Jordan Estate Tales - Volume 7, 2012 - 5

diminutive Russian-born enologist who brought Old
World expertise to America’s winemaking industry
in the late 1930s not only recommended me for the
Jordan Vineyard & Winery position, he mentored me
until his death in 1994. He continues to whisper in my
ear when I make my daily vine inspections and every
hour I’m on the crush pad or in the cellar: “Tannic
wines don’t age; only wines of balance.” (See Estate
Tales cover story, Vol. 6, 2011).
André was perhaps the first person in California to insist
that wines are made in the vineyard—a statement that is
repeated by most New World wineries. It’s true, of course,
yet André’s point, which he constantly stressed to me over
the years, was that great wines are balanced wines, and
that balanced wines are made in the vineyard—not the
cellar. If one waits until the grapes are harvested, the
battle for balance is largely lost.
f a wine book were to be published with the title
“The Art of Blending,” its cover would likely show
a winemaker wearing a white lab coat, using a glass
pipette to carefully add, say, Merlot, drop by drop to a
graduated cylinder of Cabernet Sauvignon, in an effort to
produce a precisely balanced wine.
We have pipettes and cylinders in the Jordan laboratory, of course, and we are very
mindful of the percentages of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec
that go into Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon. We monitor pH, acidity, alcohol and other
levels in the wines before they go into bottle. But winemaking is not a recipe. My lab
coat hangs on a coat rack untouched for many years. Instead, tracking goût de terroir
(French for “taste of the earth”) from my boots through the lab to our tasting room,
I reminisce back to the nascent days in the vineyards where the vintage began, long
before the vines began to push out tender young buds.
This is where the art of blending truly begins.
André T chelistscheff is still with me during my hikes and jogs up and down
vine rows, as he has been for the 36 years I’ve been the Jordan winemaker. This

In a balanced wine, the fruit, tannin and acid elements
meld together seamlessly, so that no one trait is dominant.
The Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon style is highly aromatic
and forward in blackberry and cassis fruit, with velvety
tannins and immense drinkability when the wine is
young. Yet our wines are also produced to age gracefully
for years in the cellar; although tannins play a big role in
preservation of a wine over time, they must start out in
balance with the other components.
Blending for balance begins with immaculate care of
our estate vines and insistence on the same from our
growers. When I walk our 50-plus vineyard blocks, I’m
already blending in my mind. I take into account soil,
rootstock and clonal types, vine spacing, row orientation
and exposure to sunlight. I project what pruning will do
for crop loads, how leaf pulling will affect canopies, how
dropping developing clusters will (or won’t) enhance
quality in the remaining bunches, and how rainfall and
irrigation will impact the grapes. It’s all done in the name

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http://www.jordanwinery.com/newsletters/2011vol6/files/6.html http://www.jordanwinery.com/newsletters/2011vol6/files/6.html http://www.winespectator.com/wssaccess/show/id/40905
Jordan Estate Tales - Volume 7, 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jordan Estate Tales - Volume 7, 2012
