Idaho's Emerging Wine Industry

There is a registered winery in all 50 states however that doesn't necessarily mean every state has much of a wine industry; it also means some states do have one little known in the wine world outside that particular state. It sounds like Idaho has a bit of an up and coming wine country. Check out this blog post from the USA Today section.

The Filtering and Fining of Fine Wine

A happy Petit Verdot drinker recently sent Jim, our winemaker the following email asking if he filters his 100% Petit Verdot. Jim's answer is below the quoted email
Satisfied Petit Verdot Drinker: 
"Hi Terra Savia,

I just got a bottle of the 2008 Petit Verdot and it is excellent. I am a fan of [name withheld], but it has largely disappeared. So I am happy to find your Petit Verdot which reminds me so much of [name withheld] and is equally good (in fact better in some ways - more earthy and complex).

I have one question.

Are your wines filtered or fined in any way, with isinglass or egg whites, etc?"
Thanks!
Eric 

Jim's answer: 

Hello Eric,

I am glad you enjoyed our wine. I have been making wine from this vineyard for 35 years and it is always nice to see people enjoy it.

You ask about fining and filtration so let me ramble on for a bit. When I started making  wine back in the mid seventies I was inspired by Martin Ray, one of the pioneers of fine varietal wines in California. His philosophy was to do as little as possible to make great wine. As with everything, everyone translates or applies things a little differently. As a young winemaker I refused to fine and filter because I took things literally and thought that that was a large influence on the quality of wine. As the years went on I realized it was a very small part of what makes wine great, but made for great marketing banter. Great grapes make great wine.

When I look at wine making over the millenniums many of the great wines have been both fined and filtered...but with skill and reverence to the final outcome. Most of my reds are egg white fined; so are most great Bordeaux, especially Petrus. As far as filtering…My reds are filtered enough to keep the fruit fly eye lashes out of the bottle. I am also a proponent of using sulfur in my production. As little as possible but enough so that the wines do not grow unwanted bacteria or oxidize too quickly.

I believe with everything there is a middle. And in wine we have both extremes. Some people do nothing and claim it is the best and some do anything and claim it to be the proper way. Either way…as commercial beverages go, wine is one of the healthiest things on the grocery shelf. There are very few wines that will do harm to humans, except for those that are allergic to alcohol.

So as a winemaker I guess I am in that middle. I will do as little as possible to make good wine. I have been making wine that way for 35 years and now we have a category that I fit in called organic. What is most important to me is that we do not use pesticides and herbicides in the growing our fruit. We give up high yields because of that. Luckily we are not trying to feed the world; we're only making small quantities of wine.

I think many people miss the message about organic wine...it does not make you jump higher or run faster as they say. I am not even sure if it is better for you. But it is definitely better for the small piece of the planet that we have taken the responsibility to care for and farm.

Sorry if I ramble on to much but this is my passion. Happy to ramble more...

Sincerely,

Jim

Ditch The Plastic Bear, Honey.

Small food producers like us are continually beating the drums for local, organic produce and something as commonplace as honey is no exception. There was an article published recently on Foodsafetynews.com about the differences and downfalls of buying mass produced honey. We're talking about the stuff that comes with your biscuits at KFC, or in the little plastic bears on the shelf at your local supermarket.

Apparently, much of the honey that is used in our store-bought baked goods and in the plastic bears and beehives comes from China. There are many regulations the FDA imposes on imported honey but the pollen leftover in the honey is the only way to tell where it comes from in case it is in violation of food quality and safety standards. This mass production imported honey is laden with banned antibiotics and additives. Due to the lack of pollen in the honey, testers are unable to determine the exact origin of the product. In addition to circumventing US food safety standards, it has been found that barrels of honey coming from China have actually been shipped to countries that pay lower tariffs on exports to the US in order to keep the costs down and further mask the origen of the product.

While this situation probably isn't going to change any time soon we can do our part in not supporting these nefarious activities buy buying local products if at all possible. Besides, local small scale produced honey is better by immeasurable proportions.

Click here to read the entire article.

First Olive Crushing Photos & Video of 2011 at Terra Savia

Fresh olives in the hopper to be crushed.

Olives on their way to the washer, leaves are separated here as well.

Blade Crusher

Decanter where solids, oil, and water are separated here. 

Leaves on their way outside for composting. 

Bratwurst With Wine?

Absolutely!
I had some bratwurst on Saturday and we were trying to figure out if we should go the traditional route and have a German style beer; instead, some research was done on what wines could pair with fresh bratwurst.

An un-oaked Chardonnay ended up being a great match. Since classic German style beers tend to be crisp, refreshing, and light bodied, a wine with some of the same characteristics seemed to be in order. Our Chardonnay is a clean, light bodied yet fruit forward wine that isn't too sweet to overpower the savory qualities of the sausage and accompanying cabbage. A couple other wines that were on the recommended pairing list were Pino Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and Dry Riesling or Dry Guwerztraminer.
Here's the very easy recipe:

Wine - Terra Sávia 2009 Chardonnay - No-Oak

Fresh Bratwurst - Boiled on low heat for 10-15 minutes, then browned in a frying pan with olive oil or butter until sides are brown and clear liquid oozes from sausage.
Side Dish
Stir-Fried Cabbage and Leeks seasoned with salt, pepper, and cumin.

We made brat-dogs with these as well piling the cabbage on top with some stone-ground mustard.

Delicious.