Category: Wine Musings

The 2013 Harvest is here! My team and I have just finished up bottling which will help clear tank space for the incoming grapes. This week we have been busy harvesting both Muscat Canelli and Viognier. These are highly aromatic white grapes that must be picked at their peak of ripeness to capture the beauty of their exotic aromas and flavors. We also have a new variety that we will be experimenting with for the first time. This spicy, aromatic, white grape is called Arneis. It a prized variety from Northern Italy and has been grown with interesting results in Northern California. Wilson Creek will be one of the pioneer wineries to see how wines made from Arneis turn out from Southern California Vineyards!

Happy Harvesting! -Etienne Cowper

When I hear “man-cave” the image that instantly comes to mind is one of a stone cave on the side of a mountain. Inside the cave is dark with the exception of light from a stone made fire pit. Men, or should we say, cavemen, are found gathered around the fire, making grunting noises at each other, while dressed in their barbarian best.

Although that’s what instantly comes to mind, when someone says “man-cave,” in regards to today’s man and his man-cave I think of an “off-limits” room, decorated with sports memorabilia, big-screen TVs, leather furniture and game tables…where pretty much anything goes, or does it?

So now I wonder…What do guys do in their man-caves nowadays?

Do you watch sports? Play Texas Hold’em, Ping-Pong, air hockey…video games?

What do you drink in your man-cave? Are man-caves just for beer? Do you have a full size fridge or a college dorm room size fridge for your drinking pleasure? Or are you a serious man-caver and have kegs on tap?

Do you have cigars in your man-cave? If so do you just sit and bask in your smoke filled room with a mini fan and a cracked open window, or have you gotten sophisticated enough to install a smoke filtration system like at the casinos?

My point is, believe or not, cavemen are evolving, and with them their man-caves are too.

On my latest tour of friends’ man-caves I have noticed more sophistication and sensible modifications. Instead of cans of Coors Light, Swisher Sweet Cigars, Redman Chewing Tobacco, chips and store bought chip dip, I’m starting to see mini kegs of local microbrews, small lot brandies, dessert wines like ports and sherries, still wines (Big Reds – in particular), hand rolled Dominican cigars and incredible snack food including fresh smoked fish, home made beef jerky and skewers of marinated freshly char-grilled beef, chicken and pork.

This is what I consider, man-cave evolution at its best!

(As I write this I can’t help getting hungry and excited about my next visit to a new and improved man-cave with all the best upgrades.)

Whatever you do, don’t get left behind. Let the evolution begin!

The next time you visit Wilson Creek Winery, ask your winetender for suggestions on food, wine, port and cigar pairings to compliment your man-cave activities.

As a side note and for your education- fortified wines like Sherries and Ports can be opened and sipped on for many months without spoiling. The Brandy in them helps to  preserve the goodness.

-Craig Johns

Family Member and Man-cave Owner

2day az I wuz grayzing on the grass in the frunt yard uv the winery, I thot abowt whut a lucky pig I am. 

Todae wuz a beeyootifull sunny day, end ther wur lawts of kids ther 2 play with me. The panzees wur in blume, so I got 2 hav a tayst or so when my mom wuzn’t wautching me.  I had on my noo Easter hat that my frend Judy mayd 4 me, so I wuz reely stylish, end I lookd and smelld reel pretty, becuz I had a bath this moarning.  Judy mayks awl kinds uv owtfits 4 me – wedding, patryotic, awtum, Hal-o-ween, Valintyns, end uthers.  I lyk the hats, but I giv my mom a bad tym when she trys to put a tootoo on me.  I lyk 2 go 2 wurk at the winery, but thay woant let me go in2 the resturaunt, becuz thay say pigs Rnt aloud….but it awl smels sooooo gud!  (Dawgs Rnt aloud eether, so that seems fayr 2 me.)

Mi dawg frends Cabby and Chianti wur ther 2 hav the kids pet them, 2.  Chianti lyz on his bak end grins, end sumtyms he also duz a danss with hiz bak legs.  Cabby looks  at U with hiz big broun I’s end evry1 thincks he iz so cyoot.  I hoap that evry1 nos that pigs R smartr end cleenr than dawgs!

Environmental Sustainability and Improved Winemaking

At Wilson Creek Winery and Vineyards we recognize that environmental sustainability and improved winemaking go hand-in-hand.  In a major new initiative, winemaker Etienne Cowper, and owners, Bill and Mick Wilson, have created a new position of Enology (winemaking) and Viticulture (wine grape growing) Coordinator.  Traditionally Vineyard Manager and Assistant Winemakers have been separate positions.  Etienne Cowper realized the best way to elevate winemaking in the Temecula Valley was to bring the art and science of winemaking more directly into the vineyard. To that end Greg Pennyroyal, a former medicinal plant agronomist (crop scientist) with over 25 years experience in biological agriculture, was chosen for the unique position of Viticulture and Enology Coordinator, to increase the biochemical complexity and consistency of the grapes through increased biological techniques of vineyard management.  In just six months vineyard cultural practices have changed substantially.

Greg Pennyroyal, who Bill Wilson, of Wilson Creek Winery, dubbed “Bio-Man”, is the Enology and Viticulture Coordinator at Wilson Creek Winery & Vineyards.

Cowper and Pennyroyal have reduced synthetic fertilizer inputs by 50% and will be using 100% sustainable biological nutrient inputs in the vineyard in one year. Cover crops of oats, barley, peas and vetch have replaced the valley’s standard practice of between row tillage and wild flowers have been planted to attract beneficial insects. This not only reduces erosion but the peas and vetch will provide natural sources of nitrogen for the grapes. In-row herbicide use is being reduced by 75% with the addition of seaweed extracts, and fish emulsion to increase the herbicide effectiveness and most importantly, to decrease the time for natural decomposition of herbicides by up to five times. With improved microbiological soil balancing and natural nutrient supplementation it is the goal of the vineyard management to eliminate all herbicide use within two years.  We are also switching to a program of all natural fungicides. Powdery mildew and bunch rot are a major problem in all grape growing regions. We are now employing natural fungicides including dormant oils, sulfur, calcium carbonate, and biological inoculation. Often, natural fungicides are not strong enough to stop fungal infection so we are initiating a program of compost tea foliar feeding (feeding plants through the leaves as opposed to the roots) which will not only minimizes the need for synthetic chemical fungicides but also improves the density and complexity of the fruit leading to improved wine quality.

I recently returned from my vacation, which was a wine pilgrimage of sorts. We first visited a most unique and beautiful wine-growing region located on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. The wines were unique in many respects. Most spectacular were many of the vineyards that clung to impossibly steep limestone slopes that started several hundred feet up at the top and nearly reached the Adriatic Sea at the bottom. This is the home of the Plavac Mali Cached – SimilarYou +1’d this publicly. Undo

Grape, which is genetically identical to our California Zinfandel. The vines are not irrigated and depend on what moisture their roots can find deep in the limestone soils. The concentration of these red wines is incredible. Some are so dense that they must be blended with wines produced from vineyards located in less stressful conditions to make an approachable wine. A delightful fragrant white wine made from the Posip grape comes almost exclusively from island of Kortula. The grapes are grown on the island and shipped by boat to wineries on the mainland. Through the hospitality of our hosts, Andro Crvik and his family (Crvik Winery), we were able to visit many of the wineries in the area.

The next part of our European wine adventure was is the Rhine region of Germany. This time we were taken in and hosted by Heribert and Sybille Erbes. Their winery in the village of Spiesheim (Weingut Erbes, Rheinhessen) has been in the family since the 1600’s. I learned a great deal about German wines from Heribert. Like in Croatia the perhaps most important element in making top quality German wines results from the meticulous care of the grapes. In our travels we were treated like family by our winemaker hosts and established relationships that will last a lifetime. The most important lesson I learned as a winemaker is that no matter where you make wine, producing the best grapes is the key to making the best wines.

Etienne Cowper (lft), of the U.S., and Heribert Erbes (rt), of Germany, meet for the first time, face to face, after years, 37 to be exact, of corresponding back and forth about wine and life. Here is an article (in German) about the two winemakers: http://www.allgemeine-zeitung.de/region/alzey/vg-woerrstadt/spiesheim/12237466.htm