Varietals, Farming and Wine Making.

 

Training and support from our “team” at the Vines continued with a discussion on our Farm and wine plans. We decided on the varietal/s we will plant, what method to Farm and then once harvested what blend or not. But as you would expect, simply stated, but a lot more thought required, and a lot of options discussed.

It’s important to us to make wine that has quality and at a price all can enjoy. The cost of high-quality wines can be from 70 dollars to hundreds but we are determined to keep the cost as low.

Farming:

At the Maxson Family Vineyard, we will farm using two types of Farming Maintenance, depending on what wine we will use the grapes for:

• Premium Farming: standard maintenance of our vineyard, focused on producing quality higher yields usually for winemaking and/or grape sales. In general, more grapes, more wine produced.
• Super Premium Farming: maintenance with additional tasks focused on increasing the quality of the grapes, which will reduce yields. The wine will be a much higher quality and produce a more complex wine for Super Premium or Barrel Fermented wine.

Winemaking:

We will make wines you love and will choose winemaking options that will ensure quality at an affordable price;

The wine is made, in multiples of 300 bottles (1 barrel), with a small exception of Rosé Bleeding and Premium Sauvignon Blanc wines. This guarantees that no barrel is partially empty during our winemaking process, which will ultimately damage the wine.

After determining what quantities, we decide upon the quality and barrel use for the varietal. below are the Super premium wines we deliver and a description on their origin and profile.

MALBEC

Malbec is Argentina’s flagship variety, and the country has the largest Malbec acreage in the world. This variety originally comes from South West France, where it is called Côt and features a hard, tannic style. Due to its intense color and dark hues, wines obtained from this variety were once called “the black wines of Cahors.” These wines consolidated their prestige in the Middle Ages and gained full recognition in modern times.

The conquest of the English market was crucial for the success of Cahors wines in England and around the world. In 1852, Malbec was brought to Argentina by Michel A. Pouget, French agronomist who was hired by the Argentine government.
When phylloxera destroyed French viticulture towards the end of the 19th century, the “Côt” fell into oblivion. However, a culture of appreciation of Malbec had already consolidated.
Malbec adapts quickly to the varied terroirs offered by Argentina’s landscape. So begins to produce wines better than in its original land. Argentina became the only country to have original Malbec vines of true French heritage. Its flavor profile is distinct as shown.

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is believed to have been established in the Libournais region of southwest France sometime in the 17th century. When Cardinal Richelieu transported cuttings of the vine to the Loire Valley. They were planted at the Abbey of Bourgueil under the care of an abbot named Breton. His name became associated with the grape. By the 18th century, plantings of Cabernet Franc (known as Bouchet) were found throughout Fronsac, Pomerol and St-Emilion. Cabernet Sauvignon grew more popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, the close similarity of the two grapes was observed. Theories emerged as to the extent of their relationship. In 1997, DNA evidence emerged to show that Cabernet Franc had crossed with Sauvignon blanc to produce Cabernet Sauvignon.^[1]

Cabernet Franc plantings in Argentina have been producing top quality wines in recent years, and the varietal has been claimed as having the most potential in the country after Malbec.^[2]. Squeeze Magazine has called it “the new, handsome superhero of Mendoza’s wine scene”. In 2014, the highest scoring Argentine wine in Robert Parker‘s Wine Advocate was a Cabernet Franc scored at 97 points.^[3] Cabernet Franc can be bottled alone, making lighter-bodied wines than the country’s typical Malbecs. With wines scoring up to 95 points in Tim Atkin’s report in 2016, either as a majority or minority in blends.^[4]

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cab Sauvignon – one of the world’s most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates. Ranging from Canada’s Okanagan Valley to Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon became internationally recognized through its prominence in Bordeaux wines where it is often blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc. From France, the grape spread across Europe and to the New World where it found new homes. Places like California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, Napa Valley, New Zealand‘s Hawkes Bay, Australia’s Margaret River and Coonawarra regions, and Chile’s Maipo Valley and Colchagua. For most of the 20th century, it was the world’s most widely planted premium red wine grape until it was surpassed by Merlot in the 1990s.^[5] However, by 2015, Cabernet Sauvignon had become the most widely planted wine grape, with a total of 341000ha under vine worldwide.^[6]

For many years, the origin of Cabernet Sauvignon was not clearly understood, and many myths and conjectures surrounded it. The word “Sauvignon” is believed to be derived from the French sauvage meaning “wild” and to refer to the grape being a wild Vitis vinifera vine native to France. Until recently the grape was rumored to have ancient origins, perhaps even being the Biturica grape used to make ancient Roman wine and referenced by Pliny the Elder. Its flavor has sent it to the top of the bold red charts.

 

In the next posting I will talk about our remaining premium varietals of Chardonnay, Grenache and Mourvèdre. But you all know that the family of grapes and so varietals available are many as the “family Vine” shows. acknowledgement to VinePair.

In the meantime, we are receiving our Malbec Vintages 2018 and 2019 very soon. Click this link to read the post on our wine club and please join. We are compiling a list of members – specifically the Houston and Galveston areas for our “proof of concept”.

 

Today’s post was written by me but the following acknowledgements are needed, as a thanks and for your further reading.

References –

1. Robinson (ed) “The Oxford Companion to Wine” Third Edition pg 118-119 Oxford University Press 2006 ISBN0-19-860990-6
2. Argentina 2016 Special Report, by Tim Atkin MW
3. Discovering the dark horse of Argentine wine Squeeze Magazine
4. Argentina 2016 Special Report, by Tim Atkin MW
5. Robinson, J., ed. (2006). The Oxford Companion to Wine (Third ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 119–121. ISBN0-19-860990-6.
6. “Distribution of the world’s grapevine varieties” (PDF). oiv.int. International Organisation of Vine and Wine. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2018

The preceding was researched and copied from Wikipedia’s text content, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license (CC-BY-SA).