august

  • August 21st, 2024

    By

    Dear Friends,

    We hope you had a great Summer and continue to enjoy the next few weeks of wonderful weather. August in Sonoma is very pleasant with highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s, great weather for the grapes to ripen. June and especially July were significantly warmer than last year, with July likely having some of the warmest weather I have seen in a long time. At this stage, the grapes are dark green and tough and able to handle the heat. The grapes started ripening in late July and over time will start softening up and develop sweet flavors. The cooler August has come at the right time for optimal ripening.

    As some of you have noticed I write more often about the weather as we get closer to harvest. The weather from now to September greatly influences the color, flavor, and texture of the wine. Either my son Zander or I go through the vineyard regularly to assess the progress of the vines. Soon we will sample the grapes and taste the juice. The sampling is methodical, going through each row in order, picking a grape from every tenth vine, some from the top of the cluster, some from the middle and some from the bottom. Zander collects the grapes and brings them to the winery. We press the juice and let it soak for an hour before tasting it in a wine glass. We assess the juice with the same acute attention as we would a fine wine. We look at the color, the aroma and taste. Does the Pinot Noir juice have the right shade of red, do the aromas evoke flowers, red berries and is it reminiscent of freshly brewed black tea. For Nicholson Ranch Pinot, tea is a key aroma to assess the ripeness. When we sip the juice does it have balance between the sweetness and acidity. All these sensory facets translate to the final wine, so getting it right for harvest is essential.

    On a parallel track I pay close attention to the short-term weather forecast. Cooler weather in the 70s will allow us to wait a few days before harvest. A sudden heat spike in the 90s or an unseasonal rainstorm will need a quicker decision. The harvest decision is the most significant decision a winemaker can make. In a vintage where we are blessed with cooler weather a winemaker has more leeway. When conditions are less than perfect the winemaker’s decision will make the difference from good to great.

    The 2021 Cactus Hill is the first wine from the 2021 vintage. The weather in 2021 had all the drama of a tougher vintage with a hot spell in early September followed by two, fortunately, small rainstorms. 2021 may have had some drama but this story has a Hollywood ending – a Cactus Hill that is as good if not better than any prior vintage we have produced.

    Before I end this note, I have a small ask – please refer the Nicholson Ranch wine club to friends and family. As a thank-you, for each new member you sign up you receive a $200 credit that you can use to pay for a wine club shipment or for purchasing additional wine. New members can sign up online on our website www.nicholsonranch.com. Just send us an email with the name of the new member and how you would like to use your credit. If you sign up more than one member, you receive additional $200 credits for each member you refer. A gift that keeps on giving.

    Cheers

    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

  • August 11th, 2021

    By

    Dear Friends,

    Welcome to the much-awaited Summer of 2021. We have turned the page on Covid, and there are almost no restrictions on our guests or us.  It is good to see friends and family after the long Covid isolation.  We are so excited and grateful to host club members, many of you, making your first trip to Nicholson Ranch in two years.  It is lovely, once again, to engage with you without heightened concern on social distancing.  Bring on the hugs and the handshakes.  We have missed you.

    This Summer brings its unique character. We see the effects of the extreme heat and drought in the West.  The few of us, close to the California Coast, have the fog to shield us from the intense heat domes that have settled for days in the West.  The coastal fog and the ocean breeze have been singularly consistent, rolling in every evening and lowering our nighttime temperatures to 55 degrees.   The nighttime cooling may be the essential factor in allowing us to grow fabulous Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  The cooling slows down the ripening of the grapes and allows the grapes to retain their acidity.  A slow growth gives the grapes more time to spend basking in the sunshine, adding layers of flavor with each extra day.  The right amount of acidity in the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes showcases the flavor to maximum effect.

    The 2018 Cactus Hill Pinot Noir and the 2018 Sonoma Valley Chardonnay are delicate wines magically crafted by the sun and fog to display their complex aromas and flavors.  The third wine in the release is the 2015 Nicholson Ranch Napa Valley Cabernet.  This wine, blended from barrels I have acquired in my long quest to find a Napa vineyard, does not disappoint the nose or the palate.

    Last November, I found the perfect vineyard in Yountville with seven acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese planted on the western hillsides of Napa.  Now, nine months later, I am launching the Gulrajani Family Estate.  The Gulrajani vineyard features three wines – a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Super-Tuscan blend of Cabernet and Sangiovese named Narasimha, and a Sangiovese-focused wine called Sanjaya. The initial release is less than 100 cases of each wine.  We hope to increase the production to 300 cases each.  All wines will be sold exclusively to the wine club.  We encourage you to learn more about the new estate and these fabulous wines by going to the website www.gulrajaniestate.com.  While you are there, I invite you to join the Gulrajani wine club.

    Thank you for being Nicholson Ranch club members.  I look forward to your visit, in the meantime, e-hugs, and e-handshakes.

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    Cheers!

    Deepak Gulrajani