Ode to the Winemaker on His ??? Birthday!

Like a Fine
Tanis Wine
On Your
Tasting Room Bar
The Older You Get
The Better You Are!

The Remodel

In order to keep our barrels and case goods at optimum temperature during remodel, we had to create an extra insulated 'wall' in the tasting room area. It's doing the job nicely. At present, construction is in progress to convert the existing bathroom into a commercially acceptable ADA certified area. A new insulated roll-up door was added to one bay, and the main entrance door will be framed into the other bay. A rock wall will cover the face of the building, and we've chosen a deep mahogany colored awning for above the tasting room door. We've been very happy with our contractor, a local with lots of experience. It's going to be fun to see the end result!

The Disappearing Wine Trick!

There is a Wine Thief loose in our barrel room, making off with tasty wine samples right and left! But never fear, Andrew's got his finger on this one!

If you hear the term Wine Thief around our place, grab your glass and head for the nearest barrel. A Wine Thief is a sampling tube with a narrowed opening at either end. The tube is lowered into the barrel keeping the upper end sealed with a finger. As the name implies, it is then used to withdrawn wine, and with a lift of a finger, the thief deposits it's catch into a wineglass held ready by the nearby accomplice!

My favorite barrel to steal a sample from at the moment is our up and coming 2006 Late Harvest Syrah! This one IS a real sweet girl that keeps getting better with age. I'm looking forward to the end result and bottling it next year... that is, if there's any left after the Thief and I get done with it! No, I couldn't possibly drink THAT much by next year....could I?

I'll try to lay off the sampling and save some for you! It's a fun one!

Amador County - Wines with Personality

One of the things I like best about Amador County is the fact that many of the wineries (including our own) are small and family owned, offering hospitality, complimentary tasting, and most importantly, uniquely hand-crafted wines.

As a small production winery, I feel we have the privilege and joy of producing delicious wines that please our own pallet!

When it comes to larger production, it seems many wineries have been pulled into the task of trying to please the mass market, following a "simple sweet wine" marketing formula that makes wines from various varietals taste incredibly similar to one another.

I think you will really appreciate the variety of wines and winemaking styles that you can experience here in Amador County. After all, it's the differences that make trying NEW wines fun, and it's differences between wines of the SAME varietal that make a winemaker and their wine stand out as being something special. Can't wait for the doors to open, so you can come get to know our one of a kind wines!

Latest News

Castle Oaks Golf Course held their first ever wine tasting event in the clubhouse this past Friday. We met some great people and tasted some great wines. Castle Oaks is talking about planning another event. Look for TANIS wines at their next wine tasting...unless we've sold out by then! This first bottling (of our 2005) consisted of only 225 cases, and a total of 9 different wines. We doubled that for 2006, and plan to double again this year.

Construction continues, and we hope to be open before the end of the year. We are so excited it's hard to wait!

For some fun things to do and see in Amador County, check out the links I added to the sidebar...

Grapes are Reaching Full Sweet Maturity

The long summer days have produced ripe fruit on the vines and it's finally time to harvest. Today we picked part of our Syrah and Zinfandel. I must say that we love the wildlife and birds around here, but do wish they'd eat lunch somewhere else. I guess the sweet juicy grapes are just too irresistible...we shared a few too many with them this year. This evening, returning home from Amador City, we drove up to find a whole flock of turkeys just lounging (and looking quite full and happy) on our grassy patch by the vineyard! Out jumped our well trained turkey troopers (our kids!) to chase them on along. You just have to laugh! Next year we may have to net the vines. Still it was a great harvest and crush...just one of many seasons of harvest to come. Brix levels depending, this coming weekend we will crush more Syrah!

Pinotage's Sordid Past

After our last post, we received some interest and questions about Pinotage by email. Piontage is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault varieties, that was created in South Africa.

One of the things that intrigued us to make our own was the fact that it is not very well known in the US. Pinotage is beginning to gain attention in California, and our first experience with this fun varietal was right here in Amador County. I have, in fact, never tasted a South Africa Piontage, and only recently discovered that it has a kind of "sordid past!"

Peter May, from The Pinotage Club, sent me this comment, "What I find particularly exciting is that the California Pinotages that I have tasted don't exhibit the 'off' flavours found in many SA Pinotages and that have been attributed -- wrongly I think -- to the variety."

Apparently there were some early South Africa Pinotages, which had a sweet nail-varnish-like bitterness...not very appealing. It was later discovered that fermentation at too low a temperature was the cause of this problem.

I'm glad that California is helping redeem this varietal by producing some yummy, quality Pinotage wines. We find it an honorable grape.

When we're pouring our Pinotage next year, if anyone has a South African Pinotage they're willing to share, come on by and let's taste them side by side and examine the differences! That would be fun!

For more information on Pinotage, check out Peter May's Website, as well as his great article on page 4 of "Grapestalk."

Wine in Space

There may not be water in outer space, but soon there might just be wine. Dr. Greg Olsen, 60, became the third private space tourist when he took a 4.8-million km journey to the International Space Station. Olsen was a scientist and entrepreneur, who owned a wine estate and loved good wines, especially Pinotage (a varietal we have in barrels for bottling next year!) As a wine lover, Olsen wanted to use his seven-day mission to promote his country and its world-renowned wines. Apparently, he took with him specially grown pinotage rootstocks, in gel-filled containers, to plant in an area set aside for experiments.

Just in case you have an extra $20 million laying around, first come by and buy out our inventory, and then check out these links to plan your own space trip! And have fun drinking your wine in zero gravity!

http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-tourism.htm
http://SpaceAdventures.com

Security and Airline Wine

Returning from a recent trip, I of course had to purchase a bottle of wine from the area to bring home for Andrew! What I hadn't thought about were the airline regulations disallowing any large liquid carry-on items. Thankfully, I remembered this soon enough to get the wine packed into my suitcase, and not at the security check where they'd have told me to dump it or not board the plane! If you purchase wine and are going to bring it home in your "checked luggage," let me suggest that you ask the winery for one of those molded styrofoam inserts to prevent breakage...that's what I was wishing I had done as I rolled my fine bottle of wine up in my jammies and shoved it into a slipper, hoping I would not find a suitcase full of wine-soaked clothes when I got home! ...the wine DID get home just fine, but it made me think...we'll be sure to offer our traveling visitors some foam with their wine for their suitcases!

Romance in Ione

To my knowledge, it's been almost 5 years since there's been a Florist here in Ione. Well, today, as I pulled up to the market, guess what was there...the nicest little flower shop, "Viola Rose Flowers!"

It made me think how nice it is that now, after some wine tasting in the area, a person can stop by and pick up a rose or bouquet for their sweetie before heading off to dinner...the perfect addition to a romantic day in Amador wine country!

Deana, the owner, was so welcoming and friendly. Her shop has antiques and gifts, as well as very beautiful flowers and arrangements. I bought Andrew a single rose, just because. If you happen by Viola Rose, tell Deana that Jill from Tanis Vineyards sent you!

The Shocking Truth!

Have you ever heard of bottle shock? And wondered, what happened? Did someone electrify these things?

Here's the shocking story...at bottling, the wines are resting, happy and settled in their barrels, when suddenly, shockingly they are pulled from the place they've become accustomed to and pumped through filters and tubes to end up in a little bottle in a box. After this kind of shake up the wines need time to settle back down, and that's what ours is doing right now!

During bottle shock, the flavors and characteristics in the wine can be 'splintered' by the bottling process. It generally takes a period of weeks before it 're-gathers' itself and the component flavors knit back together.

Wine Spectator call's it bottle sickness and defines it as this: A temporary condition characterized by muted or disjointed fruit flavors. It often occurs immediately after bottling or when wines are shaken in travel. Also called bottle shock. A few days of rest is the cure.

Andrew and I were both VERY pleased with all the wines we sampled as we bottled over the weekend. It will be a few weeks before we label, and then a few more before we can be sure we are out of "bottle shock!"

By the time our doors open and you come to try them, these bottles will be well rested, happy again, and ready to taste!

Subscribe by Email

Our friend Anthony from Southern CA thought it would be nice if we added a link to subscribe to Winery Talk. Great idea Anthony! Just added a "Subscribe by Email" link as well as a link where you can subscribe in a web-based news reader. I'm not sure myself what the web-based new reader thing is all about. In fact, if any of you out there use one, drop us a comment about it.

The Grape Debate - Are they the same?

There's been much discussion and debate over Primitivo and Zinfandel being the same grape. Genetically they are identical, however the Primitivo ripens about a week earlier than Zinfandel, and if you do a taste test side by side with Zinfandel and Primitivo out of the same vineyard, there is a distinct difference. We have both Primitivo and Zinfandel in our vineyard. Once open, you can come try both Zinfandel and Primitivo here at the winery and experience the difference between the two for yourself. For a little more info on these two varietals, check out this older, but informative article. or try this zin overview at wikipedia.

Let me Breathe

Many alternatives have come to play in the wine closure market in the last decade. In most recent years, screwcaps. Closure is a given, but to cork or not to cork, that is the question!

Recent studies have show that screwcaps are causing some post bottling sulfur chemistry, know in the trade as reduction. This causes a rubber-like characteristic due to chemically reduced sulfur as a result of lack of oxygen to the wine.

Natural cork comes from sustainably harvested cork forests that support an array of wildlife. You may be suprised to know that removing the bark from a cork oak does not kill the tree, and cork oak trees store CO2 in order to regenerate. In fact, a harvested cork oak absorbs 3 to 5 times more CO2 than an unharvested tree, thus benefiting the atmosphere! We breathe better and so does the wine!

In the final analysis, we chose good old-fashioned CORK. In our opinion, it's better for the wine, better for the environment, and what's more we still love that romantic POP!

Comments

Just changed the settings for the blog so that anyone can comment. Please feel free to add your thoughts and suggestions.
We apprecaite your input.

Bottling Day 2

Kitties napped while we finished bottling the last 2 barrels, a 2005 Syrah and our 2005 TNT Dynamite Red.

Construction starts tomorrow on the conversion of the garage into a tasting room. Contractor says about 2 months for completion.

Bottling - So Easy a Child Can Do It!

We bottled Barbera, Sangiovese, Cab Franc, Zinfandel and Primitivo. What a day!

We'll do the Syrah and TNT Dynamite Red tomorrow. The filter was a challenge, but all in all it went well once we got our assembly line in order!

Decorative Elements

Things are rolling as we beautify our surroundings in preparation for the BIG DAY! We are hopeful for an October opening, but will keep you posted as things progress.

Sally in Santa Rosa, CA has been sending statuary, planters and iron work for outside the tasting room, and has several large beautiful rose bushes for the front entry. Thank you Sal!

On a recent trip to the midwest, MaryAnne in Schuyler, NE passed along some red bean seeds that I'm excited about planting. They are an unusual and gracful looking vine with purplish bean pods and flowers that remind me of wisteria! Can't wait to plant them in the Spring.

We're enjoying the outside projects, and are even MORE excited that construction for the tastingroom remodel is beginning on MONDAY! Everything but the tasting bar is included in the remodel. Anyone with creative ideas for the tasting bar...LET US KNOW! At the moment we are planning a simple bar with a barrel on each end and wood or ??? over the top.

Photo of Red Bean Plant...

Labels Ordered!

Well, here we are again, with another spot on the www. So much is happening we thought we'd keep you posted. First off, with your help and input we made final decisions on the labels and placed our order today! Thank you everyone who gave your input on colors and design. And we especially appreciate those of you who kept us from making winery name choices like "Badger Hole" and "Slippery Cat!" (I know some of you were VERY fond of Slippery Cat, but majority ruled! : ) But never fear, we may release "Slippery Cat Syrah" under the TANIS label in the future!

Last week we bottled our Late Havest Chardonnay. A terrific experience. Thanks Mark for all your help, we couldn't have done it without you. I know some of you are just chomping at the bit to come help us bottle our 7 barrels of 2005 reds this coming weekend! Be glad, there will be plenty of donuts and subway sandwiches for all participants (not to mention WINE)!