Harvest Festival and Beyond

October 27, 2010

Since the last time I wrote a lot has happened at Castoro and on the beautiful central coast of California. A little over a week ago we had our 2010 Harvest Festival, which was an absolute blast even with a little bit of foul weather. We had a wide range of barrel tastings, live music, great food, and of course foot stomping fun in grape bins. It amazes me how people of all ages love to take their shoes off and go ankle deep in clusters of freshly picked grapes. At times we had four people in one bin together, stomping away. If you haven’t experienced this, it is truly a sight to see!

We have also had our fair share of inconsistent weather since I last wrote. This really seems to be a trend this year and at times it can be quite frustrating. As Tom put it, “the weather has not been very cooperative this year.” Luckily, we now have about ¾ of our crop in and everything we have seen thus far has been exceptional quality. Yesterday we brought in our Whale Rock Tempranillo, which looked really nice, and in the past week we have gotten lots of very nice Merlot, Chardonnay and Syrah (Blind Faith). The problem we are now running into is that we have a decent amount of crop still on the vines, including Cabernet Sauvignon, some select Zinfandel and Petite Verdot. These grapes really need about another week of sunshine to put us in the clear, and as well all know, the weather has not been very “cooperative” this year. Everything we can do we are currently doing and beyond that we can only cross our fingers and hope for the best. It really struck me as true when Tom told me that, “growing grapes isn’t for the lighthearted,” you have to be able to handle variation from year to year and from day to day. We have been making wine at Castoro Cellars for over 26 years and we have seen our fair share of variation in that time. What we are seeing this year is a bit strange but it isn’t the first time we have been challenged by Mother Nature. We are really fortunate to have a world class wine making team at Castoro Cellars and we are very excited about what the 2010 harvest has brought us thus far.

On another note, please check out our Fall Facebook special that goes until the end of October. You can find details for the special on our facebook site at www.facebook.com/castorocellars . Also, please scroll down and check out our latest video from this year’s Harvest Festival at Castoro Cellars.

Cheers and Happy Halloween,

Luke

Working Hard and Eating Well . . .

October 15, 2010

In this blog I’d like to focus on something a little different. I would like to focus on what harvest means for Castoro and our crew. Now that harvest in is full swing and fall is upon us, there is really an amazing energy out at the winery amongst the staff. It is the kind of energy that only happens when people want to be where they are and enjoy working and learning with those around them. In the wine business we live for harvest and we love harvest . . . well most of the time anyways. This is Niels’ 29th harvest and as he mentioned to me, “it never gets old because none of them have been the same.”

At Castoro we pride ourselves in being a family owned business and a huge part of that is making our employees feel like they are part of that family. During harvest the winery can be pretty hectic and stress levels can rise but we always make sure to take some time aside to relax during the week, even if it is only for a short time. One way we do this is by having home cooked lunches by a different member of our staff every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during harvest. We are fortunate enough to have a very diverse staff at Castoro and let me tell you, we get some pretty amazing food during harvest. Whether it’s Tony cooking up some Southern soul food, Chewy making some delicious posole with hominy and pork or Janet making a wonderfully spicy chicken soup, it’s all good and it gives us all something to look forward to during the week. Every time someone does a lunch we all sit together and enjoy the food “family style.” Almost as good as the food itself is the anticipation of what it may be, and let me tell you, the anticipation can be killer, especially some when delicious BBQ is wafting into the cellar around 11a.m.!

In other harvest news, it looks like we are seeing minimal damage if any from the rains we had last week and the fruit coming in continues to look very good. If you want to see a little of the action out at the winery please check out our short harvest video we put together this week. I will post it below in the blog for those interested. Also, we have the harvest festival coming up this weekend and we have all sorts of great things planned for that. If you would like more info on that please check the events page at castorocellars.com.

Thanks for reading,

Luke

Rain, Rain, Go Away We Need the Sun to Stay!!

October 6, 2010

Just when we thought this roller coaster of unpredictable weather was finished, at least through harvest, Mother Nature decided to add an extra loop to the ride.   At about mid-afternoon on Tuesday it started to rain and it wasn’t a mere drizzle.  Due to slippery/muddy conditions in our vineyards we have been forced to put all picking on hold until the conditions improve.  The rain is also not good for the ripening process and can potentially cause some serious problems.  As Tom put it, “rain delays everything.”

At this point we have essentially picked all of our whites from the Paso Robles appellation and a handful of our reds.  Early rains such as these we are experiencing now can potentially be very harmful to our remaining reds and whites, especially Zinfandel.  What we are up against is a problem commonly referred to as “bunch rot” which is when moisture gathers in the grape clusters and allows molds and fungi to grow, essentially rotting the clusters or bunches.  Zinfandel is particularly prone to this because Zinfandel grapes tend to grow in tight clusters and have a thinner skin than other reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.  For example, Cabernet and Merlot are not at too much of a risk due to smaller berries, thicker skin, and therefore looser clusters.  If bunch rot does occur there really isn’t a whole lot we can do about it, especially in our organically grown vineyards such as Whale Rock.  Warmer weather, however, can dry up the clusters and lower the risk potential drastically.  According to Tom, it will take about five or six days before we will be able to assess the damage, if any.  This is really another example of how much we are truly at the whims of Mother Nature, and all we can do is hope for the best while continuing to focus on the things we do have control of.

On a positive note, as I mentioned in my previous Blog, all of the grapes we have received thus far have been phenomenal.  We have seen great flavors, great acidities, and really healthy fruit.  We have been especially impressed with the low pH and moderate titratable acidities we have seen in our grapes.  Titratable acidities or TA give us a snapshot of the major acids present in the juice and help us to determine if a wine is in balance or stylistically correct. Also, our Syrah and Petite Sirah look to be some of the best we have seen in recent years and that is saying a lot!  All in all we remain positive here at Castoro and if everything goes the way the weatherman (or woman) says, we should be in the clear by tomorrow!

Happy October!!

Cheers,

Luke