Love + Faith + Technology = Life

It has been a very productive month! The harvest was all done just before the rain came. Thank God. Our timing couldn’t have been better. Our 2010 vintage is progressing nicely. All wine varietals were fermented and pressed. Although the harvest is over, we still have lots of wine making work to do between now and January.


Miracles do happen as we witnessed the rescue of Chilean miners this week. To commemorate the miraculous rescue of the 33 Chilean miners this week, we’ll name one of our 2010 wines, “Los 33”. The wine that will be named after the Chilean miners will have to demonstrate some if not all of the miners’ characteristics that we so admired: Hope, Faith, Strength, Courage and Love for Life.

Most of the summer, we all witnessed the despair and sorrow of the Chilean miners and their families. But their faith and hope inspired the whole world. Then through sheer determination, unity and love, the whole world came to their aid. How technology combined with faith and tenacity uniting the humankind would always be one of the few bright spots in a world that is sometimes filled with negativity and pessimism. Their story inspired us to live our dream and have faith!

Harvest Report

The harvest season is over at Mahogany Mountain Vineyard!

Our harvest season lasted for the entire month of September. Although we had a cool summer and lots of uncertainty in August, we ended up with a bumper crop. The fruits tasted and looked so good, much better than we had expected. If God is willing, our 2010 vintage will be a great one.

Our European friends had told us that during the harvest season, their whole village would show up at each vineyard to help harvest when it was time to harvest. We experienced the same level of support from our friends, relatives, neighbors and their friends. We felt so blessed and grateful for their love and support.

We started the harvest season a week before the Labor Day. Our friends, Carol and Jerry T., helped harvest the Merlot at 6 am. During the Labor Day weekend, despite the scorching heat wave, we were so touched when our friends and relatives (as far as Bakersfield) showed up to help harvest the Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Mourvedre. Afterward, we all indulged a huge Mexican food fiesta that Carol T. and Carol I. helped prepare and set up the buffet. Everyone seemed to enjoy iced cold sangria, appetizers and the food and wine pairings. The following weekend, with help from Geoff and Amie, we harvested more Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. This weekend, our neighbors and their friends helped us harvest more Cabernet Sauvignon. Susie, our cousin, helped set up and prepared the harvest feast. Susie made all of the desserts including her famous chocolate fudge sauce. Needless to say, we are so thankful for each and everyone of you who came and helped with our 2010 harvest. Thank God for the bountiful harvest and for the priceless memories that we shared with our friends and loved ones!

We have another good news! Our tasting room has been approved and is open for business!!!




Cheers!

Welcome to San Diego Wine Country

On August 4, 2010, by a unanimous historic vote, San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors have approved a tiered winery ordinance allowing small “boutique” wineries to open tasting rooms and offer retail sales. Their vote represents four long years of hard work and lots of heartache (and heartburn). I’d like to salute a group of our winemaker and winegrower peers from Ramona Valley AVA; spearheaded by Carolyn Harris, for their courage, skills, legal knowledge, determination and perseverance.

Of course, it all came down to having the right sponsors who helped pave the way. The San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors and San Diego Farmers Bureau were the advocates for the ordinance and worked with San Diego county Department of Planning and Land Use to have a reasonable approach for wineries to have tasting rooms in light of zillions of requirements.

For those of you who may be concerned about tasting rooms popping up all over the place in your urban and suburban neighborhoods. Don't worry, there are measures that would keep that from happening. First and foremost, the new ordinance only applies to agricultural zoned land (A70 & A72). As you may have guessed, besides the local counties agencies, there are many federal and state agencies regulate wineries and tasting rooms. For example, all wineries are required to have a valid permit and bond issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, and a current Winegrowers license issued by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. In other words, besides growing grapes and making wines for the fun of it, there are a lot of hoops, pains, frustrations and sufferings one must go through and deal with in order to establish and operate a winery and tasting room legally.


San Diego Channel 6 News and San Diego Union Tribune are among news worthy organizations that reported a balanced view of the new ordinance without bias.

Yeah, of course, we are delighted by the opportunities and possibilities the new ordinance has to offer to grape growers and winemakers in the county who like us have worked so hard in the last 15 years to establish San Diego County as wine grape growing region. From this point forward, we all can look forward to proudly telling our grandchildren of this historic day in San Diego County!


Cheers!

Veraison

Véraison is a French term meaning "the onset of ripening". The official definition of veraison is "change of color of the grape berries." Fête de la Véraison is a medieval festival held in the famous winemaking village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Fète de la Veraison takes place every year the first weekend in August. To celebrate the ripening of their grapes, villagers dress up in medieval costumes for parades, performances and a torch-lit banquet. It sounds like fun. Maybe, we should start having our own Fete de la Veraison, playing flute and dancing in our medieval costumes in our vineyards.

From the beginning of veraison to harvest, the berries will increase in volume, weight, and sugar content (brix). The 2010 growing season has been slightly cool in June and July, with occasional showers. We have had plenty of sunshine during the day which has helped our grapes to start their veraison on schedule. Phenology is the study of plant life cycles. Phenologically, we estimate it to be 5-7 days later than normal for the grapes. Having said that, it is hard to predict when the grapes will reach our desired Brix level. As we know from experience, August and September weather can define a vintage. With rare exception, Ramona Valley generally has hot August weather and sunny, pleasant fall weather. Stay tune for our next veraison to harvest report!

2010 Barrel Tasting Notes

We had a great turn-out for our 2010 Barrel Tasting. It was a beautiful day, sunny and breezy. The 2008 vintage was introduced to our friends, family and friends of friends. We felt so blessed that our friends, cousins and some neighbors were able to join us in our celebration of another great vintage which we were very proud to introduce to the world. As you know, up to this point, we do all this for the love of the wines. We were gratified that our labor of love was enjoyed and appreciated by a few of those who matter to us. Thanks again to all of you who came and spent a beautiful afternoon with us and showed us your love and support for our wines. We love y’all!

Everyone was first greeted with a Greek white sangria. I decorated and infused it with raspberries and white peaches that were soaked in brandy for several days. The beautiful sangria tasted just as good as it looked.

As I was in charge of the wine food pairings, I was relieved when I was told how much people enjoyed each dish that I had selected for each wine. The BBQ pork marinated in our port wine was tender, delectable and full of flavors. It was great with our 2008 Zinfandel and Merlot. It brought out the spiciness of the Zinfandel and the berry fruit flavor of the Merlot. The tri-tip beef marinated in our merlot wine and roasted until tender was juicy and a perfect companion for our 2008 Mourvedre and Cabernet Sauvignon.

I wanted to make sure no one drank on an empty stomach. So I had a spread of delectable appetizers and salads that were specifically selected and prepared to compliment our 2008 wines. I especially enjoyed the smoked salmon slices and feta cheese spread which were so good together, especially with a sip of our 2008 Zinfandel. The saltiness of the smoked salmon brought out the peppery spiciness and berry flavor from the wine. I also savored a little spread of the smoked salmon cheese ball on toast while sipping our 2008 Merlot. The antipasto platter was a perfect pairing for our red wines. It had all of the ingredients for a wine and cheese love fest. The wheat berries salad was a meal by itself for those who wanted to stay with a vegetarian diet. Yes, I know I overdid again in the food department. Oh well, it’d always be better to have too much food than not enough.

I told everyone to save some room for the desserts which were specifically selected to pair with our Port-style wine and White zinfandel. The homemade lemon custard dessert with fresh strawberries was a big hit. Our famous homemade brownies with port wine were yummy. For those who had to watch their weight (who doesn’t?), the big bowl of fresh fruits gave us an illusion that we were “good” (after stuffing ourselves all afternoon with other delectable dishes).

We all had a great time. Salute!

On Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, after an active weekend working on various projects around the house, the vineyard, and in our winery, we went to a BBQ held at our friends’ vineyard. We had lovely time. The weather was absolutely sublime, sunny and warm enough but not too hot. My contribution to the feast was a huge pitcher of Sangria infused with lots of fruits, mixed together with our red wine and brandy. It was a nice drink to go with the appetizers and grilled meat served at the BBQ. It was a hit. I also made a rum cake from scratch. The cake was soaked in rum that I bought and carried home from Grand Cayman. My piece of rum cake was yummy with sips of Sangria. It was quite a pleasant day. Of course, being among wine lovers and winemakers, we also have various wines from Ramona as well as other places in the world. Good food, good wines, wonderful company and lively conversation with lots of laughter. It was indeed a wonderful world!

Before the BBQ started, our friends had a Memorial service carried out with help from the local VFW chapter and a local couple who provided a cannon and a WWII Jeep. So there we were having our own private Memorial service for the veterans on Memorial Day. Sweet! As I listened to the speeches, the salute and music, and watched the whole scene played out in front of me, my heart was filled with gratitude for the freedom and liberty that I have enjoyed as an American because of the sacrifices of the men and women who serve this country with courage and honor. Then my thoughts went to the three important men of our lives who had sacrificed and served their countries with honor: Carl James, my God grandfather, my father and my father-in-law. Although they are no longer with us, they are always our heroes. To the present, I am thankful for having our cousin, Frank, in our lives. Frank has inspired us and continues to be our role model just by being who he is and what he represents. Frank has served in both Korea and Vietnam wars. His long service in the U.S. Marines meant so much to me and all of us in the family. What we have today is because of many people like Frank who have given so much to this country and to the world by their actions and sacrifices.

Wine: Natural is Better

Last Saturday, after our presentation on winegrapes growing, vineyard management and wine making at MiraCosta college in Oceanside, I found myself explaining our minimalist approach to grape growing and winemaking to the winemaking students. I told them that our philosophy was to grow grapes and produce wine as naturally as possible. Over the years, we had benefited from experimentation. In the final analysis though, after blind tasting our “natural” wines and wines that had been “adjusted”, we liked our “natural” wines a lot better because they retained the body, fruitiness, bouquet and natural flavors that the “adjusted” wines lacked. Although we cannot proclaim that we practice 100% organic and biodynamic viticulture, we can say that we focus on making wine as naturally as possible. It’s like the difference between a well cooked meal prepared with only fresh wholesome basic ingredients vs. trying to attain the same natural taste by cutting few corners and then relying on artificial enhancers to provide the ‘Missing’ flavor. You just can’t duplicate some natural occurring flavors, aromas, mouth feel, and other intrinsic qualities in wine via artificial means……. In our humble opinion.

My final advice to them was to start with high quality wine grapes at the desired Brix level as the best wines were made in the vineyard.