Happy New Year! I hope your holidays brought joyful times, health, and new memories with family and friends. The New Year at Nicholson Ranch started wet with a lot of rain and more forecast in the coming days. This is a good thing for us, and for the vineyards, as the soil soaks up the rain and stores the water for springtime growth. The waterfall you see from our tasting room is continuously flowing, filling up the pond below, inviting life. We spotted the first waterfowl to return, a cormorant and a pair of ducks (likely migrating bufflehead). The grass shooting up on the surrounding hills is slowly turning green. When we get more sunshine the hills and the vineyards will be robed in a swathe of verdant green.
All the wine from 2022 is now in barrels in our underground cellars. The grapes picked in September fermented in small tanks in the winery. The first fermentation is when yeast convert the grape sugars to alcohol and other compounds that impart flavors and aromas. This fermentation takes about three weeks. The wine then goes through the second, slower fermentation called malolactic fermentation (ML for short) that converts the malic acid in grapes to a softer, creamier lactic acid. The fermentation can take two months (or sometimes longer). ML just finished for the very last barrel of 2022. All red wines (with rare exceptions) go through the second ML fermentation. Not only does ML improve the texture of the wine, but it also makes the wine age-worthy. Without ML, the wine would be excessively tart and texturally rough.
In addition, ML converts the malic acid which is a food source for some microbes into a more stable lactic acid. As a result, we can store and age the wine in barrels for a long time without fear of spoilage. For a winemaker, this is a very satisfying moment, when we guide the wine to being not just a tasty beverage, but one that will provide immense pleasure years after it was made. Recently, I heard from members who are still enjoying older Nicholson Ranch Pinot Noirs from the 2011 and 2013 vintages. Curious about other vintages we opened bottles of 2008 and 2010 Pinots. Both wines showed beautiful aromas and flavors, belying their age. For me, these older bottles are like photo albums with memories encapsulated from their vintage year.
This wine club release includes wines from 2017 that are just approaching their prime, as well as a 2019 “777” Pinot Noir. We hope these wines bring back joyful memories from their vintage years.
Cheers!