Greg La Follette writes a Wine Blog – day 1
- By mjms47
- •
- 05 Sep, 2014
- •
If you’ve been around our winemaker, Greg La Follette, you know how generous he is in sharing his amazing knowledge of wine with those around him. He sincerely loves to teach. He has graciously decided to share online, via this blog. Wow – we are so excited to be the venue for him to do […]
If you’ve been around our winemaker, Greg La Follette, you know how generous he is in sharing his amazing knowledge of wine with those around him. He sincerely loves to teach. He has graciously decided to share online, via this blog. Wow – we are so excited to be the venue for him to do this. Here goes!
Once we got to the winery, with the bagpipes skirling the fruit into the destemmer, and the rollers full-open, the grapes were put into the fermentation tanks with about 75% whole berry. This was gorgeous
fruit. Everyone in the winery called others over to look at how beautiful it was. Initially we are not doing any punchdowns on the tanks, so we can get as much semi-carbonic action as we can. We are fermenting this in two separate lots – one in an open-top stainless steel fermentation tank, and one in a wide-shallow round tank that gives us an amazing surface-to-volume ratio. On this we are using native yeast fermentation, and allowing the vineyard to really speak to us fully.
We are really trying to listen to the voice of the land telling us what to do — and keep ourselves open to its message. If we don’t, we are condemned to making formulaic wines, but if we do a good job of listening to what the land has to say, we will build a partnership that invites us in. That, my friends, is the key – respecting the land so it can ask us to add just a little to its voice.
This is what we do, this is who we are – stewards of the land. Patiently asking the land what it needs us to bring to the table for it to speak most eloquently. That is what I love, and why I am so excited to be working with Melissa and Ken, who share this vision and this passion.
Ancient Oak Cellars, and Jon McDaniel with Second City Soil, gathered 60+ of the top sommeliers from around the country to taste four wines that Ancient Oak had sent to each -- and to enter into a discussion of the wines, farming and winemaking philosophies, and a wide-range of other related topics. We had a blast!
Re-live your experience, or take it in for the first time. Then be in touch to continue the discussions. Cheers!
A video introduction to the neighborhoods of the Russian River Valley.
watch a video of winemaker Greg La Follete talking about the importance of family-farmed wines and native yeast fermentation.
An occasional series in which we learn about wine professionals -- Somms, Wine Directors, Winemakers -- and whether they are really of another species, or whether we should view them as friends who know more about wine than we do, and can help us choose and learn more about wine!
We visited Novavine nursery, in Sonoma Valley, recently to see the progress of our newly-grafted grapevines, and to learn more about the process.
As you may know, Siebert Ranch -- the house, barns, and vineyards where owners Melissa and Ken Moholt-Siebert live -- was destroyed in the 2017 wildfires. We are on the long path to recovery and rebuilding. You can support us by buying our wine!
Melissa will be pouring Ancient Oak Cellars' wines at the Pomona College Alumni Vintner Tasting
A look at how oaks reproduce -- and a list of other interesting facts about oaks.
Our family's special Easter decoration, found inside the ruins of our barn following the 2017 wildfires, serves as a symbol of hope.
We continue to follow the long road to recovery following the Tubbs Fire, which destroyed the Siebert Ranch PInot Noir vineyard. In this installment, we explore the process of grafting the new vines that will make up the new vineyard.
