We have a Winner!

In a recent post, we asked for help naming the 2009 PWR blend of Syrah (40%), Zinfandel (40%) and Petite Sirah (20%), that we will bottle in July.

We got a lot of great suggestions, and we thank everyone who shared with us. After careful consideration, we have decided to go with the name Bea's Knees, in honor of our daughter, who it just so happens turns one on Saturday.

Mike Trotta, who makes the delicious wines at Elyse Winery, made the winning suggestion. Lucky for him, we can legally give him a bottle of the wine he named. Lucky for us, too, because if we had to go with the "legal alternative" we promised to any winner from a state closed to wine shipping, we would have been stumped. What's the equivalent of a bottle of delicious, lovingly made wine?

Again, the wine will be bottled in July, along with our 2009 Syrah from Massa Ranch in Napa Valley's Yountville AVA. We'll make the wines available to you shortly thereafter. We cannot wait to share what we have made.

PWR's First Pick!

We have started our own small wine company, PWR Wines. The PWR stands for the People's Wine Revolution. The purpose of this blog is not to promote PWR Wines, although we strive to produce wines that would fit right in here. That is, wines that deliver high quality at low prices.

But today was our first ever pick, and we wanted to share the news. We found an old, head-trained vineyard in St. Helena planted to a mix of Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, with a little bit of Viognier. We only managed to bring in 0.37 tons, barely enough to fill a single barrel, but the fruit looked beautiful on the sorting table. Here are a few pictures of our triumph!

One of two half-full bins ready to go.

Sorting the grapes: removing leaves, etc.

The "full" bin, ready to begin fermentation.

We are now in the thick of harvest and there simply are not enough hours in the day to do everything we want to do. We have a long list of wines and other discoveries to tell you about, and we will in good time. Hang in there, dear readers.

Wine, Freedom and Justice Part 2—New Clairvaux Vineyard

As the situation in Iran begins to look less hopeful, we continue our musings on wine making as a tool for world betterment (see below for the first entry on the subject).

We imagine that the New Clairvaux Vineyard, owned by a Cistercian Abbey, is non-profit. The "Our Vision" page of the website states that their goal is to "create a memorable wine experience" and to "produce extraordinary wine." Laudable, and please see the Monastery's Abbot's comments, below, for a description of their mission and the many projects the income from the wine supports.

The winery is in Vina, California, not far from Chico. Reds range from $13-$36, and whites from $15-16. Aimee Sunseri, a former classmate of ours from the UC-Davis Viticulture & Enology program, is the winemaker.

The lineup of wines is quite interesting, and their prices attractive. Whites include Albariño, Vigonier and Trebbiano, and the reds are Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Tempranillo, Syrah, and a blend that includes some Cabernet from Napa Valley. The principal vineyard is located on the site of Leland Stanford’s ambitious but failed effort, which was the largest vineyard in the world in 1890.

We have not tried the wines but look forward to doing so. We welcome your thoughts on winemaking and world changing.