Pressing Cabernet in December

red wine stained hands

The latest crush season we have ever experienced is drawing to a close. Finally. I mean, whew, its about time. I have had enough of punchdowns, wrestling with a 3" must pump, and cleaning the press. But today was a good one as we pressed off most of our cabernet and now only have one more full day of pressing to finish everything off. The last couple of weeks we have been on a simple schedule of press reds into tank, let it settle for 24 hours then move it to barrel and innoculate for malolactic fermentation. Repeat. Repeat. You get the idea. We are seeing a whole lot of red wine these days. Fortunately the weather has cooperated and we have had nice temperatures to work in and for the cold mornings we have enough room to set up work inside the building. A luxury that we love!

Just some of our barrels awaiting the 2011 vintage

So what happens now that we are about to have all of our wine pressed off and safely in barrels and tanks? This is when I get to look back and reflect on what we have in the winery and start thinking about blending whites, cold stabilizing them and even looking to get our packaging decisions in order. I have to monitor malolactic fermentations and give the winery a thorough cleaning. Fortunately all of these tasks are pretty civil and much more 9-5 than our lives have been over the past 2 months. Details on upcoming happenings and some interesting decisions that need to be made will be discussed in a future post.       

Movember Ends with a Party!

We would like to thank all of those who participated along with us during this month of Movember. We hosted a sold-out party to celebrate at the cozy and delicious Tavola Restaurant on the 30th. The place was lively and everyone had a great time! $700 was raised as we raffled off a number of magnums. Way to go everyone involved!! That bumped up the money raised by the Orofino team to just under $1000!

serious business this Movember stuff

Mo Sistas - OK, not so serious stuff

Some delicious pasta

Mo Glasses

Movember Day 27

Moustaches...our winter blossoms

GAME DAY!!!

GO RIDERS!!!

Orofino hosts a Movember Party at Tavola November 30th!!

Orofino is hosting a Movember party at Tavola Restaurant at the end of the month! We have teamed up with the good people at Tavola to celebrate the end of this mo-mentous occasion called Movember. This ain't no formal winemaker dinner. Join us for a casual evening of great people, outstanding food, and of course, featured Orofino wines. We will enjoy Tavola's amazing appies and a 3 course family style dinner. There will be opportunities to wine some Orofino goods and for those of you with magnificent moes, perhaps a special prize (think Magnum P.I.)! Proceeds go towards the Movember cause.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

6:30 pm
Tavola Restaurant - 1829 Robson St

$40.00/person not including drinks,tax & gratuity

tavolaresos@gmail.com for reservations

(604) 606-4680

We look forward to seeing you there! This is an affordable midweek opportunity to get out and eat well. Bring your friends! We will definitely be ready to unwind and celebrate the Movember cause and an end to the 2011 crush!

Movember Day 14

Day 14 of Movember...moustaches are blooming alas! And don't forget that $1 of every Orofino bottle purchased in November goes towards the Movember cause!

The Last Grapes Have Been Crushed!!!

We felt like celebrating a couple of days ago as we crushed our last 10 bins of the season. What seemed like a neverending harvest season finally came to an end and we have all of the 69 tons of grapes safely packed away into our buildings. I can take a moment and reflect on the harvest and what expectations we can have for the wines we craft from the 2011 grapes.

What was truly a difficult growing year may have in the end produced some of the greatest grapes we have ever seen on our crush pad. I often talk at length of our terrific partners growing great grapes for us every year and their concientious work has rewarded us with what we think is a pretty terrific line-up of wines year after year. This year proved their skills as we received bin after bin of delicious grapes. I can't remember being quite so taken with the flavours and aromas of the whites we are working with. The fermenting juice is delicious! The reds are deeply coloured, bang-on amounts of acid, and slightly lower sugars and pHs promising ripe, lower alcohol wines. It all comes back to great farming. For more information on our vineyards and the people who run them, visit the Vineyards Page on our website.

Merlot falling into a fermenter

So now we are monitoring the white ferments and are busy punching down the red ferments. The Pinot Noir and Gamay have already been pressed and put into barrels and soon we will do the same to the bordeaux varietals and syrah. Our building is so packed with fermenting bins of grapes that we can barely slip through it.

Punchdowns

Doing a "punchdown"...I think my moustache gives me extra punchdown strength

Every corner of the winery is full of fermenting bins, tanks and barrels. The air is thick of carbon dioxide and "punchdowns" are in full swing. After inoculation, the yeast begins to break down the sugars in the grapes, converting them into ethanol (ethyl alcohol) and carbon dioxide. As the fermenting mass exudes carbon dioxide, grape skins and other solids are pushed to the top and form a thick "cap". This is the particularly "special" time of the year when we get to physically push that cap back down and stir up the mass...three times a day...for each and every of our 30 plus bins. The french term for this procedure is pigeage, but otherwise affectionately known as a punchdown. We do this for a number of reasons, primarily to introduce oxygen (which helps feed the yeast), to stop the cap from drying out, and to encourage the extraction of colour and tannins. This is that really romantic part of wine-making where we would be using our feet, if it weren't for modern day hygiene and common sense. We use a stainless steel paddle now. Although I was standing on a small bin the other day doing a punchdown and my foot went through the improperly secured lid. My jeans were red from the knee down. John laughed. Oh the joys of punchdowns.

Movember, Day 6

Day 6 of Movember... despite our best efforts, our moustaches are still pubescent at best... maybe we're late bloomers?

Days of Red, Nights of Red

Chris Scott in his
Oak Knoll Vineyard

Oak Knoll Merlot destined for
Red Bridge

It's that time of the crush season when we only see red. With the whites safely in tanks and happily fermenting or finished fermenting, all of our attention is focussed on our red varietals. Over the past 10 days, we have put through 16 tons of merlot, cabernet franc, and a bit of cabernet sauvignon. Most of that coming in last weekend when we received the first 2 blocks of the Oak Knoll Merlot. 20 bins of it with another 18 arriving today. Tasty grapes from an amazing vineyard that still has green leaves soaking up the last bits of autumn sun.

yes, thats a Rider T-shirt!

Along with the crush comes the inevitable punchdowns where we manually "punch" the floating skins back down into the juice in order to extract all of their goodness. This is very labour-intensive as we don't employ any mechanical means but use the old-fashioned method of muscle and a hand tool. I'm a big believer in this method as it helps us stay in touch with the ferments. Look, feel, listen, smell. It all counts towards making our wines what they become. The reds are all fermented in half ton or one ton bins which makes for a lot of ferments but also enables us to use a multitude of yeasts each chosen to bring certain elements to the wine. Every year we tweak it a bit and add a new yeast just for experimentation purposes.

punching down

We are looking forward to getting the rest of the cabernet into our cellar and finishing the reds off and into barrel. But in the meantime, there are more punchdowns to do so I have to get back to work.... 

Let the Moustache Races Begin!

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives...today, clean shaven, we abandon adolescence and embark on a journey to manhood. Yes, that's right, we are growing moustaches. Join us, as John and I set out on an epic moustache race for Movember. Stay tuned for more pictures of our upper lip transformation or click on Movember under Pages for details on how you can participate.

New Toy...

John testing out the new SWASH steamer

Call us old fashioned, but we aren't much for shiny farm/winery toys, i.e. a 1956 Massey Ferguson tractor and a press that hails from the same decade...need I say more? Don't get me wrong, our antiquated equipment are built like tanks and have done perfectly well by any standards. But from time to time, you just need that shiny toy. A couple days ago was that time. We got the all new SWASH steamer delivered! Now we can sanitize equipment, tanks and barrels without the need for potent cleaning chemicals. It feels like Christmas.

Late night presses...

The 'trusty ole press' in all its midnight glory

John speaking to the press nicely

Myself, enjoying a nice midnight "crush"

Nectar of the gods

I was covered in grape juice, sticky, wet, it was zero degrees out, midnight and I knew that we were still at least two hours away from finishing our last press and John hollers at me, "romantic, isn't it?". Sure is John, I respond as I drip with scathing sarcasm. We both laugh it off. Truth is, we love it. Ok, yes, we would rather be in the house, warm and drinking a beer, but its terribly (and I mean terribly) rewarding. We have spent our days cleaning equipment and hand picking grapes and our nights crushing and pressing. Our trusty old press is a pneumatic bladder press with an approx. 1 ton capacity. It gently presses the grapes, maxing out at barely 10 PSI, which means we only extract the best juice. But the press is small and likes to take its sweet time, each load taking 1 to 2 hours. As impatient as we may get, we don't forget to talk to the old press nicely. It's been good to us. The juice this year tastes delicious. This will all soon be forgotten when one day we break open these amazing 2011 vintage wines!

Movember Throwdown here at Orofino

OK. Its official. The news broke this morning on www.ScoutMagazine.ca The battle is on between Aaron Godard, cellarhand and wannabe man about Cawston and myself for the title of best moustache for the month of Movember. What is about to ensue is a friendly little competition between us to help raise awareness about prostate health. Not only can you follow along and place side wagers as you see fit but you can help support the fight against prostate cancer by donating directly on the official Movember website www.movember.com. (under donate heading :Orofino winery team).

We are also doing our part by donating $1.00 for every bottle purchased through our winery throughout the month of Movember. Buy some delicious Orofino wine AND help raise money at the same time.

Stay tuned for updates and details about our month end Movember party at Tavola Restaurant on Denman Street in Vancouver. It will be be deliciously fun!

Thanksgiving Update

Jay pouring the 2000 Dom Perignon

2000 vintage Dom Perignon

2009 Domaine Jean Foillard Morgan "Cote du Py"

After a busy week harvesting and pressing most of our whites, I finally have a minute to give a quick update on our fantastic thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is a time for good friends and family and plenty of belt loosening. This year was no exception. Our good friend Jay Whiteley graced us with his presence (4th thanksgiving in a row, how could he miss it) and started the night off on a high note by bringing a bottle of the 2000 vintage Dom Perignon. Bless his soul. It was fresh, bright, and all the while decadently creamy. We sat back and soaked up some late afternoon sunshine, and of course some Dom, while we waited for John to finish fire-roasting the beautiful, local turkey breasts he purchased and brined earlier. As the sun set we moved the party inside for dinner... mashed potatoes, green beans, roasted squash, and a fennel, apple and Italian sausage stuffing for the sides, but of course the star of the night was the smoky, crispy and very succulent Turkey breasts. Though the Dom Perignon is in a class of its own, we did enjoy many other delicious wines throughout the night. The highlight red was a 2009 Beaujolais, the Domaine Jean Foillard Morgan Cote du Py. I read that the soil of the Morgon vineyards has the same schist composition that is found throughout the nine other crus, but is older and more weathered. This gives the wines a deeper, earthier character and a richer, fleshier palate. The 2009 is rich and earthy, but still has lots of minerality and freshness. Very well balanced, and an excellent pairing with the smoky turkey. We finished the night with silky pumpkin pie and shots of espresso from Virginia's new espresso machine. All in all, a great thanksgiving with our new "family".

Chardonnay et al. in the Tank!



Aaron stomping stems

Wednesday was the official start of crush 2011 as Aaron and I spent a full 18 hours on the crushpad destemming and pressing all of our chardonnay, two-thirds of our pinot gris and 1.4 tons of some delicious Sauvignon Blanc. The day started with a destemming of pinot gris from Scout and Blind Creek Vineyards into bins for a 10 hour soak on the skins. Up next was the sauvignon blanc gently pressed and now settling into a 1000 litre tank. (Where will that end up???). Then we moved onto the tasty chardonnay. We are very excited about this crop as it is equal to the excellent (sold-out) 2010 chardonnay. That juice is destined to be split between tank and barrel ferments again. Updates on chosen yeasts to come. Finally we moved back to the Pinot Gris and ran it into the press. I have a pump to move must but prefer to treat it gently so the destemmer was rigged to act as a sieve. Tricky and nerveracking but at 1am were were ready to try anything. It worked out great and we got the juice to go where it was supposed too.

by the light of a full moon

Very few decisions need to be made on the crush pad when pressing whites. My old press does a great job squeezing the good stuff and it is also my check if I want to squeeze too hard to increase quantity. It just won't let me. That 30 year-old press is very slow but we love it and speak only kind words to it.
The juice now settles for a couple of days, then we rack it off of the settled solids into a clean tank and innoculate with yeast.

The early report on the grapes is that the flavours are intense and delicious but with some unusual numbers. We are finding that the sugars are lower than normal AND the acid is lower too. Usually we have low sugars correspond to high acid but this year the acids have dropped early. ( All of the sun in August and September?) The result is some phenolically ripe grapes that will make lower alcohol, balanced ripe wines. IDEAL! 

Gamay and Pinot Noir up next! 

Running Numbers and Picking Grapes

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone! Hope it was full of great food, wine and company. Ours was terrific as we enjoyed a wonderful sold out winemaker's dinner at Watermark Beach Resort in Osoyoos, and some wood-fired oven turkey food with friends the next day. Of course there was lots of good wine...
But the weekend was also a busy one in the wineshop and in the vineyard as we were busy running numbers and evaluating grape flavours. Despite the cool weather, we are getting some tasty juice and some sauvignon blanc and pinot gris are getting picked as I write this. It will be busy this week as we will also bring in chardonnay, our first pick of Pint Noir clone 828 (1st crop!!!) and maybe some gamay. As promised here are some numbers:

Scout Pinot Gris 22brix, 7.5 TA, 3.34 pH (pick)

Blind Creek Gris 24 brix, 9.15 TA, 3.21 pH (pick)

Hendsbee Gris 21 brix, 12.3 TA, 3.04 pH (wait)

Blind Creek Chard 23.2 Brix, 8.85 TA, 3.2 pH (pick Wednesday)
clone 828 Pinot Noir 23 brix, 7.5 TA, 3.33ph (Nice!!)
Orofino Merlot 22 brix, 6.9 TA, 3.34 (wait)

I will keep you updated with some pics as we get sticky over the next couple of days. Weather is cool but pleasant and there is a threat of frost on Thursday morning. I'm thinkin about using up all of my karma points to put that off....

Orofino in the Globe and Mail!!

Woke up this morning and saw a nice review of our Red Bridge Merlot 2009 by Kasey Wilson in the Globe and Mail.
Here is the link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/orofino-red-bridge-merlot-a-perfect-choice-for-thanksgiving/article2195289/

Award Winning 2010 Chardonnay Sold Out!

Our award winning 2010 Chardonnay sold out yesterday!

Picking and Harvesting Muscat

Aaron picking the first grapes of the season... Muscat

John pressing off the Muscat in our old but faithful bladder press

PSI Gauge

Juice temporarily turns brown when pressed, as it comes in contact with oxygen

Harvest has Begun!

The 2011 harvest has begun here at Orofino with the pick of our Muscat grapes. A small amount of muscat from our 22 year old vines and the very first crop from the Hendsbee Vineyard's muscat vines were both picked and pressed today for a total of 500 litres. The juice is super tasty! We are so happy that the crush equipment worked well and we are tuned up for a great harvest ahead.
The past week has been busy here as we have been busy prepping for the crush season and hosting many visitors at our wineshop. We participated in the Oliver Festival of the Grape event (and quickly sold out of all of the wine we brought to it!) and we were at the People's Choice Awards last Friday in Kelowna where our 2010 Chardonnay won second place.

Up next is the pinot gris from 3 different vineyards in our neighbourhood and the chardonnay from Blind Creek. We have also spoken for a ton of Sauvignon Blanc to add to our portfolio. We'll see what happens to that. I have some ideas.... Gamay and Pinot noir will follow soon. Things look great. We just need some more frost-free days!

Vineyard Decisions Being Made!

The past few days have been full of vineyard strolls tasting grapes and evaluating ripeness. It looks as if things are getting ready and we have pegged Monday as the day for our first pick. Muscat will come off of the Hendsbee Vineyard and our own. The flavours are incredible and our kids haven't eaten too much of them yet (Muscat are their favorite) so we look forward to some tasty grapes. We are also looking at Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay this morning from just down the road at Blind Creek Vineyard. We have a designated block of chardonnay there and it tasted great yesterday afternoon in the hot sun but I want to revisit it in the cool of the morning to better evaluate the flavours. They are more true in the morning. The Sauv blanc is most likely good to go as well so it looks as if Monday could be busy here! The forecast is for sun and heat over the weekend and then some rain next week. Lets hope the rain holds off.
Over the next few days we are looking forward to the Fall Wine Festival and more crush preparation. Our time will be spent between looking presentable and smiling as we pour our wines for customers both here at the winery and at events on the weekend and getting wet and dirty as we clean crush equipment. We will be at the Coast Capri's People's Choice Awards in Kelowna on Friday and at Oliver's Festival of the Grape on Sunday. 

2009 Macon-Uchizy, Climat La Martine, Bret Brothers

My mother and sister were visiting today from opposite corners of the world, so we pulled out all the stops and steamed lobster in shallots and white wine (Carly picked up the lobster in Halifax a couple days ago). We served it with a cream of corn (in season) and butter sauteed Chantrelle mushrooms that were freshly foraged and delivered today from our mushroom guy. Yes, that's right, we now have a mushroom guy. The food was really fresh and a blast to pick at. To go with, we opened the 2009 Macon - Uchizy, Climat La Martine from Bret Brothers. A white Burgundian wine that comes from East facing, 50+ year old vines, hand picked and oak aged for 11 months. Toasted hazelnut and pear of the nose, with lots of fruit, acidity and minerality on the palate. Lush mouth feel. Very balanced. Fun all around.

Another sunny day in the Similkameen...

Orofino Vineyards... end of September... 33 degrees Celsius... not a cloud in the sky... crisp glass of Riesling in hand... enough said.

Vancouver after hours

Virginia and I just got back from a couple of days in Vancouver. The business end of the trip included a very successful trade and media event hosted by our Similkameen Wineries Assocation and a sold-out SWA Winemaker's dinner at Eric Pateman's super cool Edible Canada restaurant on Granville Island. A couple of days in the city is not wasted on us and we enjoyed some of those things we love but are rare in rural Cawston!

David Hawksworth's food. Wow!

Sean Layton serving up his finest at L'abbatoir. Sommelier and friend Jay Whiteley enjoying a night off!

Grape Sampling in the Vineyards

We enjoyed yet another day of sunshine and 30+ degrees today. That prompted us to walk around a few of our vineyards tasting and evaluating the ripening grapes. We focussed on the earlier ripening varietals today and ended up taking proper berry samples of Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. The canopy looks healthy and should be plenty powerful to push through for a great harvest.


Blind Creek Chardonnay: 21.2 Brix, 10.5 g/litre acidity, 3.15 pH
Blind Creek Pinot Gris: 22 Brix, 11.5 g/litre acidity, 3.11 pH


These grapes are on the Cawston Bench and have benefitted from all of the sunshine in the last 6 weeks. The flavours are ultimately what will determine when we pick but we will continue to sample and monitor. Picking next week? Stay tuned. More samples from different blocks and varietals will happen throughout the next week.

Tawse 2009 Grower's Blend Pinot Noir

Carly and I had the Tawse 2009 Grower's Blend Pinot Noir the other night with fire-grilled chicken thighs. The pairing was excellent and the wine delicious. Located in the Niagara peninsula, Tawse winery practices organic and bio-dynamic methods of grape growing and wine-making. The production for this wine was 1000 cases. 2009 was a cool and long vintage for them, resulting in balanced amounts of acidity and tannin., sweet and complex fruit, and a delicate, smooth mouthfeel. Retails for $32. Tawse is doing it right.

BC Wine Appreciation Society Lunch

The BC Wine Appreciation Society stopped in today for a tasting and lunch on their annual bus tour through the Similkameen Valley. We started with a tasting of our current releases and a walk through the vineyards and proceeded to the two-course lunch in the sun (its always sunny on the Cawston Bench), prepared by our dear friends from Joy Road Catering. There are worse ways to spend a sunny afternoon.

The Menu:

First Course: Homemade charcuterie, Alsace style onion tart with thyme, creme fraiche and bacon, and baked in the Orofino wood oven. Pairing: 2010 Orofino Riesling

Second Course: Local braised lamb shoulder, duck egg pasta, roasted pepper relish, heirloom tomatoes, herbs, Gabby's fabulous French beans with black olive tapenade. Pairing: 2009 Orofino Red Bridge Merlot.