members that Henri Jayer passed away last night after a long illness. Jayer was renowned and admired the world over for his lush, seductive, well-balanced and impeccably crafted burgundies and was arguably the most famous Burgundian winemaker ever. Just as importantly, he unquestionably has had the greatest impact and influence among today’s generation of Burgundian winemakers. He was a man of strong convictions about how wines should be made but the superb quality of his wines, even in difficult vintages, certainly provided persuasive evidence that his methods worked. And the auction market voted with its pocketbook as well, according Jayer wines enormous valuations, indeed on a consistent par with those of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. I knew Jayer for years and also admired and respected his philosophies, work ethic and ultimately, the results he so consistently achieved. Hanky J, as he was affectionately referred to, will be missed. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family and admirers. "
Please click here for the growing and moving tribute thread on eRobertParker.com.
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Making great pinot noir means being prepared. That means that you need enough fermentation capacity to process your grapes the same day they arrive from the vineyard. Here at Anne Amie we never let our pinot noir grapes sit overnight waiting to ferment so we need the tank space available immediately. This means you have to be over prepared as there is always the possibility of a vintage where everything ripens at once. Normally the harvest is spaced naturally by the natural characteristics of each vineyard site, but Mother Nature does not always agree with this concept and you can end up with a year where everything needs to be picked and fermented in a very short period of time. These new tanks assure we can handle every situation and always make the best wine possible. Pictured here is winemaker Scott Huffman unloading our newly arrived tanks. He’s been waiting over a year for these two to arrive and is relieved to have them in place for this vintage.
Last year was quite an experience weather-wise: a warm dry winter, a cool wet spring, a hot dry summer followed by a cool wet fall. Not what you would call a perfect vintage for Pinot Noir. Yet, the Pinot Noir vine has its own way about things and does pretty much what it wants – sometimes even ignoring Mother Nature a bit.
An early tasting of our 2005 Pinot Noir wines in barrel has us very optimistic and, in fact, on the edge of excitement. The wines have lovely color, beautiful expansive aromas and gorgeous fruit that has an almost perfect ripeness. Scott is comparing them to the 2000 vintage, which is very exciting indeed. While way to early to give a final judgment, we are very, very happy with what we’ve tasted so far. Our 2005 Pinot Noir wines will be released in March 2008.
Winemaker Annette Hoff of Montery’s Cima Colina is the author of a fine blog and offers some very insiteful comments concerning the over manipulation of pinot noir and wines in general these days. In a recent post she comments:
“The way I see it, there are two different classifications of Pinot these days in the US: PCD’s (Pinot for Cab Drinkers) and PEE’s (excuse the acronym: Pinot for Everyone Else). I like Cabernet, and I have nothing against Cabernet drinkers, but what I don’t like is the concept of placing the same expectations one has of Cabernet (dark, rich, and, well, dark, rich) on a wine such as Pinot Noir and, as it turns out, the typical PCD’s are usually dark, rich and relatively non-varietal in character. If you like that, then go to it.”
That’s some great insight. For the complete story and to visit Annette’s Cima Collina blog, follow the link below:
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