Blending The New 2007 Vintage At Sula
I've come back to India and Nashik for the past week. It's the last week of May 2007 and my last trip to Sula was in early March in the middle of harvest. Now I'm back to see how the wines, which were only weeks old, taste and to make up what will be bottling blends for Sauvignon, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet/Shiraz and our Dindori Reserve Syrah.
It's hot right now in India. The Monsoon is only a few weeks away, and you can feel the tropical winds in the morning and evening. But it's darned hot in the mid afternoon. In the vineyard, the vines were pruned back to zero buds in early April and now each vine has a lovely green canopy of healthy leaves. Now is the time we are growing leaves for carbohydrate production and storage in the trunk & roots of the vine. Once Monsoon starts in early June, there is very little sun and the vines really slow down. While I haven't been here in Monsoon, my sense is that it's a lot like Seattle, except warmer. It rains and drizzels a lot. The day temperatures max out around 70 degrees. Sounds nice.
I'm very pleased with the progress we've made this year in both the vineyard and the resulting wines. We've assembled a 22,000 case Sauvingnon blend, a 24,000 case Chenin Blanc blend, a 31,000 case Caberne/Shiraz blend and a 10,000 case Dindori Reserve Syrah blend.
What's most exciting is that we have identified three separate lots of wines that are world class in nature. One is a small 100 case lot of Viognier. This is a lovely aprocoty/lichee aromatic wine with bright acidity and and mouth filling texture.
We also have indentified a lot of Sauvignon Blanc that we are going to bottle as our first Dindori Reserve Sauvignon. And the last is a Syrah single vineyard block from our hillside Dindori vineyrads.
In the case of this Syrah lot, it is my feeling that this lot, which I identified in March as being superior and had it barreled down then, it slated to be the first $30.00 wine to be made in India. I can't wait to do winemaker dinners with our Palmeri Bat, Fox and Boar... and a Sula Dindori Block Reserve Syrah. What a treat and fun converstions we will have.
That's all for now.
Kerry
It's hot right now in India. The Monsoon is only a few weeks away, and you can feel the tropical winds in the morning and evening. But it's darned hot in the mid afternoon. In the vineyard, the vines were pruned back to zero buds in early April and now each vine has a lovely green canopy of healthy leaves. Now is the time we are growing leaves for carbohydrate production and storage in the trunk & roots of the vine. Once Monsoon starts in early June, there is very little sun and the vines really slow down. While I haven't been here in Monsoon, my sense is that it's a lot like Seattle, except warmer. It rains and drizzels a lot. The day temperatures max out around 70 degrees. Sounds nice.
I'm very pleased with the progress we've made this year in both the vineyard and the resulting wines. We've assembled a 22,000 case Sauvingnon blend, a 24,000 case Chenin Blanc blend, a 31,000 case Caberne/Shiraz blend and a 10,000 case Dindori Reserve Syrah blend.
What's most exciting is that we have identified three separate lots of wines that are world class in nature. One is a small 100 case lot of Viognier. This is a lovely aprocoty/lichee aromatic wine with bright acidity and and mouth filling texture.
We also have indentified a lot of Sauvignon Blanc that we are going to bottle as our first Dindori Reserve Sauvignon. And the last is a Syrah single vineyard block from our hillside Dindori vineyrads.
In the case of this Syrah lot, it is my feeling that this lot, which I identified in March as being superior and had it barreled down then, it slated to be the first $30.00 wine to be made in India. I can't wait to do winemaker dinners with our Palmeri Bat, Fox and Boar... and a Sula Dindori Block Reserve Syrah. What a treat and fun converstions we will have.
That's all for now.
Kerry
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