The Covered Bridge Cellars Blog

Status Report and Winery Update

It's been a little while since the last post so I thought I would provide an update on how things are coming along here at Covered Bridge Cellars and what we've been up to lately.

Website - Currently, this is the big project that we are trying to complete (and also one of the reasons the blog post have been a little sparse lately!). We are building the site from the ground-up ourselves and have pretty much finalized the template we are going to use. There are just a few more design elements and page layouts that we need to nail down before we can add the final content though. Designing a website is not easy, especially for people that know just enough HTML and CSS to be dangerous, but fortunately the clean, no frills look we are going for doesn't require elaborate coding. It's more about making sure everything looks right in all the different browsers out there (and finding out which hacks are needed and which are not) and that the navigation and usability is user centric in every way. At this point I would say we are 70% finished. Once the site is "complete" we can then proceed to "stage two" which entails integrating Crushpad's user account/online ordering engine into our pages. Before we "officially" launch we plan to make the site available so people can check it out and give us feedback on bugs, things you like/hate, etc. We'll keep you updated.

Logo - We really like our logo but have been a bit stumped on what color, if any, we should integrate into its design. Should we keep the bridge logo black or change it to something else? If so, what color works for the image we are trying to present. This issue came up when we sat down to sketch out the layout for the website and started thinking about what the heck it was going to look like--color, navigation, content, etc. The strong green you see on the blog is simply a color that seemed good at the time, but not one we are sure we'll keep using. With the logo, we did some experimentation in Photoshop and after a little while we came up with this for a color scheme:

For now we will keep the blog colors intact but are going to switch out the black logo for the black and gold one. I hope to do this soon as I have some other blog maintenance "tasks" I need to also take care of.

Labels -  In the near future we plan a full series of post about the development of our labels. The entire process has been quite involved and iterative, mainly because we were communicating solely via phone and email with our designer and also because we wanted the end product to be up to our standards. Our original designer at Crushpad left as we were finalizing things for the printers so that sort of set us back a bit. We got back on track quickly though and our new designer got us to the finish line in terms of being able to submit final labels to the TTB and to the printer!

COLA Approval - Speaking of the TTB, it seems that the first try at submitting our labels was rejected because of the way we presented some information on the back label. Actually, it was more about what we didn't include that was the issue. See, our labels don't have any flowery language or romance copy on the back, instead, we are providing very complete technical information, which, when it comes to the TTB we have learned that they can be very picky about these things. The issue was relatively minor and related to the use of the phrase 33% New French Oak. The TTB folks wanted the numbers related to the barrel information to add up to 100%, so, we added 66% Neutral Barrels to the label in order to satisfy their request. After that small change, approval came within a few days.

Networking - You may have noticed the Open Wine Consortium badge on the left side of the page near the bottom we put up recently. The OWC was formed very recently as an online social network for wine industry folks--actually, anyone can join you don't need to be an industry participant. There are currently about 1000 people on the site. We have been making a ton of new connections and hope to make many more. The wine industry is close knit and this kind of interaction through technology is opening up additional avenues for collaboration and growth. This site, in fact, grew out of a bloggers group on Facebook, which is how we found out about it. Cool stuff!

The Wine - So what's up with the juice? Well, we had some barrel samples sent to us a few months ago and everything is coming along nicely. The Pinot is really starting to evolve and the chardonnay, which  hadn't been showing much at all when we tasted it a mere four months into barrel when we visited Crushpad, is starting to really shine. Most notably, the distinct and concentrated honey aroma that is a hallmark of fruit from the Alder Springs vineyard is starting to become much more pronounced and integrated with the other flavors. Both these wines I think reflect the minimalist approach we were striving for and hopefully will continue to get even better as we approach bottling.

So there it is in a nutshell!

Jeremy & Casey

The Celtics!!

I'll keep this short and sweet...

Congrats to the Boston Celtics players, the staff, the BIG3, Doc, Danny, the owners, Lucky, and the entire organization--2008 NBA World Champions!

AWESOME.

How to Create a Mobile Version of Your Winery Blog

 

Recently I found out about a great free service called Mofuse that auto converts your blog or website for viewing on any mobile device. There are several services like this out there, but this one is simply the best. To get a feel for what I'm talking about click on either of these links to see how our blog would be rendered on a regular cell phone, or, on an iPhone:

Regular Mobile Phone

blog.coveredbridgecellars.mobi

iPhone

blog.coveredbridgecellars.mobi/iphone

The Mofuse service is free, but if you want to use your own domain (Pro account) there is a $3/month fee. Below is step by step guide to how I setup our blog with this service:

1. First, I went to godaddy and registered coveredbridgecellars.mobi as a new domain name. You don't have to use your own domain since Mofuse will give you your own address when you sign up. For example, if you click on thecbcblog.mofuse.mobi or thecbcblog.mofuse.mobi/iphone you will go to the same pages that are linked above. And of course if you use any of these addresses on your cell phone you will get the mobile version of your site.

2. To use your own domain simply sign-up for a pro account and enter the domain you want to use in the setup page of your Mofuse account, myblogname.mobi for example. I took the added step of creating a sub-domain (by creating a CNAME entry for my newly purchased domain) called blog.coveredbridgecellars.mobi, which will point to the default domain from step 1 above, thecbcblog.mofuse.mobi. Get all that? If you want to skip using your own domain simply register for a free account and provide the name of your blog along with the site ID you want to use, for example, myawesomeblog.mofuse.mobi, or something like that and you will be good to go.

3. Next, you have to input your feed URL so that Mofuse can pull your content and reformat it. I entered in feeds.coveredbridgecellars.com/thecbcblog and was verified in about 3 seconds.

4.That is pretty much it, the last step in this process is to hit the launch button at the end of the Mofuse setup process. In about 5 seconds your site is now fully viewable on any mobile device.

5. Mofuse allows you to add links, photo's, and all kinds of content to your "mobile" formatted site all from your Mofuse account.There are a lot of bells and whistles and I have yet to explore everything, but like I said, this service is the best thing out there. All in, it takes less than a minute to setup a free account and be up and running. But wait, there is more! What about the iPhone you ask?

iPhone Setup

There are regular cell phones and then there is the iPhone. Mofuse will format your site for regular phones and also has a special feature to format your site specifically for the iPhone. The cool thing is that you don't have to do anything except turn this feature on in your Mofuse account. There is even an option for uploading a custom Webclip which will be used to create your very own iPhone icon when someone adds your bookmarked site to the iPhone Home Screen. Below is a screen capture of my iPhone with our logo as a button in the lower left hand corner. When I press it, up comes our "mobile" blog in the safari browser!

 

Again, iPhone users should use the blog.coveredbridgecellars.mobi/iphone URL to access your site and everyone else can simply use blog.coveredbridgecellars.mobi.

Have fun!

*EDIT* After exchaing email with David Berube, the founder of Mobile Fusion, I found out that there is no need to use a different URL to access our mobile formatted blog if you are on an iPhone. The blog.coveredbridgecellars.mobi address is all you need since Mofuse will auto-detect and re-direct iPhone users to the appropriate page.

Jeremy

A Visit to Crushpad and Anderson Valley: Day Three

Day three of our trip started off with a nice breakfast at the Anderson Creek Inn, the excellent bed and breakfast we had booked for the night. Immediately we could see that the weather outside looked like it was going to be a lot nicer than the day before--a good omen indeed. I stepped outside and took a few photos of the signature morning fog that rolls into the valley each day from the Pacific before we ate.

This marine influence is a defining characteristic of the region and one reason the diurnal range here is so large (some people say this, in turn, is what helps give Anderson Valley Pinot that distinctive spice flavor on the finish). In addition to the wide fluctuation in temperature throughout the day, there can be a difference of 10 to 15 degrees in air temperature depending on which "End" of the valley you are standing in. The "Deep End", which is at the NW end of the valley, and only 10 or so miles from the ocean, is designated as a much cooler Zone I region, while the "Near End", around Boonville, exhibits warmer Region II characteristics. Below is an excerpt from the 1983 Anderson Valley Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by the TTB highlighting the distinct climatic characteristics of the area:

The climate of the proposed Anderson Valley viticultural area includes both Region I and Region II as classified by the University of California at Davis' system of heat summation by degree-days. A table of cumulative degree-days, published by the University of California Agricultural Extension Service Office in Lake, Mendocino, and Sonoma Counties, shows that the area around Philo is relatively cool and consequently is classified as Region I whereas the area around Boonville is warmer and consequently is classified as Region II. In comparison the Ukiah area, which lies approximately 15 miles to the northeast of Anderson Valley, is warmer and consequently is classified as a Region II and Region III area depending on the particular location of the reporting station.

While the climate of the valley can be quite varied there is very little difference in soil makeup from one spot to the next:

The bottom land soils in Anderson Valley are all either derived from old valley filling material, or more recent alluvial deposits. Maps of the area show the same series soils throughout the valley, with the more recent soil types in the majority. Anderson Valley bottom land soils include at least 24 different types.

After finishing off some smoked salmon quiche and coffee we were off. One of our main goals for the day was to check out the Hein vineyard, the only problem, however, was that we forgot to get directions to the site while we were at Crushpad. So with only a rough idea of where the vineyard was located we were left to ask around in hopes of finding someone who could help us. Below are the notes from our favorite stops of the day along with some photos:   

Esterlina Vineyards 

This is a must visit winery. We found the wines, hospitality, and especially the view well worth the trip. We had to call ahead to schedule our tasting, which as you can see from the photos below, was carried out in a spectacular setting.

The perspective from the deck of the winery provides a panoramic view of the entire valley below and on our visit there was a briskness in the air that let you know you were in the mountains. The only downside to being outside was that the wine was too cold to reveal its true character. We are guessing that the air temperature was somewhere around 50 degrees. We tried to warm the glasses with our hands but while the quality of the wine was apparent, especially the Pinot, we felt the aromatics and overall complexity of the wine was restrained to say the least. Good thing we had some shipped back home for us to try later!

Toulouse Vineyards

We spent a lot of time here (and not to mention money!), not only because the wines were interesting to taste, but also because the owner, Vern Boltz, was a venerable walking, talking, encyclopedia of Pinot making knowledge. His energy, enthusiasm, and passion for his craft was contagious.

Our tasting consisted of a vertical of Pinot starting with the winery's first effort in 2002 and ending with a barrel sample from the 2007 vintage. Vern walked us through--in great detail--the recipes behind each vintage and the changes they have made in viticultural practices and winemaking techniques over the years. He had no problems at all pointing out mistakes along the way, as well as discussing the use of oak chips (in the earlier vintages) and the practice of watering back to reduce alcohol levels from time to time. His straight shooting style and willingness to be frank and upfront about his winemaking and experiences certainly earned our respect. It's the same kind of approach that we will embrace here at Covered Bridge Cellars as we build our business and cultivate relationships with our customers.

As for the wines, 2004 seemed to mark the start of some really great stuff from this winery with the 2006 and 2007 Pinots developing very nicely. In addition to being a great guy, Vern helped solve our Hein dilemma by drawing us a map that would lead us to the vineyard. It was our last stop of the day and capped off a fantastic first trip to Anderson Valley. We can't wait to go back! Vern's map and some pictures of the vineyard can be found below. Keep an eye out for a Hein Vineyard specific post in the near future as we will have a lot more to say about the site.

Jeremy & Casey

Frost!

The wine blogosphere is buzzing with news about the latest frost conditions in California and the impact on this years crop. Many winery bloggers have posted about the damage to their vines and the numbers ain't pretty.

Pinotblogger - 20% loss of Pinot crop

Twisted Oak - 70% loss

This was the worst frost to hit the wine industry in 30 years and occured on the week of the 20th--four straight nights in the 20's!

Frost is always a threat to crops each year in New England given the highly variable nature of the weather here so its something we are all too familiar with. Sometimes a late frost will pop up out of nowhere and wreak havoc with things--I guess its mother natures way of letting you know who's boss. I feel for the growers and winery owners that have seen their beloved vines damaged this year.

It looks like at this point most, if not all of the Crushpad vineyards in the frost zone saw "minor" damage due to the cold temperatures--a scorching if you will. We won't know the final loss numbers for a few more weeks, but this is good news given some of the devestation being reported by many growers. As soon as we get more detailed info we will pass it along.

This years frost is a stark reminder that the wine business is an agricultural based animal that can be fraught with danger. Thinking about this from a risk management perspective, I take solace in the fact that as a small producer (ok, really, really, small producer) with a geographically diverse selection of vineyards form which to make luxury wine from, we can manage this agricultural risk to some extent better than a traditional winery that owns its own grape sources. In fact, our choice to adopt a portfolio of brands approach--something I will cover in depth in a future post--was driven in part to minimize this type of risk, among others.

Jeremy

Red Sox Players Launch 2008 Wines for Charity

What do you do if you're a major league ballplayer looking to raise money and awareness for your favorite charity? Well, you launch your own wine brand of course!

I wonder how Parker would "score" these:

David Ortiz - "Vintage Papi" - The David Ortiz Childrens Fund

Jason Varitek - "Captains Cabernet" - Pitching in for Kids Childrens Hospital

Kevin Youkilis - "Sauvign Yoouuk Blanc" - Kevin Youkilis' Hits for Kids

Three other Sox players--Manny, Wake, and Schilling--launched their own wines last year, you can check them out here. 100% of the sales go to each players charity and I believe these "Champion Edition" wines are available for pre-ordering now. You can check the Charity Hop website for more information. If you're wondering, the juice is made by Selby Winery in the Russian River Valley.

Go Sox!

Jeremy

American Wine Blog Awards Voting Ends Tonight!

Just thought I would do my part in letting people know that voting for the annual American Wine Blog Awards going on over at Tom Wark's Fermentation Blog ends at midnight tonight. There are some really great blogs and bloggers out there providing interesting insights on all aspects of the world of wine. I have some listed on our "links" sidebar and will be looking to add many more soon. So check out the nominees and cast a vote for your favorites! Good luck to everyone.

Jeremy

A Visit to Crushpad and Anderson Valley: Day Two

Entering the Valley - Click Picture for Larger Version

With mist in the air and shadowy grey clouds masking the morning sun we left downtown San Francisco and headed north on route 101 toward wine country. Anderson Valley is only a few hours from the city, yet, it seems much more remote and isolated due to the lack of a major access road. Starting in Cloverdale the only road from the south that allows access to the valley is route 128 which is narrow, steeply graded, and repleat with blind hairpin turns in several sections. Slow driving is necessary and you have to be on the lookout for logging trucks! The landscape here is rugged, with moss covered oak trees standing tall among the continuous rolling hills. After about 45 minutes of slow and steady driving--which brings you through the Yorkville Highlands AVA--the valley floor finally emerges as you enter the hamlet of Boonville. Are first impressions were that the area was rustic, smaller than we had anticipated (this may actually be due to the fact that the Anderson Valley Tour Map is not really to scale!), and all together fascinating. A few viticultural facts about Anderson Valley:

AVA Status Granted: 1983

Vineyard Acerage: Approximately 2,400 acres with Pinot Noir accounting for half of the total

Varietals Grown: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer

Elevation Range: 2000ft to 3000ft

Climatic Zones: Region I and II

Diurnal Range: Daily highs in the 90's and down to 50's at night

Average Annual Rainfall: 40.6 inches

In just over 24 hours in the valley, we were able to visit about nine wineries and really get a good feeling for local winemaking styles, culture and area geography. Our primary goal was to explore the different interpretations of Anderson Valley Pinot Noir while getting to meet some of the people behind the wines. On the first day we visited Goldeneye, Navarro, Husch, Handley, Claudia Springs and Lazy Creek Vineyards. Below are a few thoughts on some of our stops:

Goldeneye - Our first stop. The most visible and well capitalized of the resident Anderson Valley wineries, with a very professional tasting facility and diligently manicured vineyards. The style of winemaking at Goldeneye is unique to the valley in that they are pretty agressive in their use of oak. It was interesting to stop here first, as no other wine in the valley came close to matching this style.

Goldeneye Estate Vineyard - Click Picture for Larger Version

Navarro - This popular winery has a wide selection of reasonably priced wines, including the designated driver friendly pure Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer grape juices. One of the more interesting features of this stop was the opportunity to taste and compare the filtered and unfiltered versions of their 2005 Pinot Noir. The latter having a much more luscious mouthfeel and costing only a few dollars more than the former.  We ended up ordering a selection of their wines to ship home. From a marketing and business perspective, one can learn a lot from Navarro about how to execute a direct-to-consumer strategy since they have been selling the majority of their wine that way since opening their doors in 1974. So what is the secret to their success in this regard?  Well, having one of the best newsletters in the business helps a lot!

Handley - Another top quality producer, Handley has been around since 1982. Located in the deep end of the valley, winemaker Milla Handley sources fruit from all over the valley for inclusion in the winery's regular and reserve bottlings of Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. In stark contrast to our stop at Navarro, in which the tasting room was literally jam packed, we were the only people to be found at Handley. This afforded us the opportunity to really get into some of the more technical aspects of the Pinot recipes with the tasting room attendant. The winery produces 14,000 cases per year and is located on 59 acres of what used to be a ranch. Nice people and great wine.

Lazy Creek - Our last stop of the day led us to Lazy Creek Vineyards the second oldest winery in the valley, which is owned by Josh and Mary Beth Chandler. The couple purchased the vineyard in 1999 which turns out some highly acclaimed Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer wines. Lazy Creek's wines can be found on the lists at exclusive restaurants such as French Laundry and Gary Danko. The uniqueness of the site is what makes this winery so special. The original Pinot vines, which were grown from suitecase clones, are more than 35 years old. They survived the phylloxera epidemic because the previous owner, Hans Kobler, didn't bother listening to UC Davis and instead planted the vineyards to St. George rootstock. Yields are ridiculously low, with grapes destined for Lazy Creek's best Pinot offering, the Reserve Puncheon Blend (a cool $100 a bottle), coming in at only .8 tons per acre. One tasting room attendant that we talked to at another winery described the amount of fruit per vine at LCV at harvest as being "scraggly." Josh was a great host, as he poured us his offerings and filled us in on the details of his recipes. He let us wander around the property after our tasting, which included some '06 Pinot still in barrel. What a great place to spend some time, this was definitely the best stop of the day!

The "Truck" at LCV - Click Picture for Larger Version

35 Year Old Pinot Vines - Click Picture for Larger Version

Day two in Anderson Valley coming soon...

Jeremy & Casey

Ready to Go Commercial? Read This Article!

The latest issue of WineMaker magazine has a good article written by Betsy Parks highlighting some great tips and insight from professional winemakers that made the move to commercial winemaking. Click the link below to access the full text of the article:

10 Tips for Going Pro

I have laid the top ten list out below along with my comments on how we are thinking about these critical focus areas here at Covered Bridge Cellars:

1. DO THE HOMEWORK - I guess it goes without saying that deciding to launch ANY new business requires conducting a lot of research and due diligence. We crunched a lot of numbers and asked a lot of questions before making the leap and committing capital to this endeavor. Links to many of the documents we used to get up to speed on the industry can be found right here on the PDF Library page of our blog. There really is a tremendous amount of information on the web about all facets of this exciting industry if you do a little digging. One of my favorite reads come from the Duckhorn website, where founder Dan Duckhorn has written an excellent article titled How a Winery Operates which covers the nuts and bolts of running a successful winery. This is a must read for anyone interested in this business.

2. BE A WELL ROUNDED BUSINESSPERSON - The point here is pretty obvious, you can't simply make wine and expect it to sell itself. Furthermore, you can't expect your business to run on autopilot either. Having a strong skill set in marketing, finance, IT, operations, business development, etc., will enhance your chances of success dramatically. I think we score pretty well in this area given our MBA studies and professional experience. However, since this is our first business venture you always have to weigh your knowledge versus experience and realize that things can and will go wrong!

3. MAKE SMART FINANCIAL CHOICES - The article hits upon maintaining a budget and watching costs. I would take this a bit further and mention that you really need to understand the cash flow dynamics of this business and plan your growth accordingly. I have modeled out lots of scenarios quite extensively in order to pinpoint what level of capital injections might be needed over the next several years given how fast we intend to grow. Again, understanding your business--whatever it may be--means knowing the numbers cold. The Duckhorn article mentioned above goes into depth about winery cash flow and inventory issues.

4. KEEP SPACE IN MIND - Given that we are a virtual winery this tip doesn't really apply. Of course, if for some reason we had to take possession of our 50 cases then space here at the homestead might be an issue!!

5. MAKE FRIENDS IN THE INDUSTRY - This tip is right out of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood! I mean, who doesn't like making new friends? Of course, this is good advice, as the industry is full of really great people willing to help newcomers. The team of folks we have worked with at Crushpad have been a pleasure to get to know and the contacts we have made though this blog and elsewhere are all super nice people who obviously share our passion for wine. With social networking and the wine 2.0 movement, making connections is as easy as sending out a quick email. We look forward to continuing to build our network of industry contacts as our business evolves.

6. CHOOSE YOUR LOCATION WISELY - Again, not really applicable to our situation since our business model allows us to run Covered Bridge Cellars from anywhere.

7. PLAN FOR HOW YOUR WINE WILL REACH THE MARKETPLACE - This is a critically important thing to think about before making the leap! Our plan is to focus almost exclusively on generating direct sales. A key part of our strategy is to leverage our blog to generate sign-up's for our mailing list. We are also using our own personal and professional networks to spread the word about our business. Utilizing various social networking platforms has been helpful in this regard. I will have more to say about our marketing approach in a future post.

8. GROW OR SOURCE THE RIGHT FRUIT AND PRACTICE CLEANLINESS - This is one area that I feel we are, as they say in New England, "all set." Our fruit sources are really impressive and represent one aspect of our model that I think helps differentiate us from many other virtual wineries. You can check out the list of vineyards we can source from by visiting this Crushpad page. Obviously there are lots of great vineyards and varietals to choose from, but you can't be all things to all people which is why we have decided to focus exclusively on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. We have flagged Anderson Valley, the Russian River Valley, and Willamette Valley as the winegrowing areas we want to build our business around. We are also going to occasionally offer limited amounts of single vineyard wine from exceptional vineyards outside those regions when the opportunity presents itself. We'll have more to say about our overall product and brand portfolio strategy soon.

9. ALWAYS EVALUATE - The bottom line--find someone who will tell you your wine sucks if it really does!

10. MAKE WINE YOU LOVE (AND THAT OTHER PEOPLE WILL BUY) - I really like this tip. This is exactly how we made the decision to focus on Pinot and Chard and also how we made the stylistic choices for our first vintage. When it comes to Pinot Noir in particular, our portfolio of offerings will definitely reflect the range of styles we seek out in this enticing varietal as wine consumers ourselves. Ultimately, the goal is to make the very best wine we possibly can.

Jeremy

More Evidence that State Alcohol Laws are Archaic

I don't drink sangria much and I don't live in the state of Virginia, but if I did and wanted to order one while out at a restaurant or bar I couldn't. Why? Because it's illegal for those establishments to serve it. That's right, illegal. I was completely unaware that such laws existed until I read this Washinton Post article on the topic today:

Virginia's Sangria Ban At Issue in 2 Hearings

Here is a small excerpt from the piece:

"The state prohibits combining wine or beer and spirits and pre-mixing or storing drinks outside their original containers, except for those in approved frozen-drink dispensers.

Officials say the goal is to show customers that they are getting what they asked for and to show regulators that the alcohol has been purchased from the state, as is required in Virginia.

Violating the sangria code is a misdemeanor, punishable by a $2,500 fine or 12 months in jail."

The punch line in the write-up comes at the end of the article when Chapman Peterson, a Democratic State Senator, drops what can only be labeled as the understatement of the new year in regards to this utterly asinine law:

"Sometimes I feel in Virginia we're still working off a prohibition mentality," Petersen said. "The rigid construct of state laws is not reflective of modern times."

You think!

Jeremy