Late Spring ‘21 Vineyard Notes
2019 Chardonnay
Hopkins River Ranch
2019 Chardonnay
John Hawley started his career as the winemaker for a little winery in Healdsburg in 1981 called Clos du Bois. He began making a 100%-barrel-fermented Chardonnay from their flintwood vineyard and helped grow the winery to half a million cases by 1990, the year he accepted chief winemaker position at Kendall-Jackson. John helped to grow the production of the Kendall Jackson flagship, barrel-fermented Chardonnay, to two million cases by 1996.
At Hawley Winery, John has stayed true to Burgundian winemaking techniques and there are few winemakers on earth who have as much experience with Chardonnay as he does. Over the past 15 years, John has been passing his honed knowledge and expertise to his son, Austin.
Austin has further developed his father’s Chardonnay craft, but with a few adjustments to create the 2019 Chardonnay in his own style. Whole-cluster pressing minimizes tannin from the grape skins. Longer barrel aging in matured oak barrels, as opposed to new barrels, for a more finessed incorporation of oak nuances. He barrel-ages with the lees (yeast), aka "sur lee aging," which allows him to control the acidity in the wine even further. Doing this develops a full mouthfeel with hints of toasted vanilla and caramel, without ending up with an overly buttery flavor profile.
Meyer lemon and tropical fruit aromas mingle with flavors of crème brûlée and vanilla oak. The wine is full and rich, yet lively and fruity, exemplifying the unity of grape and barrel.
Heritage Hops
By Paul Hawley
There is a saying in the wine industry that “it takes a lot of beer to make wine.” This rings especially true in our case. In 2013 I started a brewery and taproom (Fogbelt Brewing Co.) and planted a 1/4 acre hopyard next to the winery. I have always been interested in beer as an agricultural product, rather than an industrial process. The flavors of the hops are affected by terroir just like grapes.
Sonoma County was once one of the largest hop growing regions in the country. By the end of prohibition most of the production had been moved to Eastern Washington where the longer day length gives them a distinct advantage.
Growing hops is nothing like growing grapes and I struggled to find information on farming in our climate. I found a couple other small farmers interested in growing hops and we started the NorCal Hop Growers Alliance to share information, research, equipment and promote hop farming in Northern California. Since 2016, the group has grown over 25 members and several commercial scale operations. The farmer members provide hops to local breweries like mine.
The Fogbelt Hopyard at Hawley Vineyard is planted to Cascade, Comet and a heritage variety of California Cluster that I found growing wild along the fence of a vineyard we get grapes from. I propagated rhizomes (root cuttings) from the wild hop plants and have 100 growing now. They are very well suited to growing in our climate, probably because they have been thriving in the wild for at least sixty years. They produce hops with a wonderful tropical mango note and we brew a wet hop beer with them every August. I hope you get a chance to taste some of our local hop beers this harvest.
Asparagus Toast
By Chef Jeremy Clemens, Fogbelt Brewing Co.
This recipe pairs perfectly with Rose for brunch and uses seasonal, quality ingredients. Feel free to experiment with different breads, or Brie cheeses. Try a new local bakery, creamery, or farm for artisanal products. If you have access to wild mustard flowers, radish flowers or fennel fronds feel free to garnish with those as well.
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients:
8 fresh asparagus spears
4 half-inch thick slices Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam Brie
4 slices Prosciutto di Parma, sliced thin
2 thick slices of Della Fattoria Polenta Bread
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Flaky Sea Salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°.
Place each asparagus in hand, with slight pressure snap off fibrous stalk end at its natural breaking point. Repeat for all asparagus, then use a sharp knife to trim all asparagus to an even length. Blanch asparagus in boiling, salted water until tender and then, shock in ice water bath until cool. Remove from ice water and allow to dry on paper towel.
Drizzle both sides of polenta bread with olive oil, toast in a warm pan until both sides are golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside. Place prosciutto in pan, cook until crisp and lightly brown on both sides, remove from pan and place on paper towel lined tray.
For final assembly place toasted bread on oven safe pan and top with slices of Brie and asparagus. Cook in oven until cheese is melted, and asparagus is warm but not browning. Garnish with slices of crispy prosciutto, flaky sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Pair with Hawley Rose!
Vintage Notes
The promise of a great harvest starts in Spring, with the first signs of bud break in the vineyard. The vines have been dormant all winter. As temperatures begin to warm in March, the vines push tiny buds that will grow into the canes, leaves and fruit. We prune off the canes from last year to focus the vines energy into the canes and clusters for this season. This has been one of the driest winters in many years and we are welcoming every drop of spring rain. The early bud break this year could mean a early harvest but it depends more on the weather during ripening.
In April we mow and till our organic cover crop of bell beans, vetch, sweet peas, clover, and oat straw into soil to make their nutrients available to the vines. Planted last November, these varieties are ‘nitrogen fixers’, meaning that they absorb nitrogen from the air and, when they are tilled into the soil, they becomes a nitrogen fertilizer for the vines. Our cover crop is tall this year because of the unusually warm sunny days in January and February. The yellow mustard that blooms in Sonoma County is a natural cover crop that blooms in March that benefits the vineyards as well as the views.
Grapevine bloom happens in early May. Grapevines are self-pollinating and after flowering, we start to see fruit set. Hard green berries form on the clusters and begin to grow in size until veraison in July. Veraison is when the berries begin changing color and developing sugar. In our white varieties, the grapes will soften and become slightly translucent. Veraison is a good benchmark indicating that harvest is about six weeks away.
We are looking forward to a great 2021 vintage and to celebrating the harvest with our friends and family.
