Vintner’s Winter

Submitted by Sarah

Although the vines are bare and dormant, winter can be one of the most beautiful seasons in wine country. Here in Paso, visitors sip on warming reds in our cozy Wine Center and watch out the windows as storms roll over the hills, bringing us our much-needed rainfall. Right now, as our vines sleep off the season and we eagerly await budbreak in spring, our team is hard at work pruning and preparing our vineyards for our 38th vintage here at J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines. We hope you can come in for a visit soon, but for those of you who live far away, here are some snapshots taken around our Wine Center and in our vineyards during the last few weeks:

Vintage J. Lohr: Memories from the Cellar

Jeff Meier,  Director of Winemaking and EVP/COO of J. Lohr Winery, has been with us for 28 years. In honor of Vintage J. Lohr Month, he’s offered to share some memories with us from over the years.

Submitted by Jeff 

I began working at the winery in San Jose in August of 1984. I was hired as a harvest intern and quickly got sucked into construction at the winery.  We tore down an old barrel room, added ten new 24,000-gallon stainless steel tanks (plus all of the glycol plumbing, electrical, compressed air and water lines, catwalks, etc.) and were filling up tanks with 1984 grape juice as we were still plumbing in refrigeration lines! My favorite part of the job was the mixture of art and science, still intriguing to this day.  The scientific side is used to evaluate experiments to improve grape and wine quality and to guide some basic decision-making, and this wrestles with the sensory side, which is all about flavor, aroma and texture - and in some situations, counter to what the science might be telling us.

In my formative years at the winery when I became assistant winemaker, my mentor, winemaker Barry Gnekow, worked crazy hours.  I used to refer to us as tag-team winemakers.  I would be at the winery early in the morning, and at about 5:00 or so in the afternoon, Barry would be making his way into work. (An avid surfer, he preferred the night shift.) I would jokingly give him a high five on my way out as it was now his turn to get in the ring. Those were interesting times.

Probably the neatest moment for me since I’ve been with J. Lohr was after working to craft the first Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon (the 1995 vintage), it was submitted unbeknownst to me by our export assistant at the time, Dave Stromfeld, to the London Wine Show.  The results were even more stunning when it was awarded a Gold Medal with only two other California Cabernet Sauvignons - Opus One and BV Georges de Latour!  Not bad for the first vintage!

Stay tuned throughout the next few weeks for more memories from our long-time J. Lohr extended family of employees. 

Vintage J. Lohr: 40 Years of Winegrowing

Submitted by Jerry Lohr

As we move in to 2012, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the planting of our first vineyards in Monterey County. This year, we came through one of the most challenging years of our 38 vintages. First, we had a frost in spring – two nights of freezing weather followed by a very cool growing season. We then worried about freezing and rain in the fall, so we picked some blocks slightly earlier than we would have otherwise. But this is all working out very well for us, because due to the cooler year, we have very good color development in our 2011 wines.

So each year presents its own challenges; all we can do is strive to make the very best wine we can from each vintage. And though we are celebrating 40 years of winegrowing this year, we are never done learning. This challenging vintage was very much a learning experience for all of us at J. Lohr, and we are very pleased to share it with you.  

Happy New Year,

Jerry Lohr

A vintage photo of Jerry, harvesting some of our original plantings 
in the Arroyo Seco.

Wildflower Mulled Wine: A J. Lohr Tradition

Submitted by Sarah

Every year in our J. Lohr San Jose Wine Center, we look forward to the holiday season. All throughout December in our tasting room, the spicy smell of mulled wine made from our J. Lohr Estates Wildflower Valdiguié lingers in the air throughout the winery.  This year, we thought we’d share the recipe with you, so you can make it at home during the holidays!

What you’ll need

(makes 12 servings)

-2 bottles of J. Lohr Estates Wildflower Valdiguié

-4 tablespoons of lemon juice

-1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

-3 cinnamon sticks

-15 whole cloves

-1/2 cup of sugar

Combine the first five ingredients and bring to a boil. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, letting the spices blend with the wine. This is best served late at night by the fire with cookies, waffles or Danish ebelskivers (pictured above). 

From everyone at J. Lohr, we wish your family a safe and happy holiday season!

Do you live in the Bay Area? Come join us at the J. Lohr San Jose Wine Center for a complimentary taste of Wildflower Mulled Wine! Our hours are 10-5, closed on Christmas Day.

This week at J. Lohr

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Things have been awfully beautiful around here during the last week or so. We couldn’t wait to share a peek with you!

Harvest Recap: The Meier Report

Now that harvest has drawn to a close, J. Lohr Director of Winemaking Jeff Meier reflects on the challenging year that we’ve faced, but expresses optimism about the quality of the 2011 J. Lohr wines. 

Submitted by Jeff Meier

This year was extremely challenging for winegrowers. At J. Lohr, the vintage got off to a late start, with budbreak occurring near the end of March, followed by a frost on April 9th in Paso Robles. This singed the tender young shoots and cluster primordia, and consequently reduced yields by 40% from average. After the chilly spring, cool weather continued into summer, resulting in the longest growing season we’ve seen - even compared to the extremely cold vintages of 1998 and 1999. While we normally are well into harvest by mid-September, as of October 23rd, 2011, we had only brought in about 30% of the vintage. During this time, as grape sugars and flavors were developing slowly, we harvested in fits and starts, to the point that we stopped harvesting for seven days to allow the fruit some additional hang time. 

Between October 24th through November 8th, we brought in the remaining 70% as we dodged rain showers and frost warnings and attempted to soak up every last bit of sunshine we could. It was a high pressure, risky harvest. But as luck would have it, these threats never really materialized, and the weather finally cooperated with warm sunshine that brought our ripeness right where we wanted it. Now that all of the fruit has been brought in, we are seeing that despite the year we’ve endured, we’ve been extremely fortunate. We’re assessing the wines now as they ferment, and we are pleased with the results. In our whites, there are excellent, bright flavors with above average acidity that we’ll balance with a higher percentage of malolactic fermentation, and in our reds, we are seeing great fruit character, above-average color density and ripe tannins.

Be sure to check back here for more updates as Jeff and his talented team work their magic on these 2011 J. Lohr wines!

A Day of Valdiguié

Submitted by Sarah

One of our interesting harvest milestones is when our Valdiguié (pronounced val-dee-ghee-ay) is brought in from Monterey County. Bins of these plump, sweet-smelling clusters waiting outside the winery signal that harvest is finally coming to a close. This unique, large-berried variety (similar to Gamay Noir) is almost always the last to come in because it requires a longer hang time in order to ripen properly. Our vineyards in the Arroyo Seco are perfect for Valdiguié, as the high afternoon wind velocities and cool summer climate lead to one of the longest growing seasons in the state.

When making Valdiguié, our winemakers use techniques that keep tannin from developing. They first use carbonic maceration, an old world practice in which the whole clusters of fruit first ferment on their own without yeast. They also press it early.

The result is our J. Lohr Estates Wildflower Valdiguié, a beautifully colored, fruity and delicate wine served slightly chilled. Perfect for the holidays, it’s a popular base for mulled wine. Like Gamay Noir, it’s also best when it’s young.

Yesterday, I followed Red Winemaker Steve Peck and Assistant Red Winemaker Brenden Wood around the winery to get a few snapshots. Here are some things I overheard:

“When the berries are done with carbonic maceration, they develop carbon dioxide inside and are slightly alcoholic. I love to taste them. They’re like that candy, Pop Rocks. They sort of explode in your mouth. It’s probably my favorite part of harvest.”   -Brenden, on making Valdiguié

“Carbonic maceration was really popular in the 80s!” –Steve, while smelling the whole clusters fermenting without yeast

“You can see the Botrytis on this cluster.” -Steve
“The noble rot! It makes it makes the Valdiguié peppery.” -Brenden

“You know, it’s like when little kids ask their parents, ‘Daddy, how do you remember how to get to Grandma’s house?’ I don’t know. You just do.” -Steve, when asked how he remembers all the crucial steps that go into managing more than 200 lots of wine.

As harvest comes to a close, we look forward with anticipation toward this vintage of J. Lohr Estates Wildflower Valdiguié, and all the other 2011 J. Lohr wines made by our talented winemaking team!

Touching Lives, One Toast at a Time

Submitted by Cynthia

As many know, the start of October marks the beginning of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month - a time in which individuals, organizations and businesses turn their attention once again toward the issues raised by an illness that will affect one in three women over the course of their lifetimes.

As a wife, the mother of two girls, and as a Vice President and family ambassador for J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, I do often struggle to find the time to properly nourish my body as well as my mind, further my hobbies, and somehow get to all those annual check-ups. Somehow, it’s easier to address the needs of my family and serve my communities before serving myself.

But this story is one that is all too common; amidst working hard and caring for loved ones, women often don’t take time for their own needs. When we suddenly lost our mother in 2008 from complications related to breast cancer, it was a brutal wake up call that life is short, and that the responsibility to proactively take care of our health needs lies squarely on us. For some women, this means getting more exercise or eating a more nutritious diet; for others, it might mean trying to lower stress by finding the time to relax or pursue a hobby. Still for others, it might mean finally going in for a doctor’s appointment you’ve been putting off. Taking action in this way can improve overall health, but in regards to breast cancer, this attitude also may increase chances for early detection and survival, because a woman who is proactive is more likely to be aware of her body, perform regular self-exams and get her mammograms on time.

In October of 2009, we launched a campaign to raise money through the sales of our 2005 Carol’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon by donating $2 from every bottle sold to the National Breast Cancer Foundation to fund 500 mammograms for women who would be otherwise unable to afford them. Last year, we expanded our efforts to include all vintages of both our Carol’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. Now, with 2000 mammograms funded to date since we started our Touching Lives campaign, we are eager to continue our partnership and fund even more mammo