The Crush team, Joe and Patricia thoroughly enjoyed their lunch at The Marc Restaurant. You can see the happy bunch below.

For anyone living or traveling to Canada who would like to know where to find Wine By Joe  feel free to contact Crush for more information.

Check out this review of Wine By Joe by Wine Julia.

Thanks to Wine Julia for enjoying the fruits of our labor! And thanks to The Vintage in Eugene for serving the best under $20 wine Oregon has to offer!

CHEERS!!!

There has definitely been a buzz in the valley since those buds started popping out of the vines. It is a beautiful thing.

We were so excited to see a long list of Dobbes Family Estate wines that received 90 and 91 point ratings from Burghound.

2008 Youngberg Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir 91 pts
2008 Quailhurst Vineyard Pinot Noir 91 pts
2009 Meyer Vineyard Pinot Noir 90 pts
2009 Griffin’s Cuvée Pinot Noir 90 pts
2009 Youngberg Hill Vineyard 90 pts
2009 Patricia’s Cuvée Pinot Noir 90 pts

READ MORE

In a colder vintage such as 2011 there is more malic acid in the fruit. In warmer vintages the malic respires out of the fruit. Thus in colder vintages ML is a crucial step to producing nice wines, however it is a necessary step in all vintages.

The reason that ML has been what everyone in production is talking about is because it has happened late this year. Typically ML would have already been complete by this time of year, but with such a late Harvest combined with the very cold temperatures we’ve had so far this Spring ML has not kick started on its own and has been progressing very slowly. People from production have been coming in on the weekends to monitor temperatures and turn on the heaters to get the ML bacteria moving and grooving.

Although this has been a late slow year for ML to be complete in the wines it is definitely not a detriment. In fact, if it happens too fast color can be lost, so for that reason a slower ML can be positive for color retention.

Something very important that our lab does during Harvest is to pull samples of fresh wine and push it through ML very fast to see what the appropriate amount of bacteria to add to the wine is. The bacteria (I promise it isn’t a bad bacteria or we wouldn’t put it in the wine) is inoculated into the wine during fermentation and at the end of it. The lab has the ability to add greater amount to a small quantity, which produces in a short amount of time a very good idea of what the finished product will be. A key component of what they look for is the effect the ML will have on the color of the wine. They can test the pH of the wine; a lower pH is good for color stability. They also do a chromatography test, which shows if all the malic acid is successfully turned to lactic acid.

Sarah, our Lab Tech, holding a Chromotography test she completed. She can read it to determine how much of each kind of acid is in the wine tested.

Something important to us at Dobbes Family Estate and Wine By Joe is that we inoculate with enough ML bacteria to ensure it is our bacteria and not indigenous bacteria that is doing the work. We believe that to make a consistent product, where you can guarantee a wine will be true to what our goal is, it is very important to use commercial bacteria. There are winemakers out there however who use only indigenous yeast and bacteria for their winemaking. It would make an interesting blind taste test to try them side-by-side.

If we were to wait for the indigenous bacteria to kick in and take the wine through ML it would typically happen in Springtime when the weather starts warming up, so we are right on schedule for nature’s path even though we purchase our bacteria. However it is also important that the wine is through with ML by next Harvest because we need room to bring new wines in. Not all our wine is bottled before the following Harvest; our Single-Vineyard Pinot Noirs and Syrahs are held for additional time, but space is an issue and we need to have space for new fruit and new wine.

The ML bacteria that we inoculate the wine with converts the malic acid into lactic acid, but it also eats the citric acid and puts out diacetyl. This is what gives wines a buttery component that you can sometimes pick out especially in Chardonnay that has gone through ML. However it does not always give a wine buttery flavor.

An interesting fact is that margarine producers add diacetyl to give margarine its buttery flavor; otherwise it wouldn’t taste like anything at all.

Another interesting fact is that if ML is not complete in the barrel and continues in the bottle it will turn the wine sparkling and give you quite a surprise when you pop the cork and take a sip.

That wraps up what I learned about ML. I hope that you learned a thing or two along with me.

In 2009 Joe was presented with the opportunity to purchase 1 ½ tons of Grenache Blanc fruit and thus Joe became the first and only Oregon Winemaker producing a 100% Grenache Blanc. Traditionally Grenache Blanc has been used as a blending grape.

This is how we keep track of what is in each barrel.

Upon the inaugural release, of the 130 cases produced, the wine was met with much enthusiasm by the consumers in the Tasting Room. It sold out in 90 days! It received great ratings from the average wine drinker, other winemakers and even the most highly educated Sommeliers and wine experts.

Something important to Joe in his winemaking is innovation; daring to be different; keeping things fresh. That is exactly what happened when he chose to produce such a unique varietal. And in its third vintage the Grenache Blanc remains Joe’s baby.

This wine is intently watched by Joe from the moment the fruit arrives at our door through bottling. Yesterday Joe spent several hours racking all 17 barrels of 2011 Grenache Blanc into a tank. It is scheduled to be bottled the first week of May.

Joe inserts this "bulldog" cane into each barrel. It takes about 8 minutes to rack one barrel of wine.

It is very important to insert the cane slowly because the lees will get stirred up from the bottom of the barrel.

Joe has to clamp the cane to the barrel to create a tight seal.

Joe hooks the nitrogen gas up to the cane. The gas is released into the barrel, which pushes the wine up through the cane, into the connected hose and into the tank.

Joe loves making a wine that is so special and unique as Grenache Blanc. The grape is a genetic mutation of the Grenache Noir varietal both originating in Northern Spain. Currently Grenache Blanc is one of the leading white varietals being grown in France in the Rhone region. Snooth recently named Grenache Blanc in the top five white Rhone varieties. It surely is an up and coming wine and Joe is awfully proud of his offering in Oregon.

When the fruit came arrived at the cellar door in 2009 Joe decided out of necessity to barrel ferment the wine. The small production in the first vintage filled only three barrels, which was too little to use a tank. The resulting wine was so good the use of barrel fermentation (neutral oak) has stuck.

Beneath Joe's hand is the "tell all" window. In this photo the wine is clear, which tells Joe the wine is still moving from barrel to tank.

Joe enjoys using barrels because it gives the wine more mouth feel and roundness. Joe’s favorite white wines have an adequate weight in the mouth, nice texture, good mouth feel, are bone dry, and prominent fruit balanced with appropriate acidity. Even red wine drinkers have an affinity to Joe’s white wines; he does an amazing job.

The just racked wine looks pretty good.

Joe’s vision for the future of Dobbes Family Estate Grenache Blanc is to be a flagship white wine for the company, alongside his otherRhonevarietal Viognier. The production of the Grenache Blanc has grown from 130 cases in 2009 to an expected 470 cases for the upcoming 2011 vintage.

This is a side-by-side comparison of the 2010 and 2011 Grenache Blanc. Notice the 2010 is a deeper color due to being older.

If you have not had the pleasure of trying this unique varietal, or even if you have and know how good it is, stop by the tasting room soon for a taste.

Ratings of the Grenache Blanc:
92 pts- Snooth
91 pts- Tasting Panel Magazine

The only education I’ve had on this piece of the winemaking process has been through the explanation that it turns the malic acid in the wine into lactic acid. Our Assistant Winemaker Andy helped put in understandable terms for me: malic acid is what you’d taste in a green apple and lactic acid is what you’d taste in yogurt.

Can you imagine taking a sip of an Oregon Pinot Noir and having the tart, sometimes puckering acid of a green apple hit your palate? It just doesn’t seem right does it? However in white wine it can be a desirable characteristic.

That pretty much sums up what I have known thus far about ML. However, since it is such a key component to making wine I want to know more. How about you? I’ll be checking in with my friends in the lab and in the cellar next week. Stay tuned for further education…

At the beginning of January Joe and Patricia flew to Arizona for a winemaker’s dinner. At that time there was no distribution of Joe’s wines in the state; however that has changed in these few short months and Arizonans can start looking for Joe Dobbes Wines across the state.

The last week of January Joe and Patricia travelled to California where Wine Business Monthly revealed their list of the top 10 hottest small brands in the nation. It was there that Joe learned WBM had named Wine By Joe “The #1 Hottest Small Brand of 2011”. What an accomplishment in a mere nine years! This highly coveted award will surely be a great building block for the road ahead.

During the same trip to California a statement was released that Joe Dobbes Wines (including Wine By Joe, Dobbes Family Estate, and Jovino) signed a long-term agreement establishing Old Bridge Cellars as their exclusive sales and marketing agent. This relationship is why Joe’s wines are now available in Arizona and a growing number of other states. Keep up the great work OBC!

During 2011 a couple of gentlemen from Sweden toured Willamette Valley wine country in search of the best vino to import to their country. Without a moment’s hesitation they fell in love with Joe Dobbes Wines. As a means to help promote his wines on foreign soil Joe and Patricia travelled east to the land of the Swedes directly from California.
                                                         

There is a newly built Clarion hotel in Sweden, which will have an emphasis on Oregon wines. Joe and Patricia raved about the property and highly recommend it to all those who travel to Scandinavia. The idea of predominantly serving Oregon wines is something very unique in Europe where the primary focus has been well-known, highly acclaimed wines from major European wine-producing regions. Thank you to Fine Wines Sweden (Kenneth and Jimmy in the photo below) for introducing fine Oregon wine  to Sweden.

Finally back in Oregon Joe’s staff surprised him with a toast in celebration of the WBM award. Cheers to a lot of hard work and a bright future!

The show must always go on in Dundee. Although travel can be tiring Joe jumped back into work without a moments break and plowed ahead through February.

When the beginning of March arrived Joe and Patricia were off again, this time on a business trip to Hawaii. However glamorous hopping island-to-island sounds it is actually quite tiring and not that much fun living out of a suitcase. But Joe believes Hawaiians deserve good wine just as much as anyone else, so island hop he did. Hopefully he and Patricia were able to enjoy the sunshine and tropical beauty a little while they were there.

After a week travelling in the Aloha State it came time for Joe and Patricia to part ways. Patricia came back to Oregon and Joe headed further around the globe to Japan. The Oregon Wine Board had arranged for a trade tasting to promote distribution of Oregon wine in this country where there is an ever-growing demand for fine wine. Joe was not only working as an ambassador of his own brands, but as one for brand Oregon as a whole. The Oregon wine industry truly is a community of friends whose overarching goal is promoting the Oregon wine industry.

After a few weeks back on Oregon soil Joe and Patricia took off again for a weekend in Vail, CO to attend and pour at the Taste of Vail a premier food & drink festival held annually.

In a week Joe will travel to the Big Apple for an event organized by the Willamette Valley Wineries Association; Wine Flight to New York. It will be another fantastic opportunity to showcase Oregon wines.

Joe Dobbes may be a relative of the energizer bunny. It seems that 2012 has brought an always on the go lifestyle. Although it can be tiring at times it is extremely rewarding. He’d like to thank everyone he has met while travelling for being very hospitable and for enjoying his wine. He is also very appreciative to have such a solid team keeping things running smooth in his absence at the winery.

Only time will tell where Joe will be next. Let the adventure continue.

The organizers of the event sat down to get to know Joe a couple of weeks ago. We are excited to share the interview with our friends and fans. Listen to Joe open up about his past experiences, where he thinks the industry may be headed, what he’d be doing if he wasn’t a Winemaker and many other insider tidbits about the Joe behind Wine By Joe.

CLICK HERE TO GET TO KNOW JOE