Paradise

Ok. We lost tons of chardonnay to animals and a small first harvest. Fine.

But we did harvest some chardy...and a bit of viognier.

They are all quietly (and not so quietly) fermenting in wood as I write this. Every day one of us has to go downstairs and test the balling (the amount of solids in the juice directly related to sugars - either fructose or glucose) of the wine. This is a time consuming process but always rewarding and fun. The rewarding bit is that we have an olifactory and taste knowledge of our wine that goes far beyond the end result (we do take notes and refer to them prior to meeting important people).

The fun bit is that although the wine at this point might seem to be "not ready for tasting", it is however, at its most expressive. Emile Peynaud described this period as "Paradise". He's not far off the mark. Jancise Robinson has said that this period is the one in which most winemakers refuse to allow tastings because they are tasting so much already.

I must agree wth both sentiments...you cannot have any because we've had all there is to taste. And, it's so good I don't think your mind could handle it properly and you might just explode from joy after tasting it.

In fact I'll only let another winemaker taste mine after they let me taste theirs...selfish, not at all.

Look, this is just one of those things you're going to have to luck into...but, not now, with ours... so enjoy the photos...an just understand that the smile on my face is from a special joy the wine is giving.

Love,

J

ps. I'll let you taste a touch if you visit...but only a touch.