How we create our award-winning blends and some funny tasting notes.
Each year a wine made in the vineyard will taste different. The temperatures, temperature variations, the rain and fog, heat, and sunshine all create a wine different than the year before. This is called vintage variation. We are proud of our vintage variation. Our wines are not engineered; they are made in the vineyard and then coaxed into bottles by Earth Mama, Angela Osborne. Did you know we are allowed 76 additives to a wine bottle. Seventy. Six. Do you see those ingredients on the label? Nope. Buy your wines from a vintner you trust. If the wine you buy tastes the same year after year, that is a wine that isn’t made in the vineyard, it’s made in the cellar with lots of intervention. In 2023, it was said to be nearly impossible to make a bad wine. In 2025, it’s looking like the year that will separate the men from the boys, or in Angela’s case, true wine-making talent from the mediocre. Growing organic grapes is hard. It is expensive. The way we make wine is hard. It is old-world, hands-off, and expensive. We wouldn’t do it any other way. We are involved in every single decision from grape to glass. Join us for this vintage’s blending trial.
Tasting wines straight from barrel or tank is really exciting. It’s your first indication of how that year will translate from vine to glass. During these sessions, winemaker Angela Osborne, GM Kylie Enholm, and I engage in a bit of alchemy to decide which percentages of which wines will go into which bottles. Sometimes these are flagship labels like August red and white, Grant and Brothers, and sometimes they are new labels like Madre, Grace, Sundance, Wilder, and Roper. Occasionally, they become tiny micro-productions like Cloud 10 for a specific tier of wine club members.
If you’ve ever enjoyed a glass of Folded Hills wine and wondered how our wines come about, here goes.
We walk into the conference room at 10:00 am on a Thursday to meet Angela, who is unpacking more than 40 bottles of wine in all sizes of “shiners”, clear, unlabeled bottles. Each bottle contains a different varietal or variation of wine-making.
2025 Grenaches, Syrahs, Clairette Blanche, Grenache Blanc and Marsanne from different blocks, whole cluster, destemmed, stemmed, you name it, we are tasting it. From these we will taste, blend, taste and blend again and hopefully create something memorable.
What percentage of whole cluster will go into the new Grenache? What combination will make a perfectly balanced white blend? You would be surprised how clear it is from the first sip. Of course we taste and spit. You know you are onto a good one when you don’t want to spit.
We measure gallons, barrels, cases and tons. Lots of wine math, which, thank goodness, Angela and Kylie do. If we add this much Grenache to the Grenache-Syrah blend, then what will we have left for the Estate Grenache? It gets complicated. It also gets tipsy no matter how much you spit.
The whites go pretty easily, but once into the reds, sleepiness and slap-happy creep in. Grenaches before lunch, Syrahs after. Nap time!
Here are some direct tasting note quotes.
Funny, in my WSET classes I never heard any of these descriptors.
The good:
“Plumeria blossoms on a beach blanket.”
“Lemon poundcake on a bed of strawberries.”
The bad:
“Eastern lady bug taint.” BTW this is an actual thing with the acronym ELBT. Who knew!
“Marijuana cooked in cabbage.” Please don’t tell me how you know!
The “Wait. What?”:
“Like licking a horse then moves on to flowers.” Huh?
“I’m getting Flintstone vitamins.”
Three hearts is an Angela favorite. They are rare and beautiful.
After tasting 60+ wines, there is only one thing to do at the end of the day. Open a bottle of wine? Heck no! A frosty cold Budweiser in a glass dripping with condensation is the only way to top off a day of drinking exceptional baby wines.
Which 2025 will be your favorite?
Cheers!
Kim
