I’m at the barrels today tasting the ‘09 reds. It’s early, but—for those budding winemakers—I can already tell what I’ve got on my hands for this vintage. Our ’07 Cabernet was really good, and I was psyched with our first run out of the gate. Then our ’08 grapes blew the doors off the ’07. The ’08 Cab is ripper—and people are noticing. My buddy Raj Parr, a sommelier of some renown, a partner in the Michael Mina Group and a sweet dude, turned all of his sommeliers onto it as soon as he tried it. That was a brilliant boost to my morale—and helped stem the tide of stomach-lining loss. If I haven’t already stressed it enough, winemaking is a wild ride. Bring your life jacket.

So… “The ’09 reds? What about the ’09 reds?” you’re thinking. They’re crazy train. I already take a sip and think “Holy crap. This is some peak-experience stuff.” I’m stoked, to say the very, very least.

And, the Sauvignon Blanc is staying so on track it makes me quote Richard Pryor in Stir Crazy—“Yea, dass right! Dass right! We bad!” (See it if you haven’t. The guy was genius. Gene Wilder too.) NSFW, btw… From our first vintage, the ’06 SB, this wine has impressed me. I know, I know—we made it. But it’s just so gooood. And the ’09 is keeping up the family tradition. It’s “wow” stuff.

All of this adds up to me untwisting my kickers a couple turns. Again, for all you budding winemakers, each part of the process is a giant unknown mixed with straight-ahead experience dashed with pixie dust. A place angels fear to tread. But, man, if they did, they’d taste some good wine right now.

Grayson Hartley, my partner on the winemaking front, is a fucking incredible and insanely talented vigneron (a winemaker with deep roots in the vineyard). His read on the vineyard is tight and his progression in the cellar is something to watch. Here are his notes so far. By the way, notice his last note. New for this year and wicked exciting to us all—a red Zinfandel.

Ladies and gentlemen, Grayson Hartley…

A little 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon background is in order before we get to the notes. We currently have two separate batches of Cab fermenting that we’ve handled slightly differently to enhance certain aspects. A great challenge this time of year—before blending—is to set aside prejudices of a given lot based on past performance and characteristics of earlier vintages and taste with a clear mind and fresh palate. However, it’s rewarding when a given vineyard’s wine impresses but doesn’t surprise you—it means you’re getting to know the vineyard.

Tasting notes for the Cab:

The two wines fit together seamlessly. The first, from an undulating, bone-dry hillside vineyard, is exuberant and bright, even petulant in its desire to be bottled immediately. It bursts with berry fruit, baked in a pie maybe, and carries a little mint and tobacco along with it. It is punchy, and, while dense, it seems to have forgotten its heritage. Like a sun-baked Priorat Grenache, it gives its all to fruit and charm, ignoring structure. Lucky for us, the alluvial, well-groomed and slightly sloped vineyard that is the foundation of our Cabernet makes a wine with plenty of structure to go around. This wine is deep, dark, strident, and maybe a little austere right now. Not flashy with fruit, it nevertheless exhibits only the blackest of berries and currants along with a mineral, pencil-lead streak. It respects what a classic Cabernet is all about, and joined with its other half makes a bold Cabernet Sauvignon that fires on all cylinders.

2009 Sauvignon Blanc tasting notes:

Each year we seem to coax a little more of that orange-creamsicle character out of our SB, and this year’s wine, as it de-gases post-fermentation, literally pops with it. It has everything we’ve come to expect: a rich, lemon-oily acidity, some tropical flash in the kiwi/pineapple department, and a density and concentration not found in many wines of its class. This year seems a little special, though; the wine seems to have more energy, more generosity…

And, the 2009 Zin:

Lodi, a diamond in the Central Valley rough, has long been known as a place to grow fantastic Zinfandel. That’s what they do there, and they do it well—the wines don’t try to be too fancy, just delicious. However, when your vines are farmed organically by Markus Bokisch and thinned to half the crop-load of the average Lodi grapevine, you’re aiming a little higher whether you like it or not. So, even as newcomers on the long-established Lodi Zin scene, we’ve got no time to be modest or bashful with the big, fruity, spicy, juicy wine that we’ve made. It’s got all that and then some, and we can’t wait to get it to bottle.

Go, Grayson. You bad. You bad.

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