This vintage continues to bring challenges to growers, and will really separate the growers who have been on top of their practices from those who haven’t.  Sudden and extreme increases in temperature (105 in Carneros, 110 up-valley) this past week cooked exposed fruit that had not been acclimated to the heat due to all of the cool, moderate weather we have been experiencing.

Growers had been looking forward to the couple days of forecasted heat last Monday through Wednesday, anticipating that the heat would accelerate veraison and enhance maturity uniformity.  However, the temperatures accelerated too high and too quickly, and some grapes literally cooked in the heat. 

The most significant damage was on vineyards with north-south row orientation where the west side was exposed to the afternoon sun during the hottest part of the day.  Lyre trellises seem to have more damage than vertical shoot positioning which in turn had more damage than trellises with cross arms that helped shade the fruit.  Weak vines and the vines at the ends of rows also experienced significant damage.  Pinot noir and Chardonnay seem to be the worst hit; Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel also experienced significant damage.  Cabernet seems to be the least affected, although weaker vines or blocks where the canopy management was too extreme earlier in the season still experienced significant damage.  

Some growers have already begun thinning the damaged fruit, while others are hoping that the damaged grapes will shrivel into hard raisins that will make minimal impact on wine flavors but allow them to harvest the clusters where the undersides are undamaged.  If growers choose this strategy, I recommend keeping a very close eye on the progress of the damage to make sure that secondary organisms such as rot or mold do not develop, in which case thinning should begin immediately.

Row orientation and aspect were some of the biggest determining factors in how much damage a block experienced.  However, growers who were judicious in their leaf removal, focusing on interior leaves and laterals only to open the canopy for aeration without overexposing the fruit are grateful and have generally experienced less damage.  Also, timely irrigations before the heat helped in minimizing damage, as did sprinkler irrigation if growers had them for frost protection.  I also noticed that in the case of Chardonnay and Pinot noir those growers who thinned earlier and whose grapes had finished veraison experienced less damage than later thinners or heavier crops that had not finished veraison. 

Although there is a threat of showers in the forecast for today, warm weather is forecast for early next week.  Sugars will continue to accumulate in the undamaged clusters and hopefully flavors will remain intact and continue to improve.  The heat damage is unfortunate since this season has already been difficult and expensive due to spring rains causing extra canopy and vineyard floor management passes, additional sprays to prevent mold and mildew in this cool, high risk year, and additional sprays to prevent the European grapevine moth from spreading throughout the county.  Now growers are spending additional money to fine tune the vineyard before harvest by removing any green fruit and any heat damaged fruit so that the remainder of the fruit can continue to ripen. 

With tensions already high from being several years into the recession with wineries cancelling contracts and lowering their inputs, growers have been stressed to the maximum.  But the responsive growers who may have to bite the bullet and spend the extra time and money now will be rewarded by providing good grapes in a challenging vintage and winning the confidence of their winery partners.

Sauvignon Blanc Heat Damage- Berries are pinkish and have poor attachment to the rachis, will likely shrivel as long as rot does not occur.

Pinot noir Heat Damage-Berries are bleached and pinkish; will likely shrivel if rot does not develop

Thank you, Morimoto, for opening your restaurant in Napa.  I am extremely grateful that after ten years of living here, I can finally enjoy primo sushi and fresh seafood. 

My first experience at Morimoto, shortly after opening, was impeccable!  Service was great, the presentation was outstanding, and the quality of the food was top notch.  I was very impressed by the toro tartare with its unique presentation and accompaniments.  The spicy crab appetizer is one of my favorite items on the menu, and at $16 is actually a pretty good deal.  The nigiri is a bit expensive, with normal sushi prices, but for one piece instead of the standard two.  If they keep the quality up, I could be okay with that, and the maki (rolls) has more standard pricing.  The main entrees are also unique with great presentation, but a tad expensive, and I particularly loved the miso marinated black cod, and the buri bop, hamachi cooled tableside in a hot clay stone pot.

Overall, the selection is huge, as is the restaurant, and I am concerned about the restaurant’s ability to sustain quality over time.  On my second visit, a few weeks into the restaurant’s existence, word had gotten out, and the crowds overwhelmed the place giving it a fun nightclub environment, but the timing of service definitely suffered.  I must say, though, that the servers and the managers have been extremely friendly and welcoming.  I hope that the restaurant can solidify their identity and ensure a high quality culinary experience with good service despite their size.  If not, they will definitely have to lower their prices as both of my meals cost $100 per person or more.  (I do believe there are less expensive ways to enjoy Morimoto with careful selection and minimal drinking, or one could blow their entire budget if they went big).  Their Omakase, the chef’s tasting menu cost $110, which I think is reasonable for the experience.

My final criticism is that the cocktail options are just a bit too sweet and embellished, and in some cases do not taste as good as they sound; I particularly did not enjoy the Tokyo Tea, and I have heard similar comments about it as well.  The wine and sake menu, especially by the glass, leaves a bit to be desired too.  However, the bartenders rock, and do an amazing job given the size of the crowds and the restaurant, and they can make you whatever cocktail you like.

Overall, I am grateful to have fresh and delicious sushi and seafood in a fun but classy environment.  Let’s hope it stays that way and I will return many times. 

Due to this summer’s cold (I won’t even say cool) weather, veraison has been progressing very slowly.  Even Pinot noir in Carneros has not completed color development, and Cabernet in the hillsides has barely begun!  I am encouraging my clients and growers to be more aggressive than usual when thinning.  In the later varietals and blocks, it may be advisable to consider thinning to one cluster per shoot.  In some of those same blocks, there is a significant amount of second crop and there is no sense in letting the vines waste their valuable resources on second crop, so I encourage removing those clusters too.  

Obviously, we never know what ‘mother nature’ will bring us, but if we continue to have cool weather we may not achieve the level of concentration and maturity we are looking for.  In fact, we may have rain before ripeness which can further dilute the fruit or cause problems with rot.  That is why I have been advising to put fungicide with Botrytis activity at key phenological stages this season.

However, we could also wind up with a heat wave in September that in extreme cases could cause shrivel and dehydration before adequate ripeness has been achieved.  Again, moderate thinning could mitigate that risk by accelerating ripeness so that hopefully we can pick before or at the beginning of the heat wave.  Too aggressive thinning, though, could lead to high sugar accumulation and raisining before ripeness is ever achieved.  The ideal situation would be for a nice warm September and most of October with minimal heat spikes and no rainfall. 

As you can probably tell, it is all about hedging your bets at this point.  Without overdoing it, I would encourage growers to be cautious this year and be more aggressive about thinning larger crops and late sites and varieties to attempt to land on the right side of the ripening index and hopefully have grapes ready to pick before the first significant fall rains or frosts.  And to mitigate the damages that may occur if we do encounter a dramatic heat wave, please leave some leaf and lateral coverage, especially on the ‘sunny’ side of the canopy, and be prepared to irrigate prior to any forecasted extremes.   We could always remove more leaves later if rain is forecasted, or we are well into September and October with no heat in the forecast and still need to ripen fruit.  We can’t put the leaves back though when heat is forecasted.

With tensions so high from a long, stressful, and expensive growing season, it is easy to understand why some growers can be reluctant to thin fruit.  Again, it’s all about hedging your risk.  If the goal is at should be, to attempt to make decisions to achieve the best quality wine grapes possible, then we need to evaluate our current season’s below average heat accumulation, the yield and canopy at our sites, the prior history of the block, and make decisions that minimize our risk while trying to grow good grapes.  In most cases this year, it means to air on the side of a lighter yield and hope that we get a delicious small crop that winemakers appreciate and make wine that wineries can sell to satisfied customers, rather than pray we can reach minimum contract sugars for a large crop that only satisfies the grower short term since the winemakers, wineries, and customers will not be satisfied. 

On the bright side, it looks like some warmth is in the short term forecast. Growers are busy making their crop adjustments, and everyone is hoping for that moderate ‘Indian summer.’

Very Little Veraison

Lovely moderate weather in recent weeks has allowed for slow continual development in the vineyards.  The heat from last weekend started a little bit of veraison in some of the earliest blocks.  Veraison is the onset of ripening, and is the beginning of the cellular expansion phase of berry growth where berries fill with water and sugar and thereby dilute their acidity.  Other physiological changes occur during ripening too, the most obvious of which is that red wine grapes fill with anthocyanins and turn red and white wine grapes soften and turn from green to yellowish. 

In most other blocks which have not yet reached veraison, now is the time for crop estimation, as berries are in their lag phase, a period of minimal growth in between the first phase of berry growth (cell division) and the second phase of growth (cell expansion).  During this time, clusters are approximately half their final weight so they can be counted and weighed to estimate the final yield.

I have still not irrigated many valley floor blocks which continue to grow happily and vigorously from the late spring rains.  The past ten days, however, I have noticed that even some of the more vigorous blocks are showing some symptoms of water stress, and we have begun irrigating in most hillside locations and some of the less vigorous valley floor locations. 

As growers are wrapping up their canopy management including leaf and lateral removal, attention turns to crop thinning.  Crop estimates are calculated and then target yields developed based on vine vigor, variety and rootstock, prior history of the block, water availability, and the intended use of the grapes (price point of grapes or wine).  Then a crop thinning protocol is developed to adjust the crop to the desired level.  More on this in a separate post to follow! 

As is usual for this time of year, vineyard pests continue to rear their ugly heads!  Leafhoppers have been more prevalent this year than others because they tend to like lush canopies.  I recommend leafing to lower the populations and treatment only if necessary. Also, withholding irrigation is useful in vigorous sites. Mites are appearing in vineyards that are more stressed and dusty.  I recommend watering dusty roads, and leafing will help to knock down the populations.  Predatory mite releases are also helpful but probably should have been done around bloom.

Although some growers are battling mildew, I have been fortunate enough to keep my sites clean as we are approaching the end of our mildew susceptible window.  Organic growers have had a particularly tough mildew year, so they may thinning affected fruit, applying an eradicant such as Kaligreen, and should ensure good coverage on these final sprays.  Vine mealybug has had a particularly abundant year in Carneros.  The most successful eradication efforts have involved stripping bark and treating affected areas with hand applications of insecticides.  Napa County continues to fight the invasive Lobesia botrana, the European grapevine moth.  The moth is in its second generation this season, and treatment efforts during the first have dramatically reduced but not eradicated the pest.  There is one more flight this year, and affected vineyards are encouraged to treat.  Please make sure to consult a PCA and read all label instructions before applying any materials, organic or not!

We are enjoying the nice moderate weather and looking forward to finishing canopy management and our first thinning passes.  Cheers!

What an awesome place!  Great for a romantic overnight getaway or to stop by for lunch or dinner on the water after a hike in the Marin headlands.  About a dozen picturesque cabins adorn the shore and nearby, and the restaurant is a quaint and rustic seafood haven.  The restaurant’s highlights include a mostly local selection of raw oysters, as well as several lightly grilled oyster options including the ‘orgas-nick’ combo of jalapeno and citrus, which was orgasmic but we actually preferred the garlic version even more! These paired splendidly well with the half bottle of Taittinger champagne.

The Tomales Bay clam chowder with leeks and applewood smoked bacon was delicious, one of the best I’ve had, and lighter in texture than your average chowder so it doesn’t spoil your appetite.  The main entrees were also well prepared but we were a bit surprised that there weren’t any just straight grilled or steamed whole fish-type choices.  We did thoroughly take pleasure in enjoying the sand dabs in browned butter, garnished with frisee salad and bacon.  Less decadent, but still quite lovely, was the haddock grilled over sweet corn, zucchini, and a citrus glaze.   

One of my favorite things about the restaurant was the slightly undercooked, chewy loaves of bread which were perfect for dipping, especially into the flavorful butter and sea salt.  Dessert was simple and family-friendly with Three Twins ice cream in a banana split and a fresh strawberry shortcake, both simply yummy.

The cabin was quaint, but with all the modern accoutrements like heated bathroom floors, a large bathtub, a flat screen tv, a really nice bed with quality bedding, and a fireplace to complete the luxury.  The cabins are a bit pricey, but they make for a fantastic getaway right there on one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world.  The restaurant, which was more casual than I anticipated, is also a bit pricey, especially the wine list, but service was great, the food was excellent, and I would pay the premium again for the view and the overall experience.  I’ll be back…

Angele is even more appealing lately with new chef Patrick Kelly at the helm, making it a perfect spot for a local summer celebration.   The best way to kick off the evening is by enjoying a refreshing Clear Conscience at the bar, a vibrant vodka-based drink with muddled citrus, cucumber and a splash of ginger ale.

From there, we took advantage of the rare warm late summer night to enjoy a sunset dinner on their picturesque patio.  Angele has an excellent half bottle selection and we chose the 2007 Olivier Leflaive Chassagne-Montrachet to pair with our appetizers.  The wine drank beautifully, but typical of Olivier Leflaive, it drank more like a Chablis than a Chassagne-Montrachet with loads of minerality, lime zest, honeydew, with a light smokey toastiness and finishing with bracing acidity. 

It was the perfect wine to pair with Kelly’s Salade Lyonnaise, a frisée salad with lentils, carrots, lardoons, and most importantly, an epically perfect crispy breaded soft boiled egg.  This was perhaps the highlight of the meal.  We followed that loveliness with the Fruits de Mer warm salad of clams, thinly sliced octopus, bay scallops, and sea beans all sitting pretty atop a thick deeply-colored squid ink vinaigrette.  Not only was the dish beautiful, the ingredients were high quality and the preparation was unique and delicious. 

For our entrees, we enjoyed the Hudson Guinea Hen (thank you Lee!) wrapped in housemade pancetta and paired with the most exquisite boudin noir, potato galette, butter beans accented with wild mushroom jus.  The Faux Filet was a New York steak which was slightly dry but paired with an unbelievably rich and scrumptious bone marrow crusted shortrib, pole beans, roasted porcinis and a barely there horseradish bordelaise.  We enjoyed both dishes immensely, although we felt that their pairings were the highlight more than the main feature.  The boudin noir was the most perfect pairing with the 2004 Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano that we brought along with us; both were intensely concentrated, with tobacco, smokey, and spicy notes, and the most incredible textures.

Dessert finished the meal nicely, with a yummy but typical warm chocolate cake that was highlighted with toffee pieces, and a warm apricot ‘clafoutis,’ the name of which granted us many laughs, paired with vanilla anglaise.  We chose a Durban Muscat Beaumes de Venise to pair with the clafoutis, which smelled extraodinary but finished a little sharp and hot.  The chocolate we paired with a Mas Amiel 10 year old late harvest Grenache which did not match the complexity of a Banyuls but still showed focused fruit and was enjoyable.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our Angele experience and think that Kelly has improved upon the menu and the quality of the dishes.  The restaurant’s scenery and ambience is so charming that I highly recommend Angele for a Napa date night. 

The year of plenty…or not…

Plenty of vigor, plenty of weeds, plenty of bugs (good and bad), but maybe not plenty of crop.

Finally, all varieties have finished set, and berries are growing.  Set is variable and there definitely is shatter in some vineyards.  Shatter is more common in the earlier varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot noir, which not only budded out early and took a beating from the spring rains, but finally achieved vigorous growth right as they were blooming, and moreover experienced some inclement weather right during their bloom.  Even so, some vineyards set ok, but overall the crop in these varieties is likely to range from slightly to significantly below average.

Merlot also experienced a lot of shatter, but now berries seem to be growing rapidly and I don’t expect it to be that light of a crop.  With Cabernet, it is still a little too early to tell, and there is some shatter, but overall there are higher cluster counts and large clusters, so most vineyards should fare reasonably well.  Looking on the bright side, we won’t have to do much tinning this year, only to remove the occasionally crowded clusters and to thin any bunches lagging in ripening. 

Sauvignon blanc and Syrah both look a little light, but can tend to be deceiving, and they also grow a lot in the second phase of berry growth, so can wind up to be average. 

Speaking of phases of berry growth, it is pertinent to mention that berries grow in two phases.  The first phase, post-set, consists of cellular division, where berries rapidly expand by creating new cells and determining their final size.  Then, they approach a lag phase, where berry weight does not increase much for a few weeks.  During lag phase, the berries weigh approximately half their weight so it is a good time to count and weight clusters to get a good idea of how much fruit is out there, and how much we may need to thin prior to and during veraison.  The second phase of berry growth begins with veraison (the onset of ripening) and is the phase of cellular expansion, when berries fill with water and solutes like sugar and also experience significant physiological changes associated with ripening. 

It is important to try to withhold water from the vines and create a light to moderate stress on vines during the first phase of growth. That way, the berries will make fewer cells and generally be smaller, creating a higher skin to juice ratio and increasing concentration and extractability of flavors in wine.  This is especially difficult to do in a rainy spring like this year, so many of my valley floor vineyards have still not received any irrigation. 

Right now, we are approaching the lag phase, which is also marked by seed hardening. At this time, we will quickly begin our crop estimations.  Also, we will start providing judicious irrigation and fertilizer if needed based on our plant tissue samples during bloom. 

We are also approaching our last fungicide sprays.  Berries are not susceptible to mildew once they achieve a certain level of ripening shortly after the onset of veraison.  We have had a difficult year creating a balance and cleanliness in the vineyard, with lots of insect pressure (thrips early, and now increasing populations of leafhoppers and mealybugs), mold pressure, and now mildew pressure.  This has required diligence from growers to follow tight schedules with cultural and chemical control methods. 

For the past couple weeks, we have experienced lots of lovely warm to hot weather without any extreme heat, so the vines are slowing down their vegetative growth and beginning to focus on berry development.  Overall, vineyards look nice, with substantial leaf coverage, but a nice crop that is not too abundant.  It is a busy time, finishing shoot positioning, getting the vigorous vines hedged, opening up the canopy with leaf and/or lateral removal, and putting on the final protection of mildew.  Soon we will have a better assessment of the final crop and can do some adjusting prior to the onset of ripening. 

But, for now, enjoy the 4^th of July!  Cheers!

It is often helpful to remove leaves and lateral shoot growth in the areas surrounding the clusters.  The advantages of leaf and lateral removal include opening the fruiting area to allow air flow and dappled sunlight to enter the fruiting area.  Air flow will help reduce moisture content and humidity in and around the clusters and naturally reduce the incidence of diseases such as Powdery mildew or rot like Botrytis.  Allowing the right amount of relatively uniform and dappled sunlight will encourage proper and uniform fruit maturation.  Additionally, the buds at the base of the shoot are going to grow to become the following year’s fruiting shoots, and fruitfulness is encouraged by proper sunlight on those buds throughout the current season. 

If too many leaves and laterals are removed, creating the ‘poodle’ look, we risk over-exposing the fruit and causing sunburn and/or premature shriveling of the fruit during ripening.  Sunburn can occur at any point during the life of the berry, and often occurs during periods of high temperatures coupled with sun exposure.  Removing leaves and laterals early can allow the growing grapes to acclimate to the higher temps and sun exposure, so it is recommended to begin this process shortly after set.  Take care not to remove leaves right before a planned heat wave as the berries will not be acclimated to the extreme temperatures. 

In the past, in order to achieve ripeness, growers used to strip the leaves and laterals from both sides of the vine (the poodle) in the fruiting area.  Then the trend shifted towards removing leaves and laterals from the ‘shady’ side of the vines and leaving them on the sunny side of the vine.  This would mean removing leaves from the north side of east-west oriented rows, and the east side of north-south rows to avoid overexposure of the western side during the heat of the afternoon sun.  If your row orientation is not directly N-S or E-W it helps to familiarize yourself with how the sun moves across your site, focusing particularly on the hot afternoon sun, and remove leaves from the opposite side.  Now it is common in high end sites, and I recommend, removing leaves and laterals from inside the canopy leaving the outside leaves and laterals to protect the fruit from overexposure.  It is still helpful to work from the shady side because crews tend to remove more from the side they are working from.

It is easiest to direct a crew by giving them a rule of thumb to work with, such as remove all leaves and laterals from the shady side up to the first (or second) cluster, or remove the lowest three laterals only.  But it is best if you can educate the crew to understand why we are removing leaves and/or laterals, and teaching them to adjust based on vine vigor.  The amount of canopy to remove depends on how dense and vigorous the canopy is originally, how prone the variety and site are to both sunburn and disease, the quality of the fruit and how skilled your labor is.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me and we can discuss your site in particular.  Please check out my video for a demonstration.  Cheers!

Remi Cohen of Vines to Wine demonstrates leaf and lateral removal in a Napa Valley vineyard.

Last weekend I visited an old Berkeley staple, Kirala, a sushi restaurant with a robata grill, and a place where I used to love to treat myself and go with my housemates when we all lived down the road at Ward Street.  Back in the days, Kirala had an hour wait and the best fish in town.

Unfortunately this time, I was quite disappointed, and I have noticed in recent years that Kirala’s magic is waning.  There are a number of factors at play here.  Back in the mid-90’s there was not a lot of competition in the high end restaurant scene in the East Bay, and now there are dozens of excellent choices.  Additionally, I was a college student at UC Berkeley in the mid-90’s, so my tastes were not quite as refined and my budget not as high!  However, despite those factors, the quality at Kirala has definitely slipped.

Our old favorite, oysters grilled on the robata, was still tasty, but the oysters were chewy.  The nigiri we ordered was also not the freshest and highest quality as in the days of lore at Kirala where they served up the best fish in town.  The restaurant was also not as clean and fresh as a high end sushi place should be.

We still enjoyed our dinner, and appreciated the same family operating the restaurant as they did fifteen years ago.  The prices should be adjusted to the lowered quality of the inputs, or they need to step up their sourcing.  I would enjoy a meal here in the future, but not with the same anticipation or expectation. 

Camino has become our favorite Bay Area restaurant.  Last night, we enjoyed a new dish for us at Camino: wood oven-baked local oysters with breadcrumbs, absinthe and new garlic, which were fantastic.  They paired perfectly with a Chablis they had by the glass.  For our entrees, we enjoyed grilled pork loin with herb sausage, english peas, scarlet turnips, fried sage and polenta.  We felt that chef Russell Moore (yet again!) had completely surpassed himself with this entrée, and we were glad we had both decided to order it so we didn’t have to share!

We find, time and again, that even when a particular item on the menu doesn’t sound very appealing, the dish will be the most perfectly and scrumptiously prepared version of that item.  For example, the grilled squid is not something I would normally order as an appetizer, but the high quality ingredients with simple slow food style open fire preparations are always perfection.  Camino has broadened my horizons and sparked my culinary adventures. 

I absolutely love the warm, cozy, earthy atmosphere of Camino with the long redwood tables (from a fallen tree, of course), the brick walls, and metal chandeliers, and most of all, the open kitchen where most food is prepared over fire or in the wood-burning oven. Unique cocktails and an eclectic wine list focusing on sustainably-minded producers round out the culinary experience.

The small menu changes daily, with only three entrees (usually one meat, vegetarian, and one seafood option each night) but you can trust that the preparation will be simply exquisite highlighting the excellent sourcing and quality of the meats and produce.  Some weekends, we enjoy dinner so much that we return the next day for their brunch or another dinner meal!  With its inviting atmosphere, rustic slow food gastronomy, this is a top Bay Area restaurant and one of my favorites.