 |
The first big step in pursuing our dream was to purchase the 55-acre property with 10 acres of grapes on the west side of the Dry Creek Valley in Healdsburg, Sonoma County, California in 2001.
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007
We purchase 55 acres with 10 acres of grapes, and christen it Montemaggiore (great mountain) after the small mountain village of Vincent's ancestors. Our five acres of Cabernet and five acres of Syrah need a lot of tender loving care, but we're willing to take that on because the terrior is perfect and the view is spectacular!
In the past, all the grapes from these vineyards have been sold to much larger wineries, but we intend to keep them for our own estate wine. Because these grapes have always been blended in with others, we have no proof of their quality, but we are optimistic given the steep mountainside, elevation, rocky soils, and tight spacing.
Although the harvest is nearly complete before we arrived, we amuse ourselves for the next few rainy months before pruning starts by reading the Police Reports in our small town newspaper, the Healdsburg Tribune. Lise's favorite reads "Mother and Daughter have an altercation on the 200 Block of Pine Street, which resulted in a broken telephone and dirty laundry scattered over the front lawn". We are in love with our small town.
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007
Not only is our first child (Paolo) born in the spring, but we re-plant around 2,000 Syrah vines that never survived their initial planting by the prior owners in 2000. Now we can track Paolo's growth against that of our young Syrah vines!
Zeppli the dog "found" us in August, during a visit to the Healdsburg Animal Shelter. Being a pointer thus a hunting dog, we foresee him as essential in protecting our vineyard in the fall when all the critters (especially the flying ones) love to steal the juicy grapes at their ripest.
The highlight of the year is our first harvest, which is anything but smooth—but there was no real damage besides stress to us. Since the wine is being made at another winery, the trucks of grapes got lost on the way, the hoses from the crusher to the tank weren't connected properly, the wrong yeast was almost added, and the list goes on. Such is the life of making wine at someone else's facility. We vow to build our own winery as soon as possible.
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007
Spring = Rain. Although the dark and wet spring doesn't really hurt this years crop, it will mean that next year's won't be as prolific.
The challenge this year is a mysteriously strong critter that is lifting up part of a fence and stealing our grapes in the middle of the night just before harvest. We try twenty-pound rocks, we try repairing the fence, we try everything we know, and finally we use a Have-a-Heart trap (which captures but doesn't injure the animal). The mysterious animal is a skunk, but now the dilemma is how to set the skunk free from the trap. Well, Vincent decides he's up for the job. It doesn't go exactly as planned, but we do learn that slathering one's self with tomato paste works just was well as a tomato juice bath for eliminating skunk odors.
After two years of making our wine at someone else's winery, we start the long process of getting permits for our own small winery.
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007
Our inaugural wine, the 2002 Paolo's Vineyard Syrah is bottled in June, and released a few months later. It seems like an eternity since we watched those grapes grow, although technically it was just two years ago. We finally have bottled wines to share with our friends and family!
After a year-and-a-half of filling out forms and going to hearings for the Federal, State, and County governments, we finally started construction on the winery in May. Although we already have a building on the site, and are planning on using the same concrete pad, everything takes a lot longer than one would think. Will it be done in time for what is shaping up to be the earliest harvest in over a century in northern Sonoma County?!
After much nail biting, we have our first harvest and crush at our new winery on September 9th! What an exciting day! For most Sonoma County vineyards, including ours, it is the earliest season ever. Of course, we were hoping that the harvest would be late this year because our new winery is still under construction, but Mother Nature had other ideas! We survived only because of the tremendous help from our friends and family: Vincent's brother and sister, Joe and Mary, along with our old friends John, Shannon, and Mitch.We do three more harvests this season, and feel like we are old pros.
The growing season this vintage has been near perfect with early bloom and even summer heat—but because last spring (2003) was very cold and wet, this year's crop is very light (the number of buds on a grapevine are determined by the prior year's sunlight). We religiously followed a watering strategy that made our individual grape berries smaller, but much more flavorful. The quality, especially in the Cabernet, more than makes up for the 30% loss in grape tonnage. We're looking forward the wines from this ideal vintage as they mature over the next few years.
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
2005 | 2006 | 2007
The year starts out with a bang: our first bottling at the new winery! We were nervous that the rather large mobile bottling truck would have difficulty making it up the narrow, steep, and winding road to the winery—even after we cut down a few overhanging branches—but worst fears were unfounded. Then bing, bang, boom: after a quick hour and a half, 350 cases of 2002 Superiore was safely in bottle. We'll continuously taste it to see when it's ready for release, but we're hoping in the April/May timeframe.
We have had a long and somewhat difficult season. It started out with a very wet spring and cool summer—the rain persisted through June, which is unheard of in these parts! All the grape varietals are ripe around the same time, which is unusual because the Cabernet typically comes in two to three weeks later than our Syrah. This year, we harvest virtually all our Cabernet and Syrah in a single week starting October 10th (for comparison, last year our harvest was September 9th through October 22nd). Luckily we have enough space to ferment all our grapes simultaneously, but this means exhausting work for Lise, with all those punchdowns (each tank, one half hour, three times a day during fermentation).
In the name of "minimal manipulation winemaking", we perform an experiment using "native fermentation" on our 2005 vintage Syrah. In one tank, we follow our usual routine of adding yeast, but in the other, we let the "native yeasts" (from the vineyard, in the winery, on the equipment) start and finish the fermentation. We have no problems with off-odors along the way, and our wine ferments to dryness, so that part of the experiment was a success!
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
2006 | 2007
We've been tending our estate vineyards for five years, so now we can start micro-managing. Several areas in the vineyard, such as the topmost portion, really need more tender loving care than others. These vines struggle a bit too much so we water these areas more frequently, put on more compost, and really control our mildew spraying. Perhaps over the years the vines will become as strong as the others, or perhaps they'll always need special care.
Harvest goes well, although our yield is down about 50%. This year we'll experiment with whole cluster fermentation on the Syrah. Typically, we de-stem our Syrah so that only the whole berries themselves go into the fermentation tank. But some Syrah winemakers really love the spicy character and depth that stems bring so they don't even bother to destem the bunches. The "consensus" seems to be anywhere from 10% to 100% whole clusters, we'll try 10% to start out.
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
2007
In keeping with our organic and biodynamic philosophy, twelve sheep (pecori) have arrived at Montemaggiore just in time to "mow" all the spring grasses in the vineyards. They solve a problem that we've been struggling with ever since we went organic in 2001: weed control. With our steep mountainside, close vine spacing, and committment to organics and biodynamics, we hadn't found a good way to keep down the weeds and grasses. But sheep do a great job "mowing" the vineyard so that it looks just like a golf green. On top of that, they provide great fertilizer. The only downside: now our place really smells like a farm!
Our son Paolo has named the sheep after various pastas, Rotini being his favorite. An ancient breed called Babydolls bred for their petite size, Rotini and her friends fit right under the vines and trellising. These names are especially fitting because sheep must have been the original "spaghetti heads"—not exactly the smartest animals. But intelligence is not required (and in fact may be a hazard) for this job! Our steep mountainside intimidates most people, but the sheep are unfazed as they keep the grasses well-clipped. Come say "Buon Giorno" to Rotini, Cappellini, Farfalle, Penne, Fusilli & Linguine (the girls); along with Buccatini, Mostaccioli, Rigatoni, Fettucine, Gnocchi & Ravioli (the boys).
Alas the sheep have done their job, and two months later we send them back home. We had hoped to keep them in our olive grove over the summer, but they have been stripping all the bark off the trees. We don't really have another great spot for them to spend the summer. Next year, we'll have a better year-round plan, and get some sheep of our own.
© Copyright 2004-2008 Montemaggiore, Inc. All rights reserved.
| | |
|
