A Sparkling New Era for Broken Earth Winery

We are pleased to announce that the sparkling wine program at Broken Earth Winery has arrived! These wines have been whispered about for a very long time among those in the know and we are happy to finally introduce the sparkling wine program to our ever-growing portfolio. Both wines, (yes, there is more than one) a sparkling Grenache Rosé and sparkling Merlot were both produced in the traditional méthode Champenoise, or traditional method style.

The name itself, Sotto Voce, translated from Italian means literally means “under the voice” or “whisper”. The name Sotto Voce was inspired by the “proper” way to open a bottle of champagne or sparkling wine. According to traditionalists, and winemaker Chris Cameron, that subtle ‘fssssszzz’ sound when opening a bottle should be no louder than a whisper, or to be a little more pithy, never louder than a fair maiden’s sigh.

The love of champagne and sparkling wine runs deep in Chris’s blood. With time spent at Seppelt in Australia, they were one of the first producers to make a sparkling Shiraz. Chris even worked a stint in the region of Champagne itself. These experiences taught him that the most important part of sparkling wine production is the base wine: the still wine used during primary fermentation. The base wines used for these sparkling wines were Grenache produced in a Rosé style, and Merlot fermented on skins to achieve a deep red color and richer texture. What makes the sparkling Merlot even more interesting is that it spent minimal time on oak, so the pure essence of the fruit shines through.

Once the base wines were complete, we sent the wines over to our good friends at Rack and Riddle to complete the méthode Champenoise process. They are a great partner to work with and their services include everything from tirage to dosage. Making a base wine into sparkling wine is quite a process; for more detail on how this happens, click here. But for now, we will focus on one key process: secondary fermentation. This is when the still wine is bottled and more yeast is added, thus creating CO2 which is trapped inside the bottle carbonating the wine.

After a little more time and patience, the final step of the process is dosage: the addition of an Exposition liqueur to top off the bottles. The liqueur comes in various degrees of sweetness, therefore tasting trials are done to ensure the wines are properly balanced.

 

Understanding that this is not the quickest of processes, we are very happy to have taken on this task, knowing something very unique and special lay ahead. Both these wines come across as incredibly gracious in their own way. With the sparkling Grenache Rosé, it expresses a vivacious explosion of strawberries, bubbles, and texture that allows a person to understand the passion that goes into the making of a sparkling wine. The sparkling Merlot contains cherry, licorice, and red currant characteristics: it is a wine that lingers on the palate and stays in the mind even longer. These wines, Chris admits, are something he made for himself, but lucky for us he is willing to share…and break his own rules.

 

Studium: A Proprietary Red Blend for the Scholar in Everyone

One necessity for a winemaker and the serious wine lover alike is a thirst for knowledge as well as wine. Study of the subject can become a lifelong obsession. The creation of our newest release comes from just that idea, Studium (ˈstjuːdɪəm), which, translated from Latin literally means “House of Learning”, is a proprietary red blend that was designed to teach and inspire.

Traditionally, the wines produced at Broken Earth Winery come across as light, fruit forward, and approachable upon release; Winemaker Chris Cameron wanted to contradict that style and produce a wine that is different from what people have come to expect. This style of winemaking also aligns with the more powerful style of wine typically found in Paso Robles, and hence Studium was born.

The Bordeaux dominant blend of Merlot and Petit Verdot is intensified with a Paso twist of Petite Sirah. After a cool vinification to extract color and maintain elegance, each component of this wine was aged separately and peacefully in new oak before the endless barrage of barrel tastings and blending trials began.

The oak selection is a vital part of the winemaking process, with much care and thought going into what kind of oak to use. Aromas from oak aging are an integral part of the wine. There is a myriad of oak selections out there, spanning from the origin, species, forest, and age. Then add in a choice of the barrel production process: drying, shaving, and toasting.  For the Studium wine, aging was done in a mixture of French and American new barriques, sourced from Leroi Tonnellerie and Seguin Moreau. The French oak comes from the Tronçais forest in France. Some of these hybrid barriques were used with American oak staves and French oak heads, medium toasted and air dried for 36 months.

The most impressive lots of the 2014 vintage were then chosen for the final blend and placed into new French and American oak for the remainder of élevage, for more aging and flavor development. This calculates out to two-hundred percent (we promise this is not a typo) new oak and two-and-a-half years in barrel before bottling in April of 2017.

We recommend decanting, (take advantage of this week’s Thirsty Thursday offer to secure a free crystal decanter with a 10% off 2-pack of Studuim). Once the cork is popped, take a moment to swirl this wine a few times and admire its ripe raspberry red color scheme. Each sip is an indulgence of the palate that provides a bolt of savory red fruits and fleshy tannins that cling to the roof of your mouth and won’t let go. There is nothing shy about this wine, as it shows the true depth and complexity our estate vineyard can give, exuding the confidence of a beauty queen and subtly of a linebacker.

The packaging of the bottle is also something to be admired, there is a luminescent gold silkscreen printing on the glassware. The bottle is called “Byblos” and is from Saverglass. The screen printing was done by local business, Peltier Glassworks. We have worked with Adam at Peltier Glassworks on a number of projects over the years and love supporting other local businesses. Every bottle is then hand dipped in wax for an elegant finish.  This wine will continue to give over time, so be sure to hold a few back in your cellar.

We hope you will enjoy this wine for many years to come while journeying through the arts of wine learning, teaching, and inspiration.

Take advantage of the Special on this week Thirsty Thursday

To Purchase and Read more Tasting Notes CLICK HERE

Hear our Winemaker give a quick insight into his thoughts on the 2014 Studium, click below.

 

 

An Homage to the Season of Giving

We were very fortunate to once again be able to host our Holiday Lighting Extravaganza and Charity Drive this year on Saturday, November 25th. The goal of this event was to raise money for the Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation (PRYAF). Every member of the Broken Earth Winery team put in boundless effort and made this event a success, allowing the spirit of the season to shine. From the hospitality team baking multitudes of cookies, to the production team spending a week putting up the light displays totaling over 10,000 bulbs, to our Event Coordinator Michelle Kraker working incessantly to ensure the Extravaganza was executed to perfection; each department played a roll.

When the planning started back in September, harvest was on everyone's mind, but our Winemaker, Chris Cameron had a vision for the upcoming festivities: “very few wineries really take the opportunity to involve families, children in particular. During this special time of year, we should involve all the kids.” The first item on the list was finding a charity. There are so many amazing charities to support year round, but since the approaching holidays focus on the spirit and joy of children, the Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation was a perfect fit.

The Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation was founded in 2001. According to Founder Donna Berg the charity “is a non-profit, youth services organization whose mission is to enrich the lives of area youth with free classes in the visual and performing arts, in a safe and nurturing environment. The organization strives to promote self-reliance, enhance self-esteem and instill a sense of wholeness in local youth.” With this in mind, we knew how important it was to make this event a triumph.

As always, the holidays snuck up on us faster than we could blink. With Santa scheduled to visit for the night, the lights aglow, and our Thanksgiving meals consumed, it was time for the big show! The night's festivities also included a hot chocolate bar, caroling by the The Central Coast Gilbert and Sullivan Chorus, and copious family visits with Santa. By the end of the night, wine was imbibed by adults and many forms of sugar consumed by children, leading to the full embrace of holiday spirit.

All was to be considered a success, especially the charity donation raised for the PRYAF. The total proceeds raised from the suggested entrance fee was $1,500, with the donation presented to Mindy Dierks, Executive Director and Emily Jagger, Director of Development of PRYAF on Monday, December 4th.

We intend to make this event a holiday tradition that will continually bring joy to all. Until then, we say Happy Holidays from all of us at Broken Earth Winery.

We invite everyone to come enjoy the lights this December. They will be twinkling away on Highway 46 East.

In the spirit of giving, if you would like to donate to the Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation, please CLICK HERE. 

Harvest 2017 – What the First Month Has Brought Us

We are almost at the one month mark since the first pick of harvest 2017, and it has been a compelling ride thus far! We have a great crew working in the cellar, which includes our two interns, Bailey and Michael, who came all the way from West Virginia and Michigan to make wine here in Paso Robles.

With a very rainy winter and spring (many thanks, mother nature) and a rather average growing-season temperature, harvest was delayed for about a week. The first fruit brought in was Verdelho, picked on August 29th.  The first day of harvest is always filled with anticipation and excitement. An early morning sunrise, the first roar on the press, and the traditional first sip of juice off the press allows everyone to cheerfully reflect on what it means to make wine. Unfortunately, this moment is fleeting and the reality of the long road ahead sets in.

The second week of harvest brought with it one of the most extreme heat spikes the Paso Robles area has ever seen this time of year.  This brought up the sugar levels of the grapes rather dramatically and created a picking frenzy for the whites. As of September 10th, all the white grapes had been picked and pressed. As the second week of harvest came to an end, Vermentino, Albariño, Grenache Blanc, and various other white varietals had been brought in, along with Merlot and Tempranillo. 

Grenache Blanc was one of the last whites picked and our winemaker Chris had something special in mind for the Tempranillo.  For the first time at Broken Earth Winery, Chris planned to ferment the Tempranillo in macro bins instead of in a tank. Macro bins are square plastic bins that can hold up to one ton of weight; they are also used and known as picking bins.  Although more labor intensive, this form of fermentation allows for a more concentrated and complex wine. Punch downs of the grapes are then done three times a day to stimulate fermentation and extract color from the skins. Keep an eye out for this special release wine in the coming years! 

Our cellar is now filled with the luscious scent of fermentation; think fresh rain on a spring day. And since the heat spike, the weather pendulum has swung the other way, with daily temperatures cooler than normal. This is quite a relief for our grapes, winemaker, and cellar crew. Although the later ripening fruit is currently hanging on the vine, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the cellar, including pump overs, pressing juice off the skins of the red fruit, and measuring the progress of fermentation.

Harvest has hit a lull, but it will not last for long. We are expecting more fruit this last week of September.  See you on the crush pad!

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SWEEP – Implementing Sustainable Practices at the Vineyard

We have been focusing on the practice of sustainability at both our winery and estate vineyard quite intently the past couple years and want to share one of the projects that has been implemented, SWEEP (State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program). On a recent trip to our estate vineyard, our Designer and Brand Coordinator Kate Hauber and I met up with Vineyard Manager Oliver Matthews, to discuss the updates Broken Earth Winery has made by implementing SWEEP, which is a grant distributed by the California state government.

First off, the SWEEP grant program was created by the California Department of Food and Agriculture to provide financial incentive for California agriculture operations to administer more sustainable agriculture practices. The grant requires investing in updated irrigation systems, which reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) and conserves water, tackling two environmental issues as once.  The application process is very competitive and needs to include a detailed plan on how the grant will be spent to better the overall environment. We were fortunate enough to be awarded the grant for both 2015 and 2017, allowing for modern updates to the vineyard, which was originally developed in 1973.

While touring the vineyard, Oliver explained how the 2015 grant was used and what was planned for 2017. Our first stop focused on the newly installed weather stations and soil probes to track soil moisture, mildew percentage, and temperature. These two separate mechanisms work hand-in-hand via satellite.

There were three soil probes installed throughout the vineyard. The probes, which act as an irrigation monitoring system, go five feet into the ground, containing sensors at every six-inch point along the way. Data collected from the probe can then be used to better understand the optimal time to water. According to Oliver, “the sensors allow us to track irrigation in a more efficient manner and get our thumb down on what the vines really need”, thus reducing excessive use of water and reduced labor costs.  

With help from the weather stations, water is also conserved during the first phases of bud break, one of the most suspenseful times during the growing season. The biggest threat during this time is frost, therefore much of the vineyard is equipped with sprinklers that need to be turned on when temperatures dip below freezing.  There are two weather stations throughout our 2,500 acre property, with more coming online soon. Before these were installed, we were dependent on other stations located close to the property, which meant the temperature data was not as accurate. This led to potential overuse of water, but with precise temperature data from the vineyard, we can better know when to best use the frost protection system, which again ultimately conserves water and energy. Oliver also appreciates the more accurate temperature readings because it may save him a few early 3a.m. trips out to the vineyard.

A lesser-known threat to vines during the growing season is powdery mildew. To better understand how to manage this fungus, the weather stations also have a mildew calculator that measures moisture in the air as well as high and low pressure systems. With higher air moisture and lower pressure, the chance of powdery mildew growing on the vine’s leaves is much higher, therefore a fungicide may need to be sprayed. Precise data readings allows us to better understand when spraying is needed and reduces the number of sprays overall. Spraying against powdery mildew accurately and less often reduces tractor passes, which reduces fuel usage and allows for less soil compaction. Soil compaction reduces pore spacing in the soil, leading to less water absorption, a slow down of aeration, and can stunt the growth of roots. These are just a few reasons as to how using weather stations and soil probes can reduce water usage and GHG.

Since we were also fortunate enough to earn a grant for 2017, our next stop at the vineyard took us to a west facing hill that will be the future home of solar panels. The goal of this project is to make our irrigation system completely energy independent. With hundreds of acres planted over the past year, our irrigation system needs more clean power to run efficiently which is why this project integrates with our sustainability goals. This project will begin over the summer and we hope to have the panels functioning by early next year.

The inspiration behind the SWEEP grant was to get California through the drought and introduce new farming technologies to farmers across the state. For Broken Earth Winery, this grant has given us the opportunity to implement many new technologies for a greater purpose.   In conjunction with the SWEEP grant, we hope to continue our mission of sustainability for the betterment of both our local and global environment, as well as our customers, so we can all enjoy sustainably grown wine.

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Photo Credit: Kate Hauber

Old Traditions, New Starts – Broken Earth Winery Staff Rosé Tasting

We have recently renewed the tradition of holding monthly staff wine tastings here at Broken Earth Winey. This gives us the opportunity to come together, learn about wine, and of course have a little fun.

This past week we started anew by blind tasting rosés from around the world. Rosés traditionally contain the freshest juice from the most current vintage. Therefore, this tasting gave us a hint of what the 2016 vintage was like from a global perspective.

The tasting was hosted by our Lab Manager Melanie, who chose twelve wines to pour, breaking them down into four themed flights that covered regions from the southern hemisphere, Spain, France, and Paso Robles.  Each wine showed its own unique personality, differing by location and choice of production process.

The color range on the rosés covered every shade of pink to peach, a collection of brilliant hues that would make Barbie envious. The old world wines leaned more toward ballet slipper pink, where as the new world sections tended to have deeper peach and bubble gum tones.  Every rosé was refreshing in its own way, many of them exhibiting common characteristics such as strawberries, watermelon, and minerality. Some uncommon notes picked up in a few were mustard seed and yellow bell pepper. All these observations compared together by everyone is what makes tasting so fun and educational.

Everyone in attendance had a wine they enjoyed most, but the Spanish flight came out as the crowd favorite.

We are happy to report that all the rosés delivered and definitely put us in a summertime mood. And, to complete the evening, nature gave us a rosé sunset to enjoy. #yeswayrosé

Please see below for a reference of the wines that were tasted in the order they were poured.

2016 Waterkloof Circumstance "Cape Coral" Mourvèdre Rosé Stellenbosch
2016 Susana Balbo “Signature” Malbec Rosé Mendoza
2016 Twr (Te Whare Ra) Pinot Noir Rosé Marlborough
2015 S.C. Pannell "Arido" Rosé Adelaide Hills
2016 Ostatu Rosado Rioja
2016 Borsao Rosé
2016 Domaines Ott "By.Ott" Côtes De Provence Rosé
2016 Chateau De Campuget '1753' Rosé Costeries De Nimes
2016 Cote Des Roses Rosé
2016 Conundrum Rosé
2016 Broken Earth Winery Grenache Rosé
2016 Halter Reanch Rosé

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Photo Credit: Kate Hauber and Annie Bowsky

The Vineyard in Full Bloom – Bud Break 2017

We have experienced a truly amazing winter here in Paso Robles. There has been enough rain to get most of the state out of the drought and we have received a total of 12.2 inches of rain at our estate vineyard.

This bounty of rain has led to shades of green wherever you look. The vineyard is fresh with a thick cover crop, wild grasses, and of course bud break – the time of year we get a hint of what the coming harvest will look like.

On a recent trek through the estate, we were able to see for ourselves where bud break had already occurred and which varietals were still holding out.  The Chardonnay blocks are the furthest along, followed by the Syrah and Albariño. The Cabernet blocks have sprouted a few buds, but are a little further behind. We also have many new plantings that are still in grow-tubes. Although they will bud this year, we will not be using the fruit for at least two to three more years.

When asked about the upcoming growing season, winemaker Chris Camron said, “I am excited about the consistency of bud break throughout the vineyard and I look forward to seeing what this vintage has to give”. The idea that every vintage is different is what keeps the wine making process exciting.

We invite you to join us on the journey of this growing season by following our blog or connecting with us on social media.

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Photo Credit: Kate Hauber and Annie Bowsky

A Taste of the 2016 Vintage: Red, White, and Rosé

Yesterday we had the opportunity to bring together Winemaker Chris Camron, as well as members of both our vineyard and production teams to taste the upcoming 2016 vintage.

This vintage was known for the El Niño that didn’t quite happen, although we still received more rain at the vineyard than we had the past few drought years. Beyond that, the vintage was pretty normal with the fluid temperature highs and lows of the Paso Robles growing season.

To start, the group tasted through the whites, which included Albariño, Vermentino, and Verdelho, just to name a few. Many of which are soon to be bottled and released for your summer enjoyment. There were also two separate Chardonnays that will spend a little more time in French oak before bottling.

Further down the line were the varying varieties of reds, separated out based on the blocks they were picked from.  Unlike the whites, the reds are still in their infancy and will be spending more time in oak before being blended or featured as a single varietal. 

 

The true star of the tasting was the 2016 Grenache Rosé!  This wine is a shade of pastel peach with the scent of wild strawberries. And the best news is that it’s already in bottle and will be available soon, perfect for the warming spring weather.

We could not be more excited about this vintage and look forward to sharing these wines with you.

Photo Credit: Kate Hauber