[Chris Vais]

Last Wednesday, Longevity Wines finished up the 2013 crush. Altogether we crushed a little over 50 tons of Pinot Grigio, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedra, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Barbera, and Sangiovese. Tasting the wine as it comes out of the press, I believe that 2013 will be a very good vintage.



This years vintage was characterized by a somewhat warmer than normal dry spring after a second dry winter. Overall the fruit we received was very good, although I noticed that the grape clusters were smaller, more tightly packed and the average berry size was smaller. This can occur as the result of certain viticultural practices, but in this case I think has to do more with the two dry winters and a warm dry spring than anything else. It has also been a cooler than normal late summer and some of the later ripening grapes are struggling to reach maturity. That was certainly the case with the dry cropped Grenache and Mourvedra and the Barbera we received. The smaller berry size means increased skin to pulp ratio which for red wines can result in a more concentrated flavor.



       



Livermore Barbera is in the bin in the foreground and Livermore Mourvedre is in the bin behind it. The other bin is dry cropped Grenache also from Livermore.

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[Peter B]

Looks great! That is a wide variety of grapes! Always good to get the harvest in and have it come out good!



50 Tons! I make ~ 300 lbs/year as a hobby. Just bottled Oregon 2012 Pinot Noir. It's already good.

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[Chris Vais]

Longevity started out as a garage hobby, now it is a garage hobby run amok. The winemaker owner decided to turn the hobby into a business when he discovered that he could make, in most cases better wine than he was buying. I'd been making wine for own consumption for about 20 years and I know that I can make better wine than most of the $20 bottles you find in the marketplace. Today Longevity is an artesianal boutique winery the makes about 2500 cases per year. In the next year or two we expect that the production should generate enough revenue to provide a good living for the winemaker and his wife and a nice retirement gig for me.

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[Peter B]

Hi Chris - I'm happy for you and impressed. That is a wide range in grapes. Each one requires a bit of study, rigor (science), care and concern (farmer/gardner) and artistic license. 2500 cases is becoming a pretty good sized winery. Best to you.

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[Chris Vais]

Thank you Peter, we do have a lot of fun with it. We've been purchasing grapes now from the same growers for 3 years so I've gotten to know the idiosyncrasies of the vineyard and the grapes grown there.

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[Chris Vais]

Just an update for those of you who are interested in winemaking.



There are basically two major evolutions that consume most of the winemaking year. One is harvest and the cellar work that follows it and the other is bottling. This weekend we will begin a bottling cycle that will be almost continuous until late summer when we prepare again for harvest. This weekend we will be bottling 2000 Liters of Pinot Grigio to be followed next weekend by our Pinot Blanc and then our Grenache Rose.



The Pinot Grigio is unique in that the grapes are red grey in color and it is usually made as white wine. Our Pinot Grigio is allowed to sit on the skins over night, which gives the wine a very aromatic nose, full mouth feel, and a beautiful salmon color. We produced a Grenache Rose for the first time. This wine has a gorgeous soft rose color. The nose is fruit forward and the acidity refreshing to the palate. I made this wine in the classic french style.



   

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[ds968]

I was in Napa last week , and every wine maker made pretty much the same statement : 2102 for Napa reds is without any doubt the vintage of the century ! I'll presume they mean the last 14 years, not 100 years YTD. Of course I never asked for a clarification but if they mean the current century, that's a pretty bold statement to lake considering we have another 86 years left :-). Lol, the takeaway was that from winery to winery they all expect 2012 to be unmatched since 2000 and for the near foreseeable future..



Chris, what sayeth you ?

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[Chris Vais]

Dan



I just finished tasting through our 2012 reds a couple of weeks ago and I can confirm that 2012 will be a knockout vintage. The wines are going to be very full bodied and moderately high in alcohol so they may present some sweetness on the palate to go with the big fruit. Depending on how the individual winemakers handle their wines, I would expect 2011 to have some good aging potential. Ours all seem to be very well balanced good acidity and solid tannins on the backside. I'll know more later this year when we begin to pull some out of barrels for blending.



Despite the drought, if we have a good summer weather wise, no extreme heat spells, 2013 could be another rocking vintage. The drought will have a negative impact on crop size, we expect to have to may for the fruit and there will less to go around. We'll just have to wait and see.

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