Arborbrook Vineyards

While they aren’t published yet, we were just notified that our wines received the following ratings from Wine Enthusiast:

2008 Croft Vineyards Pinot Gris – 91 points and Editor’s Choice

2007 Estate 777 Block Pinot Noir – 89 points

2007 Heritage Cuvee Pinot Noir – 89 points

All of these wines are currently available for purchase. We are continuing our great pricing on the ‘07 Pinots.  Please check the “Wine Store” section of the website for ordering information!

Thanks for your continued support!

One of the greatest positive factors of working with Laurent and NW Wine Company as a custom crush client is the equipment and technology that we have access to.  Laurent is an amazing winemaker who is constantly on the lookout for new technology that will improve the winemaking process.  One example of this is the rotary barrel fermentors that Laurent designed.

Another example of this is the use of the Ganimede fermentation system.  This is an Italian-designed system that was introduced in 1997.  This system is designed to fully enhance the mid-palate structure of the wines. It operates on natural energy: the bubbles of fermenting carbon dioxide pound the surface marc (the cap) thereby carrying out the maceration and fermention processes in the most natural way, using a soft and versatile technology that can be adapted to different varietals and winemaking styles.

We are processing the third (and final) estate pick of the Dijon 777 in the Ganimede for the ‘09 vintage. Maybe Dave will barrel taste some of this wine in May so we can see the results!

For more info on the Ganimede, visit www.ganimede.com/uk/home.htm

The grapes from the first pick are now busily fermenting away.  They spent six days in cold soak and then the yeast was added to begin fermentation. This year, we are using 2.5 and 3.0 ton fermentors (small lot fermentation) to which different yeasts are added to bring out varying characteristics of the fruit. Some yeasts will bring out more floral aspects, while others will bring out earthiness, and yet others will bring out spices, and so forth. This way, when dealing with a single clone wines, such as our Estate 777 Block Pinot Noir, we still have the opportunity to blend with differing wines, even though it’s a single clone.

The second pick fruit looked great coming into the winery! As it was picked early morning, it was processed the same day and then put into cold soak.

Our final estate vineyard pick will be this Saturday morning.  We will be taking in the remaining 777.  The little bits of rain that we received this week haven’t been enough to be detrimental to the berries in any way, so all’s looking good!

We are also waiting for the two Pinot Gris vineyards to ripen. Croft Vineyards, located outside of Monmouth, is generally our last pick of the season. It is a little higher in elevation and, due to the coast range influences, takes a little longer to ripen.

This will be our first year of working with Guadalupe Vineyard in sourcing Pinot Gris. We had a great run with fruit from ANA Vineyard and we are looking forward to developing a long-term relationship with Guadalupe to create our barrel-fermented, barrel-aged Pinot Gris going forward.

Bright and early Saturday morning, Dave and Sydney were up and out in the vineyard for the second harvest! The crew was hard at it and bringing in big clusters of beautiful fruit!  We harvested the 115 and 667, along with about half of the 777.

Sydney had a great time sorting through the fruit and picking out leaves and making sure the bins were properly marked.  Dave was in his typical frantic farmer mode! Harvest is a very exciting time for all of us!

Since the fruit was picked so early (6:30 am), processing was done the same day and off into various small lot fermentors it went!

The rest of the fruit was left to hang a bit longer as it wasn’t quite ripe yet.  We’re going to wait out the rain and then will harvest the rest when it’s ready!

The sun is shining, a light breeze, and happy grapes!  We plan on harvesting the Dijon Cones 115 and 667 from the second vineyard block and maybe some of the Dijon 777 from the first block tomorrow morning.  If anyone’s up and about at 6:30, come on out and watch the fun!  Dave and Sydney will be out “supervising”! 

The Pommard that was harvested last Monday is now in the fermentation process.  We are using small lot fermentors with different yeasts.  By using different yeasts to ferment, we are able to bring out different flavor profiles within each separate fermentor.  Some yeasts will bring out more floral characteristics, while others will bring out the fruits and others will bring out more of the earthy characteristics.  It’s amazing to me that we start with fruit that is from the same block, picked the same day, and end up with totally different wines depending on the yeasts that are used!

We will be using the 130-gallon Frech Oak rotary fermentors again this year for some of the fruit that we harvest this weekend. Rotary fermentors are barrels that were specifically designed by Laurent to allow for a gentle fermentation process in barrel, resulting in more concentrated colors and earlier tannen development.  In addition, rather than having to punch down the cap, the barrels are rotated on rollers several times a day, which allows for more contact with the skins and is a more gentle, fruit-friendly process.

On Monday, while harvest was occurring, we were also bottling the 2008 Pinot Noirs! It was a very exciting day! I, personally, haven’t tasted them yet, but the winery guys are telling me that this vintage is absolutely gorgeous! For those of you who purchased Futures of the Estate 777 Block Pinot Noir, you will be VERY happy!  I’m going to go pick up a couple cases today to do my own evaluation, so will let you know my thoughts soon!

The time of year that we all wait for has arrived! 

During the winter, we watch the plants as they sit dormant in snow, ice, and of course, rain…lots of rain, and we complain about the weather.  During the spring, we complain about the weather as we clip and pull the dead canes from last year and till them back into the soil.  We anxiously await bud break and it’s always so exciting to see the plants turning green again! During the summer, we complain about the weather, not too much heat please! But not too much rain either! In the fall, we fret about the weather some more, until finally the day comes… THE FRUIT IS RIPE!

Harvest officially began on Monday, September 21. The crew came in around 11:00 and harvested our Pommard fruit, which is in the second block of the vineyard that we planted in spring 2001. There were some signs of a little dehydration due to the heat and that nasty east wind we had, but the clusters were big and beautiful!

The fruit was in cold storage for about 24 hours and then processing began.  Our fruit was the first fruit into Northwest Wine Company, our custom-crush facility, so when I arrived, a toast was being made to a great harvest.  My timing was perfect… no better way to start sorting fruit than with a glass of bubbles!

Sorting was very fun… and very sticky! I really enjoyed the time I got to spend working with the crew (I’m not sure they feel the same!) and getting to see the processing from the beginning.  The interns this year are from New Zealand, France, and Australia.  What an awesome opportunity for them to be able to come work at such an amazing facility as NW Wine Co., and with Laurent!

We’re planning on harvesting the 667 and 115, and maybe part of the 777 either Saturday or Sunday, so stay tuned!

Hello ArborBrook Friends and Fans!

Yes, we are finally entering the 20th century and have decided to start “blogging”!  Since Harvest ‘09 is just around the corner, we thought that would be a great place to start!

The grapes are all doing very well.  We did have a little bit of sunburn occur during our heat spell earlier this year (I think everyone and everything got a little too much sun with a week’s average of over 100 degrees!), but overall, the fruit-set is awesome! The clusters are huge this year and we have dropped fruit down to 1 cluster per shoot.  We’re hoping to average about 2.0 – 2.5 tons per acre after this cropping.  Fingers crossed!

We’re expecting harvest in about two weeks! Right now, we are preparing by getting the bins cleaned up and have started the propane cannons in the vineyard to scare off the birds (it’s more friendly than a shotgun!).  We’ll keep you all posted!