Anni, amori e bicchieri di vino, nun se contano mai. An Italian proverb that interprets to: Years, lovers and glasses of wine; these items should not be counted.
Early this previous Monday the cell bottling line we use—ensconced in a full-size semi truck that backs up totally into the vineyard—turned on its conveyor belt and started filling clear flint bottles with a light-weight honey-colored nectar that has been the lifeblood of the northern Mediterranean for hundreds of years. Every bottle then acquired a shot of inert fuel to interchange any oxygen lingering within the neck, and was summarily sealed with a “technical” composite cork, spun with a gold capsule, and labeled with my repurposed Daniel’s Delight model emblem—a mark harboring a major, albeit shorter historical past of its personal.
The emotion I felt (and as melodramatic as that will sound, there absolutely was some) as these fully-dressed bottles of Daniel’s Delight Vermentino had been plucked from the tip of the conveyer belt, packed 12 to a case and stacked on a pallet, welled up from multiple supply. This wine had been rattling exhausting to make. Scary, truly.
I first tasted Vermentino the best way most individuals do, on a visit to Italy. As I write on the again label of the Vermentino I might subsequently make, “Order a glass of wine at a rural trattoria in Italy and it’s probably your solely choices will likely be an area crimson or white. And, for those who’re in or close to Tuscany, Sardinia, or Liguria, it’s additionally probably that the white wine goes to be Vermentino, a scrumptious varietal within the fashion of Sauvignon Blanc—crisp and dry, with brilliant acidity and minerality, aromas of pear and peach, and notes of grapefruit, lime and almond.”
What can’t be as simply expressed is the sheer delight the wine imbues. It’s a excellent white wine, gentle however terrifically complicated, and absent the heaviness of Chardonnay, the fruit bowl of Sauvignon Blanc, the sweetness of Riesling or the frugality of Pinot Grigio. And but, it smells like flowers. Yep, precise flowers. Such as you plunged your nostril right into a bouquet of untamed blossoms. I suppose that’s what is supposed by the wine descriptor “floral,” though I’ve by no means actually smelled “that.” Till now.
You may, and can, drink Vermentino unencumbered. However to pair it with bean soups, gentle pastas, or grilled fish is to launch the angels.
From my first style of Vermentino in September of 2023 at a seaside cafe in Cinque Terre alongside the Mediterranean coast excessive on the boot of Italy, I used to be smitten. A lot in order that I vowed to try to make it throughout my very subsequent classic. And so I did.
Discovering Vermentino grapes in California that might give me the genuine Italian style I craved was difficult in the best way that discovering genuine Mexican meals is in a northern metropolis. I situated a modestly priced winery down in Paso Robles, however it’s too sizzling there, extra conducive to devils than to angels. I sussed out an overly-priced winery up in Dry Creek, however why pay a lot for terroir so totally different from the perennial sun-bathed days and historic rock of the Mediterranean.
Soil born of decomposing granite was what I used to be after. And what’s extra granite than the Sierra, extra decomposing than the foothills? Hey, there’s an AVA named that! All I needed to do was flip round and look eastward. I cross-referenced decomposing granite with Vermentino, with days of sunshine and funky nights, and got here up with the unheralded Sierra Foothills AVA in barely extra heralded Amador County. And there I discovered a winery that appeared excellent, and it was excellent… besides when it wasn’t.
That I needed to lease a trailer with a one-ton payload, and a truck to tow it… That I needed to drive over 100 miles within the nightly commuter visitors of Sacramento to the tiny hamlet of Plymouth, and spend the night time at a lodge that marketed solely “one room left” however in actuality I used to be the one visitor… That I must rise up at zero-dark-thirty the subsequent morning, discover the winery within the pre-dawn darkness and cargo my trailer with 2,300 kilos of grapes, earlier than merging into the identical commuter visitors that was now headed again within the path of San Francisco at a white knuckle tempo… These had been simply inconveniences. In actuality it was lots of enjoyable. Not an environment friendly or cheap technique to supply grapes, however an journey nonetheless. And I had an incredible dinner that night I arrived in Plymouth at a restaurant unapologetically named “Style.” Grilled hangar steak, roasted greens, and an area bottle of— you guessed it—Vermentino!
Arriving safely again in Sonoma after a number of hours of high-speed freeway roulette with one more overloaded trailer of grapes—do I ever really feel like I’m pushing my luck? Is it tempting destiny to even write about that? Anyway, again dwelling in a single piece with fruit nonetheless chilly from the pre-dawn harvest, I do some dance. Shoeless. On high of every half-ton container of grapes. This gentle pigeage (foot-trodding) improves the yield of entire cluster urgent and helps begin fermentation.
Vermentino is often made in metal tanks, hardly ever in oak. Some winemakers, although, enable it to undergo malolactic fermentation, which produces a creamier medium-bodied wine. However I used to be after that genuine Italian expression—light-bodied, complicated but refreshing—that depends on the wine’s pure excessive acidity, a attribute that often diminishes little or no throughout fermentation.
Every part was falling into place. The winery proprietor had been terrific, greater than honest concerning the value and completely satisfied to please. The grapes had been hand-picked within the cool night time air, stored chilly on the transport again to Sonoma, efficiently full-cluster pressed at light fractions to a suitable yield and pores and skin contact, then pumped into an 800-liter tank and left to chill down additional whereas a juice pattern was taken and despatched to the lab.
And that’s the place all the things abruptly went awry.
Right here’s how I described it after I texted the winery proprietor a few days later: (Parenthetical feedback in daring are inserted to assist reader understanding.)
“Hey there, I may need an issue along with your grapes. I despatched you a lab report (above, high) a couple of texts again that confirmed you had extra Potassium (Okay+) within the grapes. This is usually a actual downside at occasions as extra Potassium causes the grape ‘should’ (within the case of white wine, simply juice) pH to rise dramatically within the first few days of fermentation due to precipitation (lack of a compound from it popping out of answer) of tartaric acid and different free acids. This improve of should pH previous appropriate ranges as Potassium binds with the tartaric acids reduces TA (Titratable Acidity, that great zing that makes the wine refreshing) and you find yourself with an actual flabby wine. I did one other lab pattern on the twenty fifth (above, backside) and that was precisely what was occurring. pH had risen from an already excessive 3.76 to three.8 (pH is exponential so even a rise of some hundredths of a degree is substantial), TA had dropped from an already very low 4.1 to three.6, however Potassium had truly dropped from 2568 mg/L to 2311 mg/L. And fermentation had not but begun, so I don’t know the way unstable that is/would possibly turn into. I instantly dosed the should with 2g/L (4 kg!) of tartaric acid and cooled all the things right down to 56 levels. Now we’ll simply should let it ferment slowly and see what occurs. Sorry my buddy. Fingers crossed.”
The winery proprietor’s response, “Nobody else is having an issue.”
My comeback, “I can’t converse for anybody else or some other varietal, however Potassium is one thing that comes from the winery (fertilizer) as you already know, and the chemistry doesn’t lie. Who else has picked Vermentino and what had been their labs? And has anybody taken your Vermentino by means of fermentation but this 12 months? It’d work out simply wonderful. I gained’t know for a few weeks or so. I’m simply alerting you to the potential situation.”
No additional remark from the winery proprietor.
I used to be flying by the seat of my pants, and I knew it. This was territory I’d by no means been in, and albeit, I couldn’t discover anybody that had. I used to be actually apprehensive that I used to be about to pour 150 gallons of very flat grape juice proper down the proverbial, and literal, drain. I had one likelihood to appropriate the issue and I wasn’t positive my answer would even work.
The underside line—in plain converse—was that the winery soil had an extra of Potassium, in all probability from an excessive amount of fertilizer. The vine uptake of that Potassium had resulted in ranges thought of too excessive within the juice pressed from the grapes. That created a chemical response which brought about the Vermentino’s usually excessive acidity to plunge by precipitating out of answer with the surplus Potassium. That, in flip, brought about the pH to rise and created an unstable wine. I might solely guess {that a} Hail Mary addition of tartaric acid, administered at simply the proper time, would possibly rescue the wine from a flabby future, and save the world.
Oh man, this was beginning to really feel like a extremely unhealthy science fiction film.
Cue the ominous music. Digicam slowly zooms in on my anguished face as I cry out to the wine gods…
“However has sufficient Potassium precipitated out to finish the chemical response that stole the tartaric acid within the first place?”
“And if that’s the case, how a lot tartaric acid ought to I add? An excessive amount of and all the things goes bitter. Too little and we’re proper again to the place we began from.”
Music fades out. Digicam fades to black. Just a few moments of silence, nothing on the display screen, then abruptly…
Orchestral strings swell right into a celebratory sound of music, bringing to thoughts a nanny and her brood of cherub youngsters working by means of the wildflowers of a meadow excessive within the Alps.
Digicam pulls away from me smiling and toasting the world with a glass of honey-colored wine.
“Not solely was the world saved, however it was made higher with 65 circumstances of—and I’ll say it once more—the right white wine. By the point fermentation had completed and the wine was safely bottled, the pH was down to three.31 and TA was again as much as 5.68 — excellent numbers!”
THE END
Vermentino is supposed to be loved whereas it’s recent and younger. I began ingesting it someday after it was bottled and I’m a greater man! Be a part of me in toasting to life and easy pleasures (properly, not so rattling easy), and fill up on sufficient Vermentino to maintain the angels at your desk.
Get yours proper now whereas this small, magical lot lasts at tinyvineyards.com
