Mike Brunson

Our vineyards live a tough life.  They are cared for by a crew of vineyardists who sing around them (rain or shine) and handle each vine anywhere from nine to twelve times per season. Our vineyards are tucked in and surrounded by permanent cover crop.  They have plenty of company (besides our crew) with worms, insects, mammals, reptiles, etc. keeping them company day and night.  Our vineyards get water (not too much) when they need it.  They have natural air conditioning in the marine layer that “frizzles” on them keeping them clean and cool usually following the hottest of days.  

Sounds good, eh?  

Just when they’ve got their fruit and seeds ripe and are getting ready for a long dormant season, we come through (singing continues) and harvest the fruit that they (and us too) have worked on all year.  A bit shocking?  You bet.  That’s why we believe in giving back (read about our efforts with Healdsburg Education Foundation as well).  It’s at this time of year that we start giving the vines a little pre-dormancy treat with compost spreading.   The compost is pomace (stems, seeds and skins) and purchased compost.  We mix the two together, let compost (heat up and break down) a bit more and spread in the vine rows before the rains come.  We also seed some rows with a native wildflower mix (about every 10 rows).   In the spring when these flowers bloom they will provide habitat for even more insect company for our vines.

Let’s not forget the sheep and chickens that are again welcome in the vineyard now that the grapes have been picked.   We also address erosion control issues.  The more water that we keep on and in the vineyards, the better off the vines will be come next spring (not to mention the benefits for the native Salmon and Steelhead in Wine Creek).  It’s a busy time in the vineyard right now.   As much work as there is to do still, we would all love to see the rains come and soak things down.  That would be the best reward for the vines that have given us so much this vintage.   

Yes!  The 2008 harvest is finished!  We brought in the last of our Cabernet Sauvignon Thursday.  The vineyard crew was very excited knowing that they had finished bringing in the grapes that they had worked on all year.  

It’s a great feeling.  

As we do every year, we had our Harvest Party the following day.  So, on Friday we did our punchdowns/pumpovers, barreled down one lot of Carmenere and pressed one load of Merlot and off we went to Javier Acevedo Sr.’s house for a evening of unbelievable food, fun, camaraderie and of course a bit of futbol.  

Oh yeah, we also drank some beers.  

Just shortly after we had finished our early dinner (right around the time retired folks normally eat) we had a surprise visitor. Ziggy the Wine Galshowed up with four tequilas and lead us a through a quick (but effective) tequila tasting.  We tasted one silver, two reposados and one anejo.  Each tequila had a distinct flavor and sense of place.  The silver was way too quaffable (reads dangerous).  The reposados were interesting with one tasting a bit like cheese rind (in a good way).  And the anejo was as beautifully structured and elegant as a nice cognac (yum).  As quickly as she showed up, Ziggy (and her one woman “entourage” Susanna) had left the building and we continued with our party.  As we do at all these harvest celebrations, we reminisced about the years challenges.  Like the time Juan slipped on the wet permanent cover crop (tumbling down the hillside).  Or the day that the cellar crew actually beat the vineyard crew in soccer (once in a lifetime).  Or the beauty of all the fruit that is now in the cellar.  And of course all the other happenings from the vintage that I dare not go into here on this blog.  It’s a great way to spend an afternoon and evening.  We played some pool, listened to some music that made us dance, hugged each other and drank some more beers.  It’s days like these that make us all appreciate what we have here at Michel-Schlumberger…one big family. 

I smell busy around the corner.

Yes. Today is the first day in about a year that I’ve smelled red fermentation here in the cellar of Michel-Schlumberger. It’s true that we harvested those grapes about a week ago and the musts are just now really starting to flex their fermentation muscles. After 3-5 days soaking in their cozy little open top bins, they now have had their rendevous with natural (resident) yeast and are in the process of conversion (sugar-alcohol). This produces a beautiful smell that can display some of the characteristics that you’ll see later in the wines life. We have a pinot noir that smells just like fresh crushed strawberries and the zinfandel is showing more cinnamon and spice than I can ever remember. It’s a fantastic process to participate in.

Speaking of participation. It’s about time we give credit where credit is due. Our crew here at Michel-Schlumberger is one of the best around (if you want to argue this, you might want to do your homework first). In the next few weeks, I’ll be individually highlighting all of these folks and how they got into the wine industry. I’m fortunate to have such a great team as it makes my job not only more efficient, but also makes it very fun as all of these folks are my dear friends as well. Things are pretty sweet (pun intended) here at Michel-Schlumberger and they’re about to get even sweeter. Yes.

 

Happy Labor Day to all - and what a fitting description of the Holiday as most of us in the wine business are busy laboring today!  And no one is laboring harder than our vineyard and winemaking crew, both headed up by Mike Brunson. 

I got a chance to film Mike late Friday — take a peek at the video below as Mike takes a break from harvest to update us all on the state of the vintage in Dry Creek Valley as well as some specifics here at Michel-Schlumberger. 

All in all, things are looking great.  Being high up in the hills & benchlands above Dry Creek Valley, we were not hurt by a frost this Spring that really challenged other regions in the state.  Frost tends to migrate to the lower parts of valleys — we fortunately don’t really have those!  But we do have steep hillsides which tends to challenge yields in general.  Our grapes are tiny, highly concentrated, & extremely flavorful…but as a result, the crop off these vineyards is small. 

We’ve picked all of the early ripening Pinot Blanc; pulled in several ton of the Chardonnay; picked a bit of Pinot Noir (for a special rose we’ll have available only at the winery!); and a splash of Viognier.  That’s right, Viognier.  We have 15 varietals growing on the Estate — but only 5 have their own label.  The rest are like spices in the kitchen for Mike to cook with as the wines progress.  It is one of the secrets to our fantastically complex and tasty wines!  Check out Mike himself on video and we’ll keep you posted weekly on the harvest progress.

Pinot Blanc Harvest 2008

My alarm was supposed to go off at 4:30am. It didn’t. I knew I was going to be late for the first day of harvest. Just as I was getting up, our National Sales Manager Jayme Moffi (who was staying at the estate and had a flight to catch) shot me a text…”FYI, the power is off at the winery.” What?! I’m late and no power once I get there. Argh! This is not shaping up the way I had envisioned it.

I arrived at the East Pinot Blanc just before sunrise. It was beautiful outside. About 52 degrees with clear skies and a crew that was so positive and happy that I quickly forgot about the late start and the lack of electricity issue. The grapes were delicious…cool and snappy with tons of west dry creek goodness. We had one quick chat about fruit quality standards and the crew of 5 men and 5 women took off to pick this small block of Pinot Blanc. The crew must have been training for this moment because it was an Olympic best. The hammered out 5 tons in an hour and a half. One of our Italian tractors decided it needed a rest in the middle of the row with two full bins…it just wouldn’t start. No big drama. Adolfo and Javier Sr. were all over it. Within 5 minutes the tractor was on its way to the winery. Sr. and I joked about the way the morning was starting and how fun it is to face these challenges right off the bat. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Just then Javier’s phone rings. It’s Juan. He’s at the winery and the electric forklift is dead. Argh! We get the other forklift out and get the bins off the tractor and on to the scale. The fruit looks wonderful. No burn, no mildew, no bugs. Just greenish/yellow clusters stacked one on top of the other. Hand picked by people who care. Grown by the vineyardists who want to grow the very best fruit they can. Once it’s in the bin you can see all of this. And then you taste it…my god! Glorious!

The cellar crew was poised as was Wendy (because she gets there at 8am…nice Wendy!). Wendy rang the mission bell and we toasted the harvest with some sparkling and donuts that Tony had brought for the crew (Thanks Nature Boy). It was at this point that I realized that all these trials were just little speed bumps and that this crew (best ever?) can handle anything. We looked around and the electricity was back on…nice!

Nature Boy (aka Tony) gave you an idea about the way we farm and why we farm this way. There is one thing that I would like to add to this…we believe farming this way grows the best grapes possible for making world class wines. It may seem anecdotal (and a bit righteous), but as I’ve been here since 1994, I feel I have a pretty good chunk of history to reference. The wines from the Michel-Schlumberger are continually showcasing their immediate surroundings and the people that work with them (cultural terroir…an entire post in itself). Take for instance our 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. 7 different clonal selections are blended to bring forth the cool, brown spice (nutmeg, allspice), fresh crushed raspberry driven notes that make this Cab a keeper amongst many wine lovers. We’ve all had wines that taste good upon release with alcohols driving the ship. I’m enjoy these wines. They’re fun and critics (being the fun people they are) seem to enjoy them. I actually drink a Coca Cola occasionally as well. But, I also appreciate the finer things in life…like age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon. Like penmanship, patience (especially for wine aging) is a dying quality for most humans. It’s a good thing to practice as the rewards are well worth the risk.

Mike Brunson - Winemaker