Cold Stabilization, Miniature Highland Dairy Cows, Merry Christmas!

Have you ever pulled a bottle of rose or white wine from the fridge only to behold a beautiful cloudy appearance inside the bottle? Or, on a much less harmful (in fact, completely harmless) state, found titrates (colorless crystals) clinging to the cork? If so, it probably was a result of the wine not being stabilized.

Someone mentioned to me the other day that our '08 Viognier blend was cloudy--it isn't, and it won't be. It does, however, throw a sediment--like a quality red wine. I know our white is not cloudy because we cold stabilize. We have jacketed tanks that would allow us to run glycol around them, thus reducing the temperature inside the tanks to below freezing--28 degrees seems to be the magic number. At AmByth, we take a simpler approach: when the weather is going to drop below freezing over night, we move the whites and rose out into the breezeway between the winery and the little house. And we have a trend this week--every night the forecast calls for lows between 23-30. So we just move the tanks, barrels and carboys outside for the night! Typically, the wind is funneled down this breezeway, bringing the temperatures down even more. And viola! cold stabilization occurs naturally. You'll see the photo above of the wine outside--you see here about 200 cases of wine total. Before bottling, we further check by taking samples and putting them in the fridge for a week (I know, geniuses at work here!). If there is a problem, they will cloud with the cold. Red wines also need to stabilize, but they do this with extended oak barrel aging (which we do here at AmByth).

Other methods of stabilizing wines are fining and/or very fine filtering. At AmByth, we do neither. We belong to the camp that believes this is stripping the wine of some of those finer, more delicate elements. Then of course, with fining and filtering, there are large sulfite additions that are necessary--well, by now you should our stance on that!

So enjoy our stabilized yet still sedimented white and red wines. The 07's are just now starting to throw a more solid sediment. As with all fine wines, decanting is a good idea (and fun)!

We are so very happy to have Dutchess and Fiona on the farm. They are our miniature Highland cows, delivered last week. Dutchess is 3 years old, she is the mother of Fiona (5 months) with another calf due in March. We plan on keeping them at AmByth as dairy cows. And of course we plan on composting their manure. Phillip and I specifically looked for dairy cows with horns, as we believe they are a "perfect" cow--in their complete fullness, without any body parts removed, thus making their manure more potent and unadulterated. We believe they are "unstressed" and that this will show in their manure.


We would like to wish you all a very merry and blessed Christmas. This is a special time of the year, full of celebrations and traditions, as well as a time of reflection and renewal. May peace be upon you, and may you know ultimate Love this season.

The Fall Vineyard

Perhaps there is nothing more gorgeous than the 60 tons of aged manure we apply to the vineyard every October/November. This compost, which had the Biodynamic preparations inserted last October, has been aging under our oaks, in a shady location, for a year. At the point of application, it has a moist, fluffy crumble that sits lightly in your hand--as if it is made of air. It is not dense, hard or stony. Really, it is the most pure and beautiful form of "dirt", or soil, I've ever seen. And the aroma carries none of the manure qualities that were present a year ago: it is now sweet and earthy. It is an amazing part of "life" that is formed, and nothing you buy from the garden shop labeled as "compost" compares.

This year we added dandelion seeds to the compost as it was being broadcast throughout the vineyard. We hope to have them growing wildly throughout the vineyard, to once again aide in regulating the relationship between silica and potassium in the vines. Perhaps we'll be able to have enough dandelion flower heads to pick them, dry them and use them for various teas when needed. We are very happy so far this season, we had an early 4" of rain in October, but Phillip was able to get in the vineyard to chisel to prepare the soil before the rain. We had no
run-off whatsoever throughout the vineyards, the earth was so ready to receive this rain! Then we were able to get into the vineyards again to broadcast the manure...to apply our natural fertilizer (compost) to the earth. As of this typing, the weather forecast for this week is rain/snow and more rain! Needless to say, bring it on El Nino!

Our family took a two week sabbatical to our favorite place of rest after harvest, only to return to another harvest: olives! As we turned into our vineyard, the olive trees lining the road were full of beautiful black olives. We harvested the Picuals and Lechen de Sevillas: the olives themselves are plump and big, nearly double the size of last year's crop. We have yet to harvest the newer trees, especially the Arbequinas--we anticipate a major crop from these prolific trees! They are still ripening, making the change from green to black (FYI, all olives begin green). All said, again this year we did not get enough olives to make olive oil due to the June winds knocking off the flowers before fruit was able to set, but we do have enough to brine. We prick each olive, one-by-one, with a toothpick before submerging them in a saltwater bath. The olives remain in a saltwater brine for up to 4 weeks before we jar them and perserve them in olive oil. For the recipe, shoot us an email!

In our home garden we've set out seed for our lettuces and hard greens (kale and chard) as well as onions, fennel, leeks, carrots, radishes, cilantro and dill. As a novice gardener, I let quite a few things go to seed last year, and this Fall, after our rainfall, all of those lovely seeds have set themselves and I have wild dill and fennel and lettuces growing everywhere, as well as sweet peas and borage. I love it! I love that as I walk through our landscaping and gardens, I see these little leaf forms growing voluntarily, placed there by the wind and pollinators. I check on them all daily, I feel as though they are my special babies. Yes, this year I'll be a bit more diligent when I let my plants go to seed, but I also appreciate so much the cycles life goes through: seed to plant to flower, back to seed in the form of another/new plant--amazing!

Right now, we look out at the vineyards and have the beautiful Autumn display of golds and reds throughout the Grenache and Grenache Blanc blocks. All of the other varietals have shed their leaves for the year. You can see from the photo above the stunning leaves of Grenache in Mark's Vineyard and our lovely, lovely blue Paso Robles sky. This will all change tomorrow, as we have a rainy week ahead, with lows in the 20's. Our citrus and avocado trees have Christmas lights strung on them to protect the leaves against frost. The dogs will be sleeping inside, begging to be let out to run and carry-on with their daily routines. The fires are lit, I think it's time for a glass of red wine...