The ONX Odyssey

Fog Chasing

It's bright and early on Tuesday morning, and as I'm rolling over the Santa Lucia Mountains into the infamous "Templeton Gap" I descend into a dense, blinding fog that has inundated the Westside overnight. Flipping on the headlights, I do my best to stay alert while trying to ignore the fearful thought of a deer running across the road before me. Just yesterday I saw a large buck on the side of the road that was clearly victim to a foggy morning run-in, and I hope that today isn’t my day.

The fog is so thick now that it feels as though my truck is slowing, unable to push forward through the mass of greyness that swallows me like molasses. The windshield puddles thick with moisture as I descend further into the abyss, giving me feeling that the vehicle I'm driving is now more submarine than automobile. I flip on the wipers to get a better view of my oceanic surroundings, but visibility is poor and I struggle to see more than a few feet ahead. I point the bow of my vessel southward onto Vineyard Dr. and finally land in the vineyard where I disembark onto the brown earth. Though the fog lies thick over the rows of vines, I notice a glimmer of warmth pushing through to the east; a sign that this grey ocean will soon be receding. Knowing the consistent nature by which Mother Earth operates, I figure it will only be a few hours before the fog has lifted and the earth is bathed in sunshine. My notions are correct and by 10:00am the fog has burned away, leaving only a few wet leaves in its wake. To the west, the grey mass can still be seen, slowly creeping back towards the coast.

 
As the day progresses and the Westside warms under the blazing summer sun, I find myself yearning for a cloud overhead or a sudden summer squall, knowing all to well that neither will come. Damning the heat, I jump on my old motorcycle and tear off down the canyon westward, hoping to find a place that will offer me a breath of ocean wind or a swimming hole to plunge into. Winding through the dusty switchbacks of Santa Rita Road I blow by old ranches and farms, their grounds scattered with abandoned redwood barns and fields of safflower. A rusty tin sign on a barn wall lets me know "Mobiloil Gasoline sold here," yet I know that there is no fuel to be had, just artifacts from a time long ago.

A few miles in and the ranches give way to forest, dense with ancient Live Oaks, orange-wooded Toyons, and giant Sycamores. The road narrows with each turn, inching closer and closer to the creek until the bank and the road become one, urging me to slow down. Lanes don’t exist in any way, the entire road not quite wide enough to be even a single lane itself. Envisioning my bike and I meeting a watery demise in the creek below, I pray there isn’t a lone rancher barreling down the road ahead. As the road finally moves away from the creek I begin the climb upward, navigating my way through tight, gravelly hairpins that send my tires skidding every which way. Up, up, up goes my ascent through turn after turn, climbing to elevations where I can finally feel the temperature begin to drop and my spirits become brighter. I’m much nearer the ocean now, I can feel it.

Emerging from a tunnel of dense trees I arrive at the summit - the bastion I have been searching for. Behind me I see hills of Westside Templeton, in front of me I see the mass of fog that has been retreating west, now filling the valley that flows out towards the Pacific Ocean. If it weren’t for the fog I would see the giant blue mass of ocean, but its hidden under the same grey monster that had engulfed me earlier that morning. Above the fog blows a steady ocean breeze that slaps my face and leaves me smirking, taking with it any thought of the blazing heat behind me. I relish in the moment.

I take in 10 minutes of the cool wind, letting it dry the sweat from my neck and bring me back to a state of sanity. I take a long glimpse at the heavy fog, which has reached its final resting place on the coast. Here it will remain all day, much to the dismay of tourists who were expecting a classic “California Summer.” Clearly they haven’t spent many summers on the beaches of the Central Coast, where the fog lies thick from June to September. I hope back on my bike, shove my head into the fabric and fiberglass oven I call a helmet, and give the engine a good kick. The piston fires and the engines purrs steadily, not revealing for a second that its age surpasses my own by a good 5 years. I look back to the fog once more before giving the throttle a good twist, which sends me flying forward and downward, back to the heat of the day.

Not Just Another Wine Club

As we are close to bottling our last round of  ‘08 Petite Sirah as well as labeling all of the ‘08 Syrah and Blends, it dawned on me that we would like your input before we finalize our wine club program.   We have been so closely focused on the vines, the fruit, the labeling and the bottling (which of course we should be uber focused on this right?) that we have forgotten to get your input on our wine club program

 

This got me thinking about the program we are offering and that maybe we should see what others think about it before we offer wine for sale.  Therefore, I ran the club offerings by a few friends this past week and they all agree that we are starting out with a strong program, however, there are several things that stand out most for them like Free Shipping and Winemaker Events. 

I believe the wine should speak for itself and not have to be sold to anyone.  We are enthused about our wine and believe it is a limited release selection of reds that we want you to experience as well.  So how does this sound for a wine club program:

§         Free shipping for all wine club members

§         Free membership

§         Two yearly shipments of 3, 6 or 12 bottles of wine shipped in April and November.

§         20% off all ONX Wine purchases

§         Invitations to special wine maker dinners

 

I know this may sound a like other wine club programs however that is why we thought we would throw in the FREE SHIPPING part of the piece as that does not seem to be something that is commonly offered but could help people out a lot.   

When I do online shopping, I won’t even order from a company unless the shipping is free otherwise I will just go and pick up the item in a store.  Picky I know but in today’s economic environment I say why not get the best deal possible right?

So please let us know what you think as no great company is ever formed without the cooperative efforts of the community.  Don’t worry we won’t judge just tell us honestly what you like about other programs you have been a part of as well as the not so great things they may have done.  No need to mention names!

Oh and did we mention that we will be having some fun wine tasting parties in the next year to introduce our wines and wine makers.  They should be a blast so get signed up to the club and newsletter if you want to be invited at www.onxwine.com

ONX Night Owls - Plucking the fruit from the vine in the evening

The last few weeks of harvest have been busy indeed.  Our team has been up at night (as well as most of the days) picking the fruit in the cooler night time temperatures.  Why pick at night and deprive ourselves of some much needed sleepy time?  When you pick the grapes at night you get a fresher fruit that is crisp and ready for the crush.  You also avoid any pesky micro-organisms that may creep into your fruit by picking at night as the fruit is cooler and does not provide a nice habitat for the little invaders.  Notice the sun just rising over the vineyard as the grapes rest in the bins after a hard night of picking.

Our winemaker, Aaron Jackson, and Vineyard Manager, Ben Epstein, did very selective picking over the past weeks and only hand picked from the top of the hills of Briarwood (the estate grown vineyard that the ONX fruit come from) for the Syrah and Petite Sirah grapes.  Does anyone ever wonder why the two spellings for Syrah/Sirah?  I researched this at one time and it stems (no pun intended) from the origins of where the grape is grown.  Some call it Syrah and others call it Sirah.  I.E. In Australia it is Shiraz and in France it is Syrah. 

One of our winemakers, Aaron Jackson explains why Briarwood grapes are top notch “One of the advantages of having our own vineyard is that we can cherry pick the blocks for the fruit that has the most intensity in flavor, the smallest berries, and the optimum ripeness.  Our big part of our micro-farming program is to be attentive to these subtle differences and organize our picking to take advantage of this.” 

On to the CRUSH!!  Here are some photos of Aaron and Ben crushing and sorting the grapes.  By using two sorting tables they are able to critically look at all of the fruit so that any unwanted clusters are banished from the bins.  They also keep an eye out for those pesky green bits and stems that may have made their way through the de-stemmer to try and join the healthier fruit.  When all is said and done and the guys have been up all night picking and sorting the fruit they are then left with bins full of pure berries that Aaron ‘trod’ on to break up some of the whole berries and let some juice flow.  This allows him to do ‘saignee’ on the grapes.  Saignee is bleeding the vats to impart more color and tannin to the wine, which results in more concentrated wine. 

So those are the bits from the last few weeks of picking.  This week and next week we are on to pick the Zinfandel, Grenache and Cabernet grapes so keep your fingers crossed that the weather gods will have pity on us and not pour down during our nightly hand picking!

Vineyard Report

More from our very tired Vineyard Manager, Ben Epstein, who is out working the harvest.

We have completed harvest on about 70% of the vineyard, fruit quality has been high and we have seen minimal burn from the 1 extreme heat wave we experienced about a month and a half ago, burnt fruit is sorted out in the field during picking

 

Later ripening varietals such as zinfandel, grenache, mourvedre, cabernet have not been picked yet

 

We have been doing all our picking at night and usually finishing early morning or at daybreak- this keeps fruit cool and allows for immediate processing when the fruit gets to the winery 

 

At this point we are watching weather forecasts as well as examining the fruit daily and scheduling our next move accordingly.  Rain will bring cool weather ( =no more ripening), rot (rot), wet ground (mud- can't drive through the field), and a big sad face on me.

Until Next Week!

Syrah, Skins, Seeds and Stems

Have you ever wondered how wine gets its color?  Oh sure you figure red grapes = red wine right?  Well its gets a bit more complicated than that.  Recently our newest ONX team member, Winemaker Aaron Jackson sent over some shots from the 2010 Harvest.  These photos show just one of the methods that he and our Vineyard Manager, Ben use to determine when to pick the fruit.  Of course they measure the brix level, acid and ph, however crushing the fruit and analyzing the color is another tried and true method of determining when to hand harvest.

 

Above are different juice colors from the various clones of Syrah we have at Briarwood, the vineyard that is the home to ONX Wine.   The juice on the right is Petite Sirah.  Per Aaron Jackson “The juices with more color are often riper, and hence closer to harvest.”

To me it looks like a Starburst Rainbow of fruit colors commercial but to the wine aficionado it is the beauty of the grape coming through after a long year of sun and shade.  Oh and if you are wondering what is floating around so strangely in the juice it is the skins, seeds and stems.  These are all kept during the crush as it helps the wine develop tannins that make a red wine so full bodied and helps it to achieve its wonderful complexity. 

 

You can imagine how hard it has been this year to determine when the fruit is ready for the harvest due to the crazy weather patterns.  Ben and Aaron have been out at the vineyard consistently measuring the sugar content and checking the fruit.  Veraison came late this year due to the un-summer of cooler temperatures and once it did come it has been a few weeks later than usual that we started to pick the fruit.

 If nothing else this will make for a very interesting year of wines from coast to coast as it has given the winemakers a true test of creativity and the ability to turn out some incredibly diverse 09’s in the year to come.

Paso Robles Harvest 2010

The weather has finally given us some time in the sun, the brix count is up and it looks like it may finally be time to harvest soon.  The weather this past year could be likened to a temperamental child that just could not figure out what it wanted to do.  Sun no sun, rain no rain it was like being on a merry go round that would not let you off but we sure did get a lot of clouds during our supposed ‘summertime’. 
If nothing else it was cause for some beautiful shots over the solstice.

 Most vineyards had the same question  “Where is our normal heat up?”  Without at least one final bake in the sun the grapes are not able to reach their optimum ripeness and get ready for the crush.  The weather this year has definitely shaped the timetable for our 2010 harvest however there may be some surprising benefits to a late harvest that we in the Gap have not seen for quite some time such as the grapes skin being a bit thicker, which increases the intensity of the wine.  

 Our Vineyard Manager, Ben Epstein has been roaming the vines daily measuring the brix count, examining the color and looking at the bunch and berry sizes/uniformity and in his estimation we are getting ready to go.  He is therefore getting everything ready for the pick including getting our team of second generation hand harvesters ready for some grape picking.  By hand harvesting the grapes and using people that are familiar with our vines we know that they will pick only the healthiest bunches and will be extremely careful when handling the grapes, cradling them like a newborn. 

 Once plucked ever so gently from the vine our grapes will be thoroughly inspected for damage and quality control.  They will then be hand packed into shipping containers so that they are ready for ‘The Crush’. 

 I know ‘The Crush’ sounds like a new aged band that is looking to show their hate of mass media and everything adult however we are not referring to the band but to the actual process of crushing or stamping on the grapes to produce the wine.  This years crush due to the late harvest could be exceptional so stay tuned as we could get more intense wines with vibrant flavors and colors from this freakishly hot/cold/hot/cold year.

A Year of Waiting

So this blog topic is entitled ‘A Year of Waiting’.  It seems pretty dull but in fact it has been anything but as we continue on our journey of launching ONX Wine.  As I reflected back this morning on all that has happened this year I came to the same ultimate conclusion that everything we did this year had a ‘hurry up and wait’ sticker attached to it.

When we first decided to get moving on our new label development we thought all we had to do was design an eye catching and stimulating label that people would enjoy and hopefully remember.  Ah, ah, ah but we did not count on all of the additional language that by law has to go on the back of the label NOR did we count on having to go through a label permit process?!  I guess we should have guessed as there is some kind of bureaucracy associated with everything nowadays.  So you guessed it we finally got all of the language correct, the design perfect and the colors selected but then we had to HURRY UP AND WAIT on our label approval.

After the above episode you would think that we had learned our lesson and garnered that nothing is as easy as it seems.  Nope not us.  We then went on to chose the perfect Bordeaux premium bottle, the most high quality corks and the most esthetically catching capsules for our much anticipated Mad Crush, Fiery Nights and Black Orchid Wines.  This all had a few hiccups however nothing to make us bury our heads in shame UNTIL we went to actually order the capsules and they told us it would take 2 to 3 months for production (came from Spain). What????  Therefore we had to HURRY UP AND WAIT for the capsules so that we could finally bottle our oh so splendid 08’s.

When we bottled the 08’s, we found out that labels and capsules can tear or wrinkle with an aggressive bottle line operator (which we have already waxed poetic on a previous blog topic so I will not bore you all with the details) but we used this occasion to create an even more elegant and stimulating package for our 08’s.

And lastly, drumroll please not just us but the entire Paso Robles area is now waiting for the fruit to mature so that we can start to hand pick the grapes.  I was out at the vineyard a week ago and the fruit is looking beautiful, and tastes even better, but is still not quite mature enough for the crush.  All over Paso winemakers are HURRYING UP AND WAITING to see when the fruit will be at its zenith for picking. And speaking of the quality of grapes in our vineyard, all fruit not being consumed by ONX has been sold to other premium wineries in the area.

The year so far has been a grand adventure and one that I would definitely do over again as it has once again reminded me that it is ok to HURRY UP AND WAIT because while you are waiting some incredible improvements can come your way that you may not even realize you needed. We look forward to sharing our ‘08’s with you in the future

Once in a while you just have to sit down, relax and enjoy the beauty that is the Central Coast.  From early morning fog to blazing sunshine on the vines to a cooling mist at night it all aids in creating our exceptional grapes.

 

Today I thought I would expand upon the natural blessing that is the Templeton Gap fog along the coastline.  At ONX we salute the return of the fog as it naturally helps to cool down the grapes in the afternoon and get them ready for another day of gentle warming from the sun.  This incredible microclimate helps us to create world class wines from our family owned Briarwood Vineyards hand nurtured grapes.  Advection fog is valley fog and it is air that has cooled during the evening and filters into the Templeton Gap locale from the surrounding hillsides along the Pacific Coast.  This then in turns creates condensation and voila the Templeton Gap neighborhood fills with fog.

 

On summer mornings the Central Coast fog rolls in to gently bathe the grapes in a early morning mist.  As the temperature rises throughout the day, breezes start rolling in late afternoon from the Pacific Ocean once again helping to cool off the grapes and provide for the ideal growing climate for our Rhone style grapes.

 

Tartaric acid is the most prominent natural acid of grapes and wine and will lower the acid of the fruit/wine.  It is naturally cultivated at ONX by the afternoon ocean breezes.  This helps us to find the perfect balance between ripeness and acidity for our grapes as the acid adds flavor and crispness, and its tartness provides "backbone" to the wine.

 

ONX’s proximity to the cool fog and breezes from the Pacific Ocean makes the climate in The Templeton Gap more conducive to greater grape 'hang time' than other wine regions further north in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley. This helps us in turn to create our much anticipated Rhone blend, Syrah and Petite Sirah varietals that will be rolled out for sale later this year.

Enjoy your summer!

What’s all the hub bub about soil?

Well we know there are lot of wineries out there claiming that their soil is the absolute and final best ever for growing top level vines.  You don’t really expect ONX to be different do you?  Yes we will join the fray and proudly proclaim that ONX HAS THE ABSOLUTE, FINITE, TOTAL BEST SOIL EVER FOR GROWING TOP LEVEL VINES. 

 

Was that in your face enough for you?

 

All kidding aside let me explain why we feel that our soils are unique and help us to create our burgundian style wine that we know you will all love once we get it bottled next month.

 

ONX Winery and Briarwood Vineyards, the vineyard that grows our fabulous vines, sits atop a hot bed of calcareous rock and limestone shale covered by alluvial fans of mudstone. 

 

These rocks have high limestone content that neutralizes the natural acidity of the soil and affects the development of the root system, which in turn affects the flavor.  The high degree of limestone as well as fossilized shells break down over time and help soil drainage so that we can dry farm without supplemental irrigation.

 

As the vine struggles to get its footing and root structure in the shale, the limestone helps it out by retaining water and adding nutrients to the soil.  This influences the flavor of the grapes as the nutrients are absorbed into the vine and the grapes.  The limestone also helps to insure proper drainage in the vineyard so that there is no water build up and root rot.

 

There you have it our two cents of why ONX is greatly aided by its valuable calcareous strains of shale which go throughout its property.

 

Have a great day!

www.onxwine.com

A Rhône of Any Other Name is Just Not the Same

Rhône style wine has garnered a lot of attention in the last few years as individuals have discovered its eclectic and timeless qualities.  Its rich characteristics, which are primarily garnered from the Grenache and Syrah grapes, make it a favorite among red wine drinkers.  This is just one of the reasons why ONX has chosen to join the fray in making superb Rhône style wines in the Central Coast region. 

 

The Central Coast area has all of the qualities needed to make an incredible Rhône wine such as its breezy evenings that cool down the grapes after they sunbath during the day in the afternoon heat.  ONX’s unique Templeton Gap location has an even greater opportunity to nurture our grapes as we have cool afternoon mistral breezes that float through the vineyard from the coastal shores of the Pacific Coast.  This helps us to create fine wine from the Syrah grape, sometimes with a small percentage of Viognier blended in to add an extra dimension to the wine.

 

ONX’s terroir or sense of place helps it to make top level Rhône style wines that will only deepen in flavor as they age. They are very diverse wines that pair well with almost all types of food and events.

 

As mentioned earlier we are getting close to bottling our 08’s.  Included in this selection will be Black Orchid, a passionate Petite Sirah; Fiery Nights, a mouth watering Syrah and our own special Rhône blend, Gypsy Queen, which will be an eclectic blend of Mouvedre, Grenache, Petite Sirah, Tempranillo, Syrah and Alicante Bouchet.

 

So dive in and enjoy a nice Rhône tonight.

www.onxwine.com