|
|
|
Click Here to Jump To 2010 Harvest News
For more information, including Recipes, Statistics and Winemaking Recommendations, please click on the varietals below in our Grape Offerings Menu, please select below:
|
Red Grape Varietals
|
White Grape Varietals
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ice Wine (coming soon)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
August 27th, 2010
For those who want the best for less:
Napa Valley, Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon
Available in Chicago IL for $89 per 5 gallon pail
Coombsville - Napa Valley CA
This Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard is located 0.4 miles east of the intersection of Silverado Trail and Monticello Road.
Bay fog and morning shadows from nearby Mt. George create cooler growing conditions, allowing longer hang time which promote a more floral aromatic much sought-after by artisan winemakers. The vineyards are an island oasis surrounded by country estates in Napa Valley's Coombsville region.
SITE CHARACTERISTICS
- Nearby mountains and the Alta Heights hills
create a unique climate with cooler nights
- Soils are Coomb's gravelly loams
- A well provides abundant, high quality irrigation
water
- Vineyards slope gently (1-2%) to the south
SUSTAINABILITY
- Stream bank erosion site restored with natural
structures: willow revetments and toe rock
- Varieties selected for Pierce's Disease resistance
- Compost is applied to add organic matter and
slowly released nutrients
- Frost protection sprinkler heads use low-flow nozzles for water conservation
PLANTING
- Cabernet Sauvignon clone 8 planted in 2000, spaced 8X6
- Rootstocks include 110R, 3309, and 5C
- All trellising is VSP
- Row orientation is northeast-southwest, with good protection of the fruit zone
These grapes were from the 2007 Vintage, processed and frozen by Brehm Vineyards.
Brehm Vineyards represents these frozen 5 gal. net pails to be of excellent quality.
Frozen pails will be available F.O.B. Chicago IL after September 1st for pick or truck shipment only.
Grape Code: #599-07NVCS
To place an order, please call us at 510-527-3675
A Brehm Virtual Vineyard Product
|
First grape up to bat in 2010....
Carneros Pinot Noir, Las Brisas, Sonoma County CA
Francis Mahoney's Las Brisas Vineyard in Sonoma County's Carneros appellation is carrying a very light crop. Veraison is complete and the taste of acid is becoming muted with the production of sugar. Bunches are very small and less than normal for this vineyard. I expect 14 to 20 days to harvest. While the temperatures of the recent week were in the 90's, the entire California coast has been very cool - cooler than anyone can remember. This may bode well for the Pinot and Chardonnay we harvest from the Carneros. Bunches/grapes are clean and ripening well with good acidity. This may be the exceptional vintage we always hope for...it is certainly different.
P.S. The hand holding the Pinot and at the Cab's row end, in attached photos, is Michael Crews. Michael will be assisting me and Paul Rago this harvest. He has worked crushes in the Anderson Valley, New Zealand, Chile and is an ardent home winemaker and brewer.
|
For those who want the very best Zinfandel
Coturri Estate Vineyard
Sonoma Mountain Zinfandel
Frozen Retail Price : $169 per 5 gallon pail
Fresh price for over 400 lbs : $1.50 / pound
Fresh price for under 400 lbs : $1.59 / pound
(Fresh price available at the time of harvest and must be picked up in Petaluma CA. Destemming cost of $0.075 per pound not included.)
The history: Located above the tiny hamlet of Glen Ellen in the region known as the Valley of the Moon. Red Coturri and his sons Phil and Tony first planted 2-acres of vines in 1967, and another 5-acres in 1975. The Estate Vineyard is a second generation planting - the first was pre-prohibition before the 1920's. The vineyard is comprised of primarily of Martini Monte Rosso Zinfandel clones on phylloxera resistant St. George rootstock. The Coturri Estate Vineyard is dry farmed, and head pruned in the traditional Italian goblet style.
Micro-Climate: The location is unique for a Sonoma Valley Appellation vineyard- it sits at 750 feet above sea level, which is a perfect elevation for Zinfandel grapes. Tucked into the cleavage of Sonoma Mountain, the vines receive a southeast sun exposure. Creeping seasonal coastal fog off the Pacific Ocean injects a beneficial cooling effect during the summer months and the vineyard avoids the extreme heat that vines on the valley floor get. Conversely, from January to April, it is warmer up on Sonoma Mountain and the vines are protected from winter and spring frosts.
The coolness of Sonoma Mountain and the low grape yield results in a very lush and soft style of Zinfandel. We tend to let the fruit hang longer than most vineyards and consistently get a late harvest style of wine: very dark color, blackberries and apple pie in the nose, a sweet black fruit mid palate and supple and balancing acidity. This combination results in a good drinking, flavorful Zinfandel.
Soils: Many moons ago, Sonoma Mountain was an active volcano and a series of eruptions spewed ash and lava to create diverse soil types at the site of the vineyard. The dry farmed vines at the Coturri Estate Vineyard send down deep taproots that encounter different rocky red clay based soils, and layers of volcanic decomposed ash and lava, which adds complexity to the grapes. Balanced nutritious elements and minerals such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium are added to the soil by planting cover crops like peas, oats, winter wheat and mustard and disking in ground up oyster shells and compost. An important cover crop used is bell beans, a deep-rooted legume with nodules that act like a straw to suck nitrogen from the air into the soil, this naturally occurring process is called nitrogen fixation.
Environmentally sound farming practices: Only the best agricultural practices are employed at the Estate Vineyard and it receives special handling to ensure that something is growing in the soils all year round. Weeds are controlled by disking, and the resulting mulch captures important moisture for the dry farmed vines. The open head pruned vines or "monkey claw" controls mildew problems.
To place an order, please call us at 510-527-3675
|
Nun's Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon
Top of the mountain, organic, farmed to organic perfection by Phil Coturri
Above is a photo taken this week of the Nun's Canyon Cabernet Vineyard. It is on the very top of the Mayacmas ridge separating the Sonoma Valley from Napa Valley. The vines, grapes and site are perfect - it does not get any better. Note the deep red volcanic soil. In place it almost turns purple. There is broken shale beneath. This is our third year with these grapes. It produces stunning wines, rich, full bodies with fine resolved phenolics. I anticipate a late harvest this year. As of yesterday the vines have just begun to change color. Their ridge top perch will serve them well this year in event of rain.
There are still a few pails of the wonderful 2009 available to provide a compliment to the 2010.
|
Peter's Musings - Click Here to read Peter's thoughts on this year's harvest.
Harvest News : July 13th, 2010
Announcing 2010 Harvest Grapes - Futures Sales
For the coming vintage, Brehm Vineyards will attempt to restrict its purchases to those grapes that you order BEFORE HARVEST. You are encouraged to order early. There are grapes listed that MAY be purchased if there is sufficient interest.
Prices for fresh sales are given for orders under 400 lbs, and for orders between 400 lbs and 2000lbs. For all orders of a ton or more, please call to inquire for pricing.
- California Fresh Black Grapes are available 'on the stem' as whole bunches only at the time of harvest at our processing site in Petaluma CA. (Crushing and destemming is available at an added cost)
- California Fresh White Grapes are only available as settled juice.
- All California grapes are available in frozen pails (5 gallons destemmed must for Black Grapes and 5.25 gallons pressed, settled juice for white grapes.)
- Northwest Fresh Grapes (black and white) are available 'on the stem' as whole bunches only at the time of harvest at our processing site in Underwood WA. (Crushing and destemming is available at an added cost)
- All Northwest grapes are available in frozen pails (5 gallons destemmed must for Black Grapes and 5.25 gallons pressed, settled juice for white grapes.)
Prices for frozen grapes are valid until harvest of the particular grape.
Prices listed are all orders between 1 and 36 pails. For orders of 36 pails or more, please call for "Full Pallet Pricing." Drums may also be available, but must be ordered prior to harvest.
All prices are subject to change without notification and subject to Brehm Vineyard's terms of sale. Retail, single pail prices maybe subject to volume discount.
NOTE:
Commercial purchases and fresh grape sales of Northwest grapes will be negotiated directly with Peter Brehm's White Salmon Vineyard of Underwood WA. All California sales and all sales of Northwest frozen grapes that are less than pallet quantity (36 pails per pallet) will be negotiated with Brehm Vineyards.
|
Harvest News : July 6th, 2010
Esteemed BV Customers and other winemakers:
The state of the U.S. economy has resulted in unpredictable buying patterns in many product areas. The lack of demand in higher priced wines has had a ripple effect on the price and availability of wine grapes. Like higher end wines, many of the grapes Brehm Vineyards contracted for and purchased in 2008 have remained in our inventory. For the last two years we have attempted to proceed with lowering prices on existing inventories and restricting the contracting for grapes in the future year. It has been deemed prudent to maintain our relationship as a representative for you, home winemakers, with some of the finest people and vineyards in the West. Sales of grapes to home winemakers does not bring an increase in the prestige and value to a vineyard that a vineyard designated wine, highly rated in the Wine Spectator or other review, would.
Two issues are different this year:
- White Salmon Vineyard is our own, an established vineyard producing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The vines will produce fruit no matter what you or the economy does. B.V. and W.S.V. do and will have this fruit available for sale on a first come, first served basis.
- Brehm Vineyards cannot bet, predict as we have in the past, you will buy grapes that we have contracted for in 2010. It is incumbent on us during these abnormal times to only purchase and process grapes that you preorder.
To deal with these issues Brehm Vineyards will:
- Offer Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes grown by White Salmon Vineyards in less than pallet quantities (36 pails or 4 drums) as before. Full pallets and fresh grapes from the Northwest may be purchased directly from White Salmon Vineyard.
-Offer existing inventories at great prices as before.
-Offer an assortment of 2010 grapes that you may order - before the harvest. At our option, these 2010 grapes may not be inventoried or available for sale past harvest.
The following list and information are for grapes we have available now, and grapes available to you for the 2010 harvest.
All California grapes are available fresh at time of harvest at Petaluma, CA; all fresh Northwest grapes are available upon harvest at Underwood, WA at time of harvest. All frozen grapes are priced with one month's storage included; all further storage must be paid before pick-up or delivery.
Sale of Exisiting Grapes:
Inventories of frozen grapes and juice exist in Richmond, CA; Portland, OR; Chicago, IL; Pheladelphia, PA and New Haven, CT.
These Virtual Vineyards of frozen grapes were established to minimize transportation costs from the West Coast and make it easier for winemaking year round. It has been an experiment that has proven successful in part. We have found that different parts of North America have unique preferences for different styles of grapes for home winemaking. Some of this has to do with the availability of local grapes as well as local customs. In short, we are having a clearance sale of some of these grapes. Other grapes are on sale to finish a freezer lot that is depleted to a few pails.
All pails of grapes are guaranteed as to original quality. Please follow the easy procedure described in Receiving Your Grapes and How to Thaw Your Grapes on BV's web site under the heading Recommended Reading (in the left hand column).
|
Harvest News : June 18th, 2010
Decisions Made in the Vineyard are as important as those made by the Winemaker
From June 2010's WINE BUSINESS MONTHLY comes the following quote (see page 10 / written by Cyril Penn, editor)
"JUNE. THE VINES ARE GROWING QUICKLY. Choices made in the vineyard now will affect the outcome of the crop at harvest. Decisions made in the vineyard at this time of year can have a much bigger affect on wine style and quality than winemaking decisions do at crush."
Peter Brehm has been expounding this for years. In an effort to illustrate this point, Peter recently visited Francis Mahoney's Pinot Noir vineyard in Sonoma's Carneros district. To view the video, please click below.
Harvest News : June 7th, 2010
Northwest Pre-Harvest Sale Prices
Peter has released White Salmon Vineyards Pre-Harvest Sale prices. These prices are available for fresh customers able to pick up their orders at the time of harvest in Underwood WA as well as for frozen orders of 1 pallet or more (36 pails per pallet.) For more information, please visit the White Salmon Vineyard webite.
2010 Pre-Harvest Sale Prices Now Available (Click to download)
Videos, Videos, Videos
During the 2009 harvest season, Peter Brehm shot short videos of the vineyards and the grapes we offer during his vineyard visits. Please click below to see the videos. All the videos are hosted by You Tube. We hope you like them!
| |
