MATHIS

Mid-March and bud break is already upon us in Sonoma Valley. The winter has been unusually mild, making the vines at Mathis Vineyard think it's time to start growing again for vintage 2015 Grenache. Here are a couple of videos we shot over the weekend:

My second video shows the results of the winter cover crop I seeded last fall. It's now waist high! Take a look:

The rains have arrived in wine country! (We need it.) It's the perfect end to planting the winter cover crop. The rain will provide a healthy start to seed germination. 

In this episode of "The Tractor Chronicles" I show the planted section of block 800. Not every section of the vineyard receives the same cover crop. In this case, the area shown received a nitrogen fixing crop such as peas. Other parts of the vineyard don't require an extra dose of nitrogen. So those areas get a different seed "cocktail." Everything goes towards promote the healthiest crop possible, regardless of growing conditions.

 

Last week I presented the drill (or seeder), the farming attachment to my Kubota tractor that plants my cover crop seeds. It drops them down a tube into a groove cut by the discs and then tamps them down into the ground by the rubber roller wheels behind -- essentially "drilling" the seeds into the ground. It helps improve the quality and quantity of cover crop between vine rows. It's easier to just watch the video to explain it all:

First in winter preparations in the Mathis Vineyard is planting the cover crop. In past years I've done this by hand as I hadn't found a seeding machine narrow enough to fit between my vine rows. This year I lucked upon a drill seeder that Matt Ashby at Mondavi kindly loaned to me for a few days. (Thanks, Matt!) Take a look:

 

It's time to prep Mathis Vineyard for winter, which means the winter cover crop must be seeded between the grape vine rows. Here's a quick look at what it involves in this preview of the second season of "The Tractor Chronicles":

 

Here's the second special batch (cuvée) of wine I'm making from vintage 2014─it's Petite Sirah. The grapes for this wine are all grown in Mathis Vineyard. And thankfully there was more than enough in this year's harvest for me to not only include it in my usual blend with my Grenache but also craft this special wine. An introduction:

 

Harvest has been bountiful, allowing me some extra fun to produce limited lots of specialty blends. Here is one.

Shown in this new video is my Uber blend. It consists of the same varieties in my regular Grenache (Grenache, Carignane, Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouschet), but the percentages in the blend of each are vastly different. So the flavor profile will be dramatically different--but completely delicious--when the fermentation and aging processes are complete in a couple of years.

 

Already shaping up to be another great vintage, I've been busy making the 2014 Mathis Grenache. If you're curious about the process (after crush), tune in to learn more. 

 

You thought I was referring to that other one-percent? No, it's Alicante Bouschet! I grow this variety in small quantity in Mathis Vineyard. It ends up being only one- or two-percent of Mathis Grenache in the final blend.

It provides deep coloring. But I'm ahead of the story...