When you're keeping company with Foxen "Sea Smoke Vineyard" and Peter Michael "Pisoni Vineyard" you know you're in the upper echelon of Pinot Noir.  In the most recent issue of Wine Spectator the 2007 Fulcrum "Split Rock Vineyard" Pinot was a top scorer with a whopping 94 points, the same as the aforementioned wines.  James Laube writes:

A gorgeous young wine with impeccable balance, this zeros in
on a tight core of ripe cherry and wild berry fruit, with shades
of mineral, pebble and loamy earth. Full-bodied, well-structured,
complex and persistent. Drink now through 2014

Fulcrum is the work of co-founders David and Christina Rossi with consulting wine making support from Crushpad's Chris Nelson.  David is certainly one of the most hands-on Crushpad clients, routinely doing most of his own wine making work.

You can also listen to a podcast with David on VinVillage Radio.

We've been on quite a roll lately with the critics which you can read about here, here, here, here, here, and here.

We are adept at all things mathematical. Being a winery means weights, measures and calculations are in our blood. But, it just doesn’t add up. We’ve run the numbers from Saturday’s Open House this way & that and still can’t figure it out. Imagine 1463 attendees sampling 39 wines while consuming 2221 tacos and only breaking 2 glasses? Even Spock would raise an eyebrow and declare “Illogical”. 

The wondrous day of tortillas, wine and intact glass is a testament to you: the friends, neighbors and just plain curious who joined us via webcam or in person on Saturday. Thanks! (We understand 6 wine glasses were broken in the homes of webcam viewers during the event).

In addition to the wine and tacos, Magnolia’s photo booth was a focus & click hit! Check out the photos.

If you were unable to celebrate with us on Saturday, cancel all appointments for the middle of June in 2010 so you can join us next year.

We're honored to be on the 7x7 Magazine Best of the City 2009: Food & Drink list.  We're right there with our new covert, organic and spontaneous lunch spot neighbor Kitchenette (it rocks) and the new Michael Mina restaurant with the almost painfully amazing Burgundy-centric wine list, RN74.

I'm quite certain we crushed the competition in our category.

After spending considerable time walking vineyards, a few of things are becoming clear.  First, the vines are catching up on developing the optimum shoot length / node number.  Second, due to the May rains, there are an abundance of lateral shoots on most all varieties. Finally, there are an abundance of clusters. Lots of them.

In Burgundian varieties, berries are between BB and pea sized while Bordeaux varietal berries are about the size of a BB. Many clusters have persistent caps. If these caps fail to dislodge or fall off, it could create challenges, but there’s nothing to worry about at this point. Over the last few weeks, California’s weather has been about as changeable as a newborn’s diapers and the threat of powdery mildew has been high. However, despite the conditions, I have not heard of any outbreaks or problems.

The focus in the vineyards is still spread out over weed control, disease control and canopy management. At many sites, the 2nd sets of wires are being positioned on VSP systems and hedging the canes is not far off. Many growers are walking vineyards looking at vine water stress levels to get baseline reference points to determine if and when to start irrigation. The priority right now is to open the vine canopy for disease control and to allow light on the interior wood and clusters. This is important for fertility of the buds for next year and to develop many of the favorable characteristics we all look for in the fruit to make great wine.

It’s about the time of year everyone starts to get excited about the vintage because folks begin to visualize what could be. Well, don’t get all knotted up just yet my friend, we still have a ways to go. But, it’s looking good at this point.

Thanks-

Mitchell

This was forwarded to us by Paul VanderMarck who just got back from a trip to Canary Islands.  There’s so much wind that they plant the vines in pits that they dig in the volcanic soil.

Rockroom Cooperative just grabbed three, count them, THREE 93 point scores in the new Wine Enthusiast.  Noted wine critic and blogger Steve Heimoff absolutely loved the Pinot, Chard and Syrah from Rockroom.  The best part is that the Rockroom wines from 2007 and 2008 are even better.  Rockroom has super colletion of wines going.  By the way, if you don't already read Steve's blog, you should.

2006 Hein Vineyard Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley); $44.

(93) The dryness and length of this Pinot Noir make it especially recommendable. It just feels lush and important in the mouth, offering a wealth of cherry, raspberry, currant, mocha and spice flavors, with a meaty note of beef jerky. Should develop for a good six years in the bottle. —S.H.

2005 White Hawk Vineyard Syrah (Santa Barbara County); $38.

(93) The vineyard is noted for the quality of its Syrahs, and this one is right up there, although as currently constituted, it’s a bit too young. Shows thick tannins and very ripe flavors of black- berry jam, cassis, cherry liqueur, melted dark chocolate, violets and a wonderful appliqué of cedar, finished with crunchy black pepper. Better by the winter of 2009, with slow-braised short ribs. —S.H.

2007 Alder Springs Vineyard Chardonnay (Mendocino); $38.

(93) This is a very fine Chardonnay. It displays crisp acidity that boosts and brightens ripe flavors of pineapples, pears, green apples and kumquats. Oak adds welcome notes of smoke, buttered toast and spice. Only 25 cases were produced. —S.H.