Elevage Duration

Cellar Rats (ITB)
1

Is it just me, or does it seem some wineries are releasing their wines much earlier than used to be the standard? I have noticed it a lot with Cali Pinot and Zin, but also Rhone. I know the 2007 Seghesio Zin that got on the WOTY list was released last fall, supposedly after 11 months in barrel (which I really question). I have also seen many TN’s already on many 2007 Pinots and Rhones. A couple of months ago I suggested maybe we should start bottling our Zins a bit sooner, and we are going to try to bottle the '08’s in January or sooner, but this year we just bottled our estate Zins the week before last, whereas we usually bottled them in mid April-May in years past. Yesterday we received an email from Gourmet mag to submit our '07’s. In years past they wouldn’t even have been bottled at this point.

So, is this a trend, or am I just noticing it more now?

2

I’ve noticed it too. I can think of one very likely reason - cashflow. To a lesser extent, I have to wonder if some of it isn’t about being first to market with a vintage (although I realize this can be highly variable as a function of several factors).

3

Linda - I think wineries are doing it for cash flow, barrel space pre harvest, and they feel the wines are ready for bottling.

A lot of CA Pinot producers bottle their wines in July or August, wines that were harvest the prior September/October. In many cases, these wines are ready in barrel for blending and bottling. And once bottling is done you can use those empty barrels for the upcoming harvest…and you only have to deal with one vintage when topping, sulfur additions etc.

Many of these Pinots are then “released” in Jan/February and shipped either pretty quickly or a little later so they’ve seen about 4-6 months in bottle before hitting the consumers.

I don’t see anything wrong with the practice.

Heck, I was at Littorai and they’ve already bottled an 08 Sonoma Coast Pinot…we took home a couple.

4

Heck, I was at Littorai and they’ve already bottled an 08 Sonoma Coast Pinot…we took home a couple.

Wow. Now that is early.

Linda- you may just notice it more now? i know i always feel like bottling is sneaking up on me…maybe you’re developing the same complex? [highfive.gif]

the cynic may say it’s because people are making lower tannin, higher alcohol, and higher pH wines. then again, those who make wines who might be dismissed as such are some of the folks that hold things in barrel that extra 4-5 months over harvest.

I think the reality is only some people see much point in holding wines past 10 months (Pinot, Zin, etc) or 22 months (Cabernet, etc) in barrel, when the alternative is so much more reasonable. i spoke with an old boss, from a well-respected Cab producer the other day who intoned that he was going to move from ~25-27 months down to 22. he just didn’t feel those extra months were doing the wine any good, and it is so much easier to just bottle prior to harvest in so many ways.

also, it doesn’t make much sense these days to build wineries with a luxurious amount of space for barrels or cased goods. land is expensive, regulations and permits are tight, and, if you’re an estate vineyard, it means less vines and less return. vineyard land produces tangible revenue, while square footage can be argued for, but is less tangible. therefore, i think a lot of folks need to clear out the oldest wine from barrel and ship it to warehouses, as they plain don’t have room for 3 vintages of Cabernet.

one other thing to consider: a lot of people were bottling as quickly as possible to meet demand. that may be changing, as demand is slowing down for almost everyone and credit is tight - and a lot of packaging has to be bought on an LOC.

personally, i think i’d rather barrel age a shorter period, then bottle age longer prior to release than the alternative.

5

I agree that an '08 is pushing it a bit.
I also agree that at least for Zin, shorter time in bbl and longer in bottle pre-release sounds like a good plan. One of the reasons I made the suggestion for earlier botling is that is seems like some of our lots start dropping color and losing some freshness as they progress. For the lower tannin wines, I think it is a good thing. I was really surprized, though, seeing as many '07 Rhones out there as I have.

6

Looks like everyone has already covered the main reasons for bottling a bit earlier than may have been done in the past. August is super-busy Pinot bottling month these days.

Just a note on the '08 Littorai Sonoma Coast and Les Larmes Pinots - these are rare exceptions (they haven’t even released their '07 blended Pinots yet). Littorai is only doing it for the '08 vintage due to the effects of smoke taint on a number of their vineyards - according to their mailer, they sold off some of the fruit they got, and made very light, low-extraction Pinots for these two blends, which they recommend people to drink in the first year or two. Quite different from the typical Littorai Pinots, which get more time in barrel and really demand age.

7

Interesting about the smoke taint. I’m surprised they didn’t just try to remove it with RO.

8

From what I’ve been told, the after RO the taint comes back. The gift that keeps on giving.

9

Really. I wonder why.

BTW, hello Greg. We have met several times (when I was at Fresno State.)

10

I was also talking to Neil, the asst winemaker at Littorai, about smoke taint and he says strong possibility it affects the next vintage too…talk about the gift that keeps giving…

11

I’ve heard the same thing from a couple of other people. If it does affect this year’s vintage, I hope the smoke taint effects will not be as strong as in the fruit from last year.

12

Hey Linda, how could anyone forget you.

The removal of and the taint and reappearance sounds like a classic equalibrium reaction, no?

13

Uh oh, sounds like this thread may need to be moved to the NSFW forum!
[wow.gif]

14

Oh Jeff. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Can you believe who is telling you that? [wow.gif]

15

…and it inches ever closer to NSFW…

16

Ah, that is my dream. To get a winemaking thread moved to NSFW… [dance2.gif]

17

I started seeing earlier releases here about the time Patty Green and Jim Anderson left Torii Mor and bought what is now Patricia Green Cellars. Whereas the traditional time to start releasing pinot was in the late winter and early spring two years after the vintage (right now for the 2007s, for example), Jim and Patty began releasing their wines much, much earlier - something I assumed to be related to accelerated cash flow for their new venture. Not only were they able to sell the wine sooner (though not as soon as Ken Wright sells his), they were able to free up barrels by bottling earlier. However, in many of the other wineries it wasn’t, and still isn’t, uncommon to see at least parts of two vintages in barrel this time of year.

Around that same time, there began a real flurry of new winery projects and almost all of them adhered to the accelerated release schedule while some of the older, more established wineries began accelerating their own releases in the wake of the vintages of 2004-2005, both of which were extremely short crops. While cash flow may have been a factor, there was also the issue of demand far outstripping the supply of wine.

18

This is a very interesting thread in many respects.

Linda, have you really bottled some '08 Zins already, or are you talking about '07 Zins?

Great points everyone, Linda, Nate, Tony, Greg, Bob (okay, Jeff too). About the taint that comes back the next vintage, is that in the vineyards the next year, or in the barrels that contained the tainted wine?

19

We just bottled our '07 estate Zins.

20

Of course, I can’t speak for anyone else–mainly because I don’t know why release dates have crept back (or is that forward, I get those directions mixed up).

Still, I’ve noticed the trend going on for many years, starting in the New World and then reaching the Old. I’ve always expected two potential reasons: it’s much better for a winery to sell rather than to keep inventory; and as demand grows, which it has in the U.S., it’s a cinch that supply becomes strained.

Quite frankly, I never thought that early release might be a chosen path because the wine required it or didn’t suffer from it, but I suppose that could be part of the reasoning.