Yesterday I went to a farm, yes Anna’s.  The kids and I went to Rogersville.  I don’t farm around, people, this is the only farm I currently frequent, I’m a one-farm woman.  When I find a good farm I’m loyal, I expect however one or two things back.  I expect Anna to greet me, for instance, and Craig to be around, too.  And I’ve come to expect a drive around the property with an open bottle of wine.  It’s blissfully rebellious and carefree, if only we’d had shotguns and shot up varmints as we raced around. 

Please note the shameless product placement Mr. Hamina.

I have more to say but not now.  Technical troubles this morning have drained me of all but four-letter words.  I’ll let a couple more photos speak. 

Yesterday instead of sulking around about my laptop, I ran out and made two new best friends and took a perfect picture of Todd.

I also came home with purple grape stains on my pants and here’s why you should be insanely jealous of me:

Some days, at work, I go to a winery and either pretend to help, or don’t bother to pretend, but either way taste wines.  Outside in the sun.  Were you in Gaston yesterday by any chance?  Because if you were, you noticed the sun.  It was warm and pretty and I don’t know what you were doing, but I was barrel-tasting Biggio-Hamina ‘07 pinots with Kerry and Andrea. 

Before that, though, we shoveled syrah grapes from the fermenter into the press, that’s how I got grapes on my pants.  It was actually mostly syrah grapes, with some white viognier grapes mixed in.  That was interesting, because Todd let us taste an ‘07 syrah he made without viognier grapes, and then one he made with them and the difference was striking.  The viognier gave the wine a prettier nose, and as Todd said, lifted the syrah grapes right up.  Which is why his ‘08 syrahs will all have viognier grapes (20%) and which is why you should buy a whole bunch and drink it with friends.   

We talked about slutty wines and punching grapes naked — there’s a word for it but it’s in my notebook which A. has because I left my notebook in my car, which A. took.  It’s a French word that starts with “p” but yesterday we didn’t do it.   

I like this picture below, I’ll tell you why.  When the grapes come in off the truck, Todd decides how many to stem and how many to leave as they are, or as they say in the biz, whole cluster.  It’s kind of cowboy to leave them as is with all those stems, but it pays off in the fermenting, that’s what Todd says.  That’s not important right now, though, what’s important about this picture are the numbers on the barrels.  Can you see them?  They’re in white chalk.  Todd wrote them and they indicate what percentage of the grapes in the barrel were whole cluster.   For example, the one on the right — Deux Vert 667 (name of vineyard and clone) — had 35% whole cluster grapes, that’s what that number means. 

But that’s not important either, what’s important is that Kerry, or maybe Andrea, (my two new best friends) asked Todd this:  “How do you know how much whole cluster you have?”  And Todd replied, “I guess.” 

What I love is that sometimes he guesses 6%.  See the 6%?  I find it charming, this process.  The whole thing, vine to glass. 

Today I’m stuck inside with bad laptops again.  Don’t worry about me, though, I’m a survivor.

[Biggio-Hamina wines]
[Kerry Newberry]
[Andrea Slonecker]