Meador Wines - End of Vintage Sale

End of Vintage Sale

From the private wine cellar of Doug Meador

Only available when ordered directly from Meador Estate:

2004 Meador Syrah “Maverick” List price $40.00 — 50% Discount on orders of 6 bottles or more!

2005 Meador Estate Pinor Noir List price $40.00 — 50% Discount on orders of 6 bottles or more!

2005 Meador Estate Grenache “The Boss” List price $40.00 — 15% Discount on orders of 6 bottles or more, or 30% Discount on 12 bottle case orders - PLUS FREE SHIPPING ON CASE ORDERS OF 'THE BOSS'!

2004 Meador Estate “Magnus” List price $60.00 — 15% Discount on orders of 6 bottles or more, or 30% Discount on 12 bottle case orders - PLUS FREE SHIPPING ON CASE ORDERS OF 'MAGNUS'!

To receive these discounts, phone in your order to 831-402-9594

Wine Freight Charges
FedEx/UPS Ground 5-7 Days
Delivered Monday-Friday 9am-5pm
1-3 Bottles - $14.00
4-6 Bottles - $18.00
7-12 Bottles - $25.00 (1st Case)
Each Additional Case - $20.00

3-Day Air and Overnight shipping is available for all wines and is priced according to weight and destination - just call 1-831-402-9594.

Meador Estate complies with federal and state laws. Call Meador Estate at 831-402-9594 to check availability for shipping to your state.

MEA CULPA --- APOLOGY --- ERRATA

In writing THE NEW VITICULTURE, I wrote the science facts from a memory acquired more than fifty years ago. Unfortunately, memory can fail and, also unfortunately, I failed to check a fact. Happily, that “fact” does not affect actual substance of the arguments.

In the text, I attributed the conceptualization and the naming of “QUANTA” to Einstein in 1905. In fact, it was Max Planck in Berlin in 1900.He also opined that the contained energy in a given quanta was of a definite size and was proportional to the frequency. The proportion is constant. Thus, the higher the frequency, the greater the energy in a packet {the quanta}. The quanta of light came to be commonly called “photons “.

In 1905, Einstein elucidated the photoelectric effect for which he received The Nobel Prize – not for relativity. The photoelectric effect utilizes Planck’s quanta assertions in its analysis.

Of course, who postulated what, and when, has no bearing on the application of those amazing concepts. Those concepts have far reaching implications in understanding plant physiology- much further than those presented in THE NEW VITICULTURE . While it may seem that the nature of light , quanta, photoelectric effect, etc., belong to the exotic world of theoretical physics , I do point out that we farmers work with the one category of organisms that use these very things to manufacture the life sustaining and enabling product----PLANTS.

I apologize for the error.
…jdm

CHARDONNAY "THE GREAT GODDESS"

By J. Douglas Meador
Author of The New Viticulture

From the beginning in Burgundy, France, Chardonnay has spread to become one of the most widely planted varieties in the world - both in terms of distance and acreage. In France alone the acres in 1958 were 17,580 and by 1988 were about 60,000! The growth of acreage in California has been phenomenal - most of it planted in the last ten years! In 1966 there was only around 200 acres of it in America (all California) with the predominant grower/producer being Wente Brothers. According to one report, the U.S. is over 100,000 acres today! In 1999, it was the most grown white grape in California.

The predominant wine style through the seventies and on into the eighties was no ML fermentation and all stainless steel production. Karl Wente introduced stainless steel vessels with temperature control and oxygen elimination to the American industry - a (perhaps, "the") major contribution to White wine production and ultimately causing a revolution in World white wine consumption. Prior to this innovation most (not all!) whites of the world were somewhat oxidized and displayed little or no fruit - a function of warm or hot fermentation, open tops and failure to understand the effects of oxygen. Naturally cold areas did produce lovely whites and were justly famed. Subsequently, with Karl's approach, long cool fermentations under gas resulted in fresh, fruity wines the likes of which had not before been seen (except a few in Germany - the initial developers of the technology) and became possible widely. Gorgeous natural smells and flavors of the grape previously "blown off" were now retained in the wines. The World went into a frenzied reaction / love affair with whites - reversing the long standing ratio of consumption of 60% red to 40% White and Rose - a ratio that is only now returning somewhat.

In its home area of Burgundy, Chardonnay at its best has long been famous - but only at its best. General White burgundy suffered often from poor winemaking and growing. But the "best" was expensive - relatively speaking - then and now. Small lot production fermented in new French oak barrels always costs. It is inherent in the cost of labor and in regularly replacing barrels with new.

Site or location was a prime factor in the "best" wines. These specific sites became famous over time and their prices soon justified and supported the more expensive winemaking procedures - leading to even greater fame. Villages even attached the names of great vineyards to theirs (Chassagne-Montrachet, etc.).

In the hands of the Burgundians the marvelous marriage of the Chardonnay grape (as they grew it) with the oak of the barrel (as they made it) with the procedures (as they developed them) was evolved.

Elsewhere, the marriage did not occur. Chablis, for example, was fruit character focused. New oak was not favored there. In fact, old neutral barrels properly cared for were greatly prized. Pouilly-Fuisse and St. Veran were a later phenomena and tank-fermenting is the norm - not new oak taste and aromas. These probably fall more into modern marketing effects than historical fame.

In the United States - California - the development commenced in the sixties with francophiles at Hanzell first importing a few new French barrels for barrel fermentation (sirugue). Subsequently, at Mt. Eden, Dick Graff (also a complete Francophile) commenced importing a few new barrels (sirugue) both for there and subsequently for Chalone which be bought in 1966. When I say a 'few" I mean a "few". In perhaps 1973 or 4, I was in Chalone's "Winery" - a long (perhaps 50 feet) narrow converted chicken shed with barrels stacked two-high along one side - and Dick showed me with great pride, his few "new" barrels of the year.

The French cooper (barrel-maker) for Hanzell, Chalone and Mt. Eden was Yves Sirugue of Nuit-St. George, France and was represented here by an American - as a sideline hobby. After participating in buying a few barrels for a couple of years - in early 1979 I asked about purchasing a complete container-load of barrels myself. According to the shocked agent(1) that had never been done before by an individual or entity and after recovering - moved me to the top of the shipping list for timing. My order would come first. Remember, then French cooperages were small supplying only their local wineries. They had not experienced any impact from Americans. Of course, this one order pushed everyone else back - far enough to possibly create problems at harvest. Dick called me - irate that I had moved ahead of him - the mentor. We easily worked it out though - if there was a delay in his he could have from mine and replace them from the later shipment. Until Dick's call I had no idea the effects of my order on others.

The 1978 and 1979 Ventana Chardonnay had a tremendous impact and were the "darlings" of the judgings and the media. Recently at least one prominent winemaker asserted the 1979 Ventana was the best Chardonnay yet produced in California. Another, in a Wine Spectator interview, asserted that those were his role models - he "has to make wine like that."(2). However, dramatic as it was, it was still produced "California - style" - i.e. - no malo-lactic fermentation.

The University of California, Davis, taught generations of American winemakers to never allow M-L bacteria into white wine and if you did you would go to somewhere around Dante's eighth level of hell. With their focus on hot Central Valley fruit they were no doubt correct.

In the mid-seventies Ventana commenced exploring M-L on coastal cold climate Chardonnay. Andre Tchelistcheff steered my direction initially though his papers has been on red - a then established practice on the coast. One "reality" problem was high-acid juice, a cold climate situation. Another "artistic" problem was "how did the French achieve butteriness and toast". The "butteriness" component was a function of M-L. We demonstrated this to other winemakers in 1978 and 1979 when we did side-by-side fermentations of the same juice - non M-L and M-L'd. The "toast" aspect was demonstrated by Dick Graff as a function of "stirring" - i.e., yeast autolysis. Dick had brought this from Burgundy - "battonage". The first commercial M-Led Chardonnay was the 1980 Chalone, the second, the 1981 Ventana Crystal Chardonnay.

Thus by 1981 the technical knowledge for the production of modern California Chardonnay was in place and was demonstrated to the winemaking community. A not small aspect of the matter was that those commercial wines were produced and marketed by wineries of some repute. It has been stated to me by a few winemakers of the time that they knew of M-L effects but were not permitted by owners to use the process. Thus - the fear factor was diminished and the door opened. It should be noted that the fear factor was not unwarranted - early on there was some risk in the process until it became more understood, the price of Chardonnay grapes was very high and the type / style of the resulting wine was different.

1) Memory continued by agent 5/3/00
2) Cecil Deloach


Order your copy of The New Viticulture right here on this blog, or at www.newviticulture.com

Winemaker Dinner

February 5th, 2009

Winemaker Dinner

Featuring: Doug Meador and the Wines of Meador Estate
Chefs: Kevin Murphy and Alejandra Torres
Time: 6:00pm
Place: Cutting Horse Restaurant
San Juan Batista
307 Third St ( Downtown)
Reservations Call 831-623-4549

The New Viticulture - Wine & Grape Symposium

January 28 & 29, 2009

Unified Wine & Grape Symposium
Sacramento Convention Center
1400 J Street
Exhibit Hall 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Doug Meador will be signing and selling books at
the PRACTICAL WINERY & VINEYARD Booth

Press Release: The New Viticulture

January 21, 2009

Ellem Publishing, Inc. is proud to announce the release of a new book called THE NEW VITICULTURE by Douglas Meador. Many people in the wine industry have long awaited for the explanation of these theories and hypotheses that underlie the revolutionary vineyard design and application. Though the design system is widely applied throughout the New World, this is the first public exposure of the fundamental foundations.

The author relates the history of the evolution, a guide for future research and winemaking. He not only disagrees with the academic structure but also tenders solutions. There are many pictures of present day plantings, errors and corrective commentary thereon as teaching aids.

Douglas Meador was the owner of the acclaimed Ventana Vineyards, the most award winning single vineyard in America, with over 30 consecutive years of Gold medals from its Riesling grapes and 29 Consecutive years on its Chardonnay, plus many other firsts in the industry. He has given back to the industry in many ways. He flew A-4 Jets in the Navy, flying over 300 missions in Vietnam. He now lives in Carmel with his wife, LuAnn and enjoys his two sons, a daughter and three grandchildren. After selling Ventana in 2006 he began writing this new exciting book and in his spare time is writing a novel.

If you love the technical side of wine growing and the results—you will enjoy reading this book!

THE NEW VITICULTURE
Hard Cover: $50.00
ISBN 978-0-6152347-4-8

Order your copy online at the add to cart button on your right,

or at www.newviticulture.com