Moonstone Cellars' Virtual Tasting Room

New White Wines Available!

2009-05-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

We are proud to announce three new white wines, just in time for summer!

The crisp 2008 Sauvignon Blanc is our lightest summer sipper. This is a great wine pool-side with salads and snacks. With flavors of citrus and melon it is very refreshing, and makes friends wherever it goes!

The bright 2008 Chardonnay is our "Stainless Steel" chardonnay. Fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, this wine preserves the pure essence of the grapes without any hint of oak. The vines were planted in decomposed granite soil, giving this wine a racy minerality. Along with its edgy acidity, it also boasts generous amounts of apple and pear flavors, while offering a touch of lime zest. This wine is very satisfying served with shellfish!

The long-awaited 2008 Viognier is finally here! Without a doubt, our most popular and medal-winning white variety. This complex wine is rich with luscious apricot, peach, and vanilla cream flavors. Heavier than many white wines, our viognier is great paired with grilled seafood or savory dips. See what all the fuss is about and treat yourself to a bottle of this remarkable wine.

White Wine Weather!

2009-01-13T14:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, is it warm. It's currently 86 degrees in Cambria on January 13th! My family and I spent New Year's in Boston, MA last month. The wind chill there was 15 degrees below zero. What's that, a 100 degree difference? If it stays this warm, I fear the grapes will freak out and start to bud early (very doubtful).

The rest of the week looks to be sunny and in the 70's. This would be a great week to play hooky and head to the beach...with a bottle of wine, of course.

NEW RELEASES

2008-12-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

The 2007 Sangiovese and the "Oaked" 2007 Chardonnay are here!

Ah, I love having new wines in the bottle. As much as I would love to continously drink from one of my barrels, bottles seem to be more practical.

All the effort of the harvest, crush, racking and returning, and finally bottling (getting all the glass, corks, labels, capsules to arrive at the same place at the same time), leaves me with a sense of pride and relief.

In fact, it took me no time to uncork the much anticipated 2007 Sangiovese. This red has the most wonderfully toasty strawberry flavors. Not too heavy, not too light, this wine is perfect by itself or with your favorite Italian food.

We named this year's oaked chardonnay "Slabtown". Attractive name, eh? Sounds like it would be the name of a gun-slinging western movie. Slabtown was actually the name of Cambria before someone thought Cambria would be prettier. The town was named such because many of the homes and building were sided with slabs of wood. So I figured since this chardonnay was housed in wood (more elegant oak barrels, though), the name might be appropriate. Besides, some winery in Santa Maria already calls their winery Cambria. But I digress. This is a very tasty heavier bodied white wine. In fact, I call it a "white for red wine drinkers". The creamy texture of this wine offers vanilla-toffee aromas with a touch of spicy smoke on the finish. Make sure not to over-chill this wine. Take it out of the fridge 15 minutes before serving so you get all the nuanced flavors!

These are both great winter wines. And I think they taste just as great in the bottle as they did in the barrel. Of course, if you ever want to buy a whole barrel of wine from me, I'll gladly make you a very nice deal.

Awards Update

2008-05-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce Moonstone Cellars is doing pretty well at the beginning of "competition season." The 2005 Merlot and the 2007 Vioginer have won gold medals already, and all new releases have won medals.

So far, Moonstone Cellars has won 60 medals in less than two years of competitions.

Gladly, there are no awards ceremonies. I can't image an "Academy Awards" celebration for wineries. I can just see Joan Rivers scoffing at the winemaker's attire: "Oh, my god Melissa, have these guys never heard of Wine Away? They seem to spill more on themselves than bottle. How about their clothes? Just once I'd like to see a winemaker not wear a tee-shirt with his logo on it. They must think Armani is some Italian wine they've yet to try."

Luck of the Irish

2008-03-07T07:41:00.000-08:00

They say (and it's true), it takes a lot good beer to make great wine. So, to underscore this point, I'm am bottling all our table wines on this St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. I figure this should be a lucky day for a process that can be fraught with problems (the bottling line can be cursed with mechanical gremlins and labor shananigans).

I'm still not sure why we celebrate a guy who is falsely credited with driving all the snakes out of Ireland. I can only image a old tale, told to every generation of Irish youngsters about how St. Patrick (played by Samual L. Jackson) finally said, "Enough is enough! I have had it with these bloody feckin' snakes in this bloody feckin' country!" He tells everybody to "strap in", because he is "about to open some bloody feckin' windows". See, it's about as plausible as bad Hollywood action thriller.

But that's not gonna stop me from enjoying myself. I'm part Irish (1/8, I think) and I plan to tip a Guinness and enjoy some corned beef and cabbage once bottling is completed. I can then relax knowing all those are "made" and go back to drinking wine!

A Toast for St. Patrick's Day:

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

Needed: Crystal Ball

2007-12-08T11:13:00.000-08:00

I don't know whether to be happy or sad.

They're gone. The toasty vanilla 2004 Chardonnay- Poof! The peachy 2006 Viognier- disappeared! The berry-bomb 2005 Zinfandel- all guzzled down!

As much as I loved these wines it's time to end the mourning and begin looking toward the future. The 2007 Viognier is getting rave pre-release reviews and I hope to have it bottled in January. We'll also bottle the 2006 Zinfandel early next year. But it will be another year before we have another toasty chardonnay.

As a new winery, you wish you had a crystal ball to see how much of a particular wine you will sell. Ideally, we would have enough to get us through to the next vintage. But, alas, we had a lot of thirsty customers this year and they drank us dry before we could make more.

I'm told this is a good thing. For it's better to sell out than to have too much inventory (wine doesn't last forever). But as the tasting room stays open for a couple of years, we'll be more able to see the sales trends to better match our production.

But in the meantime, I'll keep looking for crystal balls on eBay.

Harvest Report 9

2007-10-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, where is the time going? It's been a month since the last entry. So where are we? Hmm, well, I just finished "barreling-down" two different clones of Syrah (one fruity, one spicy, both VERY dark--in fact, my hands are still black from handling it!). And on the lighter side, the Chardonnay from the Riverview vineyard, just finished fermenting and all the barrels have been topped up for aging.

If you missed it, we tried some barrel samples over Harvest Festival weekend (always the third weekend in October). We tried the 2007 Viognier, the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, and the 2007 Sangiovese. All these wines tasted remarkable and some folks were ready to buy cases on the spot (even the infant 2007 Sangiovese!). The Viognier and 2005 Cab will be bottled early next year and I can't wait to share them with everyone!

A reminder for club members: November is a shipment month. We'll be sending out the wines the week of November 5th. If you would like to pick up the wine in person (instead of having it shipped), contact us now so we can hold your order at the tasting room.

Harvest Report 8

2007-09-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

What day is it? Is it night or day?

It's all a blur right now.

I thought I could write a daily blog, but when you get home from the winery at 3am it's hard to find the motivation. Call me lazy.

So, where are we now? Well, the Zinfandel is in the bins and we began fermenting it a couple of days ago. These grapes were picked a little early due to a threat of rain (rain in September?!?! Where are we, France?). The color is really good so far but the flavors will be a bit different from the 2005 vintage. I'm definitely picking up more spicy black pepper flavors in this batch.

The "Oaky" Chardonnay has finished fermenting and is at home in eight barrels (two of them new for that toasty-spicy-vanilla flavor). They'll remain in those casks for the next 14 months or so.

The Viognier is done fermenting and is delicious! It's resting in neutral barrels now and we'll fine and filter it early next year.

The Sauvignon Blanc has also completed its fermentation and is on the same path as the Viognier. I countine to taste crisp flavors of lime and grapefruit. This is going to be a great summer wine!

The Sangiovese has finished fermenting and we pressed it yesterday into a stainless steel tank. From there we'll barrel it down to a mixture of new and neutral oak. Then will begin a secondary fermentation to convert harsh malic acid to softer lactic acid. We do this "malolactic fermentation" (or ML as it's known in the cellar) to all our reds to give them a dimension of rich smoothness. This process takes a few months to complete. After ML is finished we'll rack the wine off the lees, wash the barrels and put the cleaner wine back in. We'll probably age this wine about 18 months. We'll keep tasting it in the meantime and release it only when it's ready.

The weather has cooled off so maybe our grapes will trickle-in at a easier pace now. Perhaps that will coincide with better sleep for the rest of harvest. You know it's a busy harvest when you refer to your night's sleep as a "nap!"

Harvest Report 7

2007-09-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

The Sangio is in, crushed, and sleeping peacefully in the cellar. We're going to let the grapes and juice settle overnight, then take some samples to the lab tomorrow. We want to get an official read on the sugar level, the acidity level and the pH. We also want to know how much nitrogen is in the juice. Since yeast use nitrogen as food (one cannot live on sugar alone; believe me, I've tried) we need to see if there is enough in the juice. If not, we'll add a little nutrient to the juice so the yeast will have a balanced meal to much on for the next few days.

Otherwise, the juice tastes great. This one will be fun!

Harvest Report 6

2007-09-12T08:58:00.000-07:00

Just got a report that our Sangiovese Grapes are at 26 Brix and will be picked tomorrow. This is Kendra's favorite wine so I better not mess it up!

Harvest Report 5

2007-09-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

The sauvignon blanc is whistling away in the barrels. Really. If you were to walk by those barrels you'd hear a high-pitched hiss as the CO2 escapes from the vent in the rubber bung. This is a by-product of fermentation. Yeast eat the sugar and convert about 55% it to alcohol, most of the rest is converted to CO2. The yeast should complete their work in about 7 - 10 days. But we'll see. I'll measure the sugar level periodically to make sure the level is dropping and that the yeast aren't sleeping.

Yesterday, I pitched yeast on the viognier. It's takes about a day or two for the yeast to "wake-up" and begin munching on the sugar.

Today, I'm inoculating (a fancy word for adding yeast) the chardonnay. This is the chard we are putting in barrels and will be similar in style to our 2004 Paso Robles Chardonnay (toasty vanilla and buttery flavors with a creamy texture and fuller body). This raises a good point. What should I name the two chardonnays? Currently our "oaked" chardonnay is our 2004 vintage and our "unoaked" chardonnay is our 2005 vintage. Now we have two different chardonnays both from the same year and both are from Monterey County. Anybody got any cool names I could use on the label so folks can tell them apart?

Harvest Report 4

2007-09-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

It was back out to the San Lucas Vineyard yesterday to fetch three tons of Chardonnay. There I met Andrew, a college intern, who issued me my weigh tag and helped me tie down my grapes. He's hoping to get into Cal Poly's Wine and Viticulture program. I was impressed to learn he carries copies of lectures in his truck to study during the slow times. He was even kind enough to give me a copy of his notes!

Before I left, Andrew asked me if I I planned to go back up that hill. I said, "How did you hear about that?" "I read your blog." He said. Andrew went to our website the day before to learn about the winery that was buying the grapes. The kid did his homework. He's gonna do just fine at Cal Poly.

I got the Chardonnay pressed to a tank and we'll barrel it down tomorrow. Today we are going to kick off the Viognier. Vino, yay!

Harvest Report 3

2007-09-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

The white grapes are coming in fast now! Yesterday we harvested Viognier at Fralich Vineyards in Templeton. The temperature dropped 20 degrees and the wind was howling (the latter making driving an overloaded trailer very interesting).

Here are some shots of the viognier being picked. I know, why am I standing around with a camera while everyone else is working? Well, they were just finishing as I got there (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

It was a super late night in the winery. Besides pressing this beautiful viognier, I barreled-down the sauvignon blanc and "pitched" the yeast. That means the first batch of 2007 wine is underway. I finally left the winery at 2am. Ah, now it's beginning to feel a lot like harvest!

I'm keeping this short, since I'm back up to the San Lucas Vineyard in Southern Monterey County. Our warm-climate chardonnay being picked as I write this. I gotta get my rear up there!

Harvest Report 2

2007-09-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day for receiving grapes! Not a cloud in the sky and the heat has backed off a bit.

All went reasonably well at the vineyard. Except all the workers were at lunch when I arrived. But the delay allowed me to take a nice picture of the grapes and the vineyard. I also found myself snacking on a few of my sauvignon blanc clusters since I didn't bring a lunch of my own.

After loading (and reloading, but I won't go into that) my trailer I had another adventure. While leaving the vineyard I saw a sign that said "No full trucks." For some reason I didn't think that sign applied to me. I figure it was a warning to the big tractor-trailer rigs. But halfway up a hill I had a sinking realization why the sign was posted.

The road was an oiled dirt road. Mix oil and dirt with a steep grade and Chevy pickup pulling a maximum load, and yup, you find yourself going backwards! The weight of my grapes dragged me in reverse causing me to nearly wipe out countless Cabernet Sauvignon vines. Somehow the gods took mercy on me and I barely avoided a disaster.

Next time, I won't be a typical guy and will ask for directions.

Harvest Report 1

2007-09-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

Anybody warm?

This recent blast-furnace of a heat wave has stepped-up the ripening of some of our vineyards. So I'm going out to the San Lucas Vineyard in Monetery County this morning to fetch my three tons of Sauvignon Blanc. We'll begin squeezing the sweet nectar out of the grapes this afternoon and getting the juice into a nice, chilled stainless steel tank. At least, then, something will be cool around here.

I don't know what makes me think I'll have the time, but I'll try to post a daily harvest report. I'll share with you all the romance (read: the good, bad, and the ugly) of life in the vineyards and the cellar this season.

Religious Crossroads

2007-06-20T00:07:00.000-07:00

Cambria is full of little shops (of which Moonstone Cellars is one). We now have a new neighbor to our west called "Highway Won," a christian bookstore. It is a very well appointed shop full of inspirational books, cards, and gifts.

To the east of us is the jewelry and clothing shop, "Best Kept Secret." There you can get a shirt that proclaims, "I have the body of a God, too bad it's Buddha."

Not to be left out, I think I shall hang the following passage from Ecclesiastes 9 over the door of the tasting room: "Eat the bread with joy and drink the wine with a merry heart." Maybe then I could partner with a local pastor for a new Sunday morning wine club event called "Cabernet Communions."

Just a thought.

We Can Ship To More States Now!

2007-06-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think winemakers would be better served to study law than enology...

After wading through all 50 state's laws regarding direct wine shipping, and obtaining some permits, we can now ship to the following states. Please be aware that there are limitations and additional taxes for some destinations. See my irreverent notes next to each state:

AK: Some zip codes not approved.
CA: No limitations.
DC: 1 Bottle per person limit, meaning we could ship 435 bottles to the south wing of the capitol building (the House of Representatives), but sadly, usually about two bottles to any other domicile.
DE: 1 Bottle limit per person per shipment.
FL: $2.25/Gallon Tax required ($0.47 a bottle). Ask your governor where the money goes.
IA: 2 cases per month limit (that's more refreshing).
IL: 2 cases per year limit (better than nothing).
MO: 2 cases per year limit (they should write a blues song about this restriction).
NH: 5 cases per year limit (The lawmakers realize the winters are long there).
NM: 2 cases per month (we don't recommend summer shipping, however).
OH: Unlimited (but consumer must file a special tax form. There's always a catch).
WI: 3 cases per year, need date of birth.
WV: 2 cases per month.

Please call for shipping costs. We'll have rates posted on the website soon!

June Moonrise Shipping Info

2007-06-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

To all Moonrise Club members:

Your shipment will be ready the week of June 18th. Emails are going out this week to those who want their wines shipped. Please email us to let us know which three (or more) wines you would like in your shipment.

If you elected to pick up your shipment in the tasting room, you can do so after June 18th. We will have our newsletter published by then.

Thanks!

-Todd

Overheard in the tasting room

2007-06-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

"To paraphase Socrates: The unexamined wine is not worth drinking."

Spit or Swallow

2007-06-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

First, let me remind you that this is a winery blog and that you did not stumble onto a page for inquisitive college students. I am referring to an element of wine etiquette that makes it okay to spit out wine after tasting it.

One thing I love about wine is that it is perfectly good behavior to engage in table manners your mother would have found reprehensible. For instance, while tasting, it’s okay to
1. play with your wine: You can lift your glass up to the ceiling lights, you can swirl the liquid around, and you can watch it drip down the side of your glass.
2. make obnoxious noises: You can stick your nose in your glass and sniff loudly. You may also slurp audibly once the wine is in your mouth. In fact, you can talk with your mouth full (sort of) by raising your eyebrows and making approving sounds like “Mmmmm, MmmHmmm!”
3. finally, after all that, you can spit the wine out. However, it would be poor form if you did so on your hostess’ carpet.

Spitting out perfectly good wine seems like a crime to most people. Yet there are many reasons to avoid the consumption of alcohol in the moment. For instance, you may be
1. visiting 10 wineries in a day.
2. the designated driver (In wine country the CHP often says, “Come on vacation, leave on probation!”)
3. pregnant
4. a wine writer, critic, or professional wine judge (Alcohol notoriously clouds judgment. I’m sure you can think of a personal example).
5. a winemaker. (Yes, I spit in the winery. One bad move can ruin a lot of valuable wine!)

Although acceptable practice, spitting is rarely done in our tasting room. Most folks either feel awkward doing so, or just want the full benefit of the tasting experience. (As an aside, it is my opinion those who spit may miss out on the full evaluation of a wine’s bitterness or alcohol level).

We may see one “spitter” every two weeks or so. I’ve seen two extremes in technique in my years behind a tasting bar. On one end, there is the “Dump Bucket Hog” who literally hugs the bucket during their entire stay and won’t share it with anyone. The upside to this person is they rarely miss. The other extreme is the person who brings his or her own cup (or asks for one) and discreetly turns around before expelling. At the end of the tasting, the contents of the cup are dispensed into the dump bucket. I prefer this more tasteful practice but I would advise you not to startle this person or bump into their container.

In closing, feel free to exercise your right play with, slurp and spit out wine. It is one of the few guilty, yet appropriate pleasures in life. You may want to practice spitting water at home first. It’s hard to be cool when red wine drools over your chin and gets slobbered onto your shirt. Not only unsightly, but you’re guaranteed a field sobriety test should you be caught in a routine traffic stop.

A Great Grand Opening

2007-05-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone who came to our Grand Opening last weekend! It was wonderful seeing so many familiar faces and meeting new friends. I especially want to thank our slaves…er, helpers: Kendra, Muril, Marsha, and Uncle Ben (no, he didn’t make any rice). Without them, there would have been no food, no flowers and no fun (well, not as much fun, anyway).

We had twice as many folks attending than expected. But, thanks to expert planning on Kendra’s part there are still some leftovers for lunch this week.

Big news: We are now open daily! I’m not sure how I’m going to pull this off without employees. Fortunately, Kendra’s summer vacation starts soon and you’ll see her smiling face behind the bar then. She’ll be happy since she’ll have a wine glass in hand and won’t be teaching!

We look forward to seeing you in Cambria!

Another reason not to live in Utah...

2007-03-18T23:25:00.000-07:00

Sat Mar 17, 9:19 PM ET (AP)

SALT LAKE CITY - Merlot can be a variety of grape or a type of red wine, but not an acceptable personalized license plate in the state of Utah.

Glenn Eurick's 1996 Mercedes has had the license plate reading "merlot" for 10 years. He says the plate never got a lot of notice until the Utah Tax Commission told him last week that he had to remove it because the state doesn't allow words of intoxicant to be used on vanity plates.

Six or seven-letter words like liquor or whiskey probably wouldn't make it through the state screening process before the plates are issued. But merlot did and Eurick was fine until an anonymous caller told the state that merlot was also an alcoholic beverage.

Eurick's car with the offending plate is dark red, like the wine. He said few people who asked about the plate made the connection. Though one man did ask "if we chose merlot because there were too many letters in cabernet sauvignon," Eurick said.Eurick said he will challenge the state's decision.

Cold Stabbing: A heinous crime?

2007-03-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

Winemakers can be guarded, competitive, and very protective of some of their secrets. But would they go so far as to kill? A quick Google search of stabbings or homicides in wineries only turns up a murder mystery winery dinner theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

And yet, as winemakers, we are playing a bit of “Jack the Ripper” or “O. J. Simpson” (just pick your favorite slasher from any era) by “cold stabbing” our 2006 Viognier. And although no harm is being done, the technique still remains controversial for some.

Cold stabbing is hip winemaker speak for a process known as cold stabilization. See our definitions page for all the gory details and the pros and cons of this treatment to the wine and why a few argue this procedure kills the look and taste of some vino.

The picture above is of our little 2000-liter tank (528.344102 gallons for those of you keeping painful track at home) with 29-degree Fahrenheit food-grade glycol coursing through its outer “jacket.” In other words, we’re refrigerating the wine near its freezing point.

We’ll keep our Viognier “on ice” for up to two weeks or until the tank’s ball-valves turn blue.

Tasting Room Site Selected

2007-03-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

Although it's covered in sawdust right now, we do have a tasting room site selected. We will be located at 801 Main Street, Suite C, Cambria, CA 93428. It is at the corner of Main and Sheffield in the West Village. Click here for a Google map.

I'd write more but I'm off to Home Depot for more paint!

Overheard in the tasting room

2007-03-01T05:37:00.000-08:00

Q: What do you call a meal without wine?

A: Breakfast.