JC Cellars Blog

Gone, History, Adios, Farwell and just plain over!

As nice as it is to have visitors, it sure is nice when they leave and so is the story of harvest. This year was truly abundant with fruit. I mean really abundant as in very large crops. Now most of you may be concerned that this would thin the concentration of the wines, but not so here at JC Cellars. Our wines are rich, concentrated and at this point very exotic as they go through malolatic fermentation.

This harvest we brought in some amazing new vineyards, such as Cassata, Rosendin, Bedrock, Saitone and …

Yesterday as I looked up to the sky, I felt the first rain drop of the season. It was cool, wet and yes the beginning of what would become a downpour. Have no fear my trusty JC Cellars wine drinkers because I had brought my last fruit in no more then 12 hours earlier.

The Landy Petite Sirah came in just perfect at 26.3 Brix with great flavors and textures that come from the juice and skins that drip a dark purple when the berry breaks.

Yes, 2012 is going to prove to be one of the greatest vintages …

So you ask what have I had lately to drink? Well, during harvest I try to taste a lot of other winery’s wines, plus a beer or two. You got to stay fresh you know. The other night I had an Andis Mourvedre from Amador, which I felt showed a lot of the Amador character of spice and pepper, along with that touch of black cherry and barky component. This year we are getting some older vine Zinfandel from them, and I look forward to making this wine. We had a Turley Ubberoth Zinfandel 2009, one of my favorite Paso …

Shsssssss, can you hear it?  Come a little closer to the computer, can you hear it yet?   Yeah, it’s a little stressful, a little noisy at times and at times a little confusing. That’s right you have entered the Crush Zone.

Now that you have be complexly drawn into the computer, you will become part of all the crazy e-mails that fly back and forth during this time of year and just for the fun of it, we’ll let you  be part of the cell phone and land line craziness. It’s non-stop and trust me; the phone calls keep coming all …

Good day to all our JC Cellars faithful fans,

This weekend we are holding our Open House the Grand Illusion. Not only will you have the chance to try all our new releases for one day only, we are also introducing the new The Impostor and Smoke & Mirror labels, under the Jeff Cohn Wines brand. This brand is allowing me the opportunity to showcase my blending experience and passion. Come sample 12 new wines, tasty appetizers, desserts, chocolates by Truffle Gateau, nuts by Oren’s Kitchen, Olive Oil by Calivirgin, Smart Water, Weaver’s Coffees and Illusions by Magikai.

Both The Impostor and …

Over the past couple of months, my life has been a bit of a whirl wind.  Starting with my trip to New York in late March.  I did an amazing dinner with the Girl and the Fig restaurant (Sonoma) at the prestigious James Beard House.  When you have the opportunity to work with not just a restaurant but true friends who own and operate the restaurant and truly understand your wines, you get a very symbiotic courtship of wine and food (or as many say, a match made in heaven).

I then spent some time walking around the Chelsea area of …

It has been a while since my last blog, and much has happened. First and foremost, we survived what was probably one of the toughest harvests that I have ever had. That being said, my first impressions of our wines from the 2011 vintage have been very positive. …

JC Cellars brought in the last of our fruit this past week, the last being my favorite Rockpile Syrah. This might actually turn out to be one of the best Rockpile Syrah I have made with plenty of hang time, great flavors with lower brix. Time will tell! …

Hear ye, hear ye….

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan made a very exciting appearance at JC Cellars yesterday and helped us do a few punch downs while she was here. Thanks for stopping by to show your support!

All our tanks are full up and we are waiting and waiting and waiting for more fruit to come in. I think we will see fruit from Paso Robles come in this next week, along with a touch of Sonoma Zinfandel. Then the waiting game begins again!  In the mean …

This weather has caused dear Jeff to simply go a little bonkers. All the vineyards are looking so nice, but Mother Nature wants to work her wicked ways and spoil all the fun. Rain is on the horizon for Monday – Wednesday. Who knows how much, but I can tell you I am pulling in as much as I can, as fast as I can. Today we brought in the famous Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel from 108 year old vines and some Petite Sirah. The future is looking bright I tell you!

Cheers!

Half Full,

Jeff