First, some important business! April 23-26, 2020 will henceforth be known as the first annual AltaFest. Over the past two years, we have had more than 60 distinguished individuals join us in West Texas to help us plant the vineyard. This will be our third year of planting, but this year will be a little different. This year we will be planting only 1,000 vines (we planted over 6,000 each of the last two years) and with fewer vines to be planted, we will have more time for more wine drinking, food eating, star gazing and general revelry! We are planning to dig a large pit and roast all manner of delicious things inside that pit. If you would like to join in the fun and lend us your labor, please email me at ricky@altamarfa.com.

And now on to normal updates!

At the very end of the 2019 season, we removed the cardboard vine protectors and found a few surprises. Generally, grapevines do not produce fruit at this age, but there were a handful of vines out of the whole vineyard that did. It was very fun to … — At the very end of the 2019 season, we removed the cardboard vine protectors and found a few surprises. Generally, grapevines do not produce fruit at this age, but there were a handful of vines out of the whole vineyard that did. It was very fun to have a few grapes to taste!

Here is one of our experimental dry-farmed vines at the very end of the 2019 season. We had a very long spell without rain and these guys were looking pretty withered. Judging by the brown leaves on the ground beneath each vine, my guess is that, du… — Here is one of our experimental dry-farmed vines at the very end of the 2019 season. We had a very long spell without rain and these guys were looking pretty withered. Judging by the brown leaves on the ground beneath each vine, my guess is that, due to water stress, they partially or fully defoliated (lost their leaves). Eventually, it rained and the vines grew new leaves. At the end of the season, we still had 5/5 vines alive and with green leaves. I am very curious to see how these do in 2020. Plus, I’m hoping to add a few more vine friends to join them outside the fence this year.

Katie found this Jewel Scarab. Look at the blue feet!

Katie and Lauren taking a break in the shade of our trusty tent.

At the beginning of October Katie and I bottled our first wine! (The rosé I wrote about in the previous blog post) Rather than use traditional cork to close the bottles, I decided to experiment with the glass stoppers you may have seen before on wine bottles at the grocery store or elsewhere. We filled 10 cases and inserted the glass stoppers and left the wine to sit and acclimatize to its new glass home. No sooner had we finished this process than we started to become concerned. The stoppers did not seem to fit particularly tightly and because the wine was slightly fizzy we were worried the bottles might spontaneously pop their tops. We weren’t sure what to do so we taped up the cardboard wine boxes and left the wine were we assume the bottles would stay closed in the climate-controlled winery and headed back to Houston.

For a few weeks we brainstormed and wondered what could be done. We decided to try and dip the tops of the bottles in hot wax and thereby create an additional protective seal around the suspect stoppers.

In early November I headed back to Mason to wax the bottles and bring them back to Houston to be sold. Almost as soon as I opened the first case of bottles I heard several loud pops in quick succession followed by a clatter of stoppers hitting the floor. Not Good! I opened a few more boxes without issue and without a better plan cautiously moved forward and started dipping the sealed bottles in the wax. The pink wax looked nice but I couldn’t really tell how much the wax was doing to keep the bottles sealed. I was becoming more and more uneasy when a stopper popped while I had a bottle upside down about to go into the wax. Half the bottle of wine drained out into the crock of hot wax and the wax was ruined along with any confidence I had left that the wax and glass stopper combination might work.

Quite frustrated, and pretty sure I had just ruined all 10 cases of our first-ever wine (without confidence the bottles weren’t going to pop randomly and leak everywhere they would not be able to be sold) I took a 15-minute break. I think it was Dan that then suggested pulling out all the stoppers and putting regular old corks in the bottles.

That’s exactly what we did. We scraped the now hardened wax off of the several cases that I had already waxed then removed the stoppers and replaced them with corks before finally finishing them off once again with the pink wax.

It was scary, but in the end, it worked out quite well and the wine was no worse for wear.

#AccidentalRenaissanceWe bottled the Lazer Cat one bottle at a time, directly from the steel barrel, with a little piece of vinyl tubing. — #AccidentalRenaissance
We bottled the Lazer Cat one bottle at a time, directly from the steel barrel, with a little piece of vinyl tubing.

The look on my face tells you all you need to know about how long it took to bottle the Lazer Cat.

FYI, turning a big brick of wax into a melted pot of wax is extremely frustrating and difficult.

Here is an example of a bottle that had a glass closure that I then dipped in wax. When I tried to dip the next bottle after this one, the glass stopper came off and I dumped half the bottle into the hot wax. This resulted in a lot of pink cotton ca… — Here is an example of a bottle that had a glass closure that I then dipped in wax. When I tried to dip the next bottle after this one, the glass stopper came off and I dumped half the bottle into the hot wax. This resulted in a lot of pink cotton candy-like foam bubbling up out of the crockpot, and of course, the wax being ruined.

These guys were the best! They stayed calm while i was panicking because all the wine bottles were blowing up and I didn’t know what to do. Anyway, they helped me scrape a lot of wax of by hand, remove all the glass closures and put corks into all t… — These guys were the best! They stayed calm while i was panicking because all the wine bottles were blowing up and I didn’t know what to do. Anyway, they helped me scrape a lot of wax of by hand, remove all the glass closures and put corks into all the bottles.

After we put corks into all the bottles we then gave them their final pink wax.

The entire 2019 production from Alta Marfa in the back of the CRV.

Here is one of the first concept drawings I did for the label design. Our talented roommate Paulina Abella then redrew this into what ended up on the final label.

I drew the lettering myself in Microsoft Power Point.

GORVERNMENT WARNING: Guess it’s official . . .

It was very fun to see that 2 bottles of Lazer Cat made it all the way to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Also, we made stickers! If you would like to have one, let me know!

This is a Black-Tailed Rattlesnake that I found under the little platform that the toilet sits on. This is the first and only rattlesnake I have seen at the vineyard in what is now 4 years. That being said, I am fairly certain they are all over the … — This is a Black-Tailed Rattlesnake that I found under the little platform that the toilet sits on. This is the first and only rattlesnake I have seen at the vineyard in what is now 4 years. That being said, I am fairly certain they are all over the place.

We found this giant centipede under a pile of sticks. It was about 6-8 inches long!

Here I am mixing together horse manure and wood chips. These two ingredients supply the nitrogen and carbon respectively, that will make good compost to help build soil in the vineyard. We left this open compost pile for a month or two before realiz… — Here I am mixing together horse manure and wood chips. These two ingredients supply the nitrogen and carbon respectively, that will make good compost to help build soil in the vineyard. We left this open compost pile for a month or two before realizing we needed to make a change. Because of the wind, sun and general dryness, our compost pile was suffering heavy losses as the outer layer was constantly drying up and blowing away.

In order to protect and nurture our compost, Promit and I built a container out of old pallets and scraps of wood from building the tent platform.

All closed up! In a few months we will open it up and spread the compost in the vineyard!

We currently have a more ready supply of wood chips than we have of horse manure. I spread some the wood chips out in the vineyard to add carbon into the soil. The wood chips will break down much more slowly this way than if they were composted firs… — We currently have a more ready supply of wood chips than we have of horse manure. I spread some the wood chips out in the vineyard to add carbon into the soil. The wood chips will break down much more slowly this way than if they were composted first in a pile, but ultimately they will go towards feeding the microbes in the soil of our vineyard.

I made a trip out to Mason in December in order to check on our 2019 red Tempranillo. This wine is the sibling of Lazer Cat. It is made with Tempranillo grapes from the same vineyard (Robert Clay) only harvested one week after the grapes for Lazer C… — I made a trip out to Mason in December in order to check on our 2019 red Tempranillo. This wine is the sibling of Lazer Cat. It is made with Tempranillo grapes from the same vineyard (Robert Clay) only harvested one week after the grapes for Lazer Cat. This wine is still changing a lot, but I have high hopes for it. I moved it from its tank into this used oak barrel to continue to develop during 2020. I plan to open it mid year and see hows it’s doing. The earliest possible release for this buddy would be at the end of 2020, on the other hand, it could be at the end of 2021 as well, or it might turn to vinegar, very possible for this wine.

I just like these last three pictures. This ended up being a very enjoyable day at the winery in Mason.

37. Lazer Cat