[Rap]

No just a straight ?. I wonder what percentage of viewers have it. Mine is screaming right now.

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[Roboman]

In that case, count me in.  Mine is worse when I'm tired.  I saw the doc a few years back, nothing to be done for me.  Though reading up on it recently there are a number of curable causes, so if you haven't had someone poking around in your ears lately  ..... 

 

If I remember rightly you track your car(s), I suspect any doctor is initially going to point the finger at that.  I don't have that background, nor listening to loud music more than any other kid in their youth, so I suspect mine is down to the aging process 

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[Chris Vais]

Fall wine report.

 

For most vintners in Sonoma, Napa, Livermore and elsewhere in Northern California, harvest went well into October/early November. The uncharacteristically late harvest was the result of a very cool spring and the resulting late bud break. we had a few light rain showers in October that did not have a significant impact on ripening wine grapes. Last winters record rainfall result in a crop yield that was, for Unti, 20% more than normal. We harvested 148 tons in total. The quality of the fruit was excellent and the new wine fresh out of the press is excellent. Everything considered the 2023 vintage should be good one.

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[ds968]

Last year I saw an expose’ on one of the food channels about winemaking in England flourishing into a serious industry …and recently this article popped up on various media sources .   Interesting .

 

https://www.barrons.com/articles/british...s-31f008da

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[Roboman]

Good to hear it Chris, "bon recolte"  I'm out of touch but hope you managed to find a house, plot for growing some vines, and decent employment .... I think those were you goals 18 months back.

 

The 2023 vintage hereabouts is likewise expected to excel (Fitou/Corbieres/independent).  Surprising because the whole region was on red alert from an exceptionally dry Spring and Summer, and with our AOC the vignerons are not permitted to irrigate so the expectations were low.  The fire crews were likewise on high alert but we had not a single fire.  Tourism is down at the moment, I wonder if the two are linked .... BBQs etc etc?

 

So, 2013 was crud and has not improved with age, 2023?? I'm looking forward to the Pimeur .... buy now, buy now!!

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[Chris Vais]

Roboman,

 

We bought a house in Santa Rosa, CA in 2021. no vineyard but a nice sized property and nice yard. I am working at UNTI VINEYARDS an estate winery that produces wine from grapes native to the northern and southern Rhone and Italy. All of the vines came from European sources. 

 

My role is that of a wine educator at the winery and I occasionally fill in on the production side when necessary.

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[Roboman]

All good Chris, pleased to read that.  I shall keep a look out for UNTI (Dry Creek), the 100% Syrah especially as it is my favourite single sepage.

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[Roboman]

So these primeur are now in the local mini-mart .....

 

   

 

I decided to try all three, couldn't resist the middle one even though it's somewhat in bad taste (sorry for the obvious pun).  So, the result ....

 

We opened the Corbieres (LHS) first and it was awful so we recorked it ..... it had one more chance before heading to the vinegar.

 

The Cotes du Rhone, also awful, recorked, ....... went and got something reliable.

 

The Pisse Dru was actually the best when first uncorked ..... and I can't tell you of any improvement as I'm drinking it as I type.  It's okay with some snacks and probably won't make it though the night.  Typical of primeur, young and thin, but no bad after taste so probably going to be okay down the line...... hmmm, about 5 mins after posting we decided not to finish this, it's a bit acidic so we'll try again maybe tomorrow.

 

Back to the others....

 

Cotes du Rhone - after a day we tried again, great improvement, the finished wine is going to be good.

 

Corbieres - no improvement so into the vinegar and we won't be buying from this cave.

 

That's it.  The Beaujolais is always fun, but the real deal is so much better.  Cheers

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[Chris Vais]

Time to provide an update. Currently UNTI is ferrying wines from our 2022 vintage. 2022 was a very dry year culmination a long period of drought in California. Our crop yield was 30% below our average yield. The fruit quality was exceptional.The grape clusters were smaller and the grapes themselves were smaller as well, all of which translates into less juice to work with. Similar in many respects to working old vine fruit. The 2022 red wines are richer in flavor and  color with good acidity and plenty of tannins so

I would expect them to age very very well. For the first time we have produced a Barbera Superiori. It is made up of 100% Barbera clone 84 which is thought by many to be the best Barbera clone for the growing conditions we have in California. 

 

The winter of 2022 into 2023 was extremely wet. Bud brake was delayed due to some very cold weather at the end of February, delaying bud break by 4 weeks and pushing the 2023 grape harvest into November. Our grape crop was 305 greater than normal because of the heavy winter rains. The winter of 24/25 has started very wet as well. I got 14 inches of rain at my house in Santa Rosa, just before Thanksgiving. And so we will see what the new year brings brings us

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[ds968]

Found this old photo ( probably more than 10 years ago ) at a winery resort in Napa .   Not sure if I have worn this t-shirt at any of our 968 fun runs in Paso Robles, becuase I’ve had it for at least 25 years , but thought I’d post the picture of my appropriate attire when touring wineries  B)

   

 

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[Chris Vais]

We are bottling our 2024 white wines and Rose this week. The white wines include: Picpoul Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Vermantino, Fiano, Falanghina, a blend of Vermantino, Grenache Blanc, and Picpoul Blanc. Our Rose was produced in a provencal style. 

 

I've tasted many of our 2023 red wines, leading me to believe that 2023 should be a very good year for red wine in the Dry Creek Valley.

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