2007 Harvest Winding Down

Our last grapes for the year will picked in the next couple of days, that being some Gamache Vineyard Malbec. It's been a good harvest with most vineyards about a week ahead of normal ripening time. The quality that I have seen is very encouraging and can best be summarized by the great acid levels we have seen in most of the grapes for the year. I have talked to a few other winemakers in regard to the relative high acid levels before malolactic fermentation and have reassured them that we are going to see the acids fall into normal levels once malolactic fermentation is complete. This is what we saw in the 1999 vintage in Washington where the acid levels turned out to be nearly perfect. For Fidelitas so far I think we have seen some great wines with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec being the highlights. Much of our Cabernet Sauvignon is right in the middle of primary fermentation and will come off its skins this week to go to barrel. It's great to be winding down, I am feeling a bit fatigued at this point.
Last Saturday, October 27th we hosted three of our growers for dinner and our Wine Club event. Grower's taking part were Dick Boushey - Boushey Vineyard, Paul Champoux - Champoux Vineyard and Miguel Rodriguez from Weinbau Vineyard. We have a story board at the winery now behind our tasting carts that highlight the contributions these growers make to the success that Fidelitas has had with its wines. All three of these growers have twenty years of vineyard management experience under their belts and is reflected in the grapes we recieve and wines we are able to make. We put these guys behind a table with either a wine from their vineyard or a blend that had grapes from their vineyard in the wine. It was great for our Wine Club members to actually meet the grower who's name is often on the bottle they have purchased. This was a special time and I think all three growers had a great time meeting the customers.

Wine and Spirits Magazine Top 100

The Winter - 2007 issue of Wine and Spirits magazine is the issue in which they name their Top 100 wineries from throughout the world. Fidelitas was fortunate enough to make this year's list along with eight other Washington wineries. The magazine based the award upon "excellence and consistency" in what the winery is producing. We scored 93 points for our 2003 Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon along with a 90 score for both the 2003 Optu and 2003 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The magazine tasted over 3300 wines in the calendar year and based it's decision upon consistency and overall average score of wines recommended.
Grower of the year honors went to Yakima Valley grower, Dick Boushey. This is grower of the year for all regions. This is a significant honor for a grower from Washington state and reinforces my belief that Washington's growing region is on par with the best in the world. Dick Boushey is a grower that we buy fruit from and have made a vineyard designated wine from the 2005 vintage. We are looking to release this wine as a wine club shipment in December of this year.
Fellow Washington winery Leonetti Cellars was honored as top estate winery of the year by the magazine. Other wineries from Washington were Amavi, Betz, Cadence, Chateau Ste Michelle, L'Ecole No. 41, Leonetti, McCrea and Tamarack Cellars.
It is an honor to be mentioned along side some of the most highly respected producers of wine in the world. On a personal level, it is always nice to get mentioned for our efforts to produce the best wine possible. Cheers ! Charlie

Light At the End of the Tunnel

I figured out exactly how far we are through harvest today, roughly 55% of the way. Being more than half way finished is a big deal, at least mentally it is. Most people do not realize what a grind harvest can be after a while. Once we start filling fermentors up in the cellar, winemaking is an everyday job that lasts about sixty days from start to finish. We are so heavily weighted towards Cabernet Sauvignon now that it seems like we should be further along but we are not because of the lateness of this varietal. Most of the warmer sites for Cabernet Sauvignon have been picked such as all of Red Mountain and Champoux Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills appellation. Some of the sites we get fruit from in the Wahluke Slope appellation such as Weinbau Vineyard are ready and will be picked this week as well.
The vintage continues to show great promise so far. Great tannin structure and incredible fruit flavors dominate. The weather looks to stay nice at least through this weekend so we will continue to bring in fruit at a accelerated pace. We have picked all but one lot of our white wine grapes and that will be picked early next week. We can see light at the end of the tunnel !
Cheers
Charlie

Merlot In the Door

We finally got all our Merlot picked in between a few days of rain. It rained Friday, September 28 and Sunday, September 30. We finished up with Boushey Vineyard and Conner-Lee Vineyard Merlot on Monday. The quality of the Merlot at least initially seem very nice since we have pressed all our Merlot with the exception of these two vineyards. Very deep red colors as the fruit was being destemmed and crushed. This is usually a good indication of how the grapes will progress in the tank once fermentation starts. Most of the fermentations have been six to seven days in length with pumpovers twice daily. I am not big on cold soaking the fruit before fermentation occurs. I prefer getting things going quickly with inoculation (pitching) of yeast happening shortly after the fruit is crushed into the tank. If we ferment in smaller tanks and we are going to punch the cap down we do this at least twice daily and sometimes three times a day. I believe in short very warm fermentations where much of the extraction of flavors occurs prior to much alcohol being produced. I also like to get the fermenting juice off the skins as soon as I feel we have extracted the color and flavors that we are looking for in the wine. After we press the juice off of the skins we generally go to barrels within twenty four hours. This is my twentieth vintage in Washington and the methods I discuss above are what I feel works for me to make the very best wine possible from Washington's Columbia Valley. Cheers!