Dear Friends,
Happy Halloween! I have so many memories with the kids on this day. I still remind my daughter when she was two years old and dressed up as Snow White. She convinced me to dress up as Grumpy in the full Disney suit. She clearly had me (well, still does) wrapped around her finger! We live in a neighborhood without many children. For over a decade, we would throw a Halloween party for every kid we knew and have upwards of 150 people. The neighborhood had a lot of energy in those days. Now we are lucky if we get any trick or treaters at all.
The hospitality team at the winery loves Halloween. Friday night they dressed up and had a team potluck complete with Karaoke. Fun times and sorry I missed it. No one would want to hear me sing anyways!
Sticking with the Pinot Noir theme we are diving into clones today. It is also the last call for our next Beyond Brooks. I had the coolest red MiiR tumblers made for the tea for this event and cannot wait!
Happy Sunday!
The Clones Matter
I like to use tomatoes as an example when I describe Pinot Noir clones. With tomatoes, there are many different kinds. Some are sweet, some are higher in acid, different ones have different textures and different skin, fruit, and seed ratios. Well, all the same applies to clones of Pinot Noir (and any wine grape varietal). Each clone contributes something different to a wine. At Brooks, we work with 12 different clones of Pinot Noir. On our Estate, we have 3: Pommard, 115, and 777. From other vineyards that we source from, we have historically gotten 667, 113, 114, 828, Coury, Mariafeld, Wadenswil, The parent material for these clones mostly comes from the Dijon region of France as well as Switzerland. This vintage, we are very excited to have 2 clones we have never worked with in the past: Mt Eden and 943.
We keep all of these clones from each vineyard separate all the way through production. After thoroughly tasting all barrels, we select the combination of clones that achieve the greatest balance and expression of terroir. One of the coolest things about our single-vineyard wines is that they are a blend of the clones we get from one site as an acknowledgment of our approval of the grower of the best clones to grow on their site.
Can you taste the difference? Yes, you can! We have put together a great bundle of three wines for you to explore the differences while enjoying our newly released 2018 wines. Included in the pack are:
2018 Old Vine Pommard, Brooks Estate, 100% Pommard Clone
2018 Rastaban Pinot Noir, Brooks Estate, 26% Pommard, 42% 115, 32% 777
2018 Cahiers Pinot Noir. Brooks Estate, Crannell Vineyard, Muska Vineyard 100% 115 Clone.
Taste the Difference
Want to have a guided tasting with myself or April, to explore clones as well as other differences? We will do it in a blind tasting format and see if you can pick out each wine. Want to compete with your wine loving friends, family members or colleagues across the country? Then I have the perfect Virtual Tasting for you!!
Inquire about a Virtual Tasting
Beyond Brooks with Smith Tea
Tea is an amazing product with many parallels to wine. Where it is sourced and how it is blended are two crucial decisions for hand crafted tea making. Tea is so versatile that Chef Norma even cooked with it this month for one of our pairings in the tasting room: Rockfish with a Smith Tea Red Nectar beurre blanc. And as a bonus, the team at Smith Tea are some of the coolest people around too. Join me, Master of Wine Bree Stock, Sara (who sources the tea) and Donavan (master tea blender) as we talk all things tea and wine.
Not included in this video but INCLUDED in your box of tea and wine will be 2 MiiR bright red logo insulated tumblers! We only ordered a certain amount so this event will be limited in capacity. There are only about 20 spots left. The cut off to purchase is Monday, November 1st. Honestly, how can you pass up 2 bottles of Brooks wine, 2 boxes of Smith Tea AND 2 MiiR tumblers for $99?
Reserve your spot and get your tumblers
I took my first plane flights since March 8, 2020. As so many have said, it does feel safe to travel. David and I saw lots of friends at homecoming for Arizona State University as well as some football. And the weekend finished with a sunny day in LA at the Chargers/Patriots game!
Heading to Oregon tomorrow for a few weeks. I am really looking forward to seeing the team. Lots of driving time, so lots of time to chat – 831-238-4828 or email anytime [email protected]
Cheers,
Janie