Winemakers love to experiment, and I am certainly no exception. When my peers ask how I keep boredom at bay when making only two winesโa Russian River Valley chardonnay and an Alexander Valley cabernet sauvignonโI love to explain that, at Jordan, we are constantly tweaking and fine-tuning these singular wines to make them better with each vintage.
Since I started working at Jordan Winery in , I have had a front-row seat to the many changes we have made to improve our cabernet, from refining fruit sourcing to upgrading our barrels to all French oak. For a good 15 years, we focused on improving the cabernetโwith incredibly gratifying results.
Though our chardonnay had not been overlooked during that timeโfar from itโI longed for a new challenge. I was all in.
Next, we looked to the cellar. What could we do to improve our chardonnay without masking or overpowering the delicacy, minerality and textural components of our newly sourced fruit? That vessel was the concrete egg. Egg-shaped vessels have been used to ferment, store and transport wine for thousands of years, and European winemakers have used large concrete vats for centuries. French winemaker Michel Chapoutier combined these concepts in , when he commissioned a local concrete tank producer to create an oval-shaped fermenter.
Word of this innovation spread throughout the global winemaking community, and in , the first concrete eggs arrived in the Napa Valley. The design of the egg is a key reason for its growing popularity. This helps add richness and roundness. The material is another major benefit. Because concrete is porous, it allows a small amount of oxygen to interact with the wineโsimilar to an oak barrelโwhich helps the wine evolve and age. However, unlike barrels, concrete vessels do not add woody character that could obscure delicate fruit flavors and aromas.
