Kim McPherson

What do you do when one of the best winemakers in the state invites you to make wine with him and his daughter? You say, yes! Which is exactly what I did when Kim McPherson of McPherson Cellars suggested I join him and his daughter, Kassandra for a his first ever attempt at bottling a dry Chenin Blanc.

Truth be told, Chenin Blanc is more of a cool climate grape. World class wines are made with it in the Loire Valley of France. (You’ll also find beautiful examples of it from South Africa.) And while it’s origin in the rather cool, Maritime/Continental climate of the Loire Valley would make it an odd fit for Texas—particularly in the dry, red clays of the High Plains—for some strange reason, it grows almost like a weed here.

“It’s been like this since the first day Chenin was planted in Texas soil,” says McPherson. “It’s never failed.”

Chenin Blanc wines are more commonly associated as being slightly sweet with aromas of ripe pear, apricot and sometimes honey as is common with Vouvray wines from the Loire Valley of France. But the grape can also make beautiful, crisp, dry wines as you’ll find in Savennières wines from the Loire. And if you’re looking for a demi-sec (sweet) Texas version of Chenin Blanc, you’ll find a great example from Fall Creek Vineyards (~$7). But McPherson had his mind set on making a dry Chenin, one that would stack up well against his other award-winning lineup of white wines including the Les Copains white blend, Roussanne, Viognier and Albariño, which won a coveted double gold medal from the San Francisco International Wine Competition this year.

Kassandra McPherson

“The unfortunate thing is that Chenin has a bad rap,” says McPherson. “Somehow the public just doesn’t really like it. Which is sad because it just makes really nice white wine. Everyone makes it sweet, but in Texas, I think it should be more like a Provence-style white wine that’s dry and refreshing and BOOM—great!”

McPherson knows a grape grower in the High Plains, Joe Vasquez, who has a small plot of 28 year-old Chenin Blanc vines. In the past McPherson has used these grapes for blending with some of this other wines including his white sparkling wine made from 85 percent Chenin Blanc and 15 percent Muscat Canelli for a scoach of sweetness on the finish. But McPherson has always wanted to make a dry Chenin, and this year, the time was right.

So, I trekked up to Lubbock a couple of weeks ago to check out some of the madness that is grape harvest season in the High Plains and to try my hand at making wine. (Don’t worry, the reality is, I just watched and asked a lot of questions. Kim and Kassandra—a recent masters grad of the esteemed oenology program at University of California at Davis to match her father’s—did all the real work.)

I soon found that making wine is a lot more of a “hurry up and wait” process than you might think. First of all, you have to wait for the grapes to get to their optimum sugar levels, or “degrees brix,” the measurement commonly used in America. Once the grapes are ready to pick, you’ve got to line up a harvester and delivery time. In our case, the grapes were ready to pick, but the actual picking and delivery time changed three times over the course of three days for these grapes.

Chenin Blanc grapes after harvest

To put it mildly, it was a mess. In fact, we didn’t actually get the grapes in the tank until my final day. McPherson sped me to the nearby airport to catch my plane with just minutes to spare.

It was nearly 3 p.m. by the time the grapes hit the crush pad, and boy did they look baked and toasty in that hot metal bin that had been trucked more than half an hour from their vineyard in the hot August sun. But McPherson wasn’t worried. After more than 30 years in as a winemaker, most of which has been in Texas, he’s seen his fair share of ups and downs in harvesting. And despite the setbacks with the more than 6.4 tons this year’s Chenin Blanc harvest yielded, he was ready to roll his sleeves up and do what he does best: make really good wine.

Without getting into the piddly details, here’s how the process went. The grapes were all poured into a large outdoor tank and fed up a conveyor belt into the “crusher/destemmer,” which does exactly what you might think: crush the grapes, take out the stems and leaves. The grapes are then pressed to separate the juice from the grape skins and voila, you have wine!

Well, not exactly. First, you have to let it has to ferment. And before that can happen, we had to separate any left over solids in the juice that weren’t caught in the pressing process. To do this, usually winemakers have to let the juice sit in a cold tank to let the solids separate.

Grapes in the crusher

Imagine a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. When you let it sit for a few minutes, you notice a foam start to separate and rise to the top of the glass. Or when a pint of Irish Guinness is poured, you watch as the creamy head begins to rise to the top. That’s what happens during the “cold soak” of grape juice for winemaking.

This process usually takes a few days. But not for McPherson. This year, he let technology do the work for him with an Italian designed “Ecoflot” from Della Toffola. This little pump enables the solids to clarify from the juice very rapidly. Like in less than an hour rather than a few days. With this year’s massive harvest, the Ecoflot allowed McPherson to save days of time in pressing and racking his wines to allow for more tank space with each new delivery of grapes. In short, he maximized his efficiency.

After using the handy little Ecoflot, a few adjustments had to be made to the juice including acidification and a little sulphur dioxide.

“I try to minimize these additions, but they’re just necessary to making wine,” says McPherson.

Note: Despite what some people may realize, the addition of sulphur dioxide and certain acids, such as tartaric acid, which is a naturally occurring acid in grapes, is a common practice in winemaking all over the world and has been for centuries. Sulphur Dioxide is actually a bi-product of fermentation from added yeasts. (Up to 5-7 parts per million.) It’s a topic to be discussed later down the line, but the big takeaway is, if you’ve been drinking any wine from your average grocery store shelf, it’s been adjusted with sulphur dioxide and some form or naturally-occurring acid.

Small beaker example of Ecoflot before the solids have separated

Five minutes after juice has been through the Ecoflot process

McPherson also added a few yeast nutrients to help spark fermentation with the addition of yeast. In this case, he added “Alchemy II,” a yeast blend from Scott Laboratories to formulated to work well with Chenin Blanc fermentation. From then, we just had to let the yeast and the juice do it’s work.

It’s been about three weeks since we set up our dry Chenin Blanc. After checking with McPherson yesterday, it turns out the fermentation is almost complete. From that point, he says he’ll probably let the yeasts “settle out” on their own and fall to the bottom of the tank. Over the next month he’ll stir these spent yeasts or “lees” to add a little creaminess and complexity to the wine before racking the wine, removing the yeast and fining the wine for clarity. By December, we’ll be ready to bottle and I’ll be back up to Lubbock to help make it happen.

To date, we’ve selected the bottle—a dead leaf green color like the kind you see with most Chardonnay wines—and we’ve decided to use the more efficient screw cap instead of a cork. We’ve even been able to determine a general $12/bottle price for the 400 cases we’ll be able to yield of this wine. The only thing left is to figure out a name for this Texas dry Chenin Blanc.

Any ideas?

We’ll continue with the final result in December…

- Jessica Dupuy

Tagged: Chenin Blanc, Ecoflot, Jessica Dupuy, Kim McPherson, McPherson Cellars, texas wine

Salt Lick Cellars Sangiovese Reserve, 2009

Sangiovese, one of Italy’s great wine grapes. If you’ve dined at any run of the mill Italian joint, you’ve probably encountered it in some form or fashion as it is used to make Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and the blends popularized by the American market as “Super Tuscans,” just to name a few. The grape itself has more than 15 clones found throughout Italy, all with different names, so it may be hard to identify off the bat, but it you familiarize yourself with the Italian regions, you’ll soon see Sangiovese is, well, all over the place.

When it’s young, the wines tend to be a little light with hints of bright fruit, strawberry and a little spice. When aged in oak for a while, they can grow in depth and complexity.

But perhaps more importantly, Sangiovese does really well in Texas.

This month’s Texas Wine of the Month selection comes with the help of sommelier Richard Arnold, of Houston’s La Colombe d’Or. Originally an Austin native, Arnold nurtured a growing passion for wine while managing wine lists in Colorado restaurants Potager and Larkspur as well as notable Texas locales such as Del Frisco’s, Vic & Anthony, and Pappas Brothers. He was also one of the first to help open Spanish-inspired Malaga in Austin with Jay Knepp and Jennifer Robin, both of whom are now with the wine program at the Salt Lick Cellars in Driftwood.

That’s right, as in Salt Lick Barbecue. If you haven’t been out for the legendary, family-style barbecue classic in a while, you may want to make the trek. You’ll soon notice that vineyards surround the entire property.

In recent years the Salt Lick has planted warm-climate grapes that seem to love the Texas heat including Tempranillo, Mourvedre, Sangiovese and Syrah. They’ve also made relationships in the High Plains to bolster their grape inventory. Though currently in small production, the Salt Lick has slowly begun releasing wines under their own label with the help of noted Texas winemakers including Ed Auler of Fall Creek Vineyards (Tempranillo), Dave Reilly of Duchman Family Vineyards (Texas Hill Country Red and Barbecue Red), and Kim McPherson of McPherson Cellars (Sangiovese Reserve). (more…)

Tagged: Dave Reilly, Duchman Family Vineyards, Ed Auler, Fall Creek Vineyards, Jay Knepp, Jennifer Robin, Jessica Dupuy, Kim McPherson, La Colombe D'Or, McPherson Cellars, Richard Arnold, Salt Lick barbecue, Salt Lick Cellars, Salt Lick Cellars Sangiovese Reserve 2009, Scott Roberts

This time of year, when the daily heat index hits triple digits and walking outside feels like getting punched in the face by a convection oven, I like to keep a chilled wine on hand at all times. It’s usually a rotation between three or four wines including a crisp German Riesling, the Vermentino from Duchman Family Vineyards, or the Rosé of Syrah fromMcPherson Cellars. Well ok, truth be told the McPherson Rosé is almost always in my fridge. It’s a refreshing showstopper wine that is delicious with hints of summer berries without being sweet; it’s beautiful in the glass with a deep strawberry color that makes an average blush wine blush; and it’s a steal at most large grocery and wine outlets for under $15. Oh, and it’s a Texas wine!

I love breaking this wine out when a friend stops by for an early evening chat over cheese and crackers—and somehow that seems to happen a lot now that I’ve started sharing this wine. (Note to self: keep a running supply of cheese and crackers on hand at all times.)

It never fails to impress. It’s a happy medium for even the most stubborn of wine drinkers; those who claim they only drink red wines regardless of what time of year it is, and those that swear by their buttery California Chardonnays or syrupy sweet White Zinfandels. Somehow Kim McPherson, owner and winemaker of McPherson Cellars, has managed to please everyone. (Note: He may have achieved this with wine, but don’t ask this fiery, outspoken, and often zaney character to go into politics just yet.)

And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Texas sommelier, Devon Broglie, who coordinates all wine, coffee, and a number of other specialty items for the Southwest Region of Whole Foods Market, is a fan too. Which is why this month’s Texas Wine of the Month isMcPherson Cellars Rosé of Syrah, 2009.

Having spent the past decade honing his palate with a stint in harvesting and wine production Bodegas Costers del Siurana in Spain, the distinction of having passed the Advanced Level Exam for the Court of Master Sommeliers in 2007 and as the winner of Texas’ Best Sommelier Competion for 2006 at the Texas Sommelier Conference, Broglie is passionate about wine. And he’s proud of where Texas wine is going, particularly with winemakers like Kim McPherson.

“What Kim McPherson doesn’t know about Texas grape growing and wine making isn’t worth knowing,” says Broglie. “Kim has a modest, clean cellar operation in an old Coca Cola plant in Lubbock and access to some of the best grapes and vineyards in the Texas High Plains.  His Rosé of Syrah has fresh, crunchy red fruit with cherry, strawberry, raspberry, Rosé petal and spice.  It is delish and crisp and perfect for the summer heat.”

You should also soon see McPherson’s latest Rosé of Grenache-Syrah 2010 release. “I got lucky in 2010 with a good supply of Grenache and used it for this Rosé,” says McPherson. “It turned out to be really good. Next year I may add cinsault to the blend, but either way, I’ll probably always make a rose each year, if only because I like drinking them so much!”

So before the dog days of summer run out—don’t worry, there’s no sign of that happening any time soon—do your best to stay cool, always be prepared for last-minute visitors to drop by, and by all means, keep a McPherson Cellars Rosé of Syrah (or Grenache-Syrah) in your refrigerator!

Winery: McPherson Cellars

Retail Price: ~$13

Availability: Most Texas grocery chains including HEB, Central Market, Whole Foods as well as Spec’s and Twin Liquors.

- Jessica Dupuy

Tagged: Devon Broglie, Duchman Family Winery, Jessica Dupuy, Kim McPherson, McPherson Cellars, McPherson Cellars Rose of Syrah, TexSom, Whole Foods Market

New to the Eat My Words blog, we’re introducing bi-monthly posts devoted to an increasingly popular branch of Texas agriculture and tourism: Texas Wine.

Each month we’ll bring you interesting topics, travel tips, and event coverage on the Texas wine industry as well as a “Wine of the Month” selection guided by some of the state’s top sommeliers.

This month’s “Texas Wine of the Month” was selected with a little help from one of the state’s few Master Sommeliers, Guy Stout. His work with Glazer’s wine and spirits distributing company throughout the past 15 years paired with his exceptional palate  has made Stout a trusted name in wine circles across the state.

Though there are many Texas wines Stout enjoys, the 2008 McPherson Cellars Viognier ranks among his favorite. The Viognier grape is one that McPherson Cellars’ winemaker Kim McPherson has cultivated in the High Plains of Texas, near Lubbock, for years and it has fast become one of the state’s signature varietals.

Originally from the Rhone valley of France, Viognier, pronounced ‘vee-OH-nyay’, not “voy-guh-nyAIR,’ is known for its floral aroma and often citrus and tropical-fruit flavor. But despite its sweet smell, most Viogniers are actually dryer wines, meaning they lack the cloying sugars often found in sweeter Rieslings and Muscats. Viognier wines are similar in color to Chardonnays although a little lighter and offer a less “buttery” taste than Chardonnays that have been aged in oak.

“This is one of the grapes that Texas does as well as any area of the United States,” says Stout. “McPherson’s Viognier has a rich citrus orange peel quality and a light touch of oak aging, without being too strong. This wine goes better with food than many Chardonnays and has a much less oak-y taste. There is a slight rocky mineral texture on the palate, with medium body and round, rich stone fruits as well as a citrus-y mid-palate with a moderate length to the  finish.”

In short, this wine is great to serve with friends who like white wine, but have differing tastes. Some people prefer Chardonnay; others prefer Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc. This Viognier should make everyone happy. It pairs well with anything from pasta with garlic, herbs, and olives to King Ranch chicken.

Winery: McPherson Cellars Winery

Retail Price: $12.99-$14.99

Availability: Most Texas grocers including H-E-B, as well as wine and liquor retailers such as Twin Liquors and Spec’s.

Tagged: Guy Stout, Kim McPherson, McPherson Cellars, texas wine, Texas Wine of the Month, Viognier