Monthly Archives: June 2010

Bottling the 2009 Velo Malbec Rosé

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Posted by Gus on June 16, 2010 – 8:46 am
Filed under In The Cellar

The 2009 Velo Malbec Rosé was bottled on May 4th with a mobile bottling truck at RoxyAnn Winery in Medford. Working at better than a bottle per second, the line and crew made short work of my tiny (156 case) production.

Two days later Vernon Rollins at New Sammy’s Cowboy Bistro in Talent, a few stones’ throws from where the grapes are grown, paid me a high compliment by taking a case of the new wine as his house rosé pour.

Now, more than a month after bottling, the wine is really showing its stuff, with fabulous aromas of grapefruit and strawberry-rhubarb, and a now signature racy acidity against a bone-dry finish with vibrant flavors of wild strawberries and cream.

Velocity Moves to Pallet Wine Company

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Posted by Gus on June 14, 2010 – 2:09 pm
Filed under In The Cellar

May 27th, 2010 was moving day for Velocity Cellars. After eight fine vintages under the roof of RoxyAnn Winery in Medford, including six for which I worked as RoxyAnn’s winemaker, the day finally came for me to move on.

How does a winery just pick up and move? In my case, the advantage of being a winemaker with neither buildings nor equipment comes through in just this sort of situation. I hired a big truck and we moved eighty barrels across town in one morning with the help of Les (the driver), Peter (loading at Roxyann) and Linda and Josh (unloading at the other end).

Pallet Wine Company, my new home, is located just across town from my old digs at Roxyann, in an historic industrial building which has found a new life as a winery under the direction of Dan and Olivia Sullivan and their talented winemaker/partner Linda Donovan. Besides the lovely new paint job, they have transformed the interior into a full-scale production facility, complete with underground barrel storage, state-of-the-art crush equipment, and even a ROPP head on their bottling line (that’s industry-talk for a screwcap applicator, of which I am a big fan).

Why move? It is never an easy decision to make a big change, and in this case I was certainly in the enviable position of having a choice between two excellent facilities. In the end, the driving force had to be wine style. Pallet will permit me to undertake three significant shifts in my production: native yeast fermentation, micro-lot fermentation, and on-demand bottling under a screwcap, all of which will, I hope, allow me to better pursue my goal of truly regionally distinctive wines.

Thanks, Roxyann, for eight great years. Thanks, Pallet, for the opportunity to share your great facility in the coming years. And thanks, Linda, for a flawless job unloading barrels!