Oak Affects the color, tannin (pucker!), texture and of course, flavor of wine. Oak is as important to wine as seasoning is to steak. Too much seasoning on a steak would defeat the purpose of enjoying the natural, delicious flavors of the meat. In the same token, too much oak will mask the complex flavors and aromas of wine. It is also generally, a hint that a flaw in the wine is being masked with oak.
Different types of oak will impart different characteristics to wine. It gives aromas of butter, toffee, caramel, vanilla, spice and butterscotch to mention a few. The strength of these flavors depends on several variables like oak toast, variety of wine and the amount of time the oak matures in the wine.
The precision of aging oak with wine is something of an art form. As Lettie Teague said:
"The French know how important oak is to wine; in fact, the word they employ to describe a wine's time in barrel, élevage, is the same one they use to describe raising a child."
Part of the art form includes oak toasting. Oak is charred or “toasted” to varying degrees to give oak chips or barrels a particular impact on wine. The lighter the toast the more oak flavor and tannins imparted. A darker toast will often give wine a smoky flavor. Enologist's and winemakers are continuing to find new and improved ways to integrate oak into wine. Precision toasting now allows our winemakers to create specific aromas and flavors in wine. Oak toasted uniformity also means that we can create those specific aromas repeatedly.
One of the newer aspects of Vintners Own customized wine is the oak profile. Once a client has chosen a variety and decided on important details such as alcohol content, yeast type, color, and tannin/acidity levels, the quest for a precise oak balance begins!
We offer seven different types of oak. Each oak type can be paired, blended, and mixed and matched to create an ideal oak blend. This allows our clients the ability to take customized wine to a whole new level. We are excited about our new oak profile program and invite you to learn more about precision toasting and oak choice in winemaking!
On Saturday, August 21, a group of wine lovers showed up at Vintners Own Winery to create a wine profile for a barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon. The barrel sharing group recently bought a full barrel from our winery, which will be bottled with a custom label and shared among its members in 2012. The wine profile is the first step in the winemaking process, where clients sit down with Vintners Own winemakers to conceptualize a blueprint for their customized wine.
Saturdays barrel sharing group was co-organized by Bob Scheidemann and Steve Bergman, two Houstonian's who work in the oil and gas industry. Steve has been interested in red wine tasting for the last 30 years and in 2005 taught a class at UT Dallas called 'The Geology of Wine' which explored the effect of terroir on grapes.
"I had independently been searching for a suitable winemaking entrepreneur when Bob told me about finding Vintners Own," Steve said. Bob and Steve are both members of a Merlot barrel sharing team which they got together in 2009. After testing the waters with a Merlot, they assembled another team to create a Cabernet Sauvignon.
"Our group consists of colleagues and friends who all share a passion for drinking good wine, and for many of us, getting to lift the hood and learn all the art and science involved is a real joy," Steve said. The groups first goal on Saturday was to reach a consensus for the Cabernet blueprint. They decided to bring in five familiar brands of beloved Cabernet to narrow down possible characteristics in their wine, such as alcohol content and acidity. The five bottles, which came from the Napa and Sonoma regions included: Chalk Hill, Freemark Abbey and Sequoia Grove.
The different types of wine were put up to an olympic style blind taste test and voted on. Blind taste tests which are conducted by Soda companies (think Pepsi and Coke) Vodka companies and wineries are often used to determine which product is most favored by a panel of voters. The 'blind' part of the test was conducted to weed out favoritism and biases toward one particular brand. The winner of the test on Saturday was Sequoia Grove Cabernet, Vintage 2005.
After the blind taste test, profiling began to further define the groups desired characteristics in their barrel. During profiling, structure of wine is separated into distinct categories, such as sweetness, tartness, dryness, mouth feel and color depth. Not to mention flavors such as: earthy, woody, caramel, nutty, hebacious spicy and floral. The group chose, on a scale of 1-5, how prominent these features will be in their Cabernet. Other decisions such as yeast type, tannin level and oak blend were also chosen. The winemakers at Vintners Own will use this blueprint to create a customized wine for the Olympics of Cabernet group.
A Vintners Own Membership is a window into the exciting world of winemaking. Learn the intricate details that make up the old world tradition of winemaking as you participate in the different stages of the winemaking process. Watch and join in the process as grapes are transformed into spectacular customized wine! As the wine makes its journey to bottle, you will discover how different techniques are used to shape wines, and you will receive two cases of wine you help to make. Share the fun of winemaking with a friend or family member; every membership includes a free guest pass!
Members who join the program will get to join in year round activities, including: sort, crush, press, tasting, and bottling. At the end of the winemaking process, each member will receive two cases of delicious wine!
In addition to receiving two cases of custom wine, members are entitled to a 20% discount off all wine sold by Vintners Own. Chose from a multitude of varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Petit Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, Merlot, Zinfandel and our Reserve Red Blend.
Members are invited to participate in all the following winemaking activities throughout the year:
Crush - At our custom crush facility, you will use our sorting tables to ensure the only the best grapes are made into wine. It’s real hands on!
Press - Pressing is the act of applying pressure to grapes in order to separate juice or wine from grapes and grape skins
Blending Session – While much of the winemaking process is scientific, blending is the winemaker’s art form. Blending sessions provide members with an insider's perspective on winemaking. Last year Benedictine Rhyne, a native of Aix-en-Provence and a wine consultant, joined barrel owners to blend their 2009 Sonoma Merlot.
Tasting Events – Join us during our many tasting events throughout the year. Stop in to barrel test wine as it slowly matures from barrel to bottle, or join us for one of our many wine and cheese tours!
The Stomp – Every year we sponsor the “Annual Rodeo Stomp” – an enormously fun event and a chance to meet with the movers and shakers of the Houston Rodeo.
In Texas, grape harvest can start anywhere from early July to late September. In the high plains area of Texas, around Lubbock and around the Guadalupe Mountains in the Trans-Pecos region, harvest is in September which coincides with the harvest seasons in California and France. This year, Vintners Own is sorting and crushing a lot of Texas Fruit. Here are some photos from Reddy Vineyards, one of the largest vineyards in the Texas High Plains. Vintners Own will be processing 12 tons of fruit from Reddy Vineyards.
Figuring out a good wine and cheese pairing can be a daunting task. There are literally hundreds of types of cheese, not to mention the added difficulty of figuring out which type is which- in fact, the same, exact cheese is often called by a different name depending on country origin! Then there is the actual task itself- finding a cheese and wine pairing that not only fits your budget, but is truly a great pairing.
At Vintners Own we love a good wine and cheese pairing, which is why we've done the work-the pairing- so you can stop by the winery and enjoy the fun-eating and drinking!
We started out search with the idea that a good match often happens when wine and cheese are from the same region. Since we are a local custom crush winery, we decided to narrow our search to Texas Cheeses. We rigorously tasted and tested several different types of Texas cheese with one goal in mind- to find a cheese that not only pairs well with our wine, but brings the flavor and aroma to a new level.
We started with really high expectations and with the help of the Houston Dairymaids, found several pairings we really enjoy. In each, wine and cheese are taken to new heights.
Vintners Own Pairings:
Havarti and Chardonnay
Basket Chevre and Rosé
Bosque Blue Cheese and Dale Brown Cabernet Sauvignon
Greens Creek Gruyere and Syrah
Vintners Own Wine and Cheese Seminar includes a tour of Vintners Winery as well as a sit down wine and cheese pairing. Give us a call for more information or to schedule your own Wine and Cheese Seminar!
Friends, Family and Wino's, you are invited to Vintners Own to join in on our summer fun. Aside from creating customized wine, we have various activities happening at the winery, at all hours of the day. We are offering a winemaking workshop this summer. (If you've ever been interested in the ins and outs of the wine bottling process, you'll like this one!) The workshop includes blending wine, choosing a bottle, cork and foil and finally creating your own label! At the end, feel free to take home the bottle of wine you have designed. This is a great activity for wine clubs, or friends and family who enjoy getting together over a bottle of wine.
For those more interested in the eating and drinking part of winemaking (that part is our favorite too!), we invite you to host your own wine and cheese party in our barrel room. We've paired a Brazos Valley Havarti with our Chardonnay, and a Gruyere from Dublin, Texas with our Syrah. The subtle nutty flavor of the Swiss classic really brings out the licorice and fennel flavors in our California Syrah!
For Rose drinkers, we have a fresh and creamy chevre made at Pure Luck Farm in Dripping Springs. The herbal undertones of this cheese bring out the best in our light, refreshing Rose. Finally, to go with our Cabernet Sauvignon, we found a lovely blue cheese. More precisely, Bosque (pronounced BOSS-key) Blue Cheese which is also made in Dublin, TX. It is robust in flavor, much like Stilton and a little crumbly too.
As a side note, we love the cheese we have paired with our wine, but we are open to seeing other cheeses as well...
Author and Leadership strategist Linda Stiles has teamed up with Vintners Own Winery to create Vintage Leadership, a 12 month long assemblage of winemaking and leadership training. Stiles, who has written several books on personal and professional leadership modeled the program Vintage Leadership after her book The 9 principles of leadership. Stiles 9 steps, including; creating a vision, fostering an open mind, developing focus and maximizing motivation will go hand-in-hand with individual steps of the winemaking process.
Grape harvest will be paired with leadership vision while having patience will be learned by tasting young wine during the aging process. The benefit of fostering an open mind will be taught in conjunction with wine variations. As any winemaker will tell you, subtle changes and variations, such as oak chip choice, yeast additions and acidity levels have a huge effect on the overall composition and taste of wine. An open mind is not only necessary, its profitable.
Employers and employees alike will will gain a new set of leadership skills, and an understanding of the logistics that go into making wine. Not to mention the two cases of customized wine with personalized labels that everyone gets to take home at the end of the workshop.
We figure, great leadership, like great wine doesn't happen over night! Anyone intending to lay a sturdy leadership foundation is a candidate for this program.
During summertime at Vintners Own, we get really excited about shipping in fruit from Napa and Sonoma Valley in California for grape harvest. This year, we are even MORE excited because we are crushing scrumptious grapes from the high plains in Texas where some of the best Texas wine is produced.
Vintners Own has partnered up with Chris Caldwell, the winemaker of Caldwell-Crosby and Reddy Vineyards in the High plains to crush, ferment and bottle the first Caldwell-Crosby Vintage. I sat down with Chris to ask him a little bit about Texas wine and his new brand.
“We really just jumped right in,” Chris said, “this went from being a hobby to a commercial business.”
Chris' dad, who represents the Caldwell name in the brand, has been traveling to Napa for nearly 30 years and has always wanted to make wine. He and his good friend Jim Crosby decided to fund a brand, which, they originally planned to produce and bottle in California.
While Caldwell and Crosby debated on where to produce the delectable fruit for their wine, they couldn't resist the idea of creating an all-Texas wine.
"Texas is where Napa was in the 60's," Chris said, "opportunity and potential in Texas is huge."
Currently, Caldwell-Crosby has contracts for 12 tons of fruit with Reddy Vineyards, one of the larger vineyards in the Texas High Plains. This area of Texas is prime grape growing land due to the area climate.
At the end of the 2010 winemaking season, two Caldwell-Crosby all-Texas wines will emerge from this year’s harvest: a Cabernet Sauvignon and a ‘Bordeaux’ blend.
At Vintners Own, we can't wait to work with Caldwell-Crosby on their Texas brand!
Chris Caldwell is a native Houstonian and the winemaker for Caldwell-Crosby, a new Texas brand that will be available in 2012.
“We really just jumped right in,” Chris said, “this went from being a hobby to a commercial business.”
“My dad has been traveling to Napa for nearly 30 years,“ Chris said, “He has wanted to make wine for a long time.” Chris’ father and his good friend Jim Crosby originally planned to purchase a vineyard and winery in California, but in the end, they couldn’t resist trying to grow grapes in Texas.
Currently, Caldwell-Crosby has contracts for 12 tons of fruit with Reddy Vineyards in the Texas High Plains. This area of Texas, considered by many to be the Napa Valley of Texas, is prime grape growing land due to the area climate.
When harvest season starts, which for Texas is normally during the month of September, Caldwell-Crosby will be crushing, fermenting, aging and finally bottling their fruit with Vintners Own Winery.
“Vintners Own is a fully equipped winemaking facility”, Vintners Own Manager, Simon Payne said, “and Texas fruit producers are beginning to realize it’s easy to let Vintners Own do the analysis, record keeping and tasks of the winemaking process.”
At the end of the 2010 winemaking season, two Caldwell-Crosby all-Texas wines will emerge from this year’s harvest: a Cabernet Sauvignon and a ‘Bordeaux’ blend.
When Vintners Own was contacted to contribute to Pink Night Out 2, a fundraiser benefiting Pink Ribbons Project, we decided to sponsor by bottling our first Rose wine! In fact, we even made a pink Sex and the City 2 label!
Pink Night Out 2 was a fabulous night of cocktails, a fashion show and of course, the Sex and the City 2 movie itself! The pre-screening cocktail party and fashion show were held at Hotel Sorella, one of the sponsors of the night. M Penner and Beautique were also sponsors of the evening as well as BRIO tuscan grille, Houston Magazine and activeimagination.
The Pink Ribbons Project was started in 1995 when Jane Weiner, a professional dancer in New York City, learned that her sister Susan Rafter had breast cancer. Jane foudned Pink Ribbons Project: Dancers in Motion Against Breast Cancer to help her sister fight breast cancer. The original goal was to raise enough money to send breast cancer survivors to court to testify about thier experience. The testimony helped convince the FDA to approve three new cancer fighting drugs, one of which helped save Susan Rafter's life.
At Vintners Own we are so happy to contribute a little to the project!
Thanks to everyone who came out to the winery this past weekend for our May blending session! On Saturday, Vintners own wine lovers and master enologist Benedictine Rhyne got together at the winery to attempt to create the 'perfect' Bordeaux blend.
Benedictine, a native of Aix-en-Provence and currently a wine consultant living in Fredericksburg, gave a short power point presentation and conducted the session. Doling out helpful advice, she challenged blenders to use every sense while tasting to truly experience every facet of the wine.
Blending participants, Vintners Own resident winemaker and the winery Owner, Silvano Payne sat side by side in the barrel room with three wine glasses containing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec lined up at each place setting. The dining room table of the Barrel Room was covered with wine bottles, beakers, and pens and paper, and served as a mock experimental wine lab. The task at hand: to begin to blend these three types of wine to create a good "wine marriage."
The group at the blending session chose the method of process of elimination to determine what truly tasted the best! At First, every person had a different idea of which smell and taste was superior. Some thought a blend should primarily be made of Merlot while others thought Cabernet should provide the base and foundation of the blend. Everyone decided to split into three sections to narrow down to three choice blends. The final blend consisted of 70% Merlot, 10% Cabernet and 20% Malbec.
To pick the final blend, Benedictine introduced everyone to the blind taste test. Without any knowledge, of which blend was which, every person smelled and sipped form three glasses of wine and voted on a favorite. The final blend consisted of 70% Merlot, 20% Malbec and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.
It was a great way to spend a Saturday and with such a good turnout, we've decided at Vintners Own, another blending session is soon to follow!
Vintners Ownhas a new wine program called Wine by the Glass. It is a new and profitable efficient wine dispensing system that is both elegant and streamlined. It puts the most cost effective glass in front of your client!
A growing number of restaurants are opting for the eco-friendly, cost-cutting benefits of wine on tap.It reduces the amount of bottles and corks that are thrown out, eliminates all of the packaging used for shipping and because wine is being bought in bulk, the result is lower prices for both the business and the customer.
Besides the green factor, the Wine On Tap system helps to guarantee that every glass of wine served from the tap will never be spoiled. A bottle of wine can become undrinkable after just three days, however, wine served from a steel keg can remain in its original state for up to 6 months!
For Houston Restaurants who want a cost effective way to serve wine, here is what you need to know:
Select wines from our bulk wine selection or create your own proprietary blend.
Use Standard stainless steel beer dispensing connections and a 5-gallon keg to introduce wine to your taps.
Dispense about 125 glasses between changeovers. House wine now saves you significant time and increases profit- one glass at a time!
Call or Email for price list and more information.
Congratulations to Joseph and Irene Waiter who won Vintners Own wine raffle package at the Yellow Rose Opera Ball 2010, honoring Lynn Wyatt. The prize includes a half-barrel of Vintners Own hand crafted Merlot that is currently being aged to bottle in Vintners Own barrel room. In a few months, the waiters will have 12 cases of premium wine to take home!
Other Raffle prizes of the night included a Tiffany's necklace, a Mystique Island trip, a Cibolo Creek Ranch getaway and a Neiman Marcus shopping spree.
To learn more about Vintners Own Barrel Program click here.
Travis Jones, a freelance writer, recently wrote a review of Vintners Own in 002 magazine. We think it's informative and full of charm and praise! Take a look for yourself, and in the meantime, here are a few quotes from the article.
"...make no mistake about the elite, specialized nature of what these guys are up to."
-002 Magazine
"Enjoying a superb, candlelit meal in the barrel room is a perfect way to cap off the feeling of total control over a vintage, decadent product."
Those who attended the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo wine auction might recognize this video. Played at the auction, and taking place last year, we're proud to be hosting our annual grape stomp event again this year in support of the rodeo. Enjoy the sticky fun!
Vintners Own Winery Workshop provides a great atmosphere and activity for your organizations next team-building event. This wine workshop is designed to bolster group communication, teamwork and most importantly (we think) an appreciation for wine!
Our Branding activity, specifically, is a perfect exercise for any organization looking to concentrate on brand creation, design and effectiveness.At the Winery Workshop, yourcompany team will work collectively to conceptualize and design your own wine label. Our creative staff will then use our custom labeler to create your design.
Blend and Bottle Wine
After your company team has made a wine label, join our expert winemakers to learn the art of blending. Group members will mix and experiment with different varietals such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah to create a distinct flavor, structure and color to your team wine.
Each member will get a chance to bottle, label and cork a bottle of wine to take home!
After the Designing, Blending and Bottling activities of the Workshop, relax and enjoy some of Vintners Own custom wine at a Wine and Cheese Party hosted and catered by us.
Details
The Cost of the workshop is $175 per personand includes a bottle of wine for each participant as well as our 3-4 hour workshop held at our Winery in the Houston Heights.
Space is filling up for those of you interested in our May 22nd special blending program. Our exclusive barrel blending of sold out 2009 Sonoma Merlot, we are happy to announce, will be hosted by enologist Bénédictine Rhyne.
Bénédictine’s experience encompasses every aspect of the winemaking process; from working for vineyards in France and New Zealand to experience in wine sales and marketing, she is an authority on wine.
A native of Aix en Provence, France, Béné received her master in oenology (the study of wine) from the Université de Bourgone(Dijon) in 1987. After graduating from University, Béné began to build an impressive and comprehensive wine resume.
In 1988, Bénédictine traveled to West Aukland, New Zealand to work harvest at Matua Valley Wines, the winery responsible for creating the first New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Following her time in New Zealand, Béné moved to England to work in marketing and sales for Berkman Wine Cellars.
In addition to her work in New Zealand and England, Béné first began to hone her wine skills in France under the tutelage of renowned winemaker Jean Claude Berrouet atChateau Petrus.
Recently Béné developed the “meritage” program for Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma. During Béné’stime at Ravenswood the company saw a tenfold growth in production.
In 2002, with an array of experience in every aspect of wine, Béné and her husband moved to Texas to start Wine Country Consulting, a company that offers winemaking consulting and lab services to individuals and the wine industry.
Blending Program Details:
Each blender will receive a case of wine from the final blend! Click Here for more information.
Benedictine Rhyne, an enologist who will be hosting Vintners Own Blending Program on the 22nd of May, talks to Wine X Magazine about food, her consulting business and being a woman in the wine industry!
Recently Béné developed the “meritage” program for Ravenswood Wi
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