2011 Harvest Update

We are just beginning to see some colored berries in our 5-acre block of Mourvèdre here at Edward Sellers, which means the onset of berry ripening (véraison) is finally commencing. From a winegrower’s perspective, that means harvest is within sight.

If we agree that organisms big and small are concerned with propagating their species, then for a grapevine the period up until now has been about protecting its grapes until the seeds are mature enough for dispersal by birds and other animals. This helps explain the production of astringent compounds known as tannins, as well as the synthesis of tartaric and malic acid. Foragers rarely return to hard green berries that pull all the saliva from their mouths.

During veraison the grapes will grow and soften as they accumulate sugar and begin to synthesize the color pigments known as anthocyanins (for red varietals) and volatile aroma compounds (for white varietals). Tannin and malic acid levels will decline. Simply, the grapes are becoming more attractive and more palatable.

The cool 2011 season has kept our focus on vine balance. In a normal year for high quality grapes we ask each vine to hang roughly four pounds of fruit. But 2011 is not a normal year. In April, two consecutive days of frost severely reduced the number of Grenache clusters we could expect, and the low temperature has continued through the summer thanks to a trough on the coast that just won’t go away.

We’re spending many hours in the vineyard looking closely at each vine’s strength and its ability to ripen fruit before autumn rains arrive, and we’re articulating our farming based on our observations. As usual, we’ve made a green pass, dropping fruit from weak shoots, but this year we have been more aggressive. We’ll make another pass at about 75% veraison, dropping clusters that have not colored up. This year we’re also doing a bit of origami, cutting some shoulders and tips of those clusters that are too big and heavy.

Come cool weather or warm, our vines should be in fine shape at harvest to deliver grapes with plenty of stuffing and poise.

Jeremy Weintraub, Winemaker

New Winemaker - Jeremy Weintraub

If you have visited the Tasting Room lately, you may have noticed a flurry of activity in the winery. This is not just some cellar rat, this is Jeremy Weintraub, our new Winemaker.

Jeremy joined us at Edward Sellers in early June and has gone through every barrel and walked every row in the vineyard preparing him and us for our upcoming bottling and a very interesting 2011 harvest. (More from Jeremy on that later!)

Jeremy grew up on Long Island, New York drinking mostly French wine with his family. In the summer before he left to study at the University of Edinburgh, Jeremy took a job giving tours at Lenz Winery on Long Island. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Clark University, Jeremy worked at a think tank in Washington, D.C. He then moved to New York, where he wrote articles for a number of magazines. As he approached his 30th birthday Jeremy quit writing and listened to his heart, and began interning at wineries and vineyards on Long Island.

In 2002, Jeremy moved to Davis, CA and earned his Master’s Degree in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis, where his awards included the American Society of Enology & Viticulture Scholarship and the Wine Spectator Scholarship. He followed his academics with stages on the North and South Island of New Zealand and at Italy’s famous Tenuta Tignanello Estate.

On return from Italy, Jeremy became assistant winemaker at Tantara Winery in Santa Maria, CA. In 2006 he became winemaker at Shadow Canyon Cellar in Paso Robles, where he started his appreciation for the Paso Robles, AVA and Rhône varietals. Since 2008 Jeremy has been the winemaker at the highly acclaimed boutique winery in St. Helena named Seavey Vineyards. At Seavey, Jeremy was responsible for the winemaking decisions from vineyard to bottle, with assistance from consultant Philippe Melka. While at Seavey, Jeremy has received luminous accolades from Robert Parker and the Wine Spectator.

Our goal at Edward Sellers is to continue the tradition of making some of the finest Rhône wines in California and we are proud to have attracted a winemaker of Jeremy’s caliber. His winemaking style captures the essence of our past while infusing new energy into our future.

The Vineyard - Spring Pruning

With the temperatures climbing to 86 degrees last week and the Paso sky bluer than blue, I think we are finally on track for the start of a beautiful spring “in the vineyard”. After Mother Nature gave us increased winter rains this season, 22 inches in our vineyard, the vines are now ready for the next phase of their early spring routine, a haircut.

Yesterday as I walked the vineyard, as I do many days, I looked at the new spur pruning regiment we have implemented to again improve the quality of the vines in our vineyard and most importantly, the quality of the grapes these vines produce. Because the pruning strategy directly influences the number of shoots and the potential crop level (grapes only grow on new shoot growth), it is one of the most significant annual vineyard decisions we make as farmers. This decision will affect the balance of the vines throughout the growing season and the quality of fruit we harvest. We prune our vineyard each year with the intent to balance fruit production with adequate shoot growth, while still controlling the vine’s canopy (shading). The shoot numbers, their positions and the length in which the vine produces them, leads directly to the vine’s capability to ripen the given crop level we have chosen.

To achieve our increased quality and lower production levels this year, we are removing any cordon (the woody "permanent" horizontal branch of the grape vine) that is not larger than your little finger and prune the remaining unilateral cordon to only one bud per spur position, not the traditional two (the bud is the location on the spur the new shoot will grow from). We have trained our vines to the unilateral cordon style because of our dense planting, 6’ between rows and 5’ between vines, and because we feel the vine will ripen its fruit better and more evenly with this method.

Our pruning strategy will decrease the number of shoots the vine produces, increase the overall growth and health of the vine, increase the remaining shoot length and ultimately intensify the flavor and color the grapes harvested. As our great friend and former vineyard manager, Jim Smoot, would say…. we’re “Gucciing” the vineyard up to another level! Pruning is KEY!

Cooking With The Stars!

On Sunday, January 30th, I had the exciting opportunity of attending a “celebrity” luncheon at Zovs Bistro in Tustin, California. The luncheon benefited the James Beard Foundation’s Scholarship Program which helps aspiring culinary students. We were thrilled to donate the wine for such an amazing event.

The afternoon started with a cooking demonstration on the quaint patio of Zovs Bistro. The small group of 65 guests anxiously awaited the first celebrity Chef, Ann Burell, host of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef & Worst Cooks in America. As the President of the foundation, Susan Ungaro announced Chef Ann, she popped up to the stage and was just as lively and bubbly as she is on the show, if not more so! Chef Ann walked the guests through the preparation of Chicken Milanese with Escarole Salad and Pickled Onions. Delicious! As she demonstrated, she sipped on a mimosa and ranted on the inappropriate use of salt and pepper, ribbed the crowd and encouraged questions. She had everyone laughing and it was such a treat to watch her in person.

Next up was Chef Michael Symon, host of Next Iron Chef. He walked us through a tasty Crispy Gnocchi with Morels and Spring Peas recipe. Michael was down to earth and spoke of his family and especially his grandfather who is in his ninety’s and still in great health. He chalked it up to eating fresh rather than processed foods. His infectious laugh had us all in stitches as he told fantastic stories of his family and restaurant life.

After the demonstrations we were treated to a luncheon prepared by Zov Karamardian complete with poached salmon and dill sauce, stuffed grape leaves, lamb chops, delicious Mediterranean salads, hummus, and of course Chef Ann and Chef Michaels’ delicious dishes. The guests also enjoyed our 2007 Blanc Du Rhone, 2008 Viognier, 2007 Le Thief and our 2007 Syrah Sélectionnée. The wines paired perfectly with all of the light salads and complemented the lamb, kabobs, and eggplant dishes beautifully.

It was such a pleasure to meet so many new Edward Sellers wine lovers. Many who had never been introduced to our wines and were anxious to talk to me about the winery and Paso Robles.

Great company, fantastic food and beautiful wines, what more could a girl ask for?

Cheers!
Dani Sellers

It's a New Year!

It's a New Year! 2010 proved to be quite a busy year here at Edward Sellers Winery. We had a lot of positive changes including the completion of our winery and tasting room out on 46 West. We so appreciated all of the support that we received at our downtown location but we are definitely "at home" here in the vineyard.

Our Grand Opening celebration over Harvest Festival weekend helped us break in our new tasting room as wine club members and friends enjoyed the music of Gruvething, a 14 piece band that rocked the house (or rather the vineyard), delectable food by Trumpetvine, and magic performed throughout the evening by our favorite magician Steve Wastell. It will be hard to top it this year!

The Holiday's were extremely busy and our tasting room was visited by a host of travelers from San Diego to San Francisco, Colorado to Alaska, and from as far away as Mexico, France, and Ireland. It was so much fun to talk with all of the interesting wine lovers from around the globe.

After the excitement and over indulgences of the Holiday's were over and all of the travelers had journeyed back home, we finally had a moment to catch our breaths and welcome in the New Year. Although this time of year is typically slow in the tasting room, it gives Kendall, Ed and I an opportunity to plan all of our fun parties and events for the upcoming year.

It is sure to be a fun year in our new vineyard home so stop by and say "hello" and enjoy a great glass of wine and our terrific view.

Cheers!
Dani

Ground Breaking News!

It has been a long time coming but we have finally broken ground out at the vineyard and we couldn't be more excited! After years of blood, sweat, and tears..... .and more tears, we are finally under construction and are looking to open by September.
The old barn came down on Saturday and I have to say that it was bitter sweet. Many of you have come out through the years for private events and enjoyed the "quaintness" of the property. We were a bit nostalgic as we reminisced about all of the fun times we have had in that rickety old barn. Smokey (our wild cat) was none to happy about the arrangement as she used to sit atop the barn and view her empire. She has been sulking around ever since.
We will be keeping you updated on the progress of the winery and look forward to many fun events and good times out at the vineyard. Until then, come see us downtown and enjoy our award winning wines.
Cheers!
Dani & Ed Sellers

Spring & Our Cellar Club Shipment

“It's Spring again at Edward Sellers, and, as I write this, a cold wind has blown in too..... the warm weather I thought was here to stay. We were all gearing up for bud break—Spring temperatures mean the sap is flowing in the vines-- but it looks like it isn't going to come early after all. In the winery, Spring means that the current vintage, the 2009’s, are finally starting to taste like wine. Blending is just around the corner, and I already have some ideas about how to portion out the stunning, structured, and low-yield wines of 2009 into some stellar cuvees. The 2008’s are beginning to mature as well, and already taste ready to bottle, with lush fruit and well-integrated barrel characters. But oh, the 2007 reds! You have those now, in this shipment. (Last shipment you got a preview with our Saboteur) The ‘07 Mourvèdre is, in my opinion, a textbook rendering of Paso Robles Mourvèdre, with its earthy and almost gamey character, soft tannins, and rich, velvety fruit. If you've been with us for a while, you probably know that this is our first single-varietal bottling of Mourvèdre. Also in your shipment is the ‘07 Cognito, which has the highest percentage of Zinfandel ever in a Cognito bottling, and shows a great deal of spicy Zinfandel characters and mouth-watering fruit flavors. The 2007 Vertigo is possibly the most serious Vertigo since ‘05, with bones and structure to hold it up for years to come, but enough youthful and inviting Rhône wine intensity to make it a lot of fun to drink now. It's possibly the most French-influenced wine I've made, with the exception of the Cuvée des Cinq. I can't wait to throw it into a blind tasting with some of my winemaker friends! The verdict is still out on the ‘08 whites-- the only one you've tried is the Estate Blanc, I believe -- but I think the whites just keep getting better and better with each vintage. 2008 Viognier goes back to the crisper style I started with in ‘05, while the Roussanne and Blanc du Rhône come out on the richer end of the Edward Sellers style spectrum. Enjoy the wines, and remember that I always love to hear your comments!” Amy Butler, Winemaker