Spanish Wine Travels a la Priorat

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Hossfeld Vineyards

If you are an adventure seeker or a connoisseur of fine wines sourced from extreme hillside vineyards then you better get a rental car on your next trip through the wine country in Spain and head to Priorat.

Made up of entirely of Licorella or slate stone these vineyards consist of tiny pieces of broken rock where the vines grow on extreme slopes . Predominately all head trained and older than 70 years old these gnarly vines create intense and complex wines.

We thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality in Porrera and Priorat. These hillside vineyards put our pretty extreme vineyard in its place as extreme but not as extreme as Priorat. This region has seen a resurgence in the last decade at one time it was abandoned and the vines were left fallow.

Our first stop was at Bodega Clos Dominic a multi-generational winery with vineyards located down a canyon in Porrera. As part of the tour we hopped into a big SUV and drove to the vineyard which really gave us perspective about this region and why it is so distinct. We loved all the wineries on our visit to Priorat and Prorrera. Another notable favorite was Bodega Mas Sinen.

This gentlemen had visited Napa in the early 80s and is an advocate for organic farming and winemaking. He had a variety of training styles in his vineyard and some of the best sweeping views of this craggy area.

Native poppy of Spain. Compared to our golden California poppy.

The owner took us on a lengthy tour of his vineyard catering to our interests and viticultural backgrounds. It was lovely. We explored the soil texture touching and discovering what this Licorella is all about.

Along the way we drank from his natural spring from a Porrón

He was very passionate about not only the viticulture but the winemaking as well.

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed discovering this beautiful are full of beautiful wines and extreme vineyards. We are definitely looking forward to explore more of the Priorat region.

Cheers!

Spanish Wine Travels a La Rioja

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Hossfeld Vineyards

After a little bud swell began to appear in the vineyards of Napa Valley , us lady farmers hopped on a plane and quickly took our annual vacation to Spain for some fabulous wine, cheese, pinchos and to see our fabulous cohort Hayley Hossfeld. Exploring both Rioja Alta and Rioja Baja, our other posts will include our visit to Priorat and Sant Sadurní d’Anoia the infamous cava region.

Our cata at Bodega ONTAÑON a multi-generational, family-owned bodega.

We loved all the wines and the vineyards. The viticulture although similar did have its regional twists and the age of the vines ranged from young vines to 90 year old vines. The wines and grapes that are approved to be made and grown in La Rioja consist of Tempranillo, Granacha, Graciano, and Macabeo . The Tempranillo is an early ripening grape variety , its name was derived from the word temprano which in Spanish means early.

We enjoyed learning about how La Rioja has been branded and the rules and regulations regarding its D.O.C. Denominación de Origen Calificada. Specifically , how the Spanish label their wine and how the age in barrel affects its name. In the La Rioja region , wines are called vino joven , crianza, reserva, and gran reserva based on the time that the wine was on oak or aged in oak barrels as well as how long it has been aged in the bottle. Vino joven implies that a wine that has had no oak in its aging process. Crianza is up to one year in an oak barrel, reserva is at least 1 year in a barrel and 2 years aged in the bottle. Gran reserva is over 1 year in an oak barrel and at least 5 years in the bottle.

This aging process and the specificity for aging time in the barrel adds to the time from when the wine is bottled to when it is sold. Wine is often stored without a label during the bottle aging period of that wine’s life.

We enjoyed learning about the wines and tasting relatively old wines compared to those wines we find in Napa tasting rooms. The oldest wine we tasted in La Rioja was a 1991 Reserva from Bodega Urbina which consisted primarily of Tempranillo. Although the wine was 22 years old it still retained acid and the color wasn’t totally brick or rusty.

Bacchus painting

During our travels in La Rioja, we visited a variety of wineries mainly located in Rioja Alta. Our first visit was to Bodega Ontonon whose mythical influence was not only apparent from the beautiful art work but also reflected in the wines. They really demonstrated their interest in maintaining the origins of wine and winemaking through the ages as well as incorporating a new generational approach through their use of social media.

The most notable was Bodega Urbina where we met el nariz del oro or as we would refer to it as the ‘golden nose’ which is one of the highest ranking sommelier certifications in Spain. He is in the Urbina family and their winemaker.

At Bodega Urbina we tasted through their entire lineup of 12 wines. Starting with a clarete or a light rosé and finishing with the 1991 gran reserva , tasting through wine made from rehydrated wine grape raisins and a fabulous crianza made out of garnacha or granache.

Our next stop was the infamous Bodega Marqués de Riscal, known for the beautiful gold netting enveloping their bottles of wine. This was their initial defense for counterfeit wine and now although the risk is low it is now purely aesthetic. It was an interesting stop and a huge facility but a little too corporate for us artisanal boutique Napa ladies.

Ladies posing for the paparazzi outside of the Getty designed hotel that graces the grounds of Marqués de Riscal.

In between the second and third winery we visited the medieval city of Laguardia perched high on a hill where we could observe the beautiful old vines on the hillsides and in the valleys as well as the colorful mountains surrounding the La Rioja region.

One thing that is notable about the Spanish wine industry is their attitude towards young vines vs. old vines. To the Spanish young vines are any vines younger than 20 years old and those usually go into just vino joven or crianza production. The grapes that are selected for the vino reserva and gran reserva are vines usually around 70-90 years old. I think in Napa we should continue the tradition and really cherish old vines and the complexities that they impart on the wines that are created from them.

Saludos from Spain and Cheers to the 2013 vintage!

Brazilian Food : Regional Cuisine from Rio to Bahía

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Hossfeld Vineyards

We have enjoyed lots of cuisine throughout our tour of Brazil. From the southern most point of Brazil to Salvador. Although the food was delish in Rio de Janeiro we have enjoyed a lot of different flavors in the state of Bahía . Touring beach towns and drinking as many Coco Gelados and Caiparhinas all the way to Salvador.

From Sucos (fresh fruit juices) to the infamous Açai berry, there is an amazing variety of foods that we have never heard of nor have ever crossed over our palettes. Some of the foods and beverages that we definitely are writing home about include:

Açaí- this new celebrity in the power food realm, an Amazonian berry, that is so intensely dark purple that it stains your teeth much like a fine Bordeaux. Delicious and full of energy, it is usually blended and served with bananas, granola, and honey. Supposedly the hunters of the Amazon will chew the berries of Açaí with Farrofa and this will keep them full all day and give them lasting energy.

Acaí , potent, powerful, and delicous!

Moquecas- Sizzling on a ceramic plate, this fish or shrimp stew is made with Dende Oil (a red oil made from a particular palm tree), coconut milk, Pirao ( a mix of fish sauce and Farrofa), and sometimes accompanied with black-eyed peas or beans and rice. An amazing Bahían dish.

Moqueca

Feijoada- A hearty dish, do not try to Samba after this meal. A beef , sausage, bean stew served with Couvé ( shredded greens cooked with garlic), oranges, and Farrofa (ground Yuca root). Absolutely fantastic and fiilling. Showcases some of the main staples in Brazil. One of the best Feijoada’s in Rio is located at the Casa Rosa, Centro Cultural, on Sunday nights. A great place to eat traditional cuisine and listen to live Samba music. This fantastic building was at one time an infamous brothel.

Feijoada

Sucos- a variety of fruit juices, one of the more interesting varieties include: Cajú , Cacao, Graviola , fruits that definitely are not grown in California and for that matter in Napa. Make sure to ask for sem azucar or it will be very sweet. Usually they blend the pulp with water, the fruit flavors are still strong however, and the drink is very hydrating.

Cacao pod

Acarajé – a food particular to the state of Bahía, a deep fried bun made of flour from ground Black-eye Peas, that is fried in the infamous Dende oil and stuffed with shrimp, spicy chile peppers, Okra , and another ingredient that is difficult to translate. A very Creole-esque snack. Lovely and beautiful women make them from scratch infront of your eyes.

Gorgeous woman serving infamous Aracajé

Lastly, one of our favorite beverages asides from the Fruit Caiparhinias, are the Coco Gelados, the chilled young coconuts that they machete a hole in and put a straw in and let you enjoy it at the beach or through a stroll in town. Refreshing and rehydrating. However, be careful too much young coconut can have a laxative effect.

Tough life- beach and chilled coconuts abound.

We are now off to Argentina, going to live like the Gauchos along the Pampas through our exploration of Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Can´t be from the Napa Valley and not go wine tasting in Argentina.

Cheers!

New Year`s a la Arequipeña

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Hossfeld Vineyards

Cheers to the bounty of 2012!! Feliz año nuevo!

Wearing our yellow Peruvian hats for New Year`s eve

Celebrating New Year´s in a foreign country is always exciting. New foods, friends, and cultural nuances flood the scene and captivate all the spectators. This year we spent New Year´s eve in Arequipa , Peru, the second largest city in Peru .

Traditions created around New Year´s are always fascinating. In the U.S. we are sparse on traditions compared to other countries. Of course, kissing someone at midnight, perhaps the colors blue and silver are the thematic colors, and sharing your New Year´s resolution. These are very tame compared to the Peruvian customs.

There are three traditions that we experienced and adopted during our stay in Arequipa. The first is the importance of wearing the right color underwear when ringing in the New Year. Yellow for prosperity, green for wealth, and red for love. All the street markets were flooded with different styles and the respective colored panties.

Lots of underwear for sale in the street markets of Arequipa

The second tradition involves Incan folklore , lots of incense. Not the typical Nag Champa that everyone associates with incense. But traditional cauldrons where herbs, cedar, and other plants are burned to rid oneself and the area of bad spirits . Starting off the new year spiritually safe and sound.

Traditional incense, Incan style

Candles are the third ritual, lots of different colors representing certain qualities that you would want in the New Year. Once burned at 12 , each color will perform it{s respective character. Yellow for prosperity, blue for health, red for love, purple for self-confidence, etc. Two of us ladies in our group burned blue and yellow ones, where as the single ladies burned beautiful red candles with gold accents.

Assortment of homemade candles, need luck in the year to come? burn a candle

Much like our tradition involving plenty of champagne to ring in the New Year, in Peru , Demi-Sec champagne made Ica, Peru, very sweet almost to sweet for these American Chicas. There were also tables full of Muscato, Vino de Higo (fig wine), and other red Peruvian varietals made in a sweet manner.

If planning to travel in the New Year one must circle their neighborhood carrying two suitcases in order to give good luck for your trip and put the energy out there that you have good luck when traveling in the New Year.

Happy 2012 to everyone and may it be prosperous to all!!

Up in the Andes Estilo Peruano: our adventure thus far

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Hossfeld Vineyards

Although the wine has been sparse in Peru so far on our journey, we have been delighting in the local ´bebidas´ from Pisco Sours, Inca Cola, Cusquena a local beer, and Coca tea. We are even debating visiting the wine region of Ica lots of sparkling wine is made in this Southern province of Peru.

More popular than Coca Cola, Inca Cola

Lima was a very eclectic coast town, we stayed in the Barrancos area. This was great for us because it is the Bohemian area of Lima and we found it quite suitable.We did enjoy Miraflores as well as El Centro. Colorful buildings, gorgeous colonial mansions, and of course coastal fog filled our days of sightseeing. A bike tour from Bike Tours of Lima rescued us from our jet lag , our guide Franco was fantastic. The food was delicious as well , from traditional Peruvian cuisine to Comida Chifa ( a fusion of Chinese food and Peruvian food).

Barrio Barrancos

My favorite food during our visit to Lima was the Aji de Gallina, a chicken dish made with the infamous Aji chile, very difficult to find in the U.S. , they like it spicy down here. Other traditional dishes that we shared were Arroz con Pollo and an Amazonion dish Tacu Tacu con Asado.

Ají de Gallina

After delighting in all that Lima had to offer we are resting up in Cusco anticipating our 4 day trek to Machu Picchu. Drinking lots of Coca tea, sipping on Quinoa soup , and eating the vast variety of Peruvian potatoes.

Tomorrow we are going to nosh around town at the infamous Mercado de San Pedro. Other traditional dishes on our must-eat list include: Alpaca steaks or burger, anticuchos de carne or alpaca (beef hearts or Alpaca hearts on a skewer) , and Cuy.

Chicas bebiendo Pisco

Ciao y Cheers de Peru!

Harvest 2011: Friend or Foe?

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Hossfeld Vineyards

The whirlwind effect that took over Harvest 2011 will be difficult to forget. It was just shy of 2 months and shredded everyone’s nerves to the raw. Relationships were strained as some vines shut down and stopped ripening and Botrytis slowly engulfed the vineyards.

In addition to the usual stresses that embody the frenzy of harvest, a fire erupted the day after we finished harvesting on November 1, 2011 , Soda Canyon fire. The ranch is safe and sound and will continue to produce beautiful hillside Bordeauxs.

Aftermath of Soda Canyon Fire, Hossfeld Vineyards in the backdrop

The threat of Botrytis started early among the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir harvest leaving late ripening Bordeauxs and other varietals vulnerable. Thin skinned varietals such as the Burgundies and Rhones more specifically Petit Syrah literally rotted off of the vine in a three-day period.Our Merlot was gorgeous into October and then three dense foggy morning caused Botrytis to”bloom” as they say .

Merlot with Botrytis Bloom

Luckily, we assembled our crew and pulled it all off in a matter of 2 days before complete meltdown. Regarding the Cabernet Sauvignon , Cab Franc, and Petit Verdot, virtually unscathed from Botrytis bloom.

Pea-soup foggy morning during Merlot Pick

After the pea soupy foggy mornings the weather pattern shifted to a breezy, sunny, warm spell for roughly 10 days which dried out the Botrytis . The tainted berries fell off and the beautiful fruit carried on. It was a very resource intense vintage, commanding a long hang time, late Botrytis fungicide spray applications and selective or “clean” picking throughout the harvest. Those growers that managed to deliver a decent tonnage fared well compared to others that had to make split second decisions before the crop rotted and quality was being compromised.

All in all, we only battled Botrytis , Aspergillus wasn’t an issue this year as in the previous 2009 and 2010 vintages. The late spray application of fungicide to combat and prevent Botrytis really did prolong the hang time for the other varietals . Although an extra expense to an already maxed out budget it was money well spent.

Getting the forklift involved for the Cabernet Franc Pick

Overall we survived magnificently, all grape varietals ripened to 25 -28 degrees bricks. The harvest was quick, in total we harvested over a 10 day period. It takes a lot of pre-planing and strategy to harvest this extreme hillside vineyard. As well as a lot of Gatorade, Coca-Cola, and Bud Light. Heineken is a popular beer for celebrating the end of that day’s pick. All grapes were handpicked and personally delivered looking as clean as clean could be in this type of year.

Hossfeld Lady harvesting those steep terraces

Weathering two storms, and a gorgeous two weeks of late sun for ripening. All the components that create high quality grapes came through at the end, leading to a better vintage than the previous two vintages, namely, 2009/2010. We are excited to see how the wines progress from this vintage. The color and flavor definitely arrived through the late hang, as well as great PH and TA. Superb quality compared to other players this year.

A Grower’s Bliss

Rumor has it that some wineries are still taking in fruit as we speak, in hopes of recouping costs through selling it on the bulk market. Always a popular strategy and fruitful as well. In addition, to bulk wine futures other wineries are picking second crop in hopes of sweetening up the wine made from the primary crop. This is an interesting winemaking decision and is most likely probable due to the mild Autumn weather and the lack of rain .

Winterization has commenced at the ranch. Erosion control, addressing sick/dead vines, and cover crop projects are the last loose ends to wrap up before the winter.

Gator Full of Desiccated Vines

Cheers to everyone involved in the 2011 harvest , looks like we will actually have a 2011 vintage after all.

Winemakers pre-harvest check-up

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Hossfeld Vineyards

This is the time of year when winemakers come out to the vineyards to visit and make sure all the loose ends are all tied up and the fruit is on its way to ripening, hopefully , problem free. There seems to be an unspoken high-end viticulture check list (especially for hillside select farmers) that winemakers use when sizing up the vineyards during these visits.

Some check list items include:

Irrigation – always a point of contention between winemakers and growers.
Green thinning – not only green clusters but bountiful shoulders or wings ,usually found on Cabernet Sauvignon and some Petit Verdot .
Berry size and canopy management – small berries good, and give those vines another haircut if they still have tendrils at this point.

Nice shoulder on this CS cluster

Irrigation is a ‘hot’ topic between farmer and winemaker. It is the life force that keeps vines alive and healthy from bud break to harvest, however, there are a variety of schools of thought regarding when and how often one should irrigate.

Farmers keep it on the DL when irrigating the vines, winemakers usually don’t want to know or observe vines that are receiving too much water.It is back to the questions of to irrigate or not, it really depends on soil type and weather conditions. Stress is key to channeling the vines energy into the grapes but there can be too much stress, essentially, when vines start shutting down where leaves fall off and fruit never ripens.

Hillside and valley floor vineyards definitely command different irrigating and farming techniques. This year I have heard from multiple farmers from two distinct appellations ; Carneros and Calistoga, that have only irrigated once this year. Dry farming is not always the answer but it is a method to gain more control over your vines access to water.

Irrigation is very important but it is also important not to over water your vines. Two indicators of over watering include bigger than usual berries and lots of new growth during veraison. Over watering can delay ripening and create huge berries thus increasing the juice-to-skin ratio creating washed out tasting grapes. If your vineyard is full of vines that are still producing tendrils and most of the canes look ‘hairy’ then you are most likely over watering the vines.

“Hairy” Cab Franc vine , give it a buzz cut

The problem with this scenario is that the vine is still growing and not concentrating all of its energy into ripening the grapes which is crucial this time of year or earlier if you are growing Chardonnay or Pinot Noir grapes.

Table Grapes , watch out if your wine grapes look like this!

If your wine grapes look like grapes you find at the grocery store, then you probably have been watering too much.

An interesting comparison between wine grapes and table grapes is the level of ripeness that each varietal reaches before it is picked. Table grapes (e.g. Thomson Seedless) are usually harvested at 17 Brix and have huge berries. Wine grapes (e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon) on the other hand, are usually picked at 25 Brix and have a small berry size. Winemakers and farmers strive for this smaller berry because of the value in the juice-to-skin ratio needed in the winemaking process.

Gorgeous hillside Cabernet Sauvignon, winemakers’ crack

Finally the heat has arrived, looking forward to an earlier harvest compared to the first few predictions. Cheers to the 2011 vintage!

Hossfeld Vineyards

Extreme Hillside Bordeauxs

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