An Ode to a Vintage and a Dog

 

Vintage has been on my mind a lot lately. The way certain factors align in any given year can make or break a wine. The same can be said for humans.

              As in all things in life, there is a cycle. For winemaking, it all starts in the spring with those first buds on the vines, and ends in the winter with the wine fermenting and the vines pruned down for their long sleep. The achievements, joys, stresses, and heartaches of each season will determine the quality of the final product, the bottled wine. Again, the same can be said for humans.

              I recently had to say goodbye to my 14-year-old Boxer-Pitbull mix, Corona. The shining light in my life, my heart shattered as she took her last breath, and it continues to do so every time I walk into a room and expect to see her there. This, along with a few other bumps and bruises that now seem quite miniscule, made me start to feel pretty negatively towards my own 40^th vintage.

              Vintage is one of the biggest and most important discussions in the wine industry. Just because a place or winery is known for great wines doesn’t mean that this level of greatness will be seen every year. Each season, as the new Bordeaux wines are released, charts accompany articles highlighting the amazingness of 2010 and the horrors of 2013. And, you can’t escape a California wine release without hearing about the stress of smoke taint from the 2020 vintage. This concept of vintage has always intrigued me, but it was a relevantly timed Wine Spectator article on California Pinot Noir that really got me comparing wine and human vintages.

              In the September 30^th issue of "Wine Spectator," reporter James Molesworth took a long look at the 2023 growing season for Pinot Noir in California, a vintage that earned an incredible rating of 96 points. Now, this area receiving a high score isn’t that shocking, until you consider what the wineries went through during this particular vintage.

The growers in this area experienced a cooler summer, with an especially cool and wet August. This caused the grapes and grape bunches to swell and increase in size. When this happens, the vines will struggle to provide the right nutrients to all of the fruit, which in turn dilutes the flavor and disrupts the sugar and acid levels. To fight against this, farmers had to go through the vineyards multiple times to thin the crop, which basically means cutting out and discarding bunches of grapes so the remaining can mature properly. This took a lot of manpower, as multiple passes had to be made throughout the summer months, and a lot of fruit was lost to get an end grape product that could make quality wine.

              Along with these cooler and wetter temps, the heat spike in September that usually shoots the grapes from almost ready to ready did not occur. This meant that the grapes had to hang on the vines longer to reach maturity. In the end, most wineries had to push back their harvest dates by a month or more. Though this may not seem like that big of a deal, it now became a game of chance for the vintners. They couldn’t help but stress and wonder if their grapes would fully ripen before a cold snap decimated the crop. Thankfully, the patience, angst and daily checking of the vineyards paid off. Most grapes ripened in enough time to be picked, and though they weren’t as structurally sound as they could be, most crops were able to produce beautiful wines.

              The final hit of the season dealt with the skin on the grapes. In warm years, the skins will become thick. This thickness is what allows the wines to have the nice tannins that contribute to a well-structured wine. Though the 2023 grapes had skins that were healthy, they didn’t contain the typical level of tannins. This was another hit from that longer ripening period. To help correct this, winemakers had to adjust and utilize practices they don’t always use to help make up for the lower tannins. Many said they had to be extra careful with how they extracted the juice and what temperatures they fermented at, some had to ferment with whole clusters when they usually don’t, and others said they had to go back through and research what was done in other cooler vintages so they could still create a sturdy wine.

              Even with all of these difficulties, 2023 California Pinot Noirs emerged into beautiful and flavorful wines that have the ability to age. Vinters and winemakers used their knowledge, their intuition, and just a bit of finagling to take a rough growing season and turn the final product into a bottle of gold. Though panic may have been the first reaction, they took the time to listen to what the year was telling them and adjusted accordingly. They did what they could to make the best out of a difficult situation.

              Reflecting on this article made me realize something about my own particular 40^th year. In wine terms, I could take all of the crap thrown at me this year, be negative, and make this a mediocre, if not downright, undrinkable vintage. Or, I could take the tools I had been given to shape my final product into a decent bottle of wine.

The hailstorm of losing Corona may have decimated my crops of happiness and joy, but it did not destroy all of it. I have a lifetime of memories, like the time she got freaked out by my husband putting a headless dummy in a chair out in our front yard one Halloween season, or the abundance of tail wags and grunting that would occur whenever she knew she was going on a hike or a walk. All I need to do is think about these, and the zillion other moments, and I can bring a smile to my face and a bit of happiness to my heart.

Though this year’s grapes may not be perfect, they still have some great characteristics (moments) I can tease out. When it comes to Corona, I can think about how this past year she would join me for the yoga and mat work portion of my workout almost every day, how we had a lot of great couch snuggling, how she would get so excited when I would take her for a small half-block stroll, and how on our last day together all three of us rallied and enjoyed one final jaunt in the park. When it comes to other aspects of this year, I can reflect on all of the great wines I enjoyed on the patio this summer as my husband and I watched the sun go down and the occasional bat fly around, the fun of starting a wine and book club with my best friend, the amazing time my husband and I had at a random 10:30 p.m. Lit concert, and the unforgettable Scotland and Ireland trip my mom and I took. These are the moments I want shaping this vintage.

And, as harvest season comes to an end and my wine rests in its barrels, I will think of all the good things still to come from this year. I will think about the little excursion my husband and I are going to take to North Platte, all of the horror movies we will watch this Halloween season, the joys of watching football with maybe, just maybe, Travis Kelce suffering from a career ending injury, the beauty of my Christmas village setup in my box window, and that as long as they stay on schedule, I will be getting to celebrate my 41^st birthday evening by watching the new "Scream” movie. Not every growing season is a gem, but there’s no way to know what magical things can happen as that juice turns to wine.

I will use all of these tools and practices to give my vintage new meaning. I will take what could have been a vintage that tastes of vinegar, to a vintage that can rate 89 on the wine point scale. Not the best year, but still enjoyable.

I hope you are each having a successful and wonderful vintage. And, if you are not, I hope you can find the right methods to give you an end product similar to California’s 2023 Pinot Noir. Now, I think I will go out and get me one of these bottles and do a little cheers to my 40^th vintage and making it the best that it can be.