Whatever happened to Vin de Noix

We just opened and filtered some of the 375 mL bottles that have been stored at the ranch for 16 years….. Green Walnuts were harvested in 2009 and soaked in my brother Paul’s delicious Syrah from his Clary Ranch Wines for 40 days before bottling. A lot of life has happened since. Some very, very good, Some not so. 

But here we are, all these years later and I’m pleased and surprised! Life is good and so is the Vin de Noix. Taste tested and approved by more than just me. Thanks to Scott for helping me solve the “what should we do with all this” problem and to Austin, his nephew, too. 

Time to work on the label.... really.

I drove down the mountain with my daughter, Darci, for another day at the custom crush facility. We are getting closer and closer to the finished Vin de Noix. Today we made some additions, including Clary Ranch Syrah and I am pleased. It feels like my kitchen counter escapades, but with a much bigger jar! Afterwards, I took my brother, Paul Clary, out to lunch for his birthday. Went to the Ace in the Hole Pub in Graton, which is outside Sebastopol. Paul has now joined me in the 5th decade of life. We had a nice visit. Time to work on the label.....

Vin de Noix - Without a little bit of work, there is no pleasure!

I am so excited about our newest ranch project! Our first commercial bottling of Clary Ridge Ranch Vin de Noix. Our very own Franquette walnuts are used in the creation of this hand crafted aperitif that originated among the walnut orchards in the southwest of France. On June 16th, my brother Paul and I spent the day hand cutting nearly 2000 green walnuts to prepare them for the first part of the process. Read my brothers blog, Wine Growing on the Edge for an excellent description of the process. It took hours for us to carefully quarter each nut without losing much of the yellow-green juice that oozes out of each one as it was quartered with a sharp knife. The fingernails on my left hand are still stained light brown. It reminds me of my childhood. Brown knees lasted a long time after harvesting walnuts in October.

108 Years Later - The Work Continues

30 years ago this summer, my father built a little cabin on the southwestern-most corner of the original ranch. 6 acres of Franquette walnut trees were put in by my parents, Paul and Alice Clary, shortly after. Each year, after we harvested the BIG orchard, we would harvest "our" orchard. Over the years, as more and more of our spare time was required on the BIG orchard, "our" little orchard was a bit neglected. What would we do? Read more about how a dream to keep the ranch for another hundred years led us to green walnut harvests on our website: www.claryridgeranch.com

We are busy fertilizing and tending to the trees that aren't so little anymore. They yielded a small but healthy green harvest this past June. We sold them locally and via LocalHarvest. There is a market for these green walnuts, throughout the United States and even Canada. You can make your own with our green walnuts, but we believe you'll love Clary Ridge Ranch Vin de Noix, made in collaboration with my brother, Paul Clary, Owner and Winemaker of Clary Ranch Wines.