23rd

  • October 23rd, 2024

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    A picture is worth a thousand words. The images above are the high point of Harvest 2024. That is me with Pinot Noir grapes from the new Wine Club block. On the right is the Rosé we make from the latest Pinot Noir. On the left is the harvest of the Natalie Chardonnay vineyard.

    As you know, we have been working on replanting for a few years. The summary version – in 2022 we asked a local nursery to grow the baby vines in a greenhouse before planting them (with wine club members’ help) in the Nicholson Ranch vineyard in April 2023. This year, their third year, the young vines bore a small number of grapes. Grapes from young vines are generally more fruit-forward and have a softer texture – perfect for making a Pinot Noir rose. I am thrilled to taste the new vineyard’s grapes and wines. I look forward to sharing these with you next year.

    The new vines were harvested in the first half of September. The grapes on mature vines take a little longer to ripen—these grapes that make the reserve Pinot Noirs were harvested by the first week in October. The weather in September and October was challenging, fluctuating from a few days of heat with highs in the mid-90s to 100s to a few days moderating to the 70s and 80s. The hot days ripen the grapes faster and require quick decisions on harvesting.

    The Nicholson Ranch vineyard is divided into many blocks. Its slope and type of soil define each block. Are the vines on top of the hill, or a slope, or on the valley floor? Is the soil clay, volcanic, or sandy? Each combination of slope and soil will produce distinct flavor grapes. Each block ripens at a different time, some taking a week or two longer to attain the best flavors. When I taste the grapes, I am sensitive to each block individually. The hot days required me to use all my experience in the vineyard to harvest each block when each had the best flavor.

    Each block is then fermented and aged separately. After two years of aging, the differences between the wines for each block are more pronounced. The different blocks make a wonderful selection of Nicholson Ranch wines, each different from the other but distinctly Nicholson Ranch.

    This upcoming wine club release features the 2021 Dry Farmed Pinot Noir and the 2019 Cuvee Natalie Chardonnay, each from its own unique block. These wines, with their distinct flavors and characteristics, truly embody the magic of the Nicholson Ranch vineyard. I can’t wait for you to experience them.

    Happy Thanksgiving

    Deepak Gulrajani

  • August 23rd, 2023

    By

    Dear Friends,

    I hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer with friends and family.  We are enjoying a fantastic season at Nicholson Ranch.  July and August brought the heat precisely at the right time, nourishing the vineyard from a wet winter and a cool spring.  The vines need the summer heat to grow their shoots and leaves to create a canopy of green to nourish the young fruit.

    This year the fruit looks ideal, with two clusters per branch, each cluster full of berries (about 80 per bunch).  Twelve to fifteen bunches will make a bottle of wine.

    But I am getting ahead of myself.

    The following two months are critical in the development of the grapes. The Summer gives us whole clusters of grapes. They are raw, dark green, hard to the touch, and tart after completing their first development phase from flower to fruit.   In the next stage, the vines will focus on developing the berries’ sugar, color, and flavor.  The change in color of the berries from dark green to pink is the first sign of this change.  This change of color is one of the most critical events in the wine-growing season.  It is called veraison.  All winemakers mark their calendars because from veraison to harvest takes about six or seven weeks every year.  Veraison is the time that allows us to prepare for the upcoming harvest.

    The grapes gradually make more sugar, and the skins turn from green to pink to an intense red.  The sugar content, called brix, is the easiest to track week by week.  A simple hand-held device measures the sugar to keep track of the progress.

    The last phase of ripening is the development of flavor.  If the grapes taste like grapes, they are not ready for wine.  When ready to pick, Pinot Noir grapes should have strawberry, raspberry, and cherry flavors. These flavors express themselves at the end of ripening, over a short period, changing daily.  There is no hand-held device to tell you how much strawberry flavor is in the juice or what the mix of raspberry and cherry is.  The flavor decision is all up to the winemaker’s palate. When I taste ripe Pinot Noir grapes, it evokes memories of flavors from years past and the consequential wines.  Deciding whether the grapes are ready is instinctive and formed by years of experience.   The harvesting decision is the most significant decision a winemaker will make.  It is one that I wait for every year.

    I am thrilled to share my passion and the fruits of our labor with you.  Thank you for your continued patronage and for allowing me to do what I love.  

    This wine shipment includes the 2020 Dry Farmed Pinot Noir.  Along with all Nicholson Ranch 2020 Pinot Noirs, the Dry Farmed Pinot Noir has received excellent reviews from the Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast.    Your accolades are always the best, and it is nice to be recognized by our peers.

    Cheers

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    Deepak Gulrajani