A little bit about Bill

Posted on April 7, 2013 by sami

Bill Arbios happened upon his career in winemaking while pursuing his childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian at the University of California, Davis. He took a summer job at a veterinarian’s office where he soon realized that being a veterinarian was more emotionally challenging than he had expected and he risked caring for a backyard full of unwanted dogs and cats.

While surveying the University catalog, Bill noticed a class called “Introduction to American Wine.” Knowing that Davis is one of the best enology schools in the world, he thought that he might as well learn something about wine while trying to figure out what he really wanted to do. Soon after Bill began studying the subject, he fell in love with winemaking; he was thrilled that winemaking encompassed chemistry, biology, physics and bacteriology as well as art and creativity.

Bill graduated from Davis in 1973 with degrees in Fermentation Sciences and Bacteriology and immediately embarked on his career in the wine industry. Prior to launching his own label in 1993 with the creation of Arbios Cellars, Bill held winemaking and consulting positions for a myriad of well-known wineries in California’s Napa Valley, Sonoma County and Central Coast regions. His earliest experience in winemaking was in 1973 through 1976 at Chateau Souverain, where he was mentored by the dynamic Chateau Souverain owner Lee Stewart.

In addition to his winemaking and vineyard management skills, Bill has had extensive experience designing wineries from the ground up. Specifically, he designed and supervised the construction of Fieldstone Winery in the 1970s, and was an integral part of the winery design and development of the William Wheeler Winery and Lyeth in 1980.

In 1981 Bill joined Sonoma County’s Lyeth winery, first as winemaker and production manager and then in 1988 as winemaker and vice president. While at Lyeth, Bill pioneered Bordeaux-style blended wines in Sonoma County, which eventually set the standards for all subsequent “Meritage” wines in the North Coast wine regions.

In 1992 Bill was appointed winemaker for Napa’s Jarvis Vineyards, where he aided in the design and implementation of a state-of-the-art underground winery. Following Jarvis, Bill spent two years as winemaker for Chateau DeBaun in Santa Rosa, where he was responsible for winemaking, quality control and data tracking for custom winemaking for clients such as Robert Mondavi, Delicato and Sebastiani.

Although Bill enjoyed his successful career making wine for many prominent wineries, he occasionally felt restricted by the bottom line to which large wineries must adhere. In addition, this self-described “vagabond vintner,” was starting to yearn for roots. With the creation of Arbios Cellars in 1993, his dream of expressing his artistry through wine and creating something lasting for himself and his family was realized.

After nearly four decades of artful and innovative winemaking, Bill has achieved minor cult status and has earned the respect of his peers for his winemaking skills and vineyard savvy. He currently resides in Healdsburg in Sonoma County with his wife, Susan and his three sons. When Bill is not making wine, he enjoys scuba diving, cooking, music and gardening. He also has his pilot’s license and loves to fly.

Sherry in and Port out Part 1 of 2

Posted on April 6, 2013 by sami

When pouring the dessert wines here in Locals I get a few common questions about what makes a port. For example the Eric Ross Old Vine Zinfandel Port- why is it red? Why can Eric Ross call it a port? What is the difference between a port and a late harvest?

First off, the difference between a port (also referred to as a fortified wine) and a late harvest is the inclusion of a hard alcohol to “fortify” the wine. This is part of the reason ports can last weeks, not days in an opened bottle. Both have very high sugar contents, and are very sweet in nature. Like Pendleton’s late harvest Petite Sirah, in order to achieve the fuller flavor and to cut down on the sweetness to make a “unsweet dessert wine” Mike Pendleton used a strong yeast to lower the sugar content from the late harvest Durif. Make no mistake, both a port and a late harvest needs yeast, though not always the same strain in order to become a dessert wine.

Then there is the difference between ruby and tawny ports. A Ruby port is a young port that was bottle aged, and usually uses a high proof fortifying agent. They are usually under 10 years old. The tawny ports get their name from their color. More of a ruddy brown, these ports are aged in barrels for decades, absorbing the color from the oak barrels used to preserve it. In Portugal the tawny port is sometimes given as a christening gift. In 20 years once the child has matured, they can drink this port that is as old as they are!

Afterthought:

This made me wonder. If you fortify the port before fermentation, what happens when you fortify after the yeast has done its job turning juice into wine? Stay tuned for the next blog port about the evil twin of port: Sherry!

: Sami

Locals Tasting Room
(707) 857-4900

The color looking through the glass

Posted on March 1, 2013 by sami

When the new Praxis Gewurztraminer came into the room I was amazed by the bottle shape and the dark color of the glass bottle. I had seen this shape before in the Peterson Bradford Mountain Rose, but that was a clear bottle not a dark olive color. I asked Bill Arbios “Why is the bottle so dark?” He told me that Gewurztraminers were known for coming in the darker bottles. I knew from personal knowledge that other alcohol like beer is put into the darker glass to help bounce off the ultra violet rays. But do ultra violet rays affect wine?

Wines that are exposed to natural light can be affected. It is a condition called lightstruck. This means the wine has either a “wet cardboard” or “wet wool” smell and taste. Red wines normally are not as affected by ultra violet light because the phenols in the wines protect it from turning. The wines most affected are white wines or sparkling wines. This is why most sparkling wines are in green or olive glass colored bottles. Most of the time the average consumer does not have to worry about wines becoming lightstruck; just be aware of this issue if any of your white or sparkling bottles are being exposed to direct sunlight.

Sami

Locals Tasting Room
(707) 857-4900

Brettanomyces and the Smell of the Wine

Posted on February 23, 2013 by sami

Photo by Bill Gracey.

Brettanomyces also known as “brett” is yeast that can infect wine or beer. It is found in many French wines but is hard to find around the California wineland. As most of your readers know I have a fondness for the flavor. It reminds me of growing up on a goat farm in Sonoma County and all the fun adventures I went on as a child. When I try to describe the flavor to our members I feel like I can not do a great job explaining my love for this unique flavor and smell. As time went on I found that were one grew up makes a large difference on how they taste and what qualities they would find in wine.

For example, on the Peterson 2009 Zero Manipulation people who grew up in an urban environment tended to find a horse smell to the wine. Suburbanites found manure and bandaid. Rural people smelled a barn or a barnyard. Whether they enjoyed the smell was up to the customer.

Professors at UC Davis traditionally describe brettanomyces as the “spoilage organism” and think of it as a flaw in the wine. But recently researchers at UC Davis did a study and found that of 83 strains of brettanomyces, 17 — more than 20% — were regarded as giving more positive impact than negative. Head researcher Lucy Joseph found that none of the positive judgments were universal. “What you are smelling is not what the person next to you is smelling.” Joseph said. “Everything you perceive is based on your genetic makeup and your background.”

Sami

Locals Tasting Room
(707) 857-4900

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Posted on February 17, 2013 by sami

Photo by zoomar.

When I first started working at locals I didn’t think I would have to change my personal habits too much. I get to sleep in, have a later dinner, and not have to worry about getting the frost off of my window. One thing I did not think of was how I would have to change brushing my teeth. I would come in and taste the wines and make sure they were not oxidized. Sounds pretty simple right?

Not 20 minutes before I had brushed my teeth as I was going out the door after breakfast. The wine I tasted was horrible! It wasn’t oxidized, but the flavor was very off. I figured it might have been because I had super spicy Thai food the night before and maybe my palette was still off. When this happened many days in a row I knew something was up.

Sami

I started brushing my teeth sooner, or tasting the wine later, it helped but not much. Then I switched out my peppermint toothpaste with a “citrus burst” toothpaste. I never had the problem again. There must be something about minty toothpaste that just kills the sweet and fruit receptors on your tongue. I find it can take up to 2 hours for the mintyness to come off of your palette. So if you know you will be tasting wine early in the day, be sure to use a non minty toothpaste so you can enjoy the wines the way they are supposed to be tasting.