My most recent article on Celebrity Wines (see post below) was fun to research and I discovered a lot of new information on wines and wineries. However since posting it’s become clear my research was not as thorough as I may have hoped, and since I do strive to be accurate in all I do (another side of my borderline OCD!) then an update is required.
First it would appear I fell into the trap of believing an urban myth regarding the recently married Mariah Carey and her namesake vineyard in Mendocino. Although the offending section has been removed from the original post it would be unfair on the winery to simply have them “disappear” from a topic they are, one way or another, linked to.
The story seems to have started in early 2006 and is referenced by the Irish Examiner and quickly spread around the net. Unfortunately this was a case of Chinese Whispers based on Mariah enjoying their Zinfandel, but not enough to buy the company!
Jim Caudill, spokesman for Brown-Forman who distribute for the vineyard said “Ah, if only it were true. Mariah Carey has nothing to do with Mariah Vineyards other than enjoying the wine and often giving it as gifts.”
On doing more detailed research it would appear that the facts have been out there for almost as long but I suppose some stories just sound like they should be right!
Secondly Paul Smith, winemaker at OnTheEdge Winery in Calistoga sent me a modest e-mail “We are way under the radar so it is no surprise our partner and Head Coach of the stem box was missed as a celebrity winemaker”.
OnTheEdge produce the Frediani Vineyard Jean Louis Vermeil Cabernet Sauvignon, named in honour of NFL Head Coach Dick Vermeil’s ancestry, and on reading some related stories it became clear that this partnership is exactly what the original article was designed to catch.
I have to admit the name Dick Vermeil didn’t instantly light up in my memory (for which I blame the fact I’m British and this is an NFL sporting legend!) but then I also found Paul and Dick’s guest appearance on a May 2007 episode of Gary Vaynerchuk’s WLTV which I remember watching at the time – making my omission doubly embarrassing!
Thanks to Jim and Paul for getting in touch.
Greybeard.
Note from the Admin: I just couldn’t resist adding one other celebrity to Greybeard’s fine list: Crunk rapper Lil John. He has launched Little Jonathan Winery. Crunk Juice anyone?
Winemaking, a revered calling for those fortunate few; working the land, toiling the vines, something handed down from generation to generation, something that fate alone chooses. Er….well, no – not really, or at least not any more. Barry Manilow wines anyone?
In today’s society money and fame can obtain pretty much anything, and the wine world is no exception. There is an ever expanding list of celebrities and businessmen who are getting involved in wine and, while generalisations are always dangerous territory in writing, there does appear to be three categories that you can slot the majority of these ventures into – Marketing, Business or Love.
Marketing - The celebrity is predominantly a name or face on a label and is unlikely to have been anywhere near a grape press or fermentation vat (or even the winery!). It’s not hard to see why this model works, with legions of fans clamouring to buy anything linked to their idol a bottle of wine is an obvious addition to the merchandising arsenal. Cynics would argue promotion is the name of the game here and the contents of the bottle are a secondary consideration.
Celebrity Cellars is a good place to start if you are interested in labels , with Madonna and KISS included in the range all the wines are from Temecula Valley winery Miramonte. Barry Manilow has covered his bases with his M Line Wines, produced for him by Flora Springs in St. Helena, Macchia in Lodi and White Crane in Livermore.
Business - In this model the winery may have a rich or famous name on the deeds but they are involved in a business, and probably not their only one. The role is predominantly a figurehead, the name helping with the marketing but the resulting wine is a result of managers and winemakers with little or no influence from above. From what I’ve heard Dan Ackroyd’s new venture fits into this category as well, although one would hope that Dan, having invested $1 million into Niagara Cellars in 2005, is aiming to become one of those more serious and respected winemakers.
However the final category is what many of us dream of, the romantic ideal of someone who, through fame or fortune, is able to realise their dream of making wine…. this is for Love. Here the name is not just an owner, but is actually involved in many or all aspects of the wine process and, although in the end it may still be a business, profit isn’t the most important factor. A couple of years ago The Discovery Channel broadcast “The Grape Escape” about the Eaglevlei Estate in Stellenbosch, bought by North East (U.K.) businessman, Tony Hindhaugh. The series followed him from first buying the ailing winery through the trials and tribulations of producing his first vintage. I’d also put music legend Sting in this category - he bought his Tuscan summer home (and Yoga retreat) Il Palagio in 1997 and the wines produced here are currently only available locally and for family friends.
What about the “first lives” of these people who have decided to become involved in all things vinous, what careers allow such later-life luxuries?
With the millions that top Sportsmen earn it’s no surprise they are well represented in the lists, such as former SF 49ers Quarterback Joe Montana who paired up with Beringer’s Ed Sbragia to produce Montagia wines.
In Motor Racing NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon linked up with August Briggs Winery out of Calistoga to produce his Napa Valley wines and F1’s Jarno Trulli bought Podere Castorani in Abruzzo, Italy, although it was Italian Mario Andretti who originally bridged both sports & countries with his Napa Valley winery.
Top golfers have also moved into Wine, with the Great White Shark himself, Greg Norman selling wine from California and from Beringer Blass vineyards in Australia. Nick Faldo’s wines come from Katnook Estate in Coonawarra, Arnold Palmer wines are made by California’s Luna Vineyards and even John Daly, that renowned wine drinker, is getting in on the act, although I couldn’t identify where his are made! However it is South African Ernie Els who has the best credentials here, with a winery in Stellenbosch in collaboration with Jean Engelbrecht from Rust en Vrede.
Music and wine also seem to be a perfect match. For the girls Olivia Newton John founded Koala Blue Wines in 1983. For the boys Bob Dylan’s “Planet Waves” is made by Fattoria Le Terazze in Italy’s Marche region, while Mick Fleetwood has wine produced for his Private Reserve line by Casa Cassara in the Santa Rita Hills.
British crooner Sir Cliff Richard bought Quinta do Moinho in the Algarve, Portugal, in 1993, planted a vineyard in 1997 and, together with 2 other properties in the area, established Adega do Cantor making “Vida Nova” wines. 
The Algarve is not overly renowned for its quality wines and Vida Nova is for general drinking at around the $16 price range, but apparently each vintage has been steadily improving. Cliff was famously “stung” by celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay, on his show The F-Word in 2006, in a blind tasting of his own wine - the Video clip shows several other celebrity wines in the “tasting”. Unsurprisingly the press sensationalised the story at the time, even though it seemed to have been taken in good nature by Cliff on the show.
It can be argued that TV and Film have provided the most recognisable names and also, so far, the most credible participants in the Wine World, although not necessarily both together. Paul Newman has his “Newman’s Own” wines produced by Three Thieves, part of the Rebel Wine Company, while Davy Crockett himself, Fess Parker, has been making wines out of the Santa Ynez valley since 1989. Parker’s grand tasting room was the site of the scene from the movie Sideways where Miles eventually downs the dregs from the Spit Bucket!
Two actors that have been noticed by the professionals since they took to winemaking are New Zealander Sam Neill and Frenchman Gérard Depardieu. Jurassic Park’s Neill owns Two Paddocks in Central Otago and has gathered a good reputation for his Pinot Noir, although it is difficult to find as production is limited. Depardieu (U.S. readers may know him from Green Card, while in Europe his Cyrano de Bergerac and Obelix are more renowned) is so dedicated to winemaking that he has acteur-vigneron on his passport. He makes wine out of his Loire Valley property near Anjou, Château de Tigné, and has shares in Domaines Alain Paret in Condrieu and Château Gadet in the Médoc.
However the name most people think of in this category has to be Francis Ford Coppola. In 1975 wine-lover Francis and wife Eleanor bought a Victorian house in Rutherford, California, as a country retreat, “a cottage, a place to write and a couple of acres to make a little wine.” The house was the Niebaum mansion, and came with vineyards that were part of the famed Inglenook Estate, a winery set up by Finnish sea-farer Captain Gustave Niebaum who had Californian wine winning awards in Paris 87 years before the better known 1976 “Judgement”. In 1995 Coppola bought the remaining acreage and the Inglenook Château for his Niebaum-Coppola brand, eventually changing the name in 2006 to Rubicon Estate, named after its most famous wine. Separate to this is the Rosso & Bianco brand out of Geyserville, Sonoma, which produces more affordable wines including Director’s Cut and Diamond Collection.
So does any of this make a blind bit of difference to the quality of the wines produced? In an attempt to put some of this into perspective for the average wine drinker (is there such a thing?) I carried out a simple tasting with 3 of the easier to buy bottles from some of the wineries mentioned above, all less than $20.
Eaglevlei 2005 Merlot $14. This had a really smoky nose with a lot of red fruit and oak. Smooth in the mouth with mild tannins, a little cherry, tobacco and a rich chocolate undertone, this was light-medium bodied and has a very quick finish which lets it down, but otherwise was a very pleasant Merlot and, for the cheapest of the three, was my favourite. 86-87pts.
Vida Nova 2005 (Aragonêz, Syrah, Trincadeira) $16. A raspberry jam nose, with a dose of alcoholic spiciness. It had good general mouthfeel and body, but there’s an imbalance with too much heat on the finish and a green bitterness that doesn’t sit well with the fruit on the nose and first taste. Overpriced for what it delivers, 82-83pts.
Francis Coppola Diamond Collection 2005 Gold Label Chardonnay $18. Citrus and zesty nose with a buttery texture, a little wooded finish, nice enough taste. Quite dry with a quick finish and a touch of heat on the end. Not a bad Chardonnay, but for the most expensive wine it didn’t match up to its price tag. 86-87pts.
This is by no means a comprehensive coverage of who’s who - I could go on, but there are too many B-List celebs getting involved in this sort of this to cover them all. In attempt to satiate my OCD here a quick list of some others you may find…
Richard Branson, Lorraine Bracco, Celine Dion, Sir David Frost, Jerry Garcia, Lleyton Hewitt, Mick Hucknall, Vince Neil, Jamie Oliver, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Savanna Samson, Michael Seresin, Barbara Streisand, Alex Trebek.
For most of these wines you’re unlikely to be getting a bargain, but for Manilow, Madonna or Mötley Crüe fans that’s probably not their prime concern anyway, however for the rest of us you should at least be getting something moderately drinkable and not too far out of the typical Quality-Price-Ratio range, and for this it is more likely to be the hands-on owners and those with a some passion for wine who are likely to deliver - the Neills, the Depardieus and Coppolas of the world. Who knows, should that lottery win come in a Greybeard Cuvée may be in the offing!
Greybeard.
In the current opportunistic political climate where border fence construction and a hostile immigration debate can pass for civil expression, it is easy to lose sight of the durable commonalities enjoyed between Mexico and the United States. Cinco de Mayo is for that reason a particularly unique holiday in that it celebrates a moment in our shared histories. But I did not clearly understand the holiday’s significance until I contacted a number of Latino wineries and winemakers, all in Cali, for comment on the meaning of the date.
I was surprised to learn from them that Cinco de Mayo is much more an American than Mexican festival. Often mistaken in El Norte for Mexico’s Independence Day (Sept. 16th), Cinco de Mayo, in fact, celebrates Mexico’s first defeat of an imperial French army contingent bent on conquest. The battle took place on May 5th, 1862 in Puebla where, to this day, the date finds its most popular festival.
But I leave it to the folks below to explain!
I am pleased to post the following series of wonderful replies I received:
The extraordinary Amelia Moran Ceja of Ceja Vineyards sent this:
“The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were forced to leave Mexico.”
“So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans celebrate this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.
“The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.
“Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the New Mexican Empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carlota. Napoleon’s French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.
“The French Army left the port of Veracruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy — as European countries traditionally did.
“Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico’s president and dictator), the Mexicans waited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.
“General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of
head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.
“When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz’ superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the
Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.
“Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.
“It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?
“In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.
“Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans. That’s why Cinco de Mayo is such a party — A party that celebrates freedom and liberty. There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862. ¡VIVA El CINCO DE MAYO!”
Alex Sotelo of Alex Sotelo Cellars wrote, “The Cinco de Mayo meaning for Californians has been very important for the proximity to Mexico and interaction to Mexicans on both sides of the border. Cinco de Mayo is in fact a bigger celebration to Californians than the people in Mexico.
“For Mexicans in Napa Valley or even the rest of the wine country where labor for wine production is done primarily by us, we are proud of the contributions to the Wine Industry; and yet more and more of us Mexicans Wine Producers in California are making wine to an excellent level.
“So it is a good reason to say Salud with a good glass of wine to celebrate the contribution by Mexicans to the wine industry, or even better with a glass of wine made by a Mexican.”
I was very pleased to also receive a comment from the justly celebrated Bulmaro Montes lately of Maritas Vineyard. He said (through Deborah Zaragoza), “It is the battle with the French people. It means a lot, it opens (life up) to be more free. Strength to be an independent country and effort to succeed in our world. Cinco de Mayo (allows the Mexican-American) to show love for our country.”
Perhaps the most charming quote was not a quote at all. 
I wrote to Elias Fernandez of Shafer Vineyards. A response came from Andy Demsky in Media/Communications for Shafer. Andy wrote, “Elias asked me to write back – he’s up to his neck in bottling right now and isn’t in a spot where he can really respond to this. (He did mention that he and his crew are working on Cinco de Mayo!)”
What I find delightful in Elias Fernandez’ non-comment is what it says not only about him but about all the Mexican-Americans who toil in the vineyards and wineries: they work very hard. And the glass of wine we all enjoy is simply not possible without such a dedication to their craft.
Admin
Nicolas Quillé is Randall Grahm’s right hand man in the Pacific NorthWest. Yet Mr. Quillé remains independent. He speaks his mind. I think that is precisely why Mr. Grahm paused when, after he put some of his Bonny Doon labels on the market, Mr. Quillé protested that the Pacific Rim line should be retained: Riesling could do great things in Washington State. Mr. Grahm listened, Mr. Quillé went to work.
Supplemental to this interview I suggest readers visit the fine geological vids on Wine Press North West, and this page. View the August 14th, 2007 entry and that of October 30th, 2007.
Admin
Born in France, what was your first exposure to American wines?
Nicolas Quillé When I was in high school and then in college, I worked for a small wine shop in Lyon and I recall selling and tasting a Zinfandel from California (I can’t remember the name but it had a hot air balloon on the label). I don’t remember liking it that much but I was only 16 at the time.
The second experience was in California itself. A good friend of mine brought a secret bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and asked me to taste it blind. He then went on to ask me how much I would pay for it. It was good and I thought this could be about $25. Well, it was a Caymus Special Selection, and when it told me the price (it was about $100 at the time) I thought that this was really a great country to make wine in!
Before you came to the US you took university degrees at Dijon, in Bourgogne & at Reims, in Champagne. Could you give us a glimpse into the French university system with respect to viticultural degrees? What was your course of study?
Nicolas France has 5 universities that deliver a 2 year degree in Enology (Bordeaux, Dijon, Reims, Montpellier and Toulouse). They recruit only students that already have a 2 year college degree in agriculture (mine was a technical degree in animal production and plant genetics). The curriculum requires students to do two harvests in a wine cellar or a wine laboratory (I worked for Antonin Rodet in Burgundy and Domaine de La Courtade in Provence). The curriculum is a broad mix of Chemistry, Biology, Viticulture, Enology, Accounting, Sensory Evaluation, Fluid Mechanics, etc… They are no elective classes in France, you have to take it all!!! I must say that I was good at Statistics, Enology, Sensory evaluation and Chemistry. I was pretty lame at Viticulture…
A peculiarity of the French system is that each school specializes in its local specialty (Dijon – Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Reims – Champagne making…). After my Master’s in Burgundy I went for another year to get a specialization in Champagne winemaking and Champagne laws as I thought I might end up in Champagne making bubbly (My father works for Laurent Perrier Champagne). Not many students go for a specialization year as it requires students to have a Master degree in hand already.
How does viticultural/enology training in France differ from UC Davis or Cornell, the US approach generally?
Nicolas France has many layers of education from certificates to 2 year technical degrees to Master degrees and the possibility to specialize beyond the Master or to acquire a Doctorate. France has also many students trained in the Enological field (they churn about 180 student with a master degree in Enology every year). Most students in this field come from the industry with parents that are in the wine trade in some fashion. In France, winemaking schools are not open during harvest and they require students to work in the industry during that time. I never went to Davis or Cornell but it is my impression that students are more academic than their French counterpart. They often are very technically correct but lack some creativity. Obviously this is a very general statement.
What initially brought you to America?
Nicolas After my military duty in the French Air Force, I was looking for an international experience to sharpen my winemaking skills. I found a harvest job (in 1997) through the Paso Robles Grower Association at J. Lohr winery in Paso Robles. It was supposed to be a 3 months assignment so I came with just a small duffle bag full of clothes. The chemistry was good at J. Lohr and I never went back to France. I ended working for J.Lohr for a year and a half.
We’ve read you took a business degree, a master’s, from the University of Washington. From your point of view how were merlot’s fortunes affected by the film Sideways? Did you enjoy the film?
Nicolas Unfortunately I did not see Sideways. I think that Merlot was in a mature phase of its growth anyway and that the movie just precipitated this. I also truly believe that wine tastes are changing in the country as our food taste evolve toward lighter, fresher foods. Merlot is too big of a wine to be your everyday red. My opinion: switch to Riesling.
And while we’re on cinema, what is your take on Nossiter’s Mondovino?
Nicolas I saw Mondovino twice. It is a very good, thought provoking documentary that I would recommend anyone in our industry to watch. It is obviously a very personal take on the industry but it reinforced two life guiding principles for me. 1) Wine is a beverage for everyone, there is no need to make it a complicated and elitist drink. 2) The magic of wine comes from the people and the land, in the long run this is what makes it such a fascinating drink.
When did you first learn of biodynamics? What was your impression?
Nicolas Like most people I probably read about it in some trade magazine and never paid attention to it. Randall Grahm is really the person that did the most to educate me. I always had a lot of respect for Randall, so when we discussed it I never had a doubt that this was something that I should be more aware of. I have, to this date, some reservation about certain aspects of biodynamics but I am overall in agreement with the principle that the vineyard is a part of a greater organism. I guess that I am not a biodynamic jihadist, I am more of a moderate recent convert.
And now, with respect to the Wallula vineyard, what percentage is biodynamic?
Nicolas All our Riesling is Biodynamic at Wallula. This represents 140 acres total and is without a doubt the majority of all Demeter certified vineyards in Washington State. Our acreage represents about 25% of the Wallula Vineyard and this is, to my knowledge, the only part of the vineyard that is farmed biodynamically.
Could you give us some idea of the insect complex at Wallula. What are the principle grape pests in the area?
Nicolas We are blessed with few pests overall in Eastern Washington. By far the two main concerns are leafhoppers and dust mites.
And soil-borne diseases?
Nicolas None that I know at Wallula. This is pretty much virgin ground so it has never been introduced with weird pathogens.
The last time I was in near the Tri-Cities the wind was howling at 30 mph! How does wind complicate the local viticulture? How is erosion minimized? What inter-row cover crops are used?
Nicolas The main challenges in a high wind viticultural region is evapotranspiration; the vines’ stomata let much water out of the plants which requires frequent watering. Thankfully, the water retention of our soils is quite good which alleviate the need for heavy watering like this is the case for the windy Malborough region in New Zealand. We have also decent challenges with canopy management and cordon rollover on young vines (this is when the cordon rolls and “reverse” spurs position so the shoots are pointing down on a traditional Vertical Shoot Positioning trained vine). Your point about erosion is real because our soils are wind blown deposit and they leave as fast (or faster) as they came. As a result cover crops are a necessity in Eastern Washington. At Pacific Rim we are moving slowly from seeded covercrop to native grasses which are easier to maintain and a bit more “natural”.
There can be significant differences in the depth of loess deposits on the Wallula slope. The hard pan of calcium carbonate there averages to 1 foot thick. How is terroir affected by the shallower vine rooting?
Nicolas Not sure where you got the information about the calcium hard pan or “caliche” as it is referred to (may be you are referring to the Wahluke slope that is rich in caliche in an unpredictable way). This caliche layer is the result of the accumulation of calcium carbonates at the same levels, years after years, due to weathering. We do not have that problem at Wallula because over time the site had received a fair amount of wind blown loess (we think we have 40 feet) that “renewed” the top soil regularly thus moving up the crystallization zone and avoiding a calcium “loading” at the same level year after year. Because we are sitting at 1,200 feet we also have pre-Missoula flood soils below the wind blown loess (may be another 40 feet). Our soils at Wallula are definitely deep and we have buried drips down 3 feet to promote root exploration and lower water usage.
With only 6-7 inches of rain locally, how does Wallula irrigate?
Nicolas It is all irrigated with drips (underground drips). The water is pumped straight from the mighty Columbia River.
My understanding is that 15% of Pacific Rim’s riesling is of German origin. In another interview you stressed its use in blending with Washington juice for ’stylistic’ reasons. What are those reasons?
Nicolas We only use the German fraction for the Dry Riesling and it makes up 15% of that blend. The reason for using the German component are purely stylistic as you are pointing out and it is by far the most expensive part of the Dry Riesling blend. The German component usually comes from Rheinhessen and is selected by our friend Johannes Selbach in the Mosel. We use the German wine for several reasons. First, it is generally riper at lower Brix and therefore help us maintain our alcohol levels low (toward 12.5%). Secondly, it is high in acid and reduces our overall pH while boosting the total acidity of the blend. Finally the German fraction is low in phenolics and rich in minerality bringing an extra twist to the overall blend. I would love to replace it with a Northwest sourcing but haven’t found where it could come from yet.
In addition to practicing biodynamics, what other ‘green’ initiatives does Pacific Rim currently employ or plan to employ, particularly at the Port of Kennewick winery in West Richland?
Nicolas The list of our efforts and our dreams runs long. Several themes run through the business and guide our actions; first we want to be as sustainable as possible and second we do not want to greenwash the company. Our path to sustainability so far has lead us to work on 1) growing grapes that are good for your health 2) Reducing our energy footprint at the winery and our waste impact and 3) increasing the recyclability and the use of recycled material of our packaging. Our efforts are greatly helped by the fact that we are focused at 90% on Riesling (which creates great efficiencies).
We have right now 30% of our grapes farmed under Biodynamic practices. We are working with the remaining 70% of our growers to establish an Integrated Environmental Plan where we commonly agree on improving the sustainability of our viticultural practices. We have been putting together a grading system to help us grade each block on about 25 criteria and we are working on classifying all chemicals (organic or synthetic) used in our vineyards. This will lead on some serious progress I believe.
The winery was built with many energy saving features (use of natural lights, special insulation, roof that can support solar panels) and we have very high tech equipment (cross flow filters, centrifuge, Electrodialysis) that allow us to reduce our waste stream and our energy consumption. We are moving toward zero waste rapidly as we do not use diatomee earth in our filtration and we compost 100% of our pomace waste back in the vineyard.
We have greatly simplified our package which reduces waste tremendously. We are also requiring our suppliers to outline their sustainability efforts to understand their position on this topic.
We have a few other venues that we are exploring to reduce our post bottling environmental impact such as warehouse optimization (efficient shipping route, low case good inventory…) or the use of lighter alternative packaging.
You’ve mentioned the desire to let wild fermentations run their course. Can you tell us of Pacific Rim’s success with this approach?
Nicolas Our successes are very good so far. Our single vineyards are 100% wild fermented. In 2007 our sweet Riesling was 75% wild fermented and the Dry was 20% wild fermented. We are moving toward 100% wild ferments for 2008 with the exception of the Vin De Glaciere which is made from frozen grapes (can’t keep the yeast alive on the skin when it is frozen). We have put in place an elaborate system to make sure that we prepare a “pied de cuve” or starter for each vineyard a week before we receive the grapes from that vineyard.
Would you tell us a few of your favorite Washington wineries?
Nicolas My preference is based on several factors such as the winery philosophy, how good they are at their specialty and the personality of the person in charge of QC: Cayuse for its Syrah, probably one of the most Terroir focused wine in the State – Christophe Baron. Woodward Canyon for their cabernet Sauvignon Artist Series – Rick Small. Boudreaux Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon– Rob Newsom. Chinook for their Sauvignon Blanc – Kay Simon.
Why only do Riesling?
Nicolas We believe that to do things well you have to focus. What other varietal than Riesling can provide you with such a great array of styles that allow you to focus while also having fun and diversity? Riesling can fulfill us in many ways and is so relevant to today’s food. It is crisp, very natural and untouched and works with so many different cuisines. It is the greatest grape in the world.
We focus on Riesling (90% of our production) but we also play with Chenin Blanc and Gewurztraminer. We are not against trying a few other varietal in the future, but we want to stay very focused on Riesling because we want to make the best Riesling in the country and may be one day in the world.
Thank you, Nicolas.
Admin
I ventured up into the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA some weeks ago while doing research on the Mission Soledad itself located on the Salinas valley floor. The SLH AVA is one of many AVAs contained within the Central Coast AVA and borders the Monterey AVA which included the Salinas Valley and Carmel Valley on the west side of the SLH range. Established in 1991, the SLH AVA begins at 40′ above sea level and vineyards can be found as high as 1200′. Recent data indicates 4,700 acres of grapes under cultivation though I suspect more has been recently planted. I saw many new plantings along the AVA’s frontage River Road. Indeed, nested within the web site is another figure of 5,523 acres under cultivation. In any event, it is safe to say the AVA is clearly undergoing a period of considerable growth! Grapes grown include modest amounts of cab franc and syrah, even petit verdot, but far and away the lion’s share of acreage is dedicated to chardonnay and pinot noir.
And on May 17th the vintners of the Santa Lucia Highlands will be hosting the 2nd Annual SLH Winegrowers’ Gala.
Curiously, the official SLH web site does not have a sufficiently detailed map for driving instructions. They do, however, provide a link to the River Road Wine Trail which will save readers here a step.
As a side note, I strongly encourage those planning to attend to consider taking the Carmel Valley Road either from the West side of the SLH Range should you be coming down Highway 1, or travel it back over should 101 be your approach. Prepare to add more than an hour to your regional tour. Drive safely!
Admin
Phil and Peggy Crews are the owners of Pelican Ranch Winery in Santa Cruz, Ca. *Though their website is in need of a serious overhaul useful information may still be found there. They enjoy a substantial subscriber base and sell a high proportion of their wines through their tasting room which is open from 12 to 5 Friday through Sunday. An eclectic mix of people pass through their door, university students, winemakers, tourists, and wine enthusiasts, of course.
They are active members of the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association (SCMWA). I caught up with Phil at their winery located on Inglas St. in Santa Cruz.
Admin When did you become a winemaker?
Phil Crews When did I become a winemaker? Well, that’s almost a philosophical question! At this point in time I don’t consider myself a winemaker because the goal is to buy the best grapes we can, to harvest them at the correct moment, to put them in the best available cooperage, and not to have to do anything. And the result of that process would be being a wine shepherd, not being a winemaker.
So I have been making wine since the early ’70’s. We established the winery in 1997 and moved to our current spot here five years ago. So, I’ve seen a lot of grapes come and go. I’d say probably 80% to 90% of the fruit we get is really great and so all we have to do is shepherd it from the vineyard into the bottle.
Do you have long-term contracts with grape growers. How does that work?
Phil Crews I would suspect we’re like other small wineries, and that is its pretty much a gentleman’s or gentlewoman’s agreement basically. I think a good example is that since ‘97 we began getting fruit from Los Carneros and the contract comes either simultaneous to the harvest and crush, or maybe a few moments before. By and large we don’t have any long term contracts with anybody. But yet we’ve been making the same wines from the same vineyards over and over again. There are some people who would like to engineer contacts and we’re willing to do that.
Actually, there is one exception, I won’t mention the vineyard, but the ideal situation is to become partners with a particular vineyard and then sharing in the risk in terms of the harvest and how Mother Nature is going to treat the grapes. So we’ve got a situation where we own fruit in about an acre of land, and we dictate what the tons per acre will be. We’re simply paying for an acre of fruit at a certain value. I think more and more people are going to go to that arrangement. That really develops the partnership with the vineyard and the winemaker.
And to return to the earlier question, winemaking really begins in the vineyard. The winemaker doesn’t do anything, in my opinion. Its the vineyard and the grower that really does it all. Of course, the winemaker is capable of screwing it up!
How many cases do you produce a year?
Phil Crews I would appear that we produce 1000 cases. And that number gets bumped up and down as a function of last minute changes in terms of grapes coming in. Our goal, our model is very different than a lot of places. What we’re doing is making about 20 different wines, exploring terroir under the circumstances of the different regions of Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains and beyond. We’re going for maritime location of grapes, and were getting enough grapes to make as many as 150 cases but as little as just a barrel’s worth, which can be from 22 to 25 cases. So, let’s see, for the last four years we’ve pretty much followed that model, it’s been creeping up a bit, but usually no more than 20 wines from 20 tons of fruit. In principle that translates into about 1000 cases.
And your barrel program?
Phil Crews What we’re doing in terms of wood, and everybody is challenged at this point, the amount of euros that a dollar will buy, of course, we all know is going down. Still I feel firmly we have to use French oak. About 10% of our wood is Oregon oak and about 25% of the wood we get is brand new French oak. All the wines are barrel fermented. And we keep barrels only about 4 years. This is really what all wineries do if they’re trying to produce wine at the top of the flavor profile. So that’s what we’re doing and we’re going to keep experimenting. I’ve tried a few American oak barrels, I’ve tried Hungarian oak, I’ve tried Yugoslavian oak, but for the flavor profiles we’re going at it just doesn’t work. So French oak is the key. Oregon barrels, however, offer very unique notes, they provide a really interesting tool to produce flavors and aromas that are unmatched by French barrels, or other parts of the country.
What kinds of wines do you specialize in?
Phil Crews Our focus is wines typically found in the Burgundy and the Rhone regions, both red and white. In Burgundy the white grape chardonnay is the most renowned, pinot gris is close behind that. Another kind of obscure fact is that we make a dry gewurztraminer and in maps that I have of Burgundy going back 500-600 years ago show that Alsace was once a part of Burgundy. Recently someone asked why we don’t put our gewutrz in a hock-type bottle so I tried to remind them of this fact. Essentially we make any wine that I think will fit nicely into a Burgundy bottle by tradition.
So the reds from Burgundy are pinot noir. For other reds we look at the Rhone; the top of the list there would be syrah. All single vineyard, like the whites. Now, there are blends we make as well, two unique blends, inspired by Rhone practices. One, Trois Amis Rouge, is a red blend of three grapes, again from a single vineyard, syrah, cinsault, and actually the petit verdot is a ringer. That’s the only grape we’ve ever had in the winery that is not traditionally Burgundy or Rhone. Of course, we know the petit verdot comes from Bordeaux. We also have a white blend, Trois Amis Blanc, that is based on fruit from the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA and that’s a combination of viognier, roussanne, and marsanne. Two things that make these wines really great: firstly, the origins in the Santa Cruz Mountains, secondly, the co-fermentation, cold harvest, and barrel fermentation of all of these. And I would say that these blends are truly spectacular and something that is representative of things we’re going to continue to do.
In the past we made something we called Spectrum Rouge that illustrates our program with zinfandel, but we mixed in syrah and actually chardonnay. And there was a wonderful array of flavors and aromas that were found with the Spectrum Rouge. So zinfandel is another wine we make. And again, a question comes up, why do we bottle zinfandel in the Burgundy-type bottle? There is no short answer. The long answer is that most people… well, the short answer is that most wineries put zinfandel, for reason not at all clear to me, into a Bordeaux bottle. And given that we now know the origins of zinfandel are in Croatia it seems to me that Burgundy has a greater kinship with Croatia than does Bordeaux.
Anyway, that sort of lays out what we do here in terms of the various wines. We have about an equal mix of red and white wines, actually at this point its about 65% red, 45% white. When we started the white wines were all chardonnay but as the years have gone by we’ve expanded to these other things that really compliment the chardonnay nicely; the pinot gris, the gewurtz, viognier, roussanne, and marsanne.
One other thing to take note of, if the focus of the winery is to delve in Burgundy and Rhone style grapes then I think the ultimate expression of that is to have pinotage in the flavor mix. This coming spring we’ll release our first pinotage. Down the road we’ll add mouvedre. Assuming the wine staff can get their act together!
In addition to winemaking you have a career outside of the winery. Could you say a little bit about that?
Phil Crews Very briefly, because the readers of you blog would be quite bored with that exercise! Winemaking involves really capturing beautiful flavors and aromas that I regard as secondary metabolites or secondary chemistry and so my ability to look at that contribution to wines comes from the research I’ve been doing over the last thirty years that looks at natural products chemistry of marine organisms. Our lab on the University of California Santa Cruz campus is a thriving entity and there are many lessons that I’ve learned from doing academic research that I try and bring back to the winery. So on a day to day basis I’m a thesis advisor to all of the students who work with us; and on a day to day basis at the winery, as I said earlier, I’m the wine shepherd. I’m watching over the barrels, trying to steer them in the right direction, and not try to introduce any artificial influences. And that is also what I am doing up at the university, trying to steer student minds toward quality.
Is their anything else you’d like to add?
Phil Crews I’m trying to bring the sense of education back to the winery. For every Passport what we do is a really fun thing: I set up a tent, I have a series of questions that I present to people and get them to participate in the answering of the questions. And generally the reward for correct answers is to be able to taste barrel samples! Its been a delightful experience that we’ll repeat four times a year. I think people have really have come to enjoy this and note that if they want to have that experience they come to us at Passport.
Something special that we’re going to do in the near future is have a series of tastings of what I call ‘mystery wines’…
Blind tastings?
Phil Crews Ah… I’ll just leave it at ‘mystery wines’. It will be three or four wines that we’ll present with questions that people will have to answer. It will be a very eye-opening. Another eye-opening thing we do on occasion is we ask the question: What would you do with a bottle of Pelican Ranch wine in the unlikely event at dinner you simply can’t consume the whole bottle? And I call that my ‘open bottle tasting trial’. We’ve explored here at the winery various regimes for preserving that wine for a twenty-four hour period or longer. The outcome has been quite surprising, based on trial and error.
One other thing for the future is an exploration of our labels, a review of all the unique information we provide.
Thank you, Phil.
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*Their web site has since been updated!
A couple of weeks ago I picked up Sanctuary Wines 2006 Marlborough Pinot Gris from the local Sainsbury’s supermarket. Apart from liking Pinot Gris one of the other reasons the bottle made it into the trolley was the CarbonZero logo on the label, something I remembered reading about in a magazine article earlier in the year.
CarboNZero is a scheme set up in New Zealand by Landcare Research Institute to facilitate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions based around accurate measurement of those emissions, and the parent company of Sanctuary Wines, The New Zealand Wine Company became the first winery to get the certification in 2006.
The idea of being Carbon Neutral has been around for a while, with many individuals and organizations subscribing to Carbon offsetting, paying into projects that, theoretically, reduce emissions and balance their Carbon footprint. In the UK the thought of Food Miles is becoming more common and consumers are looking to buy more locally produced goods, or produce that has Green Credentials. This is something that will likely become more important for winemakers to consider as well, as much of the growing wine market is made up of the “middle class” (pardon the use of such a typically British term) who are quickly developing an environmental conscience that needs salving – I know, I consider myself one! Of course just because something is flown half-way across the world to reach the supermarket shelves doesn’t make it automatically bad, but some green labeling will always help. A New Zealand Herald article from last year has an excellent review of this idea, and its final paragraph sums up the business side of the story, with the New Zealand Wine Company expected to double its sales in the UK.
So what are the ups and downs of being a Carbon Neutral winery? As reported in the Otago Daily Times instead of using a fleet of helicopters to move the air around and stop frost damage large fans have been installed in the vineyards, while changing packaging designs has led to a 12% reduction in shipping volumes and heat-recycling projects have cut down their heating costs. On the flip side a refrigerant leak at the winery contributed 400% more emissions than the whole year’s electricity use.
The key message from the CarboNZero scheme is that accurate measurement is the first step, you have to understand what your emissions are and how they’re affected by what you do before you can make any real attempt at reducing or offsetting them. 
This is clearly explained on the Sanctuary Wines site; Measure – calculate emissions, Manage– reduce emissions, Mitigate – offset emissions.
As for the Pinot Gris itself? This was a refreshing wine, reminiscent of Alsace with a waxy, sweet floral nose and full aroma. Heavy in the mouth, it was a full bodied white with a rich texture, a little grapefruit bitterness on the mid-palate into a medium long finish, not a bad wine to go with a clear conscience!
Greybeard.
Antichi Poderi Dei Marchesi di Barolo 1967 Nebbiolo d’Alba
This was a present from my partner for my 40th Birthday last year, one of 2 1967 wines she got me, the other being the Vignamaggio Chianti Classico (Vignamaggio is famous for being the location for Kenneth Branagh’s 1992 movie of Shakespeare’s Much ado about nothing). Wine from my birth year was the perfect present and since then I had often wondered whether either of them would still be drinkable and, if so, when would be an appropriate occasion.
Both companies continue to produce wine so I’d e-mailed them enquiring what they thought about the chances of the wine being worth opening. Vignamaggio quickly responded suggesting their one would be better kept as a memento, since Chianti from that era was blended with white grapes and is less likely to have withstood the rigours of time. Marchesi di Barolo didn’t send a reply, but the more I read about Nebbiolo the more it looked like this one may have some life left in it, even though Barolo tends to be thought of more as Nebbiolo’s long-lived incarnation.
So onto the occasion, and what better then the evening before my 41st birthday? I was visiting my parents for the weekend and my mother is known to enjoy a glass or two of red so I’d have someone to share with (my father and partner don’t usually drink red). There were a few raised eyebrows once they’d realised what the wine was, but there was no going back now, the time had come.
I carefully cut and removed the foil to reveal the top of the cork level with the bottle, no signs of leakage, so a good start.
The corkscrew went in easily and came out easily….too easily, the cork had broken on the way out, leaving the bottom 3rd still in the neck but unfortunately not enough to get the corkscrew back into, I pushed it into the bottle instead. 
Unperturbed I gently decanted the wine past the cork remnants until the bottle was empty - there was no sediment and as it poured I could see the rich dark, burnt toffee colour. Apart from a couple of small specks of cork the wine was clean and, more importantly, didn’t smell bad.
I quickly poured the first glass, if there was life left in this old Italian I wanted to make sure I tasted it at all stages. There was a definite age to the nose, my mother said it smelled of an old museum, but after a couple of minutes this mellowed and a toffee sweetness came through. In the mouth this was smooth and a little acidic, with a hint of oxidation at the front, but not too much, the mid-palate has some mustiness (the museum again) with some dryness on the finish. The next glass was about 10 minutes later, and it hadn’t changed too much with the toffee sweetness smell still coming through, maybe a little stronger. There were some features of aged sherry at the beginning, a little Oloroso nuttiness, and I could detect tannins on the top of the palate, the finish was a bit longer this time. This was a light-medium bodied wine with good acidity. 
After 30 minutes another glass delivered a hit of mushrooms, the sort of smell you get when you pour hot water on dried Porcinis. It was still a bit funky, a bit sweet and showed delicate legs down the side of the glass when swirled. The taste was still the same, with a touch of stewed tea for good measure, in the mouth this was a wine of textures rather than true flavour (most of which, to be honest, had probably gone 10 to 20 years ago). It seemed to be getting drier in the mouth with time, and those rehydrated Porcini mushrooms kept coming round again.
We decided to see how it went with food, cheese to be precise. A selection of white Stilton with apricot, Wensleydale, Edam and a creamy goat’s cheese was brought out and tried with a sip or two. The Goat’s cheese was the out and out winner, its salty sharpness seemed to complement and enhance the wine perfectly, turning it sweet and delicate and removing the musty acid/tannin combination. While the Edam was neutral, the white Stilton and Wensleydale went the other way, making the drink bitter. 
1 hour on and I get some cigar ash on the nose and oak, like an old wooden beam, slightly toasted and darkened with age. At the end of this glass I notice the sweetness back again and suddenly it hits me – dark Muscovado sugar! We get a jar of the stuff out of the cupboard and compare, and it’s a perfect match. This similarity was the residual smell of the just emptied glass, freshly poured it was hidden by the mushroom and musty wood.
As the end of the evening drew near I had one final glass and was surprised at how little this wine had changed since opening. The nose was still the star, a heady mix of complex aromas which I’ve never experienced before in one glass. In the mouth the slightly sweet, slightly sour, slightly acid bitterness and the tea tannin finish was unremarkable except for the fact that it was not unpleasant, a dry delicate and relatively light wine, but heavy in years. I hope that I’ll be able to try more aged wines in the future and was not disappointed by this introduction.
Greybeard
A chilly evening in April saw the 4th Newcastle wine fair, a twice yearly event in Sprint and Autumn put together by Chris Powell of the Newcastle Wine School with local wine retailers or merchants. I’ve only missed one so far and look forward to one of the biggest wine events in the North East of England (don’t get too excited, we’re not exactly overrunning with events up here!) and a chance to see if there’s any new and interesting wines I can try out.
This year we had 6 stalls offering 41 wines, plus Chris’s “mystery wine”, his regular blind tasting competition (which I always manage to get badly wrong). From the National retailers there was Majestic and Oddbins with a good mix of Old and New World styles.
Representing the local retailers was Michael Jobling with a purely French selection, Fenwick with a range of classic varieties from around the world and a newcomer to the Fair, Tyne Wines who had an interesting French only, Beaujolais dominated table.
Wholesalers Liberty Wines was the last of the tables, with their, mainly Italian & Australian, choices available through local retailer Richard Granger.
The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly as the room filled up; about 130 people attended this year, a little down on previous events but still enough to mean some waiting at the most popular tables. 
I’d come with 2 friends from work and they headed for the wine while I quickly checked the list to see what my “must haves” were going to be before heading into the fray and going straight for the Sparklers (as most people did). This year there were only 2 on offer - the Wafflart Rose Champagne at Tyne Wines, and a Prosecco Conegliano Valdobliadienne at Majestic. The Champagne was light and dry with good fruit, but the Prosecco was really just a glassful of froth and did nothing for me.
Onto the whites, and Fenwick had the Katherine’s Vineyard 2005 Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay (Cambria, California), this was heavily oaked but the overwhelming flavour was vanilla, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a vanilla hit from any white before! It was a nice wine from the same producer as one of last year’s better offerings (the Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir). Majestic had another oaky Chardonnay, the Vergelegen 2006 from Stellenbosch with a lovely toffee taste, in sharp contrast to the Tyne Wines combination of the 2007 Domaine des Arbins Beaujolais Blanc and their Domaine Bois d’Yver 2005 Chablis Premiere Cru. I don’t know if it was the earlier memory of the two oak-monsters but I preferred the creamy-but-dry Beaujolais to the steelier lemon and lime mix of the Chablis (which was still a very good wine).
The two best whites on the night were unexpected for me, one being a variety I hadn’t tried before and the other being one I don’t usually drink. Andy from Liberty Wines poured me my first Greco di Tufo, the Vesevo 2007 from Campania – with a rich aroma, complex, fruity and well balanced it was the best by far……until the ravings of my 2 friends brought me to the Oddbins table later in the evening and had a taste of their stunning Blind River 2007 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Aroma and taste were immense on this wine, gooseberry and cat-pee nose, a large attack of rhubarb in the mouth, all of which perfectly suited my palate on the night. I usually avoid Sauvignon Blanc as my partner hates the bitterness that often comes with the variety, but I think even she’d appreciate this one.
Back to Tyne Wines for their Beaujolais selection, a simple 2007 Rose and 2006 Villages Rouge from Domain des Arbins, plus a 2006 Morgon from Domaine de l’Eglantine. The Morgon had tannins and complexity to last a few years, but more enjoyable on the night was the Beaujolais Villages, bursting with Raspberries.
The red wines in general were a mixed bag, with all of the well-known varieties represented. Most unusual was the Agiorgitiko in the 2006 Gaia Notios from Nemea in the Peloponnese, Greece. This had a spicy, slightly green nose and was very smooth in the mouth, a light-medium bodied wine and not bad for my second new grape of the night. I’m not sure if it was palate fatigue, or maybe I’m just heading in a new direction, but the 2 big reds for me on the evening were both what I’d loosely call “Fruit Bombs”. First was the 2004 Grant Burge Old Vine Shiraz on the Fenwick table, rich, juicy and complex, but this was beaten by Peter Lehmann’s 2003 “The Mudflat” Shiraz Muscadelle at Oddbins. 
This was richer and juicier with a superb smooth roundedness, I’m guessing from the Muscadelle in the mix. Claire from the stall held up the delicious 2007 Blind River for a Kodak moment and the red on the table behind me was the Gaia Notios which somehow ended up at my home!
So Oddbins had the 2 best wines (for me at least) - and with their five other wines, including an Austrian Grüner Veltliner and a Tasmanian Pinot Gris, all being solid examples this meant that the corporate retailer came out best on the night. Even though Liberty Wines had the Greco di Tufo and a couple of nice backups (the Gran Sasso 2006 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and the 2006 “Willunga 100” McLaren Vale Grenache) I’d say they were just nudged into 3rd place by a consistent selection from Fenwick, although I didn’t have a chance to try their Croft Pink Port, with it all gone by the time I looked for it! I’ve already discussed Fenwick in an earlier R.O.T. post and it is a store I like going into, so it was a nice opportunity to photo some of their team this evening 
.
It was a good evening of wine tasting and over the course of 3 hours I managed to cover 37 of the different wines. This is less than the 40 I had at the first ever Fair in 2006, but since I hadn’t discovered spitting by that point the hangover the next day was unbelievable. This time the spit buckets dotted around the room were well used and I left the room upright, relatively clear headed and a readable set of tasting notes!
As for the Mystery Wine? It turned out to be a Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre blend from the Languedoc. I’m not going to embarrass myself by revealing my guess here, suffice to say I kept up my impressively bad record. I wasn’t even on the same continent and didn’t get any of the grapes (even though I also chose a 3 variety blend!). I still have a long way to go in Blind Tasting!
Greybeard.
It was announced April 2nd at the dinner gala ‘Cornell Celebrates New York Wines’ that Cornell University will build an on-campus teaching winery for undergraduates, a welcomed addition to their three-year-old Enology and Viticultural Program. Both Enology and Viticulture classes had long been a part of the Horticultural/Food Sciences, but only graduate students hitherto could seek degrees in either speciality. Undergrads had first to major in food science of pomology, for example. This would change when it was recognized there had emerged an acute shortage of vineyard managers and winemakers to meet the increasing demand for regional expertise in cool-climate viticulture and its associated pest complexes, a demand simply not met by West Coast university programs. New York State’s wine industry has been growing dramatically; it is currently #3 in the nation in grape and wine production. In 1976 nine wineries existed; now, 220 wineries (as of this writing!) populate the state. And over 600 vineyards. (Additional details may be found here.)
The necessary next step was to offer through Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, four-year undergraduate majors in Enology and Viticulture within the larger programs of plant and food science. (Currently 35 undergrads are enrolled in this young program, and it will be capped at about 55.) But an additional refinement is now in the works for E/V majors. Under the guidance of Professor Ian Merwin E/V will be consolidated, moving it away from the plant/food sciences major. As he wrote in an e-mail, “The initial EV majors were nested within the existing undergrad programs in Horticulture and Food Science at Cornell. The new program is independent and interdisciplinary”. And as an integral part of this move will be the construction of the winery.
The winery will provide undergrads hands-on experience in winemaking, just as Cornell’s vineyards now do for budding viticulturists. Of Cornell’s vineyards Prof. Merwin writes, “[There are] 8 acres total on two research farms near the Ithaca campus. The one in Ithaca (3 acres) has entirely hybrids such as Marchal Foch, Cayuga White, Seyval, Himrod, GR7, Chancellor, Traminette, Noiret, Corot Noir, and Concord. The one 10 miles north of campus with a milder winter climate because of its proximity to Cayuga Lake consists almost entirely of vinifera cultivars (Reisling, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Lemberger, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Franc, now about 5 acres planted).” And of the Geneva Experimental Research Station? Merwin writes, “Most of their vinifera plantings were winter killed in 2004, so the remainder would be mostly hybrid grapes developed by the grape breeding program and grape Genetics Unit in Geneva”.
The winery will be 2400 square feet, plenty of room for a substantial case production. In fact, I asked Merwin whether Cornell, like Cal State, Fresno, will be marketing wines they produce. He would very much like to, but not if it would mean Cornell might compete with small, family wineries, a possibility he is very sensitive to. In any event, the architectural plans remain the property of Beardsley Design Associates in Auburn so I cannot post them here.
Finally, while reading the Cornell Chronicle post I noticed a list of sponsors for the evening’s event. They were Stoutridge Vineyard, Antica Napa Valley, Channing Daughters Winery, Raphael Winery, and Constellation Wines US. I was curious as to why Constellation participated. Prof. Merwin wrote, “Constellation Brands is the corporate evolutionary successor of the original Taylor, NY and Canandaigua wine companies in the Finger Lakes region. Of course it is now a very different regionally and globally integrated corporation, but there are still some of the original links and Cornell people in that corporation, and they have been supportive of Cornell’s efforts to develop this new undergraduate major”.
Cornell’s undergraduate E/V brochure may be found here.
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