The Archives

  • March 21st, 2022

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    Dear Friends,

    Happy Spring.  We are enjoying great weather at Nicholson Ranch with bright sunny days and cool nights.  Warm sunshine is waking up the vines from their winter hibernation.  The buds on the vines swell up and open gradually to reveal a small branch with tiny leaves.  “Bud-break” as it is called, is the start of another vintage. 

    2022 is a significant year in the history of Nicholson Ranch.  I am replanting all our Chardonnay and Merlot vines and about half of the Pinot Noir.  I planted the original vines in 1995 on land that had been a cattle ranch for several decades.  Vineyards usually have a life-span of 30 years.  The last few years with fires, smoke and drought have accelerated the aging of the plants.  

    The good news is that I get to plant new little baby vines, this time with more knowledge and less trepidation than in 1995.  Pinot Noir and Chardonnay have excelled at Nicholson Ranch, so naturally I am planting these varietals, albeit with a different mix of clones.  Clones, as many of you know, are slight variations in the variety that manifest as a different nose or a different texture in the resulting wine.  Think of the difference between the Dry Farmed Pinot and the 777 Pinot.  Each of these are crafted from a different clone of Pinot Noir.  The Dry Farmed shows more aroma while the 777 has more texture on the palate.  For the replant, I have selected clones that have produced our Reserve level of wines.  As these new vines age, I expect to craft even better wines through this decade.

    Second, I am increasing the number of vines of Merlot and Syrah.  At present we have two acres and one acre of these vines.  This will increase to three acres for each variety.  Both Merlot and Syrah are more hardy grapes than Pinot Noir.  They tolerate heat and unseasonal rain without compromising quality.  Both Nicholson Ranch Merlot and Syrah wines are new world in flavor and old world in style, showing great texture and finish while showcasing signature California fruit flavors.

    Work on the replanting has begun, with new vines planted in a nursery where they will be nurtured for a year before planting at Nicholson Ranch.  The new vines are a combination of a rootstock and a graft.  The rootstock is plant material from native American vines that are best suited for our soil.  These will first be planted in little pots to establish roots.  Next year, the varietal graft (Chardonnay or Pinot Noir) will be inserted into the stem of the rootstock to create the new vine.  The graft is the same genetic material as each of the clones that we have at Nicholson Ranch.  The new vines will go into the ground in the Spring of 2023 to continue the lineage of Nicholson Ranch wines.

    I appreciate your continued patronage and I look forward to seeing you in the coming months.  

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    Sincerely,

    Deepak Gulrajani

  • March 15th, 2023

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    Dear Friends,

    This is a historic year for Nicholson Ranch. I am planting new vines next month in April.  Last year we worked on preparing the land for the new vineyard and the trellis system is now all setup.  The new vines were planted in a nursery in the spring of 2022, first in a greenhouse and then in the nursery’s vineyard.  Presently they are dormant waiting to be transported to Nicholson Ranch in the spring.  In April we will bring the baby vines to Nicholson Ranch and let them warm up for a few days to acclimatize them to their new home.  In the second half of April a team of forty vineyard workers will begin planting each vine by hand.  We need a lot of help since we have 25,000 vines to plant, so we are hosting a Planting Party on Sunday, April 23rd.  All members are invited to plant a few vines, tag them for posterity, then quench their thirst and join us in a celebratory lunch.

    We are replanting 21 acres of the original 31 acres.  (Not to fear, we still have 10 acres of Pinot vines and a substantial cellar of Chardonnay wines to keep you supplied for the next few years).   When I first planted in 1995, I benefited from the advice of grape growers and winemakers.  This time, in addition, I have had the benefit of watching nature for the past 28 seasons create a magical mix of sun and soil, fog and wind, rain, and drought.  Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines have thrived and continue to be the two primary grapes we grow.  A few things, though, are changing.  There will be more Pinot vines planted and fewer Chardonnay vines.  This reflects the collective palate of our members, who drink more Pinot Noir than Chardonnay.   The new vines will have a new rootstock that is more drought tolerant.  Though California has always had bouts of drought, in recent years the droughts have been more severe. The new rootstock will help with the health of the vines in dry years.  All the clones being replanted are clones that make our reserve level wines.  Only the best of the best is being planted again.  The new trellises will now have small cross arms.  The cross arms, as the term describes, are foot-long metal brackets that are attached to the main trellis post like a T.  The new cross arms will spread the shoots more evenly for greater exposure to sunlight and wind, increasing the flavor and reducing mold.  Each of these changes improve the quality of Nicholson Ranch grapes to create outstanding vintages in the future.

    Fortunately, the weather this year is starting out as the very best for what we need.  The excess rain will keep the soil moist.  We will let the new vines grow their roots to find water. We will not irrigate the new vines till the heat of summer.  Each year we will encourage the roots to go deeper by extending the dry farming period.  In a few years the plants should be completely dry farmed with no irrigation throughout the season.

    This is a very exciting year. Please come and visit and witness the renewal and revival of our vineyards.

    I look forward to seeing many of you this year.  Cheers!

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    Deepak Gulrajani

  • January 16th, 2024

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    Dear Friends,

    Happy New Year! We are delighted to have had a great 2023 and look forward to a beautiful 2024.  The weather in 2023 was cooler than our average year, extending our harvest to November.  The wines are now in barrels after completing the primary fermentation and the secondary malolactic fermentation.  They will now age for two to three years in our underground cellars undisturbed, gradually transforming flavors and textures.

    At present, aboveground, the winter rains are making our surrounding hillsides green again. The wind and rain clear the air, so the days following the rain are sparklingly clear.  It is a bit nippy (by California standards) out there, but the sunlight invites one to rejoice in the shades of green lit up by the angled winter sunshine.  When it does rain, our waterfall wakes up and, for a couple of days, gushes exuberantly, transforming our view to one you may see serendipitously on a remote hike in the hills.  For us, it is front and center, framed perfectly from the window of our tasting room. 

     I invite you to visit our colorful California winter wonderland, rain or shine – no snow but a beautiful season.  As a travel note for many of our members from out of state, now through the end of March, hotel rates and airfares are less than half the price than in summer. Restaurant and winery reservations are more accessible.  Make Nicholson Ranch your anchor visit and explore Wine Country this winter.  Please feel free to email me directly at dgulrajani@gmail.com or guestservices@nicholsonranch.com for suggestions.  I love traveling to other wine countries, and I would love to share my favorite places in our Wine Country with you.

    While you are here, you will notice that while the grass is green, the grapevines are not.  The grapevines drop their leaves around Christmas, going into three months of restful dormancy.  The dormant plants store all their sap in their roots to protect the plants from cold, frosty nights, leaving dry leafless branches above.  The main activity in the vineyard is to prune the dry branches to prepare for the new season.  A crew of about fifteen people prune each vine by hand going from one vine to the next.  The pruner gauges the health of the vine by the thickness of the branches, called canes, and may keep three or four canes for a vigorous vine and maybe just one cane on a weaker vine.  All the remaining canes are cut off and dropped between the rows to be mulched and returned to the soil. Each grapevine is now perfectly structured to sprout new branches and bear fruit for the 2024 vintage.

    Please visit and witness the start of the vintage.  The centerpiece of your visit is, of course, a tasting of Nicholson Ranch wines.  This winter, we have added two Gulrajani heartier reds to the menu for you to enjoy.  I look forward to your visit.

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    Cheers

    Deepak Gulrajani

  • August 23rd, 2023

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    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

  • January 13, 2021

    By

    Dear Friends,

    Happy New Year!  We all look forward to a happy and healthy 2021 along with the hope we return to life as we knew it.

    Winter is a slow time of the year at the winery, as it is with all farmers.  I usually travel to India, Europe or sometimes seek out new wine countries in the winter.  Like so many of you, my travels were curtailed.  This year, food and wine were the vehicles to transport me to the land of fond memories of journeys past.  Our trips to India and Puerto Rico, my wife’s heritage, are reprised through the cuisines of our respective homelands.  Our journeys to wine countries are replayed by popping open a bottle of wine acquired on these trips.  A Brunello from Italy recreated our visit to Montalcino with its steep walking paths and even steeper city walls.  A Burgundy from Cote d’Or took us down the Route des Grand Crus that runs through some of the most famous Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards.  Last year’s trip was to a new wine region, Valle de Guadalupe in Mexico.  Opening a bottle of Nebbiolo recreated the live fire cuisine of the pioneer chefs of Guadalupe.  “Stay-at-Home” this winter gave us the opportunity to revisit many places through food and wine.

    Winter is also the time that young wines go through a second fermentation called malolactic fermentation.  As you all know, grapes that we harvest in September and October go through their first fermentation as wine yeasts eat the abundant sugar in grape juice to make alcohol and a bouquet of enticing aromas (floral, spice, tropical).  The young wine is often tart and light on the palate.  Many of you know that a second fermentation, called malolactic fermentation, takes the wine to the next level.  Malolactic (often shortened to ML), as the name suggests is a transformation (by bacteria) of tart, malic acid to softer lactic acid.  Malic acid is abundant in apples, and lactic acid helps create the flavor and texture of cheese.  This second winter fermentation transforms the tart light wine to a silky and creamy full bodied luscious liquid.  

    Following ML fermentation, several months of aging in barrels integrates the flavors and enhances the texture before the wine is bottled.  We usually bottle our wines after 18 to 22 months of aging in the barrel.  Spring is our normal season for bottling.  Covid upended so many things, including our bottling schedule.  We pushed back our Spring bottling well into the Fall, after harvest.  This means that all our 2018 wine are more full-bodied than usual, having spent an additional six months in barrels.

    This February wine club release includes the 2018 La Colina Chardonnay, the 2017 “777” Pinot Noir and the 2018 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.  Open any of our wines to revisit your trips and “travel in spirit” to Nicholson Ranch and Wine Country.

    I hope to see you soon in person.

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    Deepak Gulrajani