a somber autumn
Dear Friends,
Most autumns, the atmosphere in the winery feels like a party, with the music cranked up while everyone hustles to usher the newly harvested fruit onto its next phase of life, as wine.
This year was different. We wore masks at our winemaking facility—not just because of the pandemic but also because of the wildfires raging just 10 miles away. The smoke mostly blew away from us, but still, it formed a cloud overhead, and a feeling of melancholy hung in the air in the cellar. No one felt like finishing the day with the usual round of beers or Champagne.
Our early tests for smoke taint in our grapes were not conclusive. But so far, the fruit and juice have passed our taste tests with flying colors. As we write this, fermentation is finishing up. Michael is draining the tanks and lightly pressing the fruit before moving our wines to barrels.
Our hearts ache for our California friends who have lost property and vines during the devastating 2020 fire season. But we remain hopeful for regrowth, rebuilding, and a spectacular vintage.
from loretta’s sonoma table:
signature cheese board with spicy tomato-pepper jam,
six-seed crackers &
himalayan salted almonds
We are all about spontaneous gatherings at our homes, both in Ohio and Sonoma. When friends show up at our door, Michael goes straight for his corkscrew and a bottle of our Grenache. We always serve wine with food, so I find it helpful to have the makings for an elegant cheese board on hand at all times. The components change depending on the time of the year, what’s growing in my garden, or my mood of the moment.
My recent obsessions are homemade spicy tomato-pepper jam—which is especially tasty this time of year thanks to its autumnal color and piquant heat—and Himalayan salted almonds. And yes, I do bake my own crackers.
This requires a bit of advance planning and cooking, but the recipe is so easy that I don’t even have to think about it anymore. It’s my take on the “The Life-Changing Crackers” recipe from the My New Roots cooking blog. These rustic, seedy, satisfying snacks are the perfect foils for cheese and wine, and they’re quite nutritious, to boot.
My all-time favorite cheeses just happen to match beautifully with our Grenache. Piave Vecchio is a deliciously nutty pasteurized cow’s-milk cheese from the Veneto region in northern Italy. Originally from the Netherlands, aged Gouda is a hard, pale-orange cheese that’s nothing like the soft Gouda you might know from your grocery deli. The aging process develops calcium lactate crystals, which bring an enjoyable crunch as well as sharp and slightly sweet flavors to the cheese.
I keep staples like caper berries and honey in my cupboards and fridge, as well; I like to offer an interplay of sweet, spicy, and salty flavors. Finally, to beautify the board, I clip sprigs of rosemary, thyme, or lavender from the garden. We feast with our eyes as well as our palates, so I like to create a pleasing presentation that’s in keeping with the quality of the ingredients.
For a printer-friendly version of the following recipe, click here: RECIPE
Most farmers welcome bumper crops. In the world of fine wine, however, vineyards that naturally produce very little fruit are points of pride. Less is more.
The wines that we find most thrilling—such as “L’Ermita,” produced by Alvaro Palacios in Priorat—are sourced from impossibly steep, rocky sites that offer up scant grape clusters each year, each berry small and thick-skinned due to its struggle to survive the growing season. If grit builds character, these grapevines have character in spades.
After this year’s harvest, we feel as though we are naturally moving closer to the conditions in Priorat, where Palacios struggles against the elements to vinify one of the world’s greatest wines.
In spring, rainstorms knocked some of our delicate blossoms off their vines, resulting in a lower-than-average fruit set. (As discussed in our May newsletter, the term for this is shatter.) Then, summer brought many 100-plus degree days, with the temperature reaching 116° F one day in early September.
So while we picked a quarter ton more Grenache than usual for our rosé, we’ll end up with 15 fewer cases at bottling. The grapes simply weren’t as juicy as they had been previously.
This is actually a very good sign for the 2020 vintage as far as red wines are concerned.
Small, slightly dehydrated berries make for a higher skin-to-juice ratio, which results in a more concentrated wine, brimming with flavor, density, and aromatics. Overall, we picked a full 40% less Grenache this year than we harvested in years past.
Vinetending is an occupation of highs, lows, and delayed gratification. We work in the vineyard all year long, and harvest our efforts in a matter of hours. Then we wait and see how the wines progress. We feel as though we barely scraped through this year, but against all odds, this could be our best vintage yet.
holiday open house
in a historic ohio barn
join us the evenings of Nov 23-25
for #sonomainohio!
Save the date! Get your holiday shopping done at our three-evening Open House in a historic Ohio barn. Monday, November 23, is members-only night; Tuesday and Wednesday, November 24 and 25 are open to all.
Taste, browse, and order your holiday wines. We’re offering complimentary gift packaging, including wooden boxes and tote bags, so your gift will make a lasting impression.
Email us or contact Shelley at 440-915-5748 to RSVP.
Doors open at 4pm.
Address: 2138 N. Cleveland Massillon Rd., Akron, OH 44333
Or, if you can’t attend one of our Open House nights, you can place your personalized holiday order online. Click the link below to place your order:
