Early Report on the 2006 Vintage

We've just concluded the 2006 crush season, which brought one of the wackiest growing seasons in memory to an unexpectedly smooth finale. The cold, wet spring made us fear for low yield. Then the heat wave of 11 consecutive days of 100-degree+ heat shut down the vines in mid-season. But they recovered nicely and in the end our yield was down only a little and the quality is excellent. This season was a months-long object lesson that taught us once again that wine is an agricultural product and agriculture requires a Zen attitude -- calm, accepting, mindful of the long view.

Our Sauvignon Blanc from Green Ravine Vineyard was the variety most affected by the vicissitudes in weather. Most of the fruit was protected by leaf canopy, but the exposed bunches suffered sunburn in the searing heat. We were fortunate in that the apparent uneven ripening gave us complexity that's already apparent in the slowly fermenting wine.

Our Syrah from Gold Blossom Vineyard is the best we've seen. Slightly reduced yield, even ripening with small berries and intense deep color. The numbers we look at as indices of quality and potential style, such as sugar, acid and pH, were excellent, reflecting the maturing of the now 10-year old vineyard.

We source Petite Sirah from our own vineyards and from a grower in Granite Bay, and it came in a little behind expected schedule this year. We got a bigger than average yield from Granite Bay and a smaller than average yield from our vineyards -- go figure. We ferment the entire lot together, along with the Zinfandel from our Gold Blossom Vineyard. So the 2006 classic California Petite Sirah/Zinfandel blend is already done. The blend has phenomenal inky color and ideal balance.

We got an excellent yield of Grenache from Vista del Oro Vineyard this year, in contrast with last year's total wipeout. Fans of our medal-winning 2004 Grenache (sold out) will be pleased, as we are, that there's 2006 Grenache in the tank. Grower John Geraghty asked us to let the grapes hang on the vine a little longer than we had planned, and his judgment was right on. The wine shows the typical ruby hue of the lighter variety, and the numbers show nice balance of the quality factors we look at.

We harvested most of our Mourvedre a little earlier in the season this year, together with the Syrah, though Mourvedre typically ripens a couple of weeks later. This was a strategic decision, as the yield was down a bit and we wanted to continue the Mourvedre-Syrah blend we've settled on for our Oui rosé. So we picked the Mourvedre specifically with a crisp and refreshing rose' in mind, and all of it has gone into the rosé blend.

Until than, a votre sante.
Mike Abbott

Big and Little

Each crush season presents challenges for us to turn into opportunities. The trick is to make the wines the vineyards give us each year, while maintaining our dedication to crafting balanced, food-friendly wines in the California-Rhone style. The ability to make spontaneous decisions at critical points in the crush season distinguishes small scale artisan wine producers like Ophir Wines from the mega-producers. For us, it's intuition tempered with experience. The big guys can't do it our way. They strive for consistency by sourcing grapes from huge and geographically diverse vineyards. Vive le difference. There's much to be discovered and enjoyed in both approaches.

Craig Green - technology
Mike Abbott - winemaker